Italian Kits 1/72 Resin Savoia Marchetti S.M. 79 Corsa Conversion IK 7207 By Tracy Hancock

Introduction

I've always wanted to build a model of the striking red and green Savoia Marchetti racers and so I was excited to see Chris Banyai-Riepl's review of the Pavla conversion set for the Italeri S.M. 79 kit . The Pavla offering, while nice, required a good bit of filling and sanding, so when I ordered the Italian Kits conversion I was expecting something quite similar; boy, was I wrong!

The Italian Kits conversion is much more simple, consisting of two replacement fuselage halves, three new prop spinners, two new elevators, a photo etched instrument panel and loop antenna, a vacuformed canopy and decal sheet.

All of these parts, also designed to fit the Italeri S.M. 79 kit, are beautifully cast in grey resin and securely packed in a sturdy, attractive box, with the photo etch, canopy and smaller resin bits in their own resealable bags.

The instrument panel is quite nice, consisting of an acetate sheet with dial faces designed to fit between two photo-etched pieces.

The vacuformed canopy is excellent and is protected from damage by being form fitted to a backing block.

The decals, which include two options, are printed by Cartograph and are gorgeous. One minor, but important detail is that the letters of the registration I-MONI should have a thin black outline. The broad green stripe on the fuselage sides must be masked and painted, but the thin white pinstripes around them are given as decals.

The conversion is self-explanatory so instructions are limited to painting and marking guides and a second sheet featuring three nice shots of the details of the S.M. 79 Corsa. One important detail not shown, but seen in other photos, is the machined pattern on the engine cowls.

While the S.M. 79 racers were known as 'The Green Mice' I have some questions about the actual color of the three mice on the top of the green fuselage stripe. The decals in the Pavla conversion give these in black (probably not correct) and this conversion provides them in green (probably correct), but a photo of the S.M. 79 I-MONI in John Stroud's article on the Savoia Marchetti S.M. 75 and 83 (Aeroplane Monthly, October 1990, page 634) shows these three mice in a color much lighter than either the green fuselage stripe or the green of the Italian tricolor flag on the tail. I would be curious if anyone reading this might have more information regarding these pesky mice.

Conclusion

While this kit is roughly twenty dollars more than Pavla's conversion, but I feel that it is well worth it for the beautiful fuselge halves and the Cartograph decal sheet. While I have not tested the fit of the Italeri wings to this conversion, Italian Kits products have a good reputation and I have high hopes that this is another fine release from them.

Thanks to Tim Kalina and Roger Holden for their help with the details of these aircraft.