Savoia Marchetti SM.79 Sparviero JKRV

[mimithem]

Hello guys I'm starting this new topic in order to introduce you the progress of my latest build which is a Savoia Marchetti SM.79 of the Yugoslavian Air Force as it was in April 1941. Specifically this is going to be the aircraft that brought King Petar II to my town "Paramythia" on 4th April 1941, the "White 12". The model is this:



A nice Italeri 1/72 model. To say the truth it is not an SM.79 K as JKRV used to own, but with some more work it's gonna be OK.
Here are some photos of the cockpit:



The little problem that I have is that the model needs some conversions that are a bit hard to notice because I don't have any photos from the White 12. except these two:



so if any of you has got photos of this aircraft or any SM.79 of the JKRV please post in order to help me...

Hvala veoma...

[BigBadWolf]

It appears that www.emioannina.gr doesn't support direct image linking. Could you upload the pictures to photobucket?

[anki]

Hi Mimithem,

First I have to correct you on the white 12. The latest reserch publised in serbi in August 2009 state that only 4 SM79 escaped to Greece (one of them obviously transported the King). All of them had black numbers (5, 14 and two unknowen numbers). All of them were SM 79 I from series XXI (white 12 was from XXIV). They had following Yugoslav registration numbers: 3702, 3712, 3713 and 3714.

How they were loking you can see on profile:

http://lifthereserbia.50webs.com/745-LH.htm

Further more you have model SM 79 III. The most obvious difference is that 79 I had gondola unther the fuselage, there was no torpedo installations and exsaust pipes were simple pipes (see profile).

Hope this will help.

[mimithem]

Hello Anki! Thank you for the help! As for the numbers you can see yourself the photos from Paramythia which show the King disembarking the "White 12". Maybe this is one of the unknown numbers!

About the conversions, the gondola has to be made from zero, the exausts will be cutoff, no torpedo installations and no guns left and right of the fuselage! If you look closely to the second photo you will see it. These are the details that I am looking for and any photos of this aircraft under JKrV colors will help me a lot! Thank you again for your advice...

[anki]

Than this could only mean that there were more Yugoslav SM79 on Paramythia but they were destroyed or abandoned there and only these 4 came to Egypt and were used by RAF. Any way that white 12 has Yugoslav number 3728 (small black on fin and fuselage) and it was Italian MM 22055 (this was not wisible anywhere on the plane).

[Boki]

Wow, I really like how you made interior of the model. Is it pre-shading method? Looks great.
Thanx for the pics.

[mimithem]

Anki, you are right, because some of the remaining JKRV aircrafts had been destroyed in Greece before they managed to esape to Egypt. Many of them were destroyed in Paramythia within 4-7 April '41. Thank you for the serial number!

Boki, the interior is not with the preshading method but just a wash wit oil colours and a little drybrush and you got this! Thank you for your kind comments!

I will be keeping you updated with my progress! Χαιρετισμούς!

[JUNKERS]

Wow, nice work my friend. Just keep with that tempo. That will be incredible aircraft. Γειά!

[mimithem]

Serbian brothers here I go with some photos from the cockpit:



The kit gives decal for the control panel but i prefered to paint it

Some more photos by the custom-made "gondola". I used an old fuel tank from an airplane as you can see here:

and i cut it down with the help of some designs:

in order to make something like this:

then i used some balsa wood to make the tail of the gondola:

so i reached to this result:



I think it's OK enough but it needs the glass to be ready. The glass will be made from a clear plastic bottle, it's gonna be a bit difficult, but I will give it a try! The two interiors before I got them together:


To be continued!

[TISO]

Nice build.
But i do have a question about interior colours (Verde anticorrossione) used. I always have this question when someone builds S.79.
The following is taken from Stormo magazine Italian colour guide (it was previously posted on long since deceased Eagle press site):
http://www.stormomagazine.com/RegiaAeronauticaColorsinWWII_3a.htm

Aircraft Interiors
Most Italian WW II aircraft interiors were painted in Verde Anticorrosione FS 34272 although many variations in interior colors existed, depending on the paint supplier. On Reggiane fighters for example, interior parts had a more grayish tone (e.g., Re. 2000 and Re.2002 FS 34227) while other aircraft, the shade was slighlty more green, similar to FS 34230.
There are some important exceptions, for example on SIAI multi-engine aircraft, namely the S.79, the interiors of these aircraft were painted in a Grey similar to Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1.

[mimithem]

@ TISO: Thank you friend for the advice! Maybe you are right. The only thing that I have to say is that I have found in many books writen for this aircraft that the interior is painted at the color that I used. Anyway, now it's too late to change anything.

One question: Which of the following does match to the JKRV SM.79's:





Sorry for the long time being absent...

[ubermagog]

first one, on all of them

sample

[mimithem]

Thank you Airsuba!

[mimithem]

After a long time of being absent I am coming back to show you my further progress. I have painted the entire aircraft and I am satisfied with the result, except for the fact that the brown dots are fewer than the green ones. So I am going to paint some more browns. The photos were very quick and the model is just after painting so I have not yet finished:

[gasha]

excellent progress. Looks very nice. Brown could be little darker.