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Gábor Szabó
65 articles

1:48 Fiat CR.42 (Italeri) Royal Hungarian Air Force 1942

November 25, 2015 · in Aviation · · 12 · 3.2K

Hi!

It's been a while I posted anything. I slowed down a bit but some work done recently among the "half-made stash". I started this kit a year ago parallel with the awful Artiplast CR.32 but couldn't decide what color fits to it best so I set it aside. I exchanged some decal sets with a fellow modeler and I get a nearly new HAD no.2 decal set (HAD is an acronyme of Hungarian Armour Decals 😀 ), so it was the perfect time to finish it. I chosed the infamous "magyartarka" multi coloring. The early RHAF colors are somewhat a mistery (later in the WW2 Hungarian used German RLM colors) but based on recent researhes they say that the Hungarian "Krayer" firm was closely connected with IG Farben sooo early RHAF colors compares to early Luftwaffe colors. The discussion is not over so I chosed colors in my stash that were close enough to my imagination (and some contemporary colored photos). The decals were very old and soon became apparent that I can use only the small parts and stenciles. To masking the early RHAF shevron fortunately not a difficult task. Oh, the kit: really it is a good kit. Italian in every respect (beautiful details here sloppy joits and surfaces there, overall good fit but You can see that the mould is handmade - which is a good thing in my opinion) but has the potential to make out something great from it. Everything that proved difficult is direct consequence of my laziness 🙂 - I used Eduard Zoom for the interior which profites a lot from the photoech because didn't break up themself to make it busy (ie. decal instruments and side consoles not a too good idea in 1:48 in an exposed - say open - cockpit). Just one compliment to Eduard: for god's sake please MEASURE before start designing an update set! The build went surprisingly well so I can't riport any modeling horror this time 😀 - boooring, eh? 😉 After this build I dug out an old SMER Reggiane 2000. 😀 Cheers!

Reader reactions:
4  Awesome

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12 responses

  1. Very comprehensive photo presentation on the progress. Looks like it turned out well. Thanks for posting and don't be a "stranger" to the forum(s). 🙂

  2. Very nice Gabor, I like it.

  3. Nice work and a good result A good idea to put into Standard Practice is to always suspect old decal sheets and give them a coat of Liquid Decal Film, which generally solves all those problems in my experience.

  4. Thank You Guys! Tom: yes You are absulutely right. I had Mocroscale decal film but sometimes Future is as good aswell in my experience. In this case half of the shevrons come apart along the color stripes - despite the coating - I don't know why. The rest silvered badly 🙁 so I had to strip down the applied decals at the end (with some paint naturally).

  5. Gabor, Great subject, unusual scheme, neither much seen!

    How was the build on this CR-42? I remember the old Artiplast one, which was the epitome of things unique, to me. Saw a review in the RAF Flying Review, I was taken! Imagine that! By the time I got one, it was no longer state of the art. I love the more obscure subjects, still.

    Coer As? I like Ricsi, which OI doubt I'll ever see. Saw a CR-42 color spread, in an old Tamiya Model Magazine.

    Yours looks just like theirs. Nice change from smoke rings or splotches over sand yellow.

    • Thank You! I wanted a different "spaghetti fighter" a You said. Yes this scheme is of Cpt László Tomor, commander of Ace Of Hearts Squadron when they stationed at Jezierzany airfielt in Russia from the summer of 1941. Cpt tomor has one kill a this time (I will paint it onto the tail soon - I forgot about it 🙂 ). Ricsi is a more famous insignia but I love this unusual camo.

      I can imagine Artiplast as I built several (not CR42 but other kits) reissued by SMER - actually they not that bad (if You have some elbow grease at hand) considering their age. This Italeri is the most buildable CR.42 on the market and I liked this build. Tamiya sells exactly this kit under their own label (as several Italeri kits) for a bit more bucks. If You like this type give this kit a go - a niceaddition If You find an original issue with the booklet included.

  6. Lovely build Gabor. Got one of these on the WIP shelve and have also been convinced to build a Hungarian version too. You've done a good paint job with the camouflage scheme. Thanks for posting 🙂

  7. Looking great, thanks for sharing!

  8. Beautiful build again, Gabor! I've got a couple of these in 72 scale, and really like the color scheme you selected. I may attempt to copy the scheme, as the common non-Italian rendition seems to be the Swedish scheme.

  9. Looks great, Gabor, thanks for sharing it with us.

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