Pavla 1/72 SIAI S.79 Corsa Conversion Set

Reviewed by Chris Banyai-Riepl

While the Italeri SM.79 kit is nice, for those who want a very colorful aircraft, there really is not many choices, at least out of the box. Easily the most colorful options out there are the early overall red aircraft, but these were very early S.79 variants, which differed greatly from the production aircraft that is depicted in the Italeri boxing. Pavla has come to the rescue with this conversion set, though, which includes resin, vacuformed canopies, and decals that will allow you to build one of two different early S.79s.

To build one of these early S.79s, the modeler will have to do some cutting and filling. The first step is to fill in all the fuselage hatches and windows and sand them smooth. Once that is done, the next step is to cut away the upper cockpit hump, which is replaced with a single piece vacuformed replacement. Finally, the instructions show a small door that needs to be cut out, marking the last cut work for this conversion.

The rest of the set deals with detailing the interior and finishing off the exterior. The interior comes with a new cockpit floor, two seats, control columns, rudder pedals, and an instrument panel. For the rear fuselage, there is an insert to replace the gondola, resulting in a very streamlined fuselage. The final detail concerns the engine area, with new propellers featuring a streamlined hub and separate blades, and new exhaust pipes.

The decals really add to this set, though, and they are nicely printed by MPD. These decals provide markings for either MM358 or MM359, both of which are finished in overall bright red with green and white trim. The white trim is provided on the decal sheet, leaving the modeler to paint the red and green. MM358 carries large placards on the fuselage and wings, labeling the plane "I-11" for the Istres-Damascus-Paris race, which it won in August of 1937. MM359 is registered I-BISE and has a placard on the tail labeling it "I-5" for the Rome-Rio de Janiero race in 1938.

This is an outstanding conversion that will not be too difficult to do and the end result will be a very striking and colorful Italian aircraft. My thanks to Pavla for the review sample.