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. He 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 produced 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 Trophy experience 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 request of its pilots.

Quite a number of Macchi C.200 Saetta kits have been 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 the Kora 1/72 resin kit and the 1/48 Italeri kit. One piece of good news is that Italeri have released an all new 1/32 kit after the successful launch of their C.202 & C.205 kits in this scale. IBG models also have 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 started as a private venture. Alfa Romeo obtained a licence for the DB.601 engine for which ing. Castoldi designed a new streamlined fuselage. Considered one of the best fighter aircraft to come out of Italy during WWI, the airframe construction was complex and labour intensive with 1,150 aircraft 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. There are others but are crude and not worth the bother. The excellent 1/48 Hasegawa kit was the basis of the Eduard limited edition boxing and their 1/72 Hasegawa kit was re-released by Hobby 2000. Italeri's neat 1/72 kit is a good match, but it will be worth waiting for the IBG kit. Italeri's 1/32 release does have some accuracy issues but is the only kit in this scale. Their 1/48 is a cheaper alternative and it would appear that their 1/32 kit has had an impact on its design, with a decent amount of internal detail and overall a worthy alternative to the 1/48 Hasegawa kit, which is scarce.

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 installed on later production machines. 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 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 forces.

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 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 does have a rather toy-like appearance. Since the appearance of their C.202 kit, Italeri have since released a 1/32 C.205 and should prove another success. IBG Models have a 1/72 kit 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 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