1: 48 TAURO MC 202 SERIES III FOLGORE

POLLY SINGH

I received this Tauro kit from Squadron mail order way back in 1996 and haven’t had the courage to do such a complex subject till now. Essentially I lacked sufficient knowledge on the aircraft and was not sure of which of the many lovely schemes and markings to chose from. The kit was expensive about $ 23 but well worth it. Immense detail, especially the engine and the wheel bays, were its hallmarks but moderate flash also wasted some effort. The decals for six aircraft were outstanding (propag team). The build was a straight forward OOB with extra bits for the engine and wheel bays from brass wire and standard electric wire strands.

Osprey’s Italian aces of WW II, gifted by Simon Watson of The Aviation Bookshop, London finally provided the subject pilot- Sergente Maggiore Luigi Gorrini of 85^a Squadriglia, 180⁰ Gruppo, 3⁰ Stormo based at Sfax on the Tunisian border, Jan 43. Fortunately decals for his aircraft were already available in the kit. Gorrini flew the series III Folgore with 3 Stormo’s angry wasp ‘Vespa’ markings. Gorrini only claimed two kills on the Folgore, moving on to the MC 205 Veltro during the defence of Rome and claiming a further 11 kills. Seriously wounded after his 15 victory he was out of the fight during the surrender in Sep 43, 59 years ago. Joining the Aeronautica Nazionale Republicana (ANR) with 1 Gruppo he claimed a further four victories before being shot down and wounded again. With a total of 19 victories he joined the post war Airforce and served till 1979 and retired as an Officer. In 1953 Gorrini was given the rare distinction of being awarded the Gold medal for Valour. Today he resides in his village of birth Alseno.

Gorrini

The paint scheme and paint matching were done with a very nice three view by W. Wayne Patton in “Aces” a squadron publication. The light hazelnut brown and dark olive green over light blue gray were hand mixed for sun fading and desert wear. Application was standard airbrush.

The base was blockboard with plaster of Paris on a stapled-down wire mesh. The base was then painted sand with several tire impressions. A few dried lichen and other foam ‘scrub’ completed the base. The figures were from Monograms DC-3 kit and Airwaves white metal USAAF officer painted in the Italian tunic uniform. The mechanic was painted in the characteristic white overall and the other monogram figure was modified with putty to represent the winter air crew jacket with oversized fur collar. The bomb loading trolley was from Dragon’s Battle of Britain Luftwaffe officer’s kit. The table,

ladder, drums and accessories were from ICM’s Mig-3 with ground crew kit.