Manufacturer: Craftworks Inc.
Scale:1/32
Aircraft: Macchi C.200 Saetta (all versions).
Decals: Very comprehensive (but not all are usable).
Medium: Main components are in resin with white metal and brass etch detail parts. Vac form canopy for Series 1 version only.
Pros: Nicely detailed parts and some well engraved surface detail.
Cons: Outline/Shape errors on a variety of parts and poor research in other areas.

Intro:
The C.200 was Macchi's first monoplane fighter design. The portly fuselage was so shaped to enable the pilot to get an optimum view over the radial engine. One of their main gripes was the enclosed canopy, which was changed to the more familiar style after the first batch had entered service. Fine for desert conditions, but certainly not for the Russian front! The first squadriglia to receive them passed them to another, as they still favoured their extremely nimble, but hopelessly outclassed Cr.42's! There were various versions of the C.200, but the basic specification remained unchanged throughout its service life.

The Kit:
Craftworks are a small part-time company run by enthusiasts. This kit was bought from M.Marsan, who did the painting on the box lid. Apparently, part of the payment was a batch of C.200 kits! It has an impressive amount of parts. Check them thoroughly, as the propeller blades were missing in this instance, although to their credit Craftworks sent replacements fairly quickly. There are lots of small bags all containing delicately moulded white metal and resin parts, as well as some brass-etch sheets. The large variety of decals give you a wide choice of camouflage schemes to choose from. The main components appear very well moulded and some of the surface engraving is extremely fine and accurately done. However, Craftworks have standardised on parts between the C.200 and C.202/205 kits and some errors have crept in, more of which later.

This kit comes with parts to allow you to model all versions, including the Series 1 aircraft. A bit of surgery is required on the fuselage to do this, i.e. the removal of the cockpit fairing and the addition of canopy rails. The Series 1 also had a retractable tail wheel for which doors will have to be scratchbuilt. The rudder will also need modifying as it did not have a mass balance, although some were retro-fitted. On the very early models (first 25) the undercarriage doors were different and the cowling bulges were all the same. If you wanted to model a desert variant, you will have to scratchbuild the filter that was placed under the carburettor intake (this should be a easy job). There are also parts supplied to create a light bomber version. The cockpit detail is probably the best feature of this kit.

Construction:
No doubt, that in order to keep costs down, Craftworks standardised some of the parts with the C.202 kit. This is only natural, but errors have crept in as a result. In order to carry out ALL the corrections it is essential you have a good set of plans, either from Ali D'Italia or Aero Detail, that are 150% enlarged. The errors are outlined below with a brief description of the remedial action you will need to take.

1. Wheel wells

Existing C.200 museum aircraft show a completely different wheel well layout to the one on the Craftworks model, which appears to be based on a C.202 late series. These had covers to hide the spaghetti of tubes wires etc. that were clearly visible on most aircraft. In order to correct this, you will need to carve out the inside of the nose (and the wheel wells on the wing) and scratchbuild as much of the missing detail as possible. This includes part of the tubular framework and the inner wheel well door support, plus the wires, tubing etc. in and around it. The effort will be worth it, as it will look impressive once its done. There are lots of museum shots in the Aerodetail book to help you.

2. Wing

One aerodynamic feature the Saetta had was a fairly sharp leading edge to the wings (to increase airspeed). The model does not feature this. You will need to re-profile the leading edge with lots of scraping, sanding etc. Another correction to do is to add some thickness to the front third section of the wing fillet with Milliput, as Craftworks have not captured the lines in this area very well. I used plans and photo references to help me. You will also need to extend the trailing edge of the rear fillet. I cut small sickle-shaped plasticard pieces and superglued them on to the edge of the existing part and faired it in with Milliput. The wing tips have slight outline errors which were treated in the same manner. All the the panel lines lost during this process were re-scribed.

3. Cockpit headrest fairing.

Craftworks have made an huge error here. They have used a C.202/205 type fairing, whereas the C.200's were totally different. Use Milliput to build the shape up and sand to the correct profile. Again any panel lines lost will need to be rescribed.

4. Tail surfaces (fin and rudder assembly).

All the tail surfaces need correcting. The fin & rudder are much too big (and in the wrong place). Saw off the fin and re-profile, along with the rudder, using the plans and superglue them back on the fuselage in the right place. Use filler to smooth the join. The horizontal tail surfaces need re-profiling and their leading edges sharpened, as they are too blunt. All the control surfaces have vastly overscale (and not terribly well done) fabric detail. It is barely discernable on the real aircraft, so sand it all off. By doing this, a more scale like thickness can be achieved and will improve its appearance no end. The hinge covers are missing. These will need to be added yourself, using small rectangles of plasticard. The Craftworks C.202 kit has brass etch hinge covers, so why didn't the C.200 kit have them?

6. Undercarriage.

The legs are very sturdy and the doors in particular are nicely done, using a mass of etch brass that gave a good scale thickness. Unfortunately, the doors are C.202 versions. Make up new doors with plasticard if you wish, remembering that they curved inwards toward the front. Craftworks have supplied a C.202 style tail wheel, which you will need to adapt. 

7. Canopy

8. Cowling

The aperture of the brass oil cooler around the front of the cowling is too small. You can see by comparing with photos how far out it is. Carefully enlarge the opening. This will mean that you will no longer be able to use the etch-brass formers designed to fit around the inside. Make up new ones with plasticard.

9. Fuselage

The bottom of the fuselage is another problem area. The side view plans shows that the base of the fuselage has a curve from the tail to the back of the wheel well that is fairly constant. If you view the model from the side you will notice that it does not match. I scraped away the area around the back of the wheel well and built up the area around the rear wing until a smooth line was achieved. The strange ribbed fuselage panels that Craftworks have modelled looks odd. Photos show a very smooth finish, so I would recommend reducing the effect with judicious sanding. The machine gun troughs need a bit of filler added, as they are too big. I filled them completely and pushed a rod of the right diameter into the filler to get the right shape. The machine guns are white metal and have brass etch cowls that work very well.

Painting & Decals:
Despite the impressive array of decals, not all are usable as the set is same as the one supplied in the C.202/205 Craftworks kit. The problems are as follows.

1. Not all numbers are correct. The white numerals are for outlining the red or black numerals and therefore cannot be used on their own.
2. Wing fasces are not 100% accurate. The circular border is too thin and the fasces inside are too small.
3. The Savoy crest for the rudder is too small and has insufficient detail. I have seen better ones in 1/72 scale!
4. Some of the unit badges are the wrong size for the C.200, maybe because they were sized for C.202 kit.
5. Fuselage fasces also have poor detail.

After careful research, I decided on a 168 Squadriglia aircraft. This had the "Tigers Head" Gruppo emblem and the early Continental camouflage of Verde Mimetico, with Bruno Mimetico mottles edged with Giallio Mimetico. Photos seem to indicate very little weathering. References show that some C.200's from this unit had the cut-back side canopy. One reason for choosing this scheme was that the decals were usable for this aircraft. As for the Savoy Crest and the fuselage Fasces, I would just have to try and paint in some of the missing detail or make new decals using a computer and inkjet decal paper. I was tempted with a heavily weathered desert camouflaged "Gigi Tre Osei" version, which had no side canopy at all, until I discovered I could not use the decals supplied. Another possibility is a Russian front camouflaged aircraft, which had the Scarecrow insignia. Both of these schemes had the added advantage of not needing the Savoy Crest or the fuselage Fasces, depending on the actual aircraft portrayed. Again, check references.

Summary:
I would only recommend this model to those who are willing to spend time correcting all its various faults. If the truth be told, most of the alterations were fairly easy to do, apart from the wheel well, and now it looks great. The SAMI review for this kit suggested that this kit is not for the faint-hearted and I agree with them entirely!