Smoking Italian Fighters: 1/48th Hasegawa C.205 Veltro

This 1994 Hasegawa C.205 kit release is another fine example of their crisp molding with finely scribed detail and good fit, presenting the model maker with a good base to work with and no real headaches.

Notable Kit Features:

• Good raised cockpit details

• Finely scribed panel lines and exterior details (maybe too fine?)

• Better than average parts fit

• Good overall shape

Build Inspiration:

My main inspiration for this build was to get a good representation of the Italian desert "Smoke Ring" camouflage scheme. I decided on the markings of Tenente Colonnello Duilio Fanali who ended up as CO of 155 Gruppo at Lecce in late 1943 when he transformed to the Allied side after the Armistice of Cassibile.

Heads-Up Report:

• Some ejector pin marks

• Deepening of some of the engraved panel lines especially in the control surfaces will improve the look

• The pit behind the engine firewall and in the open wheel wheels could use some detailing if you are so inclined.

Hasegawa designed the C.202/205 kit family to offer the range of early Folgore to late model Veltro with a minimum rework involved. The actual aircraft vary a bit if you care about this level of detail. There are a few areas of the kit that require some attention if you want to get it correct. As I was focusing this build series on the paint finish I did not venture into any corrections here and even managed to add errors of my own.

If you want to get into the finer points of these aircraft types, I will recommend looking at Werner Scheibling's builds: Macchi C.205 by Werner Scheibling (Hasegawa 1/48) (hsfeatures.com)

Kit Additions / Modifications:

• Built Out of the Box with the exception of the custom decals

End Result:

The kit has the typical desert finish colours of Verde Oliva over Nocciola Chiaro applied with the "Italian Smoke Ring" design. This upper surface combination was worn over the undersurface of Gregio Azzurro Chiaro. The base camouflage colours were airbrushed on with a bit of variance to achieve a weathered effect. The green "Smoke Ring" camouflage was hand painted with a select pointy brush using carefully thinned paint (enough to properly flow and cover in one pass). Magnifiers, patience, review for proper shape of the smoke rings, and a steady hand got the job finished in less time than I had thought.

The After-Build Report:

I would recommend the Hasegawa kit as a good starting point for a C.205 build, as they still produce the best Macchi kits available in 1/48 scale (as it is much better than the earlier Tauro kit). Note: the 1/48th Italeri kit is simply a re-box of the Hasegawa kit.

Completed build #234 - April 2020 using the 1/48th scale Hasegawa #JT33-2200 kit.

Feel free to comment or ask any questions - Keep on building, gain experience, challenge yourself if you like, but try not to stress yourself out over the build - it is suppose to be an enjoyable hobby after all - Cheers