GROUND ATTACK GB

Interior details before closing her up:




All kinds of room on the fuselage underside, so I ignored the suggested assembly sequence, got the fuselage halves mated up & cleaned up, then dropped the cockpit and instrument panel in from underneath. (that much less opportunity for sanding dust etc to get inside the office!) Dry-fit the glass, all seems good there.


So… how small are these 1/72 kits?? Italian coinage for scale!






Cockpit in place & sealed up. As good as the detail is, there is likely room for more detail to be added. That being said, the cockpit opening is NOT all that big, and the sidewalls bulge out, hard to see much in there.


Tiniest of steps at the rear fuselage-to-wing join, will need a little putty.


Everything dry-fit really well so I assembled the wings, then added the assembled fuselage. Seemed a little tight, so I sanded out the fuselage portion a touch, changed the arc to better fit the join at the wing.


A little touchup to the rear control surfaces & I'll be ready for primer.

Need to do some math & measuring. The bomb seems a touch large to me now that it is sitting side-by-side with the assembled model.

Vance,

That bomb looks like a 1500 pounder.

Yep, I was eye-balling out of the stash - now that it's sitting BESIDE that machine, looks a little hefty.  :(

Of course, my reference is saying 650kg for the centerline, that's 1400 pounds & change... I need to find some pics of this machine bombed-up.

Check out that link. It might show something.

Can't see the link you've mentioned modelcrazy! References are always appreciated, this machine seemed to pose for a lot of photos WITHOUT its payload.

Vance,

Here you go, try this. I'm not sure if it will help but It's my go to site for everything Regia Aeronautica and the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.

http://www.stormomagazine.com/

modelcrazy

Vance,

Here you go, try this. I'm not sure if it will help but It's my go to site for everything Regia Aeronautica and the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana.

http://www.stormomagazine.com/

Ahhh - NICE! I do remember having spotted this site ages ago, had completely forgotten about it. Makes me wonder what else I've forgotten?? Thanks!

Yeah, I totally agree with you guys, that bomb may be too big eh? That poor plane would suffer to get that sucker off the ground!!

Rob S.

Yeah, I totally agree with you guys, that bomb may be too big eh? That poor plane would suffer to get that sucker off the ground!!

Yes, I believe you are correct sir!! I'll be digging though the stash this evening for something smaller to sling underneath. I may end up modifying a German bomb from a -109, I know I have some, and rolling some styrene or tin for the Italian-style stabilizer.

Theuns

Here is my entry, a 1/48 Italeri Impala Mk2 (SA built Aermachi MB 326k)  used very extensively by the South African Air Force during the ANgolan Bush war for close ground support and COIN ops.

Ity will basically be out the box except for replacing the incorrect kit decals ansd using a rezin bangseat.

It will be hard to "take shortcuts" with this build as quite a few of my fellow IPMS mates actually flew these and at the place we meet there is a full size one of there no more than 30m away! LOL

Theuns

Leave it to Theuns to find something a little off the beaten track!  :P

Love it Theuns!

Not gonna lie, had to Wiki this one...handsome looking aircraft. Nice and different. Good Choice, Theuns

Dang, I almost forgot about this one :-(

If we have time left for this GB after the MOY madness end of this monh I will tackle this one again.

Theuns

Alright, the over-sized bomb has been returned to the armoury, to be replaced by this 500-pounder leftover from a FW-190 D iirc. (looks bigger than it really is, sitting where it is.) I'm going on the theory that the Italians had access to some German ordnance? I'm also going on the "it looks like a bomb to me" method.

Also drilled out the wing gun-ports as they were just barely visible dimples. Then I spent a good 30 minutes trying to figure out the cowling guns. The kit supplies two TINY little slices of plastic to add where those MGs go, but they are hardly visible, and certainly don't look like a muzzle is poking out. Think I need to do a little drilling, add some thin brass rod.

Theuns

Dang, I almost forgot about this one :-(

That's OK. Matt is not around right now so we are just carrying it on for him. I'm not sure when the end date is.

VanceCrozier

I'm going on the theory that the Italians had access to some German ordnance?

Absolutely, If the Italians also flew 109's then they had access to their ordnance as well.

Steve

modelcrazy

Theuns

Dang, I almost forgot about this one :-(

That's OK. Matt is not around right now so we are just carrying it on for him. I'm not sure when the end date is.

I just had a look at the front page - June 24, 2015 is the original deadline.

VanceCrozier

modelcrazy

Theuns

Dang, I almost forgot about this one :-(

That's OK. Matt is not around right now so we are just carrying it on for him. I'm not sure when the end date is.

I just had a look at the front page - June 24, 2015 is the original deadline.

OK, For some reason I couldn't find it  

modelcrazy

VanceCrozier

modelcrazy

Theuns

Dang, I almost forgot about this one :-(

That's OK. Matt is not around right now so we are just carrying it on for him. I'm not sure when the end date is.

I just had a look at the front page - June 24, 2015 is the original deadline.

OK, For some reason I couldn't find it  

lol, I read it three times before I saw it. The date wasn't in the bullet-points, it was in one of the sentences ahead of the details.

I love how busy this GB suddenly got....very active, I love it! Oh, great bombage Vance. I like your deduction...sure the odd German bomb got 'misplaced' to the other airfield 

I got some progress tonight. I managed to get the 'cheeks' installed on the sides and front of the fuselage, IP for the rear, rear landing gear panel...THIS did not go that well. It was not a good fit and I'm gonna have to fill a large gap. I also spent a bunch of time sealing the belly and sanding/sealing the gap from the difficulty I had closing the fuselage halves. Anyway, a few pics as there's not much to see:

Note the huge gap at the rear landing gear bay cover.....

I'm on step 41 of 98, so, almost halfway there AND I haven't really painted much yet 

Rob, I take it your going to leave the "hood" open to see the engine?

Oh yes, for sure.

Hey all,

Sorry for not posting for awhile but we have had a death in the family and some other major things happening here. I will get back as soon as I can.

Doug

Take care Doug...

Thank you Rob.

Doug

Rob S.

I love how busy this GB suddenly got....very active, I love it! Oh, great bombage Vance. I like your deduction...sure the odd German bomb got 'misplaced' to the other airfield 

I'm also going with the "Allied-Italian" markings, surely the Luftwaffe just left some stuff behind as they booked their flights outta town!  ;)

Doug - my condolences, take care of "the real stuff" first buddy.

I shoulda thrown a quarter beside this for comparison, this little slices are like 2.29mm long & 1mm high. Forget poor shape, I was likely to lose these things trying to use them anyway.




So, Sword actually had a tiny little slice in the cowling area to show where those two little bits were supposed to go. Used those as a starting point. Drilled DOWN at the back of those slices until I got good depth. Then I got out a brand-new Exacto blade and sliced a tiny little notch ahead of the hole I just drilled. Then I took that drill bit, laid it down in the notch I just made, held it against the plastic with a finger, spun it with the other hand. Worked away at that slowly until I ended up with a half-oval depression for the gun barrel.



Then I sliced up some stretched sprue, laid that in the opening, touch of Tamiya Extra Thin and voila,



Not award-winning scratchbuilding by any means, but I like adding little upgrades like this.


Basically the only spot that I'd ID as a gap, hit that with a little CA last night, along with the joins between the fuselage & wing roots, elevators.