History

Characteristics Engine : Fiat A-12 bis, 300hp, liquid cooling Wing span : 15.54 m Length : 9.52 m Empty weight : 1250 Kg Loaded weight : 1550 Kg Maximum speed : 187 km/h Ceiling : 5700 m Range : 965 km Construction : biplane flying boat, 1 engine with a 2 blades pushing propeller. Crew of 2 people. The hull has a wooden structure covered with plywood. Tail plane and rudder are made of steel tubes covered with fabric. Main wings have wooden structure covered with fabric. Lower wings are equipped with floats at their tip. Armament : 1 moveable MG in observer cockpit, 2 bombs racks for 4 25kg or 2 67.5kg bombs. Additional equipment : radio installation, photo camera and search lights.

References Aviation with chessboard n°9 (site) Alberto Casirati who provides to me invaluable information regarding colour and marking. The walkaround of the Seawing site about the Macchi M7 (walk-rounds menu)

The kit

I will use the resin kit from Choroszy Modelbud in 1/72. The resin is well cast, few bubbles. I don't know yet if I will use the interplane struts provided with removing the simulation of fabric straps or scratchbuild them from bamboo. Il will also replace the control horns by photoetched ones, I will scratch from brass rod the various supports, under tail plane, under lower wings and those which maintain the under wing floats.

First of all, let's have a look at the kit :

The box

The parts

The fuselage

The interior of the fuselage

The wings

The engine

The struts

The beach trolley the under wings floats

 

The supports and control horns

The decals

Kit assembly

26/03/2006 Building the interior

Following the remarks from Michael Kendix who also build this kit, I sanded down the seats in order to reduce their thickness to be able to close the fuselage. I drilled several holes 0.5mm diameter following the pictures found on the Seawing site. Then, I spray a coat of Humbrol 63 matt sand on the inside of the fuselage, the floor, the seats and the instrument panel.

 

I handbrush a coat of Citadel Chestnut ink, which allow to enhance all of the relief. Be careful, as this ink dry fast, you must paint it in one shot. After that, I paint some other details.

I paint the tank grey, its support and fixation in Tamiya satin black X18 and then add a wash with gouache. This type of paint is very convenient, once painted and dry, you can remove the excess with a damp cloth or Q-tip.

After to add the harness on the seats, I glue them in place as well as the tank and the control column. I also add a rudder bar because the one provided moulded on the floor was broken. To build it, I copied the one saw on the Macchi M7 on the Seawing site. I add everything in the fuselage, it is ready to be closed.

Now, I can close the fuselage. First, I adjust both sides together and maintain them with clamps. I add some superglue along the joint between both sides.

27/06/2006 Wood painting

I start to paint the fuselage overall in white with a can of skull white from Citadel. Then, I add some mask the underside, the sides and the tail which will receive the Italian tricolour. After that, first painting operation. I airbrush a coat of Humbrol 63 matt sand onto the whole area which will be painted in wood colour. After at least 24 hours, I start the oil painting process. I thin some Sienna burned earth with turpentine (about 50%) and, with a wide flat hard brush, I apply the paint on the whole fuselage. At this stage, it is not a problem to have some brush marks everywhere. Then, first smoothing, with the same brush wiped on paper towel, I smooth the paint always in the same direction (wood direction) and on the whole length of the fuselage (no stop from the front to the rear). Once done, I start again this operation with a soft brush (same type) with no paint addition. You also have to wipe your brush to remove the excess paint. Stop the smoothing operation when the result pleased you. After that, I am waiting for at least 48 hours prior to touch it and to remove the masking tape.

14/07/2006 Wings realization

I begin with the gluing operation. For the upper wings, I improve the resistance with some brass rod between each parts. The lower wings are glued without anymore reinforcement. They already have some locating points. I fill the glue joint between the lower wings and the fuselage with putty, but not those of the upper wings, the joint must be visible.

As I want to represent the wing ribs show through effect from under the wing, I had the not so good idea to use a fine marker usually used to write on CD. The problem is that after 10 coats of paint, it was like if I never paint the ribs !!!

After to spray a coat of Citadel Skull white, I started again to draw my wings ribs but this time, with a watercolour pencil. The result is lighter and fade away with a few coats of paint. In addition, I draw a part of a circle to simulate the cockade showed through from the underside. I used the paper of the decals as template.

Then, a few coats of Misterkit "clear doped linen - dark", some "Flag green" on starboard and some "Flag red" on port, et voila !.

26/07/2006 The top of the wings and the engine support

To weather the top of the wings, I mask the wing ribs with 0.7mm masking tape. Then, I use pastel chalk and apply it with a brush following each rib. I rub it with my finger following the tape direction to fix it then I remove the masking tape.

The engine support : first, I spray a coat of Alclad white aluminium. Once dry (after 15mn) I brush its central part in black Humbrol 33. After about 30 minutes, I slightly rub this paint with my finger to show through the aluminium colour. I paint the bottom of the engine support in Humbrol 165 medium sea grey. At least, the wood colour, one coat of Humbrol 63 matt sand following (when dry) by a coat of Citadel Chestnut ink. The engine support is washed with highly diluted black and burnt sienna earth oil paint for the inside and some trace of the same mix for the outside.

First, the engine is painted in Alclad White aluminium, then, the cylinders in Humbrol matt black. After that, to have a more shiny appearance, I apply a coat of Klir. The exhaust pipe is painted in matt black, then receive a dry brush of Humbrol 113 matt rust. The engine crankcase is washed with highly diluted black and burnt sienna earth oil paint.

The engine support is glued in place and some rigging are added prior to add the engine. I have to scratch the crank, I didn't found it in the parts. As I opened and closed the kit box several time prior to start the building process, it is possible that I lose it.

Wing floats : I use 0.5mm brass rod to build all of the struts, I didn't want to use the ones provided with the kit, they was looking too fragile. They are painted in Humbrol 165 medium sea grey. The struts of the tail are made from 0.4mm brass rod.

02/01/2007 Upper wing addition

After to add the engine, I also add the cabane struts. Because of their "N" shape, I kept them in resin, as provided in the box. Their extremities are reinforced with steel wire 0.3mm.

Then, I add the upper wing on the cabane struts. This operation is easier because of the steel wires previously added in the struts. After that, I add the interplane struts made from Contrail stock.

I paint the struts first with a coat of Humbrol 63 matt sand, then a coat of Citadel Chestnut ink. After that, I add the linen bands around the struts made from Americal Gryphon decals. I finish with a coat of Klir to seal everything.

03/01/2007 The rigging and painting of the upper wing

First, I pass the wire through the upper wing, until the corresponding hole, half drilled, in the lower wing where I glue it with thick CA glue. I repeat this opération for all of the wires. I use 0.06mm fishing line, tinted with a permanent marker.

Then each wire is tightened and glued with a drop of thin CA. Once dry, I cut the excess wire with a razor blade and fill the gap with putty.

Once the putty sanded, I airbrush some thin coats of Misterkit "Italian clear doped linen - dark", followed by the decals and a coat of satin varnish. Then, I repeat the same operation than for the lower wing (see above).

Then, the result after removing the masking tape. The hardest part is to keep some regularity to add the pastel chalk. To conclude, addition of the last details like the propeller, the control cables ...