Originally built for SAMI and appeared in the October 2005 issue but with different photos.

The kit.

This Special Hobby kit is a modified version of the Pacific Coast Models Macchi C.200, which was released sometime ago. The fuselage halves and vac formed canopy have been modified to the early serie, which had the enclosed canopy that was disliked by its pilots. It also had a retractable rear tail wheel. It retains the minor 'errors' found in the Pacmodels kit, namely the missing backplate, or disc, of the propellor hub, which is easily fabricated out of piece of plasticard and the missing 'bridge' on the cowling, where it was extended out to the fuselage, immediately between the two gun blast tubes. One other item to modify is the the mass balance on the rudder. These were introduced on later versions of the Saetta, so this detail should be filled and re-scribed on the very early examples. Check your references. The first 20 or so off the production line had even more variations, such as a simpler roll-over bar behind the cockpit, differently shaped undercarriage doors, no tongue on the cowling whose teardrop fairings were the same shape all round. Needless to say the kit is beautifully done, with nice done engraved panel lines and subtle fabric effect on the control surfaces. Resin is used where a higher level of detail is required, such as in the cockpit and the engine, although there is no pushrod detail. The cowling is a impressive single-piece resin part and will have to be carefully removed from its casting block to avoid any damage. Only a little clean up around the integrally moulded exhaust detail was necessary. Decals are provided for three schemes and there are two cockpit canopies supplied. The instruction sheet shares a similar layout and style to one used in the Pacific Coast Models kit.

Construction

This starts with the complex tubular framework of the engine mount, which is attached to a bulkhead that forms the rear of the wheel well bay. It is a difficult item to put together and will test some modellers patience, mine included. It is important to get this bit right as it greatly enhances the level of detail in this part of the model, something that no other C.200 kit has ever managed quite so convincingly. I happened to have an unused rear engine part from an Italian Classic Fiat engine to add a bit more realism. The two fuselage halves can be joined together at this stage. The resin cockpit detail is built outside the fuselage and installed through the gap below. Interior colour I used was the Italian interior green with black instrument panels and aluminium control column & seat. The top wing parts were glued to the fuselage, to get as neat a join as possible along the wing fillets. The bulkhead/engine mount sub-assembly was also fixed in place as well as the completed cockpit, before offering up the lower wing. It was lined up and was found to be a good fit, although at first I was disconcerted by the bulkhead/ wheel well join. It actually lies flush with its outer edge, thus reducing the size of the wheel well aperture. The instructions did not point this out very clearly. It required a bit of extra cleaning up afterwards to hide the join, but it was not a problem really... just unexpected.

With the engine parts assembled and painted, I nestled it in the cowling when attaching it to the fuselage. With no positive location points, it's one way to make sure these parts line up correctly. The resin fuselage structure that sits behind the pilots head was trimmed along the base to allow the previously masked vac canopy to fit snugly over it. The canopy rails were also glued in place at this point.

The undercarriage was also assembled, minus the wheels, as were the stabilisers and rear tail wheel and undercarriage doors.

The instructions fail to advise that holes should be drilled into the fuselage nose for the gun blast tubes to fit into, with the angled ends pointing forward.

Colour options.

The decal sheet gives three choices. My choice has the same scheme as the one chosen for the 1/72 scale Special Hobby C.200 kit I reviewed recently and was somewhat easier to do in this scale! I used the same enamels as before. The decals worked very well, with no sign of silvering.

Conclusions.

With the knowledge that the Pacific Coast Models C.200 is an accurate and quite well researched kit to start with, this Special Hobby version is a welcome and logical alternative. Anyone who has built the Pacmodels kit would do well to have this one too! There are other 1/48th kits available, from Astrokit and Italian Classic, but are the more expensive resin based kits.