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Fiat G-55 Centauro ; Special Hobby 1/72


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Here's my progress so far on the Sp. Hobby G-55. Typical short-run albeit a good quality one with rather good fit which is becoming the norm on recent MPM group's offerings. Waayy better than that Pavla Cr-42 I had to build for Nightfighter GB (Yes I completed that one! :salute:, stay tuned for review on ARC), that must have given me a load of experience, let's see how I can do with this one.

The resin cockpit is nicely detailed and shows great similarity with the arrangement found inside the recently restored G-55 (originally built from a G-59) of the Vigna di Valle Italian AF museum.

http://www.ams.vr.it/AircWalkAround/Museo%...AT_G.55_127.JPG

I simply added some handles made with pressed copper wire and a small dip of liquid mask at the tip.

Then painted overall Anticorrozione green from Lifecolor acrylics. Everything fitted without fuss, just a bit of care that's all.

G55Panel.jpg

G55cockpitleft.jpg

G55Right.jpg

Some plain glamour shots just to show off the lines of that really elegant aircraft.

G-55.jpg

g-552.jpg

I love the dark green G-55s but I'll go instead for a more colourful Fiat, so markings will be for the the popular black seven of Lt.(Ivan?) Drago, the tricolor splinter camouflaged Centauro.

123_19.jpg

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I thought the G.55 had a fully enclosed cockpit? I thought they faired over the openings by the head rest?

P.S. Nice build! Saw this at the LHS this weekend. They wanted almost $50 for it, so I put it back on the shelf.

Edited by Mark M.
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  • 2 weeks later...

Greetings to all,

update on this work :

Some scratchbuilt air scoops and fairings have been added along with the fiddly resin ones supplied.

G-55bumps.jpg

the resin exhausts are well cast and fit without much trouble. Covers were designed with acetate strips (these could have been done with 0.05 plastic card too.)

G-55exhausts.jpg

In the same fashion, as some of the air vents featured on the G-55 lower cowling aren't too well represented, these were added with the help of acetate strips. I still feel the opening now looks a little wide as the real one was pretty much narrower and more subtle but heck, it's better than nothing :coolio: .

collage2.jpg

The very thick radiator outlet door was left out in favor of a brass piece cut to the same specs.

collage1.jpg

two vacform canopies are supplied, I guess they're made of styrene as they're pretty easy to handle, sand off easy. While Special Hobby did a great job in capturing the elusive lines of the Centauro, there's still something that doesn't look quite right. The extra area indicated here doesn't correspond to the plans and pictures I've seen. As a result, this makes the canopy sits too high and in a sense, ruins the overall profile look. Now is a little bit too late to correct completely, but careful trimming of both lower canopy and cockpit edges can make this look more acceptable.

G-55window.jpg

26-1.jpg

that's it for now, just have to mask and fix the canopy and it's about ready for painting, I'll get back to you as soon as this gets done (or started). Thanks for watching!

Edited by Victor R
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  • 1 month later...

Here again after a rather long hiatus!

Paintwork has been achieved after hours of work but at the end, I'm pretty much satisfied with it at last.

The scheme was mostly inspired from F. D'amico and G.Valentini's book on ANR camouflage and markings rather than the instructions.

Coulours used were Lifecolor's mimetic yellow 3 (UA080) and green 1 (UA115), "graveyard Earth" with a touch of "scorched brown" from Citadel acrylics were used for marrone mimetico 1.

G-55paint6.jpg

G-55paint4.jpg

G-55paint5.jpg

Oddly enough, despite Special Hobby's good effort on shapes and dimensions accuracy, they left out several items (antennas, fairings, gunsight, etc) most notably that venturi or DF loop antenna thingee behind the radiator. Mine came from Supermodel's centauro that at least got that right.

loop1.jpg

Decaling is in progress right now, with two weeks left, I sure hope this one will make it on time :) .

Edited by Victor R
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Here it is! My first group build truly finished before the deadline.

The Special Hobby kit wasn't that difficult actually, just that it could have included those numerous stuff I had to add such as the gunsight, some antennas and pilot's headrest. At least I'm pretty satisfied with the look of that canopy, the part that isn't that accurate (not large enough). Decals went on very well but they remind of those found in Academy kits. The model was sealed with a mix of Pollyscale Flat and satin for an "eggshell" sort of surface.

Here are some glamour shots of that elegant bird, hope you like :

G-551.jpg

G-5513.jpg

G-558.jpg

G-557.jpg

G-556.jpg

G-5511.jpg

G-5510.jpg

G-555.jpg

G-552-1.jpg

Edited by Victor R
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