Hasegawa 1:48 Macchi C.205
The aircraft is from 360ª Squadriglia, (155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo), Monserrato Airfield in Sardinia, summer of '43. As usual, being a Hasegawa kit the build went smoothly up to the installation of the main landing gear. The square mounting pegs on the struts needed to be filed down, the retraction strut had to be threaded through some tubing on the airframe to a small hole on the wing spar and then attached to a small pin on the strut. The inner gear door is flush mounted to the fuselage and then the retraction arm is attached to the wing spar and a very small hole in the gear door. I'm building the Italeri reboxing of this kit and I'm at this stage now so I'll report later if this is a recurring problem. I would love to tell you that I painted the smoke rings but the are decals from the Italeri kit. I whole heartedly applaud Italeri for doing this. There is a large amount of clear decal film in the center of the decals and I was worried about silvering but this was minimal; I think I had to fix maybe less than 10 of the close to 100 smoke rings. The rest of the markings are from the Hasegawa kit and they weren't very good as they are fairly old and lacked a lot of adhesion.
Beautiful, George. Beautiful. That's a LOT of decaling.
Thanks very much David, darn near drove me nuts. Every smoke ring had to be poke and prodded for several minutes to remove any trapped air. I could only do 4-5 before I had to walk away for a bit
Turned out really well, George...I like it.
Thanks Craig
One beautiful build, looks great! I recently did an old Supermodel 202 using Print scales smoke ring sheet 1/72,I wouldn't have attempted it without. Woof woof!
Thank you Robert. I tried to find Mike Grant decals at a reasonable price but I'm sure glad the other kit came with them...
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Great looking aircraft and scheme George. Lovely work!
Thank you very much David
Nice build George, this color scheme is so typical for The Desert Campaign! Nothing wrong with Italeri kits they invite you to do some scratchwork which adds to the creativity of the build. Kudos!
Thanks Michel. Though I've built 50+ models, I've only built 2 Italeri kits. Sad thing is they are reboxed from other kit makers
George, this is a wonderful build! I think the decals are a mixed blessing. If someone has the airbrush AND the skills, they might prefer to do the markings in paint. If not, the decals are there for use. It is a nice kit and a beautiful finished airplane.
Thanks Jeff and I totally agree. However, as a newbie to airbrushing this was my only option. I'll shortly be posting the Italeri rebox of this kit. Just the little bits to add. This one will have my first attempt at Luftwaffe type mottles
1st prize to George !
Very much appreciated Phil
Outstanding job George ! The MC 205 is one of the most beautiful planes to emerge from WW2. It's right up there with the Spitfire and the Ki-61 Hien as far as I am concerned. Yours really looks great too. I'll bet you're pleased that the smoke ring decals came with the kit. I've never tried to airbrush them before but I'm sure that it's not easy.
Thanks for sharing this one with us.
Thank you Louis. At this stage of my neophytic step into airbrushing there is no way I would attempt this though I have seen others do it and their work is outstanding. These decals are very skookum and held up to my abuse of forcing the air out. One even folded over on me: took some work to get it off the model, into water and unfold it but there was no damage. On the other hand, with a coat of Polyscale Softener I had no problem getting them to go around some pretty tricky bends...note the 3 intakes on the cowling
I just noticed the cowls after you mentioned them ! Wow that is some complex curves to work a decal around... You did a fantastic job with this. 🙂
George, beautiful build!
Thank you very much Bernard
Hi George. You did an awesome job on one of the best looking Italian fighters of WW II. The smoke ring camo takes lots of practice to get right with an airbrush. Your decals look painted on! Congrats on an awesome build.
Thanks Morne. It was hard to get a good photo but the decals actually look like spray paint, a bit harsh in the close-up
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Hi George outstanding finish on the Mc.205. I built the Veltro couple of years ago, it was the Hasegawa kit, and I almost got the Mark Grant smoke rings, I just couldn't get past the cost. So I painted the smoke rings. Took a couple of hours. Started at the nose and worked my way back. The most frustrating part was the clogging of the tip just as you get on a groove. I was so gassed once the process was finished. Didn't realized I was holding my breath the whole time. In hindsight if I were to do it again, I would paint them on, as I came to the conclusion that laying them down as decals, that process would take forever as you encountered. Regardless patience won over and it shows. Excellent finish thanks for sharing.
Thanks Chuck. Hopefully my airbrushing will get good enough to try doing my own. There are a lot of unique camouflage schemes out there that I would love to do once I get better
Nice job George, and by golly those decals do look like they're sprayed on. Well done buddy.
Thank you Tom
Good stuff George. Always liked the Macchi fighters.
Thanks Anthony an I agree. I did a C.200 as a nightfighter and I am one hour away from completing another C.205 in Luftwaffe colors. I also want to build a C.202 in "captured" RAF markings
Good stuff. You cant have too many Macchis.
WOW, nice job on a unique aircraft. The decals look good, never would of known these are decals. What is the detail like in the cockpit? Does it have a full engine?
Many thanks Paul. The interior isn't too bad out of the box and the canopy is closed. I did add an Eduard P.E. Italian seat harness. If you can find a way to pose the canopy open I believe there are after market sets. No engine or wheel well details other than a couple of hoses and what I believe are engine bearers. As you know, the wheel wells are festooned with pipes and hoses and there is a resin aftermarket set to represent tis
George,
I think this is a beautifully done example of your skills.
Thank you very much Frank
Great work George! It's good to see that Italeri provided the smoke rings as decals. The effect is fantastic. Very well done.
Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Ferry
Nice work on this. The end result looks very good.
Painting smoke rings is not a big deal. Modelers are confused that they're supposed to be neatly done, so they opt for decals. Looking at photos though, they're the opposite of neatly done, so what modelers think is a "failure" is actually success.
Thank you very much Tom. I totally agree with you. I've only been using an airbrush for about a year and a half(Don't ask how many years I owned it before I got brave enough) but slowly I'm figuring out mixtures and air pressures. I am confident enough now to paint fuselage and wing stripes. Larger mottles are less scarier now as well. Smokes rings...one day
Excellent build! I had no idea you could get decals for smoke rings, especially at 1/72. Years ago I did a 202 in 1/72 and hand-painted the smoke rings. I've got a 205 in the stash to build, and may look for decals next go!
Thanks Greg. Tauro makes a sheet for 1:72. It looks like you could do about 2-3 kits.
https://www.squadron.com/1-72-Tauro-Italian-Camouflage-Macchi-Smoke-Rings-p/tu72453.htm
Well, I too would never have guessed they were decals! Well done on a painstaking effort! Beautifully done!
Thank you Paul
Your Macchi looks great, who cares if they are decals or are painted on, it's the final result that counts.
Thanks George