Tigger Models 1/32 Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero

By Alex Mayer

This is the Italian Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero in 1/32. The SM.79 was one of the best Italian warplanes, and one of the most successful torpedo bombers of WW II. Check Wikipedia for the whole story. My model shows the normal bomber version from 1940/1941 (18° Squadriglia, 27° Gruppo, 30° Stormo).

It’s the vacuform kit by Tigger Models, which just offers the "hollow shell" of the main parts (what is of course mentioned on the website of Tigger Models). So I had to do the whole interior and landing gear (mostly with Evergreen cards and profiles), get some resin engines (Bristol Pegasus/Alfa Romeo 126C43 by Vector) and create my own decals. The guns (Breda-SAFAT machine guns on the real thing) are a mixture of Browning M2 from CMK and parts from the spare box. The tail wheel came from the spare box, too.

The engine cowlings of the finished model were partly made from covers of deodorants, since those kit parts were no very good.

The forward rounded part of the cowlings were 3D-printed, as well as the main wheels. The exhausts are made from a styrene sprue.

Propellers and spinners came from the Revell Beaufighter, and were adjusted in size (big thanks to Revell for sending me some spare parts!).

Beside the wheels and cowlings, the kit parts were really OK, although I had to use tons of putty.

For the underside grey (Grigio Azzurro Chiaro) and upper side sand color (Giallo Mimetico) I used the corresponding acrylic colors from LIFECOLOR. For the green (Verde Mimetico) I used Revell 361, and for the brown (Marrone Mimetico) Revell 381.I painted the interior grey, although it also could have been some kind of interior green on the real thing. According to an article on www.stormomagazine.com, it was grey. For the yellow (Giallo Cromo) engine cowlings, I used Model Master 2023 (Blue Angels Yellow FS. 13655).


© Alex Mayer 2014

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This article was published on Friday, November 21 2014; Last modified on Friday, November 21 2014