Italian Thunderbolt

Historical Background

In the second half of the 1930s, as a result of the Italian military authority to adopt just radial engines for its aircraft, the Italian aero industry failed to develop a more powerful engine based on the streamlined liquid-cooled engines. This forced Macchi to use the Fiat A.74 radial engine of 848 - 947 hp for its C.200 Saetta.  This in turn made the Saetta underpowered, reducing performance while having the open cockpit of a bygone era. In July 1939, the Regia Aeronautica requested Reggiane to build a prototype Re.2000 fighter powered by a German Daimler-Benz DB 601Aa inverted-vee inline engine rated at 1, 159 hp.  In November 1939, Alfa Romeo acquired the licence to produce the DB 601 as Alfa Romeo RA.1000 R.C.41-I Monsone. While waiting for production of Monsones to start, Aeronautica Macchi imported DB 601s and their chief designer, Mario Castoldi began the work to mate the empennage of the C.200 with a new fuselage incorporating the new engine. Design work began in January 1940 and initial tests showed that Castoldi's original design was sound, it was just lacking a suitable powerplant. On 10 August 1940, the first prototype of the aircraft, designated C.202 Folgore, took to the air.

The C.202 was of conventional design. The control surfaces had metal structure with fabric covering. As with the C.200 the left wing was longer than the right, designed to counteract the torque of the propeller. The armament was however fairly light: a pair of Breda-SAFAT 12.7mm machine guns in the nose. While based on the Browning M2, the Italian machine gun fired a slightly smaller 12.7 x 81mm rounds, which have a lower muzzle velocity than the Browning's 12.7 x 99mm rounds. Standard ammunition load was 700 rounds per gun. From Serie VII onwards, a pair of Breda 7.7mm machine guns, along with 1,000 rounds of ammunition each, were fitted in the wings. These however added another 100kg to the aircraft and many pilots had them removed, not only to minimise weight penalty, but also because of the ineffectiveness of rifle-calibre machine guns against 1941 fighter aircraft. Despite that, Allied pilots who flew against the Folgores were impressed with its maneuverability and performance. The Folgore was considered the equal of Spitfire V and superior against Hurricanes and Kittyhawks it fought against.

In May 1941, production of the C.202 was started. Early production Folgores (Lightning/Thunderbolt - as they were named) were powered by imported DB 601s. And due to engine delivery delays, some C.202 airframes were completed as C.200 fighters. The first units earmarked to receive the Folgores were the 17° and 6° Gruppi of the 1° Stormo and 9° Gruppi of the 4° Stormo. However, the machines did not see action until autumn of that year, because of defects in the early batches. They first saw action at the end of September 1941, intercepting RAF Hurricanes over Sicily. The C.202s were in the thick of action in the Mediterranean; they were also used by the Regia Aeronautica in Russia. At the time of the Armistice, there were 186 Folgores, these were later split between the Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana and the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana. Some of the Folgore airframes were re-engined with DB 605 engine, essentially turning them into C.205s, The Folgores also served with the Luftwaffe and the Croatian Air Force.  The Folgores remain in service as trainers until 1948. A total of 1,106 airframes were built.

The Kit

Hasegawa originally released their 1/48 Folgore in 1995. Since then, as king of re-boxings, they have made a number of re-releases over the years. The kit I built is the 2006 special boxing of the baseline C.202 kit featuring the markings of Italian aces. The Hasegawa kit consists of 78 parts, however not all are used as some of the parts are meant for the C.205. Quality is typically Hasegawa with crisp panel lines. However, the landing gear have some rather prominent ejector pin marks which need to be cleaned The decal sheet provides for markings for two aircraft of the aces, one flown by Captain Franco Lucchini, 84ª Squadriglia, 10° Gruppo (21 kills), and the other flown by Sgt. Maj. Teresio Martinoli from 73ª Squadriglia, 9° Gruppo (22 kills);  both from the 4° Stormo. As usual with Hasegawa decals the white portions are more ivory than white.

Construction

Construction started at the cockpit...where else? Hasegawa provides a nice enough cockpit although detailers might want to add PE parts or substitute it with resin. The instrument face can be painted or using the provided decals, although the decals have some areas of the dashboard in black, while the painting instructions didn't show it to be like that. The interior was painted Tamiya XF-21 Sky which to my eyes looked similar with the Italian Verde Anticorrosione. The seat was painted Mr. Color 8 Silver. Hasegawa did not provide seat belts and the seat looked real plain inside the cockpit. Then the cockpit assembly and a part for holding the propeller were inserted into their respective slots and the fuselage closed up. Some small bulges were then removed as per the instructions. The upper cowling, air filter and horizontal tailplanes were then added. Fit was good for all these parts.

Before assembling the wings, the interior was painted first. The wheel well was assembled, put into place and the top halves of the wing were mated to the one-piece lower wing. Having decided to build the first option on the markings sheet, I filled the hole for the radio aerial behind the canopy. The radiator was then glued to the fuselage and then it was off to the painting stage.

Painting and Decalling

As mentioned earlier, I have decided to choose the first option which is the mount of Captain Franco Lucchini, commander of 84ª Squadriglia, 10° Gruppo in September 1942. This particular aircraft has unusual camo pattern - having large disruptive olive green pattern rather than small patches of olive green common to most Folgores. Furthermore the starboard upper wing is painted in smoke ring pattern camo which are usually found on later marks of the Folgore (and the MC.205 Veltro) which means that it was probably a replacement. The undersides were painted a mixture of Tamiya XF2 Flat White and XF66 Light Grey. Topside is painted Tamiya XF59 Desert Yellow and the camo patterns were painted using XF58 Olive Green. The wingtips were painted XF2 Flat White. I tried to differentiate the right wing by varying the scale effect but eventually it ended up the having same tone as the rest of the model! Now it is time for the decals. Although fairly thick, the decals went on without any trouble and were secured using Mr Mark Softer. Just one complaint about the decals, and one which applies to nearly all of Hasegawa's in-house decals: the white is more ivory.

Finishing

There is actually nothing much to do at this stage. I started by painting the landing gear parts on the sprue and then assembled them; the scars were cleaned up and the paint retouched. After cement has dried, they were put in place. This was followed by the exhaust stacks and the pitot probe. The propeller was assembled, painted and stuck at the nose. Since the Folgore is almost a pure fighter / interceptor, there is no underwing stores to speak of, not even external fuel tanks. Sludge wash was then applied to the model and a final spray of flat clear finished the build.

Conclusion

This has got to be one of the easiest (if not the easiest) aircraft kit that I have ever made. Assembly was quick (especially when I ignored the pin marks on the landing gears). The good fit also helped a lot. The Hasegawa kit builds into a fine replica of this important Italian fighter. Add it to your collection of World War 2 fighters now!