Classic Planes 1/72 Fiat G.50B/bis

CLASSIC PLANES (Airfix) 1:72 FIAT G.50B/(bis)

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 19 April 2002

Manufacturer: Classic Plane
Aircraft: Fiat G.50 B/bis
Scale: 1/72
Parts: 38 injection moulded (4 clear), 21 resin, 2 clear vacuform.
Decals: 3 options
Price: around USD 11.50

History:
When first flown on February 1937 the Freccia was a modern aircraft. In 1938, 12 machines, from the initial production batch of 45, were sent to Spain for operational trials. The results of these tests where successful and an additional 200 machines were ordered. This second series had the enclosed cockpit replaced by an open one. In 1940, production of an unarmed two-seat version started, of which eventually about 100 were built. In the same year an improved version of the single seater, the G.50bis also entered production. The most visible change from the earlier G.50's being the vertical tail which was reduced in height and increased in chord. However by this time the G.50 was outgunned by almost everything else in the sky and consequently it saw only limited action.

The Kit:
Most modellers will recognize a part of this kit with dread, as it is the old Airfix kit.

It comes complete in its original box including decals and instruction leaflet. That's the bad news. Inserted into the carefully opened shrink-wrap are a new top depicting two colour profiles of the biposto. And a new back with scale drawings, descriptions, and additional decals. Now for the good news. The box not only contains the ancient Airfix kit but also a host of bubble free resin parts. These include a new fuselage and a new cowling... yippee!! The other parts are a nicely cast engine, two seats, two instrument panels, two types of spinners, a spatted and a plain tailwheel, a short and a long carburettor intake, a separate sand filter to go in front of the short intake, mass balances for the ailerons and a new prop.

On first impressions the smaller parts do not look very good. Attachment of the parts to the moulding block is a bit awkward. But the resin is quite strong so I managed to remove the block without breaking anything. Cleaning up of the, mostly wafer thin, flash reveals nicely cast parts that are all usable.

Accuracy:
The Airfix wing is 1 mm too long but after correcting the dihedral it should be spot on. As the resin fuselage has engraved panel lines you might consider engraving the raised lines on the wing too. The resin fuselage is a huge improvement over the Airfix one. It has a more correct boxlike shape behind the cockpit and it has the long tail and low, broad chord fin characteristic for the G.50 bis.

Sources contradict each other however:
Some scale drawings and measurements suggest that the G.50B had a short fuselage like the G.50. Others, including the drawings with the kit, suggest that it had the long fuselage of the G.50 bis. On the only picture I could find of a G.50B (militaria 59) the fin looks like the broad chord type which would indicate a G.50 bis fuselage. Strangely enough this book's measurements and drawings for the B are for a short fuselage. Since both the G.50B and the G.50 bis had their first flight in the same year (within 5 months of each other), I suspect they where developed in parallel, and the long fuselage is correct.

And in that case the length of the model is spot on.

Construction:
You only have the Airfix instructions to go on, but this is a fairly simple kit so you don't need them anyway.

The wing:
I would start with the wing. The dihedral on the Airfix wing is very indistinct. If this doesn't bother you just skip the next few lines. Otherwise read on:- It is not that hard to correct. On the real thing the mid section of the bottom of the wing was flat, with the outer wing panels having a 6 degree dihedral. In frontal view this gives a slight gull wing effect. The way to achieve this is quite straight forward. Saw off the outer wing panels just outboard of the landing gear attachment point (57mm from the wingtip). This will also split the flaps in an inboard and outboard section, which is correct. The bottom and top halves of the outer wing panels can now be glued together. To get the mid section to look right, simply bend and flex it until it is flat. Now box in the wheel well by putting in a spar behind the opening for the wheel. Then glue the inner top wing panels on the bottom center part. Sand the other wing panels at a slight angle and reattach them to the center section. If the center section is laying flat on the table the wingtip should be about 5mm of the table.

The fuselage:
The fuselage halves need to be sanded down to get them to fit between the upper wing halves. Sanding them will also result in a better mating surface to glue them together. On my example the tail end of the left fuselage half needs quite a bit of sanding to get it to the desired thickness (accidental mould over-pour?). Once the fuselage halves are together the wing is glued onto it. If care has been taken during sanding and dry fitting only very little filler will be needed. With the wing in place cockpit detailing can start. You get the seats and the instrument panels in resin but the rest will need to be scratch built, robbed from the spares box or provided by the garage industry (see below) as everything will be very visible through the large canopy. The cowling is another big improvement over the Airfix part. It has the correct diameter and shape. The resin engine is a far cry from Airfix's caricature, and it fits into the cowling like a hand in a glove. The exhaust pipes can be made from brass tube.

The resin propeller is better than the Airfix offering but the blades look a bit spindly to me so I'll look for a white metal replacement. On the subject of spinners, sources contradict each other again. Some drawings show the long spinner, while others show the short one, and a third shows no spinner. The machines in the one picture I have do not have a spinner fitted. So check your references and when in doubt just leave it off. All sources agree on the carburettor intake: the G.50B had the long one.

Other bits and pieces:
The fuselage to tail wing joint needs a bit of filler. After thinning down the gear covers a bit the Airfix landing gear can be used as is. A small square door needs to be added where the leg meets the wing. Once again sources contradict each other on the tailwheel. The picture I have shows the plain unspatted version. This would be in line with the theory that the B was based on the bis and not on earlier versions. But either way the kit supplies both so take your pick. The canopy is nicely formed. It will benefit from some careful polishing and a coat of clear lacquer though. A spare is provided should anything go wrong, or you can decide to use them both and built your model with the canopy open. Next the mass balances can be fitted to the ailerons. A venturi tube can be taken from the spares box or scratchbuilt. On a G.50 bis this was fitted under the wing on the centerline but on the B it was moved to the left side of the fuselage under the windscreen. The last item to be added is a pitot on each wing.

Decals:
The box comes with the original Airfix decals for a G.50 bis and an additional sheet for 2 biposto. They are perfectly in register and separate white discs are provided to prevent shine through. Due to the printing process used, I would only use the registration codes and take the rest from the spares box. One machine is camouflaged and has white trainer bands on the wings and fuselage. It belonged to the fighter school at Castiglione del Largo but in 1941 it was attached to 154. gruppo C.T. based in Tirana, Albania where it was used against the Greeks (which seems odd to me, since the G.50B was unarmed, but what do I know). The other machine is from 1946, was painted aluminium over all with a red spinner, and belonged to the Brindisi flying school.

Conclusion:
As far as I know this is the first kit of a G.50B. Not a shake and bake kit but one that, with some effort, will result in an accurate model of a two-seater. And for its price its good value for money, a full resin would cost at least twice as much. This kit can also be used to produce an accurate G.50bis.

References:
MacDonald Warplanes, fighters 2 by William Green.
HPM October & November 1993.
Wydawnictwo Militaria 59.

Footnote:
Several G.50B found their way into German training schools. So for Luftwaffe fans there is another version of this kit available with decals for a German aircraft.

Aftermarket parts for the G.50:
Cutting edge 72007 resin detail set.
Eduard 72077 Etched details.
Falcon clearvax 20,23 canopies for single seaters.
Engines & things 72085 resin Fiat A74 engine.
Skymodels 72-010 decals for many G.50's.

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