ICM 1/32 Fiat CR.42 Falco

stona

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I've finally got round to this one having been derailed by the Special Hobby Whirlwind.

IMG_2589.JPG

I've had a peek in the box and there's one bag with six sprues of what looks like nicely formed grey plastic and one with the clear parts.

There's a sheet of basic decals which I think are made by ICM. I have no idea what they will be like, they are well enough printed.

The instructions seem okay, but I'm not very familiar with ICM and can only reference them to other manufacturers.

Pet peeve again, there is no seat harness included. At this scale, in an open cockpit, I find that a bit odd. I now have to source one of the strange Italian bondage harnesses in 1/32 scale. from somewhere. I remember Eduard do or did one, but I bet it will add at least 15 quid to the price of the model, which is a bit steep!

Anyway, onwards and upwards, starting this weekend with a bit of luck.
 

papa 695

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Nice one Steve, I’ve built a few ICM kits, they go together very nicely and no problem with the decals. The only problem I had was the removing of the very small/ thin parts attached to the spruce. Just some care and gentle sanding should do the trick.
 

Mark1

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I just bought the seat harness for my icm gloster gladiator 1.32 off eBay for about 7 quid and free postage. And cockpit detail set for just under a tenner, both off same seller,buy 2 items and got a couple quid discount. :thumb2:
 

stona

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Unfortunately, the Italian ones are harder to find.
So far I've found that Eduard still do the right one, but that will cost better than fifteen quid with postage. Hopefully I'll find one closer to home (than the Czech Republic) but if not I'll bite the bullet.
 

BarryW

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Steve. Kits World do a set of Italian fighter seatbelts as 3D Decals. These are far better than etch seatbelts. Try Google.
 

stona

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Thanks chaps!

I'll get the steel ones and try to find the decals as well. One or the other can go in the spares box.

I used some steel ones in the G.50 and they were okay, but like Barry, they would not normally be a first choice.

Edit: Done, both for less than one set from Eduard
 
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Steve-the-Duck

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Right, don't want to miss this one - in part to compare and contrast with my Silver Wings job
Hey, who knew there would be an INJECTION kit of a CR42 in 1/32nd EVER!
 

Steve-the-Duck

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Hey Steve, hope you get some use out of this lot
cr42 cockpit1 002.jpg

gunsight 001.jpg
cr42 panel 001.jpg
cr42 interiors 001.jpg
Starboard side
cr42 interiors 002.jpg
port side
cr42 interiors 003.jpg
Throttle detail
There may be some useful detail on my Silver Wings instruction sheet for interior details - I can scan that too if you like
 
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stona

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What can I say!

Thank you very much indeed. Those will be most useful, I don't have anything on Italian aircraft myself, other than what I can find online. They are a bit of a diversion for me, but are proving very interesting indeed.
 

stona

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I have made a start on this kit. It's slow going for reasons which have nothing to do with the kit itself!

There's not much to show yet, but I can say that the moulding of the parts is nice with minimal clean up required. Also the fit and engineering of the parts I have done has been very nice, rather more precise than the Special Hobby Whirlwind :smiling3:

There are a lot of finely moulded tubular structures in the cockpit, and you need to be careful separating these, the fine plastic is quite brittle.
 

Jim R

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Hi Steve
I always imagine that biplanes were WW1 aircraft but this was developed in the 1930s - shows what I know :rolling: . Look forward to your build. Glad you sorted the seat harness without too much expense.
Jim
 

Dave Ward

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Marmaduke ( Pat ) Pattle - A South African flying in the RAF in WWII downed 15 planes, whilst flying a Gloster Gladiator - 14 of which were Fiat CR 42's! It's believed he was the highest scoring RAF ace of WWII, will over 60 'kills' - his fighting was over N.Africa & Greece, and Squadron records were incomplete & patchy. Most of his victories were on a Hurricane, he was killed in combat in April 1941 - Strangely his story isn't that well known..............
Dave
ps Fiat CR 42s also took part in the Battle of Britain & one came down in England!
 

Steve-the-Duck

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Two CR42s came down in Norfolk, both on 11 November 1940 - 95-13 Flown by Sergente Salvatori, later flown by the RAF as BT 474 and now in Hendon, and 85-16 flown by Sergente Lazzari, but that was more of a wreck
We've discussed them quite a bit on Steve's completed G50 thread
I've also got some photos of two other extant CR42s; the one in Vigna de Valle museum outside Rome, and the one being restored to fly at Duxford. The latter was supposed to be up in the air last year...
But we all know how THAT went

BTW the latest issue of Scale Aircraft Modelling has a build review of the Special Hobby Whirlinsd, plus photos and colour profiles
 

stona

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Here's a bit of construction.

The tubular structure comes in many parts and the fit is very good indeed, which augurs well for the rest of the kit.

I've yet to try this in the fuselage, but it looks like it should fit okay.

IMG_2592.JPG

The instrument decals come as individual dials, which is an excellent solution if you are going to use decals, so well done ICM. Obviously it involves a bit more fiddling. I always set them of a drop of Klear (other varnishes are available) which settles them down nicely.
 

Tim Marlow

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Good start Steve. Amazing how Spartan that cockpit looks compared to aircraft of only a year or two later isn’t it…
 
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