whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome
- gnomemeansgnome
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 5269
- Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
- Location: No Fun City
whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome
The venerable Airfix FIAT G.50bis......Seemed every time I was looking in the stash for something else one of these would get in my face. Thinking I might treat myself to a relative no-brainer kit to keep the mojo going. Well, you know how it is....having already built this kit many years ago i questioned why I would bother with another especially since I didn't have all the decals I needed, and most of what I had at hand were those dodgy rub-on transfers so favoured by Supermodel and others at one time. Then while I was assembling I wondered how it might look if re-imagined as a biplane. It seemed a suitable candidate with that open cockpit. Anyways this is how it came to be a biplane instead. The top wing was carved and shaped out of plastic card, given struts and posts looking vaguely like cabane struts glued on with white or pva glue as I don't intend to keep it in this configuration for long.
Guiseppe Gabrielli, the FIAT G.50bis' chief designer, was understandably annoyed by the failure of his original G.50 design to redeem itself once war came as a fighter capable of holding its own against the Bf109 or the Spitfire. He and his fellow FIAT engineer Celestino Rosatelli who of course also designed the robust and maneuverable but also manifestly obselete CR.42 Falco set about in early 1940 to attempt to distill the best attributes of their previous designs. The result, dubbed 'Il Gheppio' (kestrel), combined the then-modern aerodynamic feature of a retractable main landing gear and the biplane to maintain an almost balletlike level of maneuverability but at faster speeds then either the Falco or the Freccia. There was brief interest in the type from the Regia Marina who saw it as a potential fighter/scout bomber for their aircraft carriers then under construction, as well as Hungary who fancied its close support potential as well. A second prototype was to be mated to a Daimler-Benz DB-601 for flight testing which would have resulted in the world's fastest biplane fighter. In the end it too was doomed to be conceptually outdated, and one prototype was last seen in this guise shortly after the Armistice. That explains why only the Savoy cross and crest and white ID band are on the airframe; all Fascist badging was obscured or overpainted after the deposition of Mussolini in the summer of 1943. While a failure as a outdated concept, it was the mating of the DB-600 series engine to a G.50bis (FIAT G.50V for Veloce) that helped pave the way for what is often considered to be Italy's best all round single piston engined fighter of the Second World War, the FIAT G.55 Centauro.
Guiseppe Gabrielli, the FIAT G.50bis' chief designer, was understandably annoyed by the failure of his original G.50 design to redeem itself once war came as a fighter capable of holding its own against the Bf109 or the Spitfire. He and his fellow FIAT engineer Celestino Rosatelli who of course also designed the robust and maneuverable but also manifestly obselete CR.42 Falco set about in early 1940 to attempt to distill the best attributes of their previous designs. The result, dubbed 'Il Gheppio' (kestrel), combined the then-modern aerodynamic feature of a retractable main landing gear and the biplane to maintain an almost balletlike level of maneuverability but at faster speeds then either the Falco or the Freccia. There was brief interest in the type from the Regia Marina who saw it as a potential fighter/scout bomber for their aircraft carriers then under construction, as well as Hungary who fancied its close support potential as well. A second prototype was to be mated to a Daimler-Benz DB-601 for flight testing which would have resulted in the world's fastest biplane fighter. In the end it too was doomed to be conceptually outdated, and one prototype was last seen in this guise shortly after the Armistice. That explains why only the Savoy cross and crest and white ID band are on the airframe; all Fascist badging was obscured or overpainted after the deposition of Mussolini in the summer of 1943. While a failure as a outdated concept, it was the mating of the DB-600 series engine to a G.50bis (FIAT G.50V for Veloce) that helped pave the way for what is often considered to be Italy's best all round single piston engined fighter of the Second World War, the FIAT G.55 Centauro.
Ego no habeo consilium.
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
- iggie
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 23418
- Joined: July 31st, 2013, 11:04 am
- Location: North Somercotes, Lincolnshire
- Contact:
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome
Excellent!! That looks totally authentic and the camouflage is brilliant
Best wishes
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
- DavidWomby
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 11750
- Joined: May 1st, 2011, 8:09 pm
- Location: Florida, USA
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1941, by gnomemeansgnome
That looks just right. Great idea and execution
David
David
- gnomemeansgnome
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 5269
- Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
- Location: No Fun City
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome
Cheers, fellas!
Ego no habeo consilium.
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
- Clashcityrocker
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 10798
- Joined: May 1st, 2011, 12:31 am
- Location: Adelaide. South Australia
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome
Very nice, and the camo is excellent.
Nigel
Nigel
- gnomemeansgnome
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 5269
- Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
- Location: No Fun City
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1bis Gheppio, 1941 by gnomemeansgnome
An update on the GR.1, this time uprated to a GR.1bis with a DB-601, spinner and airscrew pilfered from a parted out Revell Me-109E. I also installed proper Warren truss inspired struts and a ventral radiator bath from scratch. In hindsight I ought to have repurposed the old radiators from the Me-109E and put them behind the landing gear as this would have allowed room for a centreline rack for a bomb or drop tank but will settle for what is there. In the future i may add a pair of bomb racks and shackles on the wings instead. I doubt this version would have been any faster than the CR.42DB, but it probably could have cracked 300mph which is still pretty darned good for a biplane and would have been somewhat more practical and harder hitting with a motorkanone. Enjoy.
Ego no habeo consilium.
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
- iggie
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 23418
- Joined: July 31st, 2013, 11:04 am
- Location: North Somercotes, Lincolnshire
- Contact:
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome
The change of power unit doesn't do it any favours visually to my eye, but your alterations and additions are nicely done none the less
Best wishes
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
Jim
If you can walk away from a landing, it's a good landing. If you use the airplane the next day, it's an outstanding landing
"Never put off till tomorrow, what you can do the day after tomorrow"
- montessa315
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 1564
- Joined: May 1st, 2011, 9:34 am
- Location: Rugby - UK
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome
A cracking job done well.
Alan.............
Alan.............
_______________________________________________________________________
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
If you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you've always got.
- gnomemeansgnome
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 5269
- Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
- Location: No Fun City
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome
Thanks, Montessa. I think I am done futzing around with it....for now.
Ego no habeo consilium.
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome
Great whif, great idea !
-
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 3325
- Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
- Location: The Netherlands
- Contact:
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome
I've never had the need to try this, but how would those rub-on fare when rubbed onto a piece of decal paper, possibly coated with liquid decal or such, and then applied like any other water slide decal. Has anyone actually tried this?gnomemeansgnome wrote: ↑November 10th, 2017, 3:17 amand most of what I had at hand were those dodgy rub-on transfers so favoured by Supermodel and others at one time.
-
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 3325
- Joined: November 4th, 2012, 11:28 am
- Location: The Netherlands
- Contact:
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome
Really nice bit of whiffery.
- gnomemeansgnome
- Modelling Gent and Scholar
- Posts: 5269
- Joined: July 16th, 2013, 4:03 pm
- Location: No Fun City
Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome
Thanks, fellas. Yes Rob, a fellow forum member (can’t recall who though) suggested that very thing but this project came before he posted it. It is on my ‘try to do’ list whenever I get out of this awful building, or should I say unbuilding slump of shameful proportions.
Ego no habeo consilium.
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models
ICBM = Insatiable Collector and Builder of Models