This is Italeri's recent C.R. 42 Falco in the markings of the aircraft Sargente Pietro Salvadori.  This aircraft is currently in the RAF museum at Hendon, having landed due to engine trouble near Orfordness on the south coast of England in the Battle of Britain.

Italeri's kit is a new tooling and at least to my eyes looks very much like a Falco, correcting a few of the omissions of the older Classic Airframes kit (most notably the intakes on the leading edge of the lower wing root).  Construction is generally trouble free with few gaps to be filled (nothing worth getting filler out for), however care should be taken on the cowling as the fit of the parts is not very positive.  The only fly in the ointment is the fit of the struts, some of them being noticeably too short to fit without some heavy bending and pulling, which leads to some less than satisfactory joins.  The cockpit was enhanced with Eduard's colour photo-etch set, however some of the exterior details (including pushrods for the control surfaces) were ignored in favor of the sturdier (although admittedly a little overscale) kit parts.  Rigging was done using smoke coloured invisible mending thread.

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The kit was painted with Lifecolor acrylics. Giallo Mimmetico 3 base coat with a Verde Mimmetico 3 and Marrone Mimmetico 2 mottle over Dark Gull Grey with Tamiya XF-8 for the yellow nose.  As an aside, the model was first coated with Lifecolor Dark Gull Grey as a base coat, however when the Tamiya XF-8 was applied over this and it refused to dry properly and stuck to the masking tape.  This was only discovered after mottling the rest of the aircraft and not having the heart to risk ruining the rest of the model, it was sanded, repainted and sealed with future, which at least dried it hard, so the cowling is a little below par. 

The decals are mostly from Sky Models excellent "Fiat CR.42 pt.2" sheet, however the kit national insignia were used on the upper surfaces as the ones from Sky Models were slightly transparent.

Jamie

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