Italeri 1:72 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 (kit No. 1225) By Peter Hobbins

History

I have seen the official name "Sparviero" translated as "sparrow", "hawk" and "sparrowhawk" - the latter is what came up when I ran a translation on the web. In service the Sparviero was more frequently called "Gobbo Maleditto" or "Damned Hunchback" on account of the hump behind the cockpit.

The Kit

It is heartening to see that the recent resurgence in the European model kit industry - typified by new offerings by Revell-Germany and the many Czech manufacturers - has also extended to Italeri. That they would invest the time and costs of tooling such a relatively large aircraft is an encouraging sign, and I think this kit justifies their confidence.

The SM.79 comes in a very sturdy two-part box with an attractive artwork and several useful photos of the built model. It contains two sprues of light gray plastic - providing 105 pieces - plus a clear sprue of 13 parts. The clear parts are bagged separately to prevent scratching but (at least in my sample) the main sprues are not. The moldings are crisp and free of flash, with generally sensible engineering to minimise the impact of ejector pins. The surface of the plastic is clean with nicely engraved panel lines, and the clear parts are fine but would certainly benefit from a dip in Future or your local equivalent.

The instruction sheet folds out to an enormous size - perhaps a multi-page booklet would have been better - and while the history blurb is minimal the instructions themselves are very clear, with a sprue layout, helpful assembly diagrams and full painting charts for each of the four options provided. The decals are from Cartograph and appear excellent - perfect register, clean colors and minimal carrier film.

All in all, a very good first impression upon opening the box; my feeling was that this kit is just slightly below recent Revell-Germany releases in terms of overall quality and fineness of detail.

One of my first questions on examining the kit was "which version of the SM.79 is this?". Italeri don't tell you, but it seems likely that it is an SM.79-II, based on the presence of a ventral gondola (absent on most -III series Sparvieri) and the provision of a 12.7 mm machine gun rather than a 20 mm cannon for the forward-firing armament. The breakdown of the two sprues suggests that a future boxing of alternate versions is possible, as the parts most likely to change - armament, engines, exhausts and fuselage/gondola - are all on the one sprue. However, there are no extra parts or blank areas in this boxing, so an entirely new sprue would have to be mastered to present other options.

One area of this kit that is bound to cause controversy is the fabric ribbing effect on the rear fuselage. It is quite pronounced and to my eye is overdone when compared with photographs; I'd suggest some gentle sanding and perhaps a bit of understated shading during the painting stages to minimise the problem. The fabric effect on the tailplanes is also odd - the latticework effect almost looks as though they have been in a waffle iron. Again, I think the sandpaper will come out on this area. Conversely, the control surfaces (which are separate, thank you Italeri!) have a ribbing effect that seems just right.

While the engine moldings look a bit generic, the one-piece cowlings are welcome, as are the nicely shaped propellers. Another welcome feature is boxed-in wheel wells, even though again the detail is somewhat simplistic. The landing gear struts are engineered in two sections which should provide simple and strong assemblies, and for a change the wheels are among the best-detailed parts of the kit. The single torpedo is well executed with separate pieces for the shackles and aerial stabilizing fins (most operational SM.79s flew with only one torpedo as carrying two significantly retarded performance, even on three engines). While no bombs are included, the bomb doors could be modeled open, with some bomb-bay detail provided. Four machine guns are present - the full complement - and although detailed are a little 'fuzzy' and will require a bit of cleanup. While the kit provides the option of leaving the 'hunchback' decking open - including a bulkhead to fit over the top of the bomb-bay area - I did question the accuracy of the manner of folding back the decking. As I understand, this folded back into itself in a 'lobster-tail' style rather than splitting down the middle as provided by Italeri.

Italeri have always been good with interior detail, and this kit takes things a step further. The fuselage has framework molded onto the insides, and while this is probably adequate for most modelers, purists might remove it and build a more realistic structure out of rod. It is also one of the few areas where ejector pin marks are quite prominent, so there will be some fiddly sanding work required. The kit also contains a full-length floor and interior bulkheads with nicely molded detail, as well as a cockpit with separate seats and control wheels. Naturally this could be improved with superdetailing and/or aftermarket sets but given the fairly limited glazing in the SM.79 the supplied detail will do many modelers nicely. Again, a nice feature of the kit is the detailed access door with integral steps in the rear fuselage, which can be modeled open or shut.

The kit provides the opportunity to model four different Sparvieri, all with substantially different schemes, ranging from a simple green-over-gray to a five-color scheme with minute upper surface blotches that is almost guaranteed to induce psychosis (guess which one I want to do!). Unfortunately the instructions only specify paints in the Model Master range (with a few given FS595a numbers, usually for the white or black!), so additional research will really be needed to match the specific Italian Air Force colors, including the interior green. No doubt there will be aftermarket decals out soon for this kit - someone will have to offer the glorious bright-red pre-war record-breaker schemes as flown by Mussolini's son amongst others. There are also lots of other options including both Nationalist and Co-belligerent Italian markings, plus Spanish, Lebanese, Brazilian and Luftwaffe schemes, but this is not to detract from the good range provided by Italeri's own decal sheet.

Conclusions

Italeri have clearly put a lot of thought and not a small amount of love into this kit, and it shows. For a reasonable price the modeler receives a cleanly molded, well-detailed and nicely engineered kit that can be built into a good model out of the box, or could be transformed into a show-stopper with some extra detailing and a carefully applied paint scheme. Absolutely recommended for those with an interest in World War II aircraft or a yen to build a trimotor.

I am grateful to SANDLE Hobbies for the review sample, and promise to return with a full-build review!