Figured I'd try something a bit different...first Italeri, first Italian plane, first time trying Lifecolor paints, etc, etc. Went ahead and got some nice resin parts from Aircraft in Pixels and started in on the engine. I was slightly amused at the almost emerald green they used for some pipes and objects and picked up the Orange Series book on the same subject. What's interesting about this particular paint scheme is Italeri offers up all those decals (Cartograf thank you very much) for the smoke ring camo so I have to give those a shot. Given how nicely the large Cartograf decals laid down on my A-20, I'll bet this will work. I also picked up a better instrument panel and a few more resin bits to replace troublesome issues in the kit.

This model represents one of Captain Emanuele Annoni’s aircraft, a Macchi M.202 Folgore, that he flew in July 1943 with Squadriglia, 9th Gruppo, 4th Stormo Sicily, July 1943

From Wikipedia

Emanuele Annoni was an Italian aviator, a highly decorated Italian ace who took part in the Second World War, achieving 9 individual air victories and 10 in collaboration. He flew combat missions from 1939 to 1945.

He fought for both the Axis and Allied sides in WW2.

In July 1943, while flying for the Axis powers from Sicily, the Anglo-Americans carried out Operation Husky, starting the invasion of the European continent, with the declared objective of forcing Italy to surrender. During the furious fighting that followed the landing, he shot down a Spitfire in collaboration and probably two P-40s.

On 8 Sep 1943, Italy signed an armistice, and Annoni became part of the Allies war effort against the Axis powers.

Later that month, he flew with the RAF as part of the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force and on 25 Sep 1943, he shot down a Messerschmitt Bf.109G fighter belonging to the III Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 27.

Towards the end of the war he flew Bell P-39Q Airacobra fighters and his Wing operated in ground attack and bombing actions against the retreating Wehrmacht units from Greece, through Albania, to reach Croatia and central-northern Bosnia .

After the war he remained in the Italian air force and held multiple important positions and rose to the rank of General. He died in Rome in 2004, age 88.

neil wrote:

All the best Wes. The kit has some pretty mixed build reviews on line which has put me off getting it so I'm interested to see your take on it.

Wes: Agree...it's kind of a weird kit the way they put it together but there's no 1/32 on the market other than this as far as I can tell. Plastic seems fine, not too much flash, a ton of PE they should have molded in,,,and that lack of detail is why I bought the resin parts so the exposed gun bay and engine area would look better. The big problem right now is I loathe these life color paints. They just don't lay down smooth w/airbrush. They work great hand painted but so far, I've not had the look I want w/my airbrush so I'm going to go w/close Mr. Color and Tamiya equivalents. I'm also disappointed in the lack of riveting...I do not think I'll hand rivet the plane, but those other issues would have been forgotten if it had been riveted up nicely. I suspect the reason they added all the PE instead of molding it is their process doesn't allow that level of detail.

That said...if I can finish it off nicely w/smoke ring decals and the marking decals...It'll probably look great. It's hard to go wrong w/camo like this and the German desert stuff...it always looks cool.

The Italeri 1/32 Macchi M202 Folgore is a royal PITA. Some parts don't fit right (wheel well cover), supplied tubing is the wrong size (replaced w/smaller) and the entire engine-to-airframe process requires you to install the landing gear at the same time early in the build (ripe for breaking off). It's a fiddly and janky build.

All that said...I still think it'll look great when finished but getting there is going to be frustrating. Also...they put some sprue connection points in bad places. Just feels like Italeri had good intentions but missed part of the execution.

Oh...some of the colors (that emerald green "The Mask" look) don't look right but apparently are correct.

Colin wrote:

All the issues you pointed out about the kit is nothing unusual in an Italeri kit Wes, at least in the builds I've done of theirs. It's a shame they can't seem to improve the quality of their kits to the next level as they do some great subjects not touched by other manufacturers. You're making very good progress and the engine looks great.

Wes: Don't even get me started on the number of insanely bad-positioned and almost impossible to sand sink marks, the lack of call-outs on how to glue something, some missing paint markings, and reliance on these damned Italeri acrylic paints without at least giving us a few equivalents, etc. Certainly not a kit for a beginner and way over-priced...but it's the only viable 1/32 out there of a great airplane. No other place to go...

Been working on the cockpit and finished it (mostly) today (gunsight to go). I replaced some of the 3D decals and PE that came with the kit w/Quinta Studios 3D decals and used my AK Real Color Markers for a lot of the work here from the highlighted ribs to knobs but it does go on thick so close up shots like these exposes that. I could have gone silly w/lot of wire work as the Folgore cockpit and area where the guns are, look like a Corsairs cockpit which I've described before as a plumber's nightmare of tubes and valves and wires. Much nicer build experience with the cockpit compared to the engine/firewall/wheels deal and the fuselage goes together really nice. I have the grandkids here this weekend so no building until next week...but it should go together much faster now as all the primary detail work is complete.

Some fit issues...the fuselage married up nicely to the wing/engine assembly, but one wing root wouldn't join cleanly, and the bottom engine cover is clearly not built correctly. As I built the model, I noticed the fuselage was slightly bent and required force to connect it to the engine mount up front and the fuselage join on the firewall area that required some superglue to force it in place. I had already dry-fitted all and even w/those fixes the starboard wing connection was spotty and gapped. Even when all the other connections were "perfect"...there was a gap. So I filled it with really thin plastic rod and currently using Mr. Surfacer 500 to smooth it all out.

The other issue is the mold for the bottom engine cover is off by a bit. As you can see in this pic...the wing join to the cover is fine on the bottom (1) and on the front to the exhaust slots (2) and although you do not see it here...perfect on the engine's front side where it attaches to the propellor hub...but not on both of the sides where it joins the wings (3). I think they screwed up the thickness of the plastic here as you can see it's not consistent from 1 to 3. Which is interesting because the plastic on most of the pieces in this model are pretty thick almost everywhere. I was able to scrap this down and currently sanding. Nothing insurmountable but after Tamiya, Zoukei-Mura, ICM, etc...this feels like Italeri cutting corners.

Should be able to start the painting process this weekend. Finally looks a M.202. Pretty simple paint job really...tan on top, grey on the bottom, white stripe on side, white nose cone...then I get to play decal-roulette w/smoke ring decals. Found what I take to be a garage store for detailed resin parts for this model here: Shop — Aircraft in Pixels | Detail Parts For Scale Models. Real detailed stuff. I bought the air intake, the middle engine cover, the nose cone and some detailed gun-bay parts. Unfortunately, i broke the detailed MG hatch part that makes the set look good so probably not going to add that. Anyway...should have some completed paint pics soon.

Cowling is loose because there's tape under there protecting the engine.

Nidgel wrote:

Despite some 'shortcomings' with the fit, you can tell that you are ontop of this Wes 👍

Wes: Sure...and I'll admit when I make a mistake where there's a gap or a fit issue because I messed up somewhere else in the build (I didn't on this one) but in this day and age w/CAD and molds that can produce almost resin-like detail this seems like a cash grab. This kit's fairly new, but they are using it as the basis for a new version of the Folgore and given there are no 1/32 M.202's out there, they have a lock on the market. That's why the price is so high. They also do WAY too much PE where I would have asked for molded in detail instead.

The bottom line is there's so much to like about the detail inside the model that's offset by how bad the outside of the model is. Of course, if I nail the smoke ring decals and paint/weathering detail it'll look awesome because it's a Folgore...sigh.

Wes: Ok...i will never, ever, again use Lifecolor paints...they're acrylic and despite having tried several airbrushes and several paint-to-thinner ratios I never could get it on as smoothly and easily as Tamiya/Mr. Color...so the paint job is really way too thick, and it remains tacky. I'm sure someone has had solid experiences w/them and I like they're not freaking cancerous like all the other paints out there...but I'm done with them. I had to clear coat the plane just to put masks on it for fear the paint would rip off. So, there's no subtle way for me at my ability w/these paints, to get anything other than a solid coat on. I'll pull all my lifecolor paints out and give them away at the next IPMS meeting I go to...pffft. Given Italeri is a fairly prolific model company, I'm surprised you cannot find these specific Italian colors with the more mainstream paint brands,

Nigel wrote:

I share your loathing of Lifecolor paints, Wes, I couldn't get on with them either. I did use Cartograf smoke ring decals on a 1/48 Mc.205, and though they took an age to apply they did look great afterwards.

Wes: It got so bad the paint either beaded up on the primed plastic or it clogged up my airbrush...I was even using their thinner. Totally agree on the decals...touchy things but they go on great and take well to decal softening solutions. Tedious but effective and there's zero chance I would have been able to actually paint them freehand.

Anyway...after the paint debacle I got the entire plane clear coated and now for the other thing that will make or break me...the smoke ring decals. They are Cartograf so they're both good and thin but it's going to be an arduous and detailed job...longer than painting and because they're so thin you can see multiple mistakes here (some overlapping, and the 77 decal's numbers stuck on underneath the carrying film that I'll fix when they dry). They tear easily so this may take multiple hours. Once dry they look solid and since they're feathered...a good flat coat, light sanding, and buff coat afterwards should make them look like they're painted on.

Colin wrote:

Despite your troubles with the Life Colour paints Wes the paint job on the Folgore looks great as do the decals so far.

Wes: Appreciate it but there's zero variation in the paint because I had to put it on so thick...so I'll probably rough the finish up with more weathering than I'd like. I do think the decals are going to work but I also have to careful because in some cases here you need to put decals on decals, so I need to be patient there.

Also...if anyone has this model...do yourself a favor and cut some of the longer smoke rings up into more manageable pieces. These decals fold back on themselves very easily so take your time. That blob on the starboard wing is a blog of microsol as I try to fix a mistake I made there.

As I surmised...the Cartograf decals are pretty damn good...it's a bit difficult to put them on and take your time but this is just them without any clear coat or anything done to them other than carefully applying microsol. Very, very thin and not 100% opaque. They look a bit blue-green on the decal stock but the tan color of the plane turns them the right shade of green on application. This build doesn't approach the love-hate deal I had w/the ZM 219...but as long as I don't screw it up after this it'll look really nice. I added the white stripe and those decals for show...I need to finish the other sides smoke rings and seal them/weather them. I wish Italeri had spent a little more time w/this and riveted the airplane (that center section engine cover is a resin product and riveted nicely), but it'll do.

Started in on some exhaust and generic weathering. The decals turned out fine...in some cases you can't see the edges at all...others picked up some of the clay from Flory's wash and I missed cleaning it away. All in all though...the decals are the way to go for this version unless you are a master airbrush guru of sorts...Obi Wan Iwata.

John wrote:

Hard to believe that they are decals Wes. Some very precise work getting them down.🙂

Wes: Yea...i spent more time putting these down carefully than I did the spray-mottling on my He 219 Uhu...I made a few mistakes early on and slowed down considerably. It took about 4-5 hours to get them all in and softened up. What I was worried about (and still am) are there are now decals on top of decals on top of decals in a few places. I also had a lot of fine cutting to slice the panel lines so the wash would work right. I guess you could say the saving grace of an expensive model was one of the negatives I spoke to earlier...it comes without a lot of rivets and panel lines. With all those decals I could see an issue w/that.

It'll be a bit before I can finish...I'm awaiting some resin exhaust stacks to finish it up so I'm doing minor touch-up work and detail adds. I'm also thinking of going w/diorama with this...easy to do a desert scene but not too many 1/35 or 1/32 Italian aircrew out there. Maybe just a nice desert area w/few tools/workbench/fuel drums about. Lots of clean-up to do but getting there.