Time to remove the plastic and pop the lid on Italeri's little Macchi.
With the lid removed the first item that comes to view are the decals and instruction manual/sheet.
The Italeri instruction booklet is written in several languages, a bit of history of the Saetta, parts map and paint guide.
A step by step assembly process starts with the seat and cockpit. Nice and clear and seems accurate in parts assembly.
4 paint schemes are offered in the kit, all quite colorful and interesting, all Italian Air Force in Europe. I will be doing the 2nd scheme.
The decal sheet looks in register, thin decals. not bad
The kit only has 2 sprues, don't look like a lot of parts, yet like Hasegawa and Tamiya, enought details to make the cockpit look busy with the include PE parts which is a nice touch and surprise by Italeri.
The 1st sprue contains the fuselage halves, engine components, landing gear struts and doors, cockpit floor, interior side panels, and engine cowlings.
Italeri can be hit or miss, this one is a bit of hit and really simple. Italeri is not big on parts, but enough to build a decent model of the Saetta. The fuselage halve are engraved panel lines and rivets, well defined not deep or shallow.
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1. Nice engraved panel lines
2. louvered panels
The engine cowling are made up of four parts, with the distinctive tear drop blisters.
The prop looks correct, though I am not an expert but looks very close to what I have seen in photos, Like there is a MC 200 Saetta around here to walk around and inspect.
The engines are really nice. The cylinder heads show nice cooling fin detail, crank case, pushroad as well.
10 additional images. Click to enlarge.
