Neil Merryweather
SMF Supporter
Well I finally finished it, and it only took me 3 years!
This was a favour for a work colleague, whose husband's grandfather flew the plane in 1933, on a famous transatlantic crossing from Orbetello in Italy to the World Fair in Chicago.
The leader of the expedition , which was made up of 24 Aircraft, was Italo Balbo ,the chief of the Italian Air Force, and this is the event that gave rise to the term 'Balbo', meaning a mass flypast.
The kit itself was by Delta, long out of production. It was an e-bay purchase which had already been half started and sprayed, so I had quite a bit of remedial work to do before getting anywhere. I blogged the build on Military Modelling, it was my first ever blog, but I wanted my colleague to understand what she had asked of me, and to know that progress was being made,however slowly.... it also helped to keep me focused as the encouragement was fantastic.
I spent a lot of time wrestling with detail in the cockpit ,using an etched set that the husband had found, and of course you can't see ANY of it!
Still, he knows it's there because it was in the blog.
I am particularly pleased with the rigging, which I was dreading. I found some rubber stuff 0.2mm thick made by MIG and it worked like a dream!
So this is the specific plane flown by Capitano Luigi Questa in 1933
This was a favour for a work colleague, whose husband's grandfather flew the plane in 1933, on a famous transatlantic crossing from Orbetello in Italy to the World Fair in Chicago.
The leader of the expedition , which was made up of 24 Aircraft, was Italo Balbo ,the chief of the Italian Air Force, and this is the event that gave rise to the term 'Balbo', meaning a mass flypast.
The kit itself was by Delta, long out of production. It was an e-bay purchase which had already been half started and sprayed, so I had quite a bit of remedial work to do before getting anywhere. I blogged the build on Military Modelling, it was my first ever blog, but I wanted my colleague to understand what she had asked of me, and to know that progress was being made,however slowly.... it also helped to keep me focused as the encouragement was fantastic.
I spent a lot of time wrestling with detail in the cockpit ,using an etched set that the husband had found, and of course you can't see ANY of it!
Still, he knows it's there because it was in the blog.
I am particularly pleased with the rigging, which I was dreading. I found some rubber stuff 0.2mm thick made by MIG and it worked like a dream!
So this is the specific plane flown by Capitano Luigi Questa in 1933
Your colleague is now one proud owner.
.