Aermacchi (Aeronautica Macchi) was originally founded in 1912 by Guilio Macchi and was originally known as Nieuport-Macchi. The majority of their early aircraft designs were seaplanes. This includes the famous Schneider Trophy floatplanes designed by ing. Mario Castoldi who went on to design a series of fighter aircraft, namely the Saetta, Folgore and Veltro. These have been very popular subjects for kit manufacturers and modellers alike. The company exists to this day as Alenia Aermacchi.

Macchi M.41. A prototype seaplane designed to replace the Macchi M.7. It did not meet approval so a 'bis' model was proposed and accepted by the Regia Marina. 41 were built and operated from 1930 to 1938 until they were replaced by the IMAM Ro.43. Silver Wings have produced a good looking 1/48 resin kit of this aircraft but it is rather pricey.

Macchi C.94. A 12-seat flying boat designed by Castoldi in 1935 for commercial use, with 12 built in total. The first six were powered by a pair of Wright Cyclone engines, with the second batch having Alfa Romeo powerplants. Was used as part of the Ala Littoria airline fleet and also by the Argentinian Corporacion airline. Broplan released a 1/72 vacuform kit (minust decals) but Artic Decals have printed decals for both fleets.

Macchi C.99. Only one prototype was built and was flown a few times during 1937. It was powered by two Isotta Fraschini Asso engines and armed with 4 machine guns in three positions. Not kits are known.

Macchi C.100. Bearing a close resemblance to the Macchi C.99 prototype, the C.100 was a commercial variant powered by three Alfa Romeo radials and could carry 26 passengers. 3 were built and first flown in 1939. Whilst in Ala Littoria service, it was used for liaison and communications during war time. Broplan do a 1/72 vacuform kit of this aircraft but supply is limited.

Macchi C.200 Saetta. Castoldi’s first military aircraft design was founded on his Schneider foatplane series and it proved to be an outstanding aircraft, easily outperforming rival aircraft in selection trails. Extremely nimble and well made, only its weak armament let it down. The airframe was practically unchanged throughout the 1,150+ production run, with only minor changes made to the cockpit canopy at the behest of its pilots.  

Quite a number of Macchi C.200 Saetta kits were released over the years but most are now OOP such as the 1/32 Craftworks & Pacific Coast Model kits, 1/48 kits from Astrokit, Italian Classic, Pacific Coast Models & Special Hobby and in 1/72 scale AML, Special Hobby/Flying Machines, Revell, Hobbyboss and RCR/Sign models. Currently available is just the Kora 1/72 resin kit and the 1/48 Italeri kit. One piece of good news is that Italeri have an all new 1/32 kit planned, having had success with their C.202 & C.205 kits in this scale.  IBG models alsophave a 1.72 kit in the works

Macchi C.201. This was a refinement of the C.200 but production was dropped in favour of the C.202, which displayed far superior performance  during development. Available from Kora/LF Models as a 1/72 resin kit.

Macchi C.202 Folgore. This aircraft was a private venture. Alfa Romeo  had obtained a licence to build the DB.601 engine and ing. Castoldi designed a new fuselage around it. The resulting C.202 was considered one of the best fighter designs to come out of Italy during WWII. Although the airframe construction was complex and labour intensive, 1,150 aircraft were built. It entered service in 1941 and immediately made a good impression to both friend and foe. It has been a very popular modelling subject over the years with Hasegawa, Italeri, Pacific Coast Models & Tauro all producing kits in various scales. The 1/48 Hasegawa kit has appeared in a Eduard limited edition boxing and the 1/72 Hasegawa kit has since re-surfaced as a Hobby 2000 kit. Italeri's neat 1/72 kit is a good match for the Hasegawa kit and their 1/32 release will hopefully re-ignite interest in this important aircraft. Despite some shortcomings that are quite apparent when inspecting the kit parts, the Aircraft in Pixels website has many detail parts for this kit that greatly improves some of these weaker elements. IBG have a 1/72 kit in the works.

Macchi C.205 Veltro. This aircraft is more or less a C.202 fitted with the more powerful DB.605 engine. Visible differences were the distinctive barrel shaped oil coolers under the nose and wing cannons, although there were other smaller detail changes as well. A very potent machine that was more than a match for most Allied fighters. Only 262 were built in total, with 177 of them delivered before the Armistice. A few served in the ANR and even less with the Co-Belligerante but it did see post war service for short while in the AMI and Egyptian air force. Craftworks, Hasegawa, Italeri, Pacific Coast Models and Tauro Models all released C.205 kits in parallel with their C.202 boxings, but most are now OOP, apart from the 1/72 Italeri kit. The 1/48 Hasegawa kit has re-appeared in an Italeri boxing and there is the 1/32 scale 21st Century model to consider but it has a rather toy-like appearance. With the success of their C.202 kit, Italeri have since released a 1/32 C.205 kit and should prove another success and IBG Models have a 1/72 in the works.

Macchi C.205N Orione. Two prototypes were built. Each had increased dimensions in order to create space for more powerful armament. The first prototype had all 5 guns installed in the fuselage. The second prototype had a more conventional arrangement with two wing cannons, a cannon firing through the propellor hub and two fusealge mounted machine guns. SEM Models released 1/72 resin kits of both variants but it is discontinued.

Macchi C.206. was a prototype intended to be powered by the DB.603 even though only a DB.605 was available. It had a modified fuselage designed to fitted over a one piece wing of increased area. It shared the same armament arrangement of the second C.205N prototype.The single prototype was nearing completion but repeated Allied bombing put an end to the project.

Macchi C.207. With a DB603 engine finally available, another project was started based on a C.206 but with all armament moved to the wings (2 pairs of cannons). The fuselage was nearing completion when the Armistice halted further work. Attempts were made to re-start the project post war with a Merlin engine but it was abandoned. Castoldi retired soon after, working on C.208 and C.209 paper projects. Cunarmodels released a 1/72 resin kit of the C.207.

M.41

C.99

C.100

C.205N1 Orione

C.205N2 Orione

Model images are links to a build article

C.201