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roger fabrocini
21 articles

S.B.S. Models 1:72 Macchi Mc72 "world Speed record"

October 1, 2019 · in Aviation · · 19 · 2.9K

i do apologize for no in progress pics, but in truth there was nothing of interest to report. i have to say these were some of the finest resin moldings i've ever worked with. the cowling and surface radiators are exquisite.

Fit was excellent, especially the float supports. there was zero trouble attaching the floats to the fuselage.

interior is well detailed, what can be seen, with P.E. for the I.P., belts and control levers.

Fuselage, wings and tail surfaces were assembled separate from the floats, which were assembled with their supports, all to ease painting.

my main interest was to depict the surface radiators with more depth then i see in many other builds. they are usually shown as a monochromatic brass color. first step was to prime with Mr. Color Finishing surfacer 1500 black. the radiators were masked off then the airframe was painted with Tamiya Rattle-can lacquer gloss "Italian Red", decanted into my airbrush.

Once dry the masks were removed from the radiators, then i masked around them. i first drybrushed Mr. Metal Color Aluminum, followed by Mr. Metal Color Brass. Lastly i did a light drybrushing with Humbrol copper. i was quite happy with the results. The front cowling is Mr. Metal color brass and the prop is alclad aluminum. no clear coat was used. Decals were applied, some panel lines were picked out with a black-brown artist oil wash.

once assembled i used S.B.S models P.E. rigging set. the one problem i encountered was with the rigging. After rigging the Macchi on a hot night here in Montrose California i awoke the next morning to find the top wing rigging sagged. the only thing i can think if that when the resin cooled the distance between the wings and fuselage decreased. sure enough, after placing the Macchi in the sun the P.E. rigging lost it's sag

S.B.S models Loire 210 is being produced soon and i'll definitely be purchasing that one.

Reader reactions:
9  Awesome

10 additional images. Click to enlarge.


19 responses

  1. Great looking model of a really interesting and cool record-holder, Roger!

  2. Remarkable is the word that comes to my mind, I really like the way your Macchi looks. It was an handsome hydroplane and your model does full justice to him. Congrats

  3. Great looking build. The radiators appear very natural and in scale. The bracing is spot on as well.

  4. Does the kit come with the beaching dolly?

  5. Fine build of a cool aircraft. The double shot makes me think about Porco Rosso and Curtiss-

  6. Very nice indeed, sir...great work !

  7. Roger. She looks fast just sitting there, and it looks very nice too ! Well done !
    I

  8. Lovely build, very nice indeed.

  9. A beautiful plane, an excellent kit and your attention to metal details helped to obtain a very realistic model!
    Really enjoyed the pictures and also appreciated the lesson you gave us: it is better to rig a resin model in cold weather...

  10. Another fantastic Fabrocini masterpiece.

  11. That's a fantastic build! Looks just perfect!

  12. That is a massive cooling area - and well done! And with that description of the ease of construction, I really have no excuse not to get startet on one of the many SBS kits in my stash. .

    If I may be the one to come with just a tiny criticism; you have "tamiya" as a tag! And really - that is all there is to mention on this nice build.

  13. 🙂 … Greetings … 🙂 :
    A clean and sharp build Erik, your rigging is very well done and the glossy paint job is just very convincing in a way that it is not overly done, very nice contrast between the gloss and the flat, thanks for sharing these images.

  14. Great build. I have the SBS kit in the stash, but looking at this result, I may well move to the top of the pile 🙂

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