whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome

From Apollo and Soyuz, to Gerry Anderson, Irwin Allen, Star Wars and Trek to Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and those strange, doe-eyed Japanese school girls...to any model kits you can think of, that only exists in imagination.
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whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome

Post 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 In the end it too was doomed to be conceptually outdated, and one prototype was last seen in this guise shortly after the Armistice.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.


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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome

Post by iggie »

Excellent!! That looks totally authentic and the camouflage is brilliant
Best wishes

Jim
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1941, by gnomemeansgnome

Post by DavidWomby »

That looks just right. Great idea and execution

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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome

Post by gnomemeansgnome »

Cheers, fellas!
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome

Post by Clashcityrocker »

Very nice, and the camo is excellent.

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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1bis Gheppio, 1941 by gnomemeansgnome

Post 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.

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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome

Post by iggie »

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
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome

Post by montessa315 »

A cracking job done well.

Alan.............
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio 1943, by gnomemeansgnome

Post by gnomemeansgnome »

Thanks, Montessa. I think I am done futzing around with it....for now.
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome

Post by Wulfman »

Great whif, great idea !
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome

Post by rob_van_riel »

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.
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?
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome

Post by rob_van_riel »

Really nice bit of whiffery.
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Re: whiff FIAT GR.1 Gheppio and Gheppio bis , by gnomemeansgnome

Post 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.
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