Internationally renound as a land-based maritime torpedo bomber during WWII the 1936-vintage Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia Savoia-Marchetti S.79 (SM.79 alternatively) Sparviero (Sparrowhawk) began operational life as a record-breaking civilian transport the Italian government contemporaneously drafting it for use as a military bomber. Seeing combat during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War with the Aviazione Legionaria, WWII with the Regia Aeronautica Italiania & Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana (latter principally as a day & nighttime torpedo bomber), it arguably was the only Italian military combat aircraft in production before, during & shortly after WWII the Lebanese Air Force ordering four SM.79L (for Lebanese) bombers in 1946 though delivered as transports they in service till 1959, 1,240 aircraft of all types being built.
The 1/50 Scale Artiplast Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 plastic model kit released before the 1/72nd Scale Airfix SM.79 II
A well-known pre & WWII military aircraft seeing action over Spain, Mediterranean, North Africa, Italian East Africa, Greece, Yugoslavia et.al theatres other than wood & rubber Allied air forces ID aids no assembly kit scale models are known to been commercially produced & marketed of the S.79 before, during & after WWII up till the 1960s though wood et.al. construction media tabletop display scale ones quite possibly had been. The first confirmed plastic scale model kit of the S.79 was the c.1966 1/50 scale Artiplast Kit No.106 SM.79 II Aerosilurante (Aerial Torpedo Bomber) it for decades to come the best molded & proportioned Sparviero model in any scale followed by Airfix’s inaccurate 1/72nd Scale Kit No.487 SM.79 II in 1967 it the only one in this scale till Italeri released their very good Kit No.1225 SM.79 Aerosilurante in 2003.
2020 Vintage Classics Reissue Kit No.A04007V (Vintage)
The Airfix UK & MPC USA SM.79 II Model Kits
The 1/72nd scale Airfix Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 II United Kingdom (UK) Kit No.487 (incorrectly labeled as the “MK.11”) released in 1967, Model Products Corporation (MPC Mount Clemens, Michigan USA in business 1963-2011) Kit.No.1101-100 (for US $1.00) as the “MK II” c. winter-spring 1968 possibly earlier (Scalemates incorrectly listing it issued in 1970) is amongst the few original mold Airfix models in regular re-release still sporting its original Roy Cross (born April 23, 1924 & believed still living) kit box top art.
In league with many if not most all plastic models molds tooled for production by non-USA companies Airfix kit imports were subjected to onerous post-WWII USA Government domestic toy industry-protective import tariffs on top of those droit ordinaire till c.1968. Getting around them entailing having to form partnerships with USA hobby products companies to produced them with loaned or rented molds (e.g. Pyro Plastics Corporation molding FROG models under the AIRLINES Label 1964-66). In 1963 Airfix created Airfix Of America to produce & box theirs by USA plastics molding companies (i.e. MPC, Craft Master Toledo, Ohio USA et.al. possibly) in 1966 with Craft Master as Airfix-Craft Master and in 1968 MPC under its brand label long after the protective tariffs were lifted.
Amongst the first MPC-branded issues of new Airfix kit releases early in 1968 was the S.79 II it et.al. MPC kit releases then featuring separate decal sheets for “customizing” akin to scale model automobiles clearly aimed at pre & early teen baby boomers boys rather than discriminating older age plastic scale hobbyists more interested in buying better subject researched & tooled models & decals. Fully expecting the Sparviero model to be gem-quality it & the FIAT G.50bis Freccia (Arrow) I’d buy not long afterwards (q.v. below) the worst of all my 1960s Italian military aircraft subject builds & just once at that!
(Some fuselage interior parts have been assembled)
Amongst a handful of 1960s Italian military aircraft modeling subjects in 1/72nd scale The Airfix Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 II model isn’t particularly distinguished. Inaccurately proportioned (fuselage too long, spindly & narrow compared to the far superior Italeri Sparviero model appearing decades later) extensive use was made of standardized parts in common with other Airfix aircraft models released since the late 1950s, engines & propeller retaining rings, aircrew figures, seats, control columns, main landing gear retaining attachments & armament parts (fuselage beam Lewis guns instead of Breda 12.7mms for Aerosiluranti) in particular so as to minimize tooling costs though at the expense of authenticity. No optional version parts for open-closed dorsal & ventral fuselage gun stations well as bomb bay (model engineered as an Aerosiluranti) are provided, very odd considering near all of the fuselage interior can be viewed in from several angles (clear plastic windows, portside crew entrance, removeable door part being provided sans stepladder, ventral & dorsal gunner stations) skilled modelers in time scratch building their own interior parts for super-detailing, deeming it not worth the time & effort I’d passed on doing so for all future kit builds.
The Kit “Build” & Lessons Learned
From late 1963 till c. fall-1965 “sample building” plastic model kits of many kinds & scales was an all-absorbing passion of mine afterwards 1/72nd scale military aircraft most new subject releases then in that scale for reasons of affordability; “two 72s for a 48 (scale kit)” a popular phrase amongst Sacramento plastic scale modelers at the time. From fall-1965 onwards painting models had also become a passion, laboriously brushing on Testors PLA enamels straight out of bottles at first (Pactra enamels too thin for hand brushing) followed by spray can painting-on PLA enamel aircraft undersides (Luftwaffe & RAF bombers in particular) till c. fall-1966 when purchased a single-action Binks Wren airbrush & hose, Thompson 2/3rds hp tankless diaphragm air compressor for airbrush painting.
Excitedly buying a first release MPC Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 II kit at a local drug store one day in spring 1968 I’d hurried home to commence building it right away. During the 1960s I’d sparingly painted model interior parts, Airfix’s Sparviero molded in light blue plastic was the exception because most of the fuselage interior could be seen (q.v.) it the first I’d fully spray paint all fuselage, engine cowling, main wing landing gear wheel well & door interiors etc. with a Pactra enamel grey color, fully painting model interior parts in all future model kit builds henceforth routine. After painting the interior parts I’d glued them inside the port fuselage half gluing fuselage halves together afterwards followed by ram-jamming in the undersized one-piece fuselage cockpit canopy not yet knowing how to fill in gaps between the canopy & fuselage with plastic seam filling putties then coming on the market! In future Airfix Sparivero kit builds I’d continue ram-jamming in canopies till the 2010s went switched to using Scotch Magic Mending Taping & cutting out canopy pane frames for spray painting with X-Acto blades, gluing it on the port fuselage half with interior parts, putty filling fuselage-canopy gaps & sanding them over afterwards, gluing fuselage halves together, putty filling & sanding gaps on the starboard side.
After covering the cockpit canopy & fuselage windows with masking tape I’d spray painted the model & associated engine cowling, aileron mass-balances, pitot tube et.al. parts in a scheme approximating CMPR C2 Macchie Rade Verdi su Fondo Giallo Mimetico with “brew mix” Pactra paints with white fuselage band & afterwards brush painting the canopy pane frames not knowing for decades to come it should had been C1 Macchie Rade Verdi e Marrone Mimetico su fondo Giallo Mimetico or C2A Variante di C2!
Around 1965 matt decal transfer films came into production Microscale Decals amongst the first aftermarket brands employing them, by the late 1960s Airfix began including them in with their MPC SM.79 II, FIAT G.50 et.al. kit releases unaware whomever they’d contracted with to produce decals had failed to conduct quality checks whether they’d even been silk screened on matt film paper! After painting the Sparviero model I’d readied for applying a set of these decals, dipping one of them in water it began disintegrating, bewildered I’d dipped another it disintegrating as well, shocked & angry I’d wanted to fire off a complaint letter to MPC but finished “building” the model without decals angrily tossing it out some days later. Airfix in time would produce decals with matt film paper but it not be till c.1979 I’d again build other Sparviero kits and then with ETRL-ESCI aftermarket ones.
The 2006 Airfix Savoia-Marchetti S.79 II Sparviero Model Builds
Photos taken September 28, 2017
These were the first Airfix Savoia-Marchehetti SM.79 II model builds since c.1980, first as well uitilizing CMPR camouflage schemes & colors. The Aerosilurante model is homage to the Sparviero had built c.1980 itself homage to the aformentioned failed 1968 build.
Sample Photos Of Side-By-Side Airfix & Italeri Kit Builds Of Same Modeling Subject
Photos Taken May 30, 2021
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The Airfix UK & MPC USA FIAT G.50bis Freccia Model Kit
The 1937-vintage FIAT G.50 Freccia (Arrow) was Italy’s first single-seat, all-metal monoplane with enclosed cockpit & retractable landing gear it seeing combat during the 1936-1939 Spanish Civil War with the Aviazione Legionaria, the G.50bis with an open pilot cockpit & increased fuel capacity during WWII with the Regia Aeronautica Italiania in Northern Europe, North Africa, the Balkans & Italian mainland as day fighters & fighter-bombers. Small numbers were exported to several overseas customers, including the Croatian & Finnish Air Forces, 35 shipped to the later they serving with distinction during the 1939–1940 Winter War & 1941–1944 Continuation War against the Soviet Union.
Outclassed by near all Western Allied Powers fighters Freccias soldiered on as fighter-bombers where & whenever modern Axis fighters maintained tactical air superiority, severely reduced in numbers by time of the September 8, 1943 Italian Armistice only 48 remained, 19 with 50 Stormo Assalto at Lonate Pozzolo, Varese, 1 in Corsica with 160 Gruppo Caccia Terrestre, 17 of the 48 serviceable with these & various other flying units the newly formed post-war Yugoslav Air Force flying wartime partisan-captured Croatian aircraft till withdrawn from service in 1946.
2022 Vintage Classics Reissue Kit No.A04046V (Vintage)
The 1967 Airfix UK FIAT G.50bis Kit No.126 in league with the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 II is amongst the few original mold Airfix models in regular re-release still sporting its original Roy Cross kit box top art. Coming on the market same time as their SM.79 II kit in 1968 I wasn’t particularly anxious to “build” MPC USA G.50bis Kit No.5006 (Scalemates incorrectly listing it issued in 1970) though Roy Cross’s near head on subject view perspective kit box top art grabbed my attention purchasing one some weeks after their Sparviero kit in 1968 at the same local South Sacramento drug store*. Inspecting the model parts I was appalled how crudely they’d been molded, cruder than any of the toy-like 1965-66 AIRLINES (FROG) kit releases they all reissues of 1950s & early 1960s model subjects I’d also build during the 1960s, undersized, badly scaled & grotesquely disproportioned the Airfix model is absolutely the very worst rendering of the Freccia in any scale!
The Kit “Build” & Lessons Learned
Assembling & painting the Airfix model was an exercise in frustration:
- Pilot figure on rudimentary seat part took some doing to “glue seat” on molded-on fuselage interior holding pins it - the seat part - repeatedly slipping off whist gluing fuselage halves together!
- Molded in blue ala the SM.79 II model I’d not bothered painting the fuselage interior as couldn’t be clearly seen between the pilot figure did however spray paint the grossly long & misshaped engine cowling interior a grey shade of enamel paint.
- Unevenly molded one-piece main wing & upper wing parts made for poor fits between them well as on the fuselage it ram-jammed in the center of the assembled three-piece main wing assembly.
- The fuselage underside area where the main wing assembly sat over doubled as the main landing gear wheel well, forgetting to grey spray paint it beforehand did so afterwards but with difficulty (paint runs could be seen) the area sprayed painted immediately after assembling the fuselage in all future kit builds.
- Because of unevenly molded main wing parts the one-piece underside one was best cut trimmed, shape-sanded & glued on the underneath fuselage first followed by puttying in & sanding over the aft fuselage-main wing seam, cut trimming & shape-sanding the top wing parts to insure good wing-fuselage root fits, gluing them afterwards onto the lower main wing, no putty filling required were properly done.
- Main landing gear painting & assembly for the 1968 model “build” was nightmarish attaching oleo struts on main wing undersides & properly aligning them with slow-acting Testors styrene glue especially, future model builds would employ fast-acting liquid styrene then cyanoacrylates glues they insuring good joins & alignments without having to wait so long before “tweezering” on the oleo retraction arms.
- Grossly out of scale & misshaped engine, engine cowling, carburetor intake pipe, propeller & spinner parts painting & assembly was complicated by engine exhaust pipes being molded as a single part properly aligning it along two deep slots underneath the cowling taking some doing.
- Gluing these aforementioned parts together as an assembled unit & slipping it on the forward fuselage recessed rim mounting was difficult the unit (i.e. engine cowling) dropping off were not firmly glued on.
- For the 1960s model “build” used slow-acting Testors styrene tube glue the cowling repeatedly dropping off, in future builds liquid styrene then cyanoacrylates glues were employed firmly glue on the cowling usually on the first joining attempt.
- Painting the Airfix FIAT G.50bis model was straightforward; the Roy Cross kit box top “combat” art featuring a 352 Squadriglia Freccia in CMPR D1 Macchie rade Nocciola su fondo Verde contradicting kit painting instructions specifying C2 Macchie Rade Verdi su Fondo Giallo Mimetico, going with them had spray painted on “brew mix” Pactra enamels & white fuselage belly band.
Inspecting the model kit decal sheet I’d dreaded they like the SM.79 II decals were defective, sure enough after dipping the first black-white wing tri-fasci cut out from it the decal in water it promptly disintegrating, furious I then-there wanted to smash the model into a bazillion pieces but held onto it for some weeks till tossing it away in disgust.
* Anderson Brothers Drug Stores of Sacramento during the 1960s were renowned for vending off-beat merchandise (bimonthly issues of
Soviet Life magazine for example), stocking more brands of plastic scale model kits than most Sacramento area hobby stores the majority of my model kits were bought at their South Sacramento store. During the 1960s as well Highlands Hobbies in North Highlands, California was a Scale Modeler’s Mecca, only one then vending Italian Aliplast & Artiplast kits, BUZCO-Heller USA-partnered line of French pre & WWII military & civilian aviation well as imported Japanese Hasegawa, L&S et.al. model kits, from them I'd buy these et.al imports they as well sponsoring early IPMS-Silver Wings Sacramento scale modeling contests I participating at one held in 1968 at a nearby Happy Steak restaurant it & Highlands Hobbies sadly long gone.
The 2009 Airfix FIAT G.50bis Freccia Builds
Photos Taken August 7, 2017
Build Samples
Photos Taken June 9, 2021