ITALERI 1:72 FIAT CR.42 FALCO
'INBOX Review'

 

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf (rec.models.scale)   

Kit Details

History

The CR.42 was designed when most other airforces had already turned their attention to monoplanes. First flown in 1938, the Falco showed excellent flight characteristics. Although early in the war it was able to score quite a few successes, it soon became painfully obvious that the days of the fixed wheel biplane fighter where over. The Falco was too slow and too lightly armed to be affective against more modern planes. In the hands of a capable pilot it could still be a dangerous opponent because of its exceptional maneuverability. Even though outclassed, it remained in service throughout the war. Most where relegated to fighter-bomber and night fighter squadrons as the war progressed. Besides being used by the Regia Aeronautica, it was also exported to Belgium, Sweden and Hungary. The CR.42 remained in production up to 1944 and about 1800 machines where built.

The kit

The kit comes in a flimsy end-opening box typical for Italeri.  In the box you will find 2 light grey sprues, and a separately packed clear sprue. Details are crisp, but the ribs on the wings are a bit too pronounced to my liking. This can easily cured by sanding it down a bit. There are no sink marks or ejector pin marks in visible places. There is only a hint of flash here and there. You get plenty of options:

These options take care of virtually every version of the Falco. The instruction sheet consists of a brief history, a parts location diagram, 11 construction diagrams that clearly show which parts are needed for each version and 6 four view camouflage drawings. The decal sheet looks very good. It is sharply printed, without registry problems and with little or no excess decal film. To conclude the contents of the box, there is a 46 page A5 size booklet. This is an extremely helpful addition to the kit. It contains a more detailed history of the Falco, technical details in the form of excerpts from the maintenance manuals, a very detailed walk around of the recently completed and beautifully restored/rebuilt example in the Museo storico dell’Aeronatica and finally 9 colour profiles (6 of which are featured in the kit). In all 11 b/w, 56 colour photo’s and 19 drawings are included. 

Accuracy

I can be very short here; the dimensions are spot on, shapes and contours compare very well with photographs and the kit follows the scale drawings in Ali e colori #1 very accurately.

Construction 

As indicated by the high parts count, this is a very detailed kit. The cockpit is made up of 9 parts. It includes sidewall and structural details. The instrument panel and the side panel are supplied as decals. Sadly the decals are larger than their respective panel, so some of the dials will need to be trimmed of to make them fit. Once the fuselage is closed the gun deck and bottom wings are added. Next the top wing is glued on connected by no less than 12 struts. The cowling/engine is made up of 8 parts. The engine is very detailed for this scale and with very little effort the cowling can be displayed open to show the engine. You have 4 options for the under carriage (3 shown in the drawings). The last step is to add the armament of your choice and the remaining small external details. Note that there is an error in the instructions in step 5. Only decal option F (Luftwaffe) needs the intake with dust filter (part 19A) all the others have the straight intake (20A).

Painting and Decals

Painting details are given in generic terms, Model Master numbers and where possible an FS match. There are no less than 6 decal options:

-          RA 162sqd, 161GA based at Maritsa on Rhodes 1941. This machine is painted in sand over grey with a brown and green mottle; it has a yellow cowling and white identification band around the rear fuselage.

-          RA 367sqd, 151 gruppo 53 stormo based at Cameri in ’39. Same camo as the first option but with denser mottle and a tricilore on the rudder. This machine carries two bombs.

-          RA 377sqd A.C.N. based at Palermo Boccadifalco in 1942. This machine has the long exhausts and is painted all black with a white identification band around the rear fuselage.

-          RA 300sqd G.A.C.N. based at Ciampino in 1942. This is a CR.42CN. Camouflage is the same as version one but the top of the cowling is black, as are the undersides of the upper wing.

-          Swedish airforce F9 wing based at Kiruna in 1942. This machine is fitted with skis. Camo is the same as the second option but it has been over painted with white that has partly worn away. The drawing is a bit confusing as it shows the id number (12) on the cowling as well as on the tail. This is actually an option. It can be put either on the cowling or on the tail, not both.

-          Luftwaffe JG/107 based at Nancy-Essay (France) in 1944. This machine is painted in olive-green over light grey with large brown blotches. It has a yellow id band around the rear fuselage.

Conclusion

If you want a CR.42 this is the kit to get! It is a bit more expensive than I am used to from Italeri, but this is easily explained with the presence of the booklet. Aftermarket companies will be hard pressed to find anything to add/better on this kit. And the inclusion of a photo booklet makes the purchase of additional reference material unnecessary. It is cheaper and will be easier to build as the available short run kits, and is much more accurate than the old Revell kit. In short: this kit is excellent value for money. I hope it will do very well for Italeri. If it catches on there maybe more kits with reference material included.

References

 

 

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