Aermacchi (Aeronautica Macchi) was originally founded in 1912 by Guilio Macchi as Nieuport-Macchi. The majority of their early aircraft designs were seaplanes and flying boats, which includes the famous Schneider Trophy seaplanes designed by ing. Mario Castoldi (1888-1967). He went on to design a series of now very famous fighter aircraft that have been very popular subjects for kit manufacturers and modellers alike. The company exists to this day as Alenia Aermacchi.

Macchi C.94. A 12-seat flying boat designed by Castoldi in 1935 for commercial use. 12 were built. The first six were powered by a Wright Cyclone engines. The second batch had Alfa Romeo engines and were intended for Regia Aeronautica service but eventually all 12 flew with Ala Littoria, with a few sent to Argentina. The prototype established several payload and speed records. Broplan released a 1/72 vacuform kit, but supply is limited.

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 was 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 flying boat bomber, the C.100 was a commercial variant powered by three Alfa Romeo radials. It could carry 26 passengers. Only 3 were built and was first flown in 1939. While 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 seaplane designs and it turned out to be an outstanding aircraft, easily outperforming rival aircraft in selection trails. Extremely nimble and well made, only its weak armament and slow speed let it down. Its characteristic hump was retained despite some misgivings and it was practically unchanged throughout the 1,150+ production run, with only changes made to the canopy at the behest of its pilots.

Practically all Macchi C.200 Saetta kits are now discontinued. 1/48 kits includes the Astrokit & Italian Classic resin kits, Italeri, Pacific Coast Models and Special Hobby injection moulded kits. For 1/32 there's the Craftworks resin & Pacific Coast Models injection moulded kit. In 1/72 there is the AML Special Hobby/Flying Machines, Revell, Hobbyboss and RCR/Sign kits. The only kit that is currently available is the Kora 1/72 resin kit.

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

Macchi C.202 Folgore. This aircraft started out as a private venture. With Alfa Romeo obtaining a licence to build the DB.601 engine, Castoldi designed a new fuselage to incorporate such an engine whilst still retaining the rest of the C.200. 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 but nearly all kits are now discontinued. This includes all Hasegawa, Italeri, Pacific Coast Models and Tauro kits. The finely moulded 1/48 Hasegawa kit has reappeared in an Eduard special edition and the 1/72 Hasegawa kit has re-surfaced as a Hobby 2000 boxing.

Macchi C.205 Veltro. This aircraft is more or less a C.202 fitted with the more powerful DB605 engine. Visible differences were the distinctive barrel oil coolers under the nose and the 2 wing cannons, although there were other smaller detail changes as well. It was a very potent machine, more than a match for most Allied fighters, but only 262 were built in total, 177 being delivered by the Armistice. A few served in the ANR (29) and even less with the Co-Belligerante (6). It also served post war for short while. Craftworks, Hasegawa, Italeri, Pacific Coast Models and Tauro Models all released kits of the C.205 in parallel with their C.202 boxings, but all are now discontinued, apart from the 1/72 Italeri kit. The 1/48 Hasegawa kit has since appeared as an Italeri boxing.

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 and shared the same armament arrangement of the second C.205N prototype.The single prototype was nearing completion but repeated Allied bombing killed 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, working on C.208 and C.209 paper projects. Cunarmodels released a 1/72 resin kit of the C.207.

There are a plethora of 1/72 & 1/48 after-market items to help add greater levels of detail for the C.202 and C.205. Highly recommended (if still around) are the Misterkit 1/72 C.202 detail & C.205 conversion sets, which contain a slightly revised injection moulded fuselage, resin cockpit & wheel well parts and brass-etch detail items. True Details produce good quality 1/72 &1/48 resin cockpit sets and wheels, but the best detail sets by far are the 1/48 FM and Jaguar C.202 sets and SBS Models C.205 cockpit set. Other resin details part are made by Ultracast, Quickboost (Aires) and Eduard. After market decals printed by Tauro & SkyModels are still around but AeroMaster decals are now OOP.

C.94

C.99

C.100

C.205N1 Orione

C.205N2 Orione

Model images are links to a build article