Hasegawa 1/48 Macchi C.205 Veltro

The Macchi C.205 Veltro was a FIAT engined DB 605 clone, 1475 h.p. inline engine replacement for the MC.202 Folgore and part of the lineage from the MC.200 radial engined fighter (also identified as the MC.200) built by Aeronautica Macchi, Ambrosini and Breda in Italy. The MC.205 initial prototype flew in April of 1942.  Its armament was improved over the MC.200 Saetta and MC.202 Folgore that it replaced. Initially it had the same armament configuration as the MC.202 but it was quickly improved starting with the serie III to 20mm cannons in the wings and 12.7mm guns in the nose.

Although heavier it was a marked improvement over the C.202. The first production aircraft rolled off the assembly line in September 1942. Due to war time pressures requiring parallel production of the MC.200 and MC.202 the Veltro had a slow start with just a trickle coming off the production lines for many months.

 The conversion of MC.202’s to the MC.205 standard was undertaken and after the war sixty-two were built for the Royal Egyptian Air Force (REAF) with delivery completed by 1951. The Egyptian specials were distinguishable by virtue of their having a C.202-type fixed tail wheel with its fairing. The conflict between Egypt and Israel caused the AMI to retain about twenty from this order which fortunately has led to having some years later for aviation preservation. Thus of the 62 ordered only 42 were actually delivered most in the III serie configuration.

There is a color profile in the Squadron #5558 Color Walk-Around book of one of these aircraft that is represented in the kit decals (Arabic numeral 1214). The profile shows an MC.202 converted airframe with the early thin tapered antenna mast and non-retracting tail wheel assembly. The Hasegawa kit provides only the thick antenna mast and retracting tail wheel with its doors version. The fuselage has the longer fairing for the retractable tail wheel which is common to MC.205 and not correct for an MC.202 converted to the MC.205 specification airframes.

Macchi also marked their aircraft with “C.205V” on the tail but quite often the “V” is not found in use for textual accounts where you’ll only see “205” or “Veltro” used to describe the aircraft. 

Hasegawa released the C.205V "Veltro" in July 1995, following the release of the Macchi C.202 "Folgore” in April 1994. Both of these kits were among the first 1/48th scale kits to provide an accurately detailed Macchi 202/205 cockpit. Jaguar was among the first to provide an aftermarket resin cockpit for the C.202 that can be used for the C.205V (many of which were re-engined C.202s). After building a few using combinations of resin cockpits and the kit plastic with some Eduard etched I found if you have a set of color seatbelts to use for the kit cockpit you will be quite pleased with the results OOB. Add a resin pit and it’s a beauty!

 Hasegawa released its 1/48th scale MC.202 Folgore, kit # 9132 in early 1994. The MC.205 Veltro kit (# 9133) is essentially the same as their kit # 9132 MC.202 Folgore with a modified “A” tree for the fuselage and a few new parts on parts trees “G” and “K”. The additions are a new prop spinner, engine exhaust, and wing cannons. Hasegawa did not fix the fuselage moulds for the size of the engine exhaust opting to have you carve out the plastic for the extra length of the new exhaust.  This specific release “Royal Egyptian Air Force” (REAF) is from July 1997, kit number # 9243, and is a very simple re-boxing of the Hasegawa kit # 9184 Jt124, MC.205 Veltro Italian Air Force release. This version even uses the same instructions from kit # 9184, deletes the decals from kit # 9184 and has a small “AeroMaster” decal with two REAF aircraft featured but no other “bonus” decals are included if you wish to model something other than the Egyptian aircraft.

 Hasegawa had made one of the best kits of its time as far as fit and finish with their MC.202 & MC.205 line of aircraft. It captures all the complex shapes accurately and the fit and finish are excellent. The cockpit is complete and unless you want to detail that area it is sufficient for most modelers. The gunsight needs improvement and the wheel well area could have more details since this is a distinctive area for the Macchi MC.2XX series of aircraft. The wing lights should have been moulded on the clear parts tree with a cut out on the wing tips. This would have improved this kit since changing it for a realistic appearance requires cutting and a lot of extra effort. Hasegawa in its current 1/48th scale releases has changed its approach for wing tip lights to now use clear plastic for the wing tip lights.  It is a fast build due to its low parts count and good fit. The fit is very good, but not perfect, so some putty or gap filling is required but it is a minor issue.

The MC.205 Veltro's retractable tail wheel made a new fuselage mould necessary since the MC.202 had a fixed tail wheel and no doors. This modification, just like the one on the wing tip of the Hasegawa adapted Ju-87D mould, has been a concern for some modellers who felt it is unfortunately plagued with a seam line, which runs all around the rear part of the fuselage if you look very closely. I did not see this as a big problem.

 Apparently Hasegawa used a copy of the MC.202 Folgore fuselage mould, grafted a Veltro tail onto it – and ended up with what some may feel is an unpleasant ridge that the modeller has to carefully sand off. To add to the complexity some Veltro’s were simply upgraded MC.202 Folgores keeping their fixed tail wheel with differently shaped speed cover so you could have either the new or old tail wheel arrangement for your chosen aircraft. Who said aircraft modelling was simple?

I have read some reviews; well OK actually just one, where the modeler felt one of the weakest points of the kit was the “Spartan” cockpit interior. I respect his opinion but I like it OOB and overwhelmingly others have expressed their satisfaction with this kit’s cockpit in an OOB configuration. I use resin cockpits frequently for the improved details or to replace a deficient kit plastic cockpit. This one, the Hasegawa MC.202/205 series, did not motivate me to do so. I actually used a resin cockpit only because the SBS cockpit looked so awesome in its sales literature I recently bought one for this build – otherwise I would have done an OOB with some pre-painted color etched seatbelts.

 Others have also expressed dissatisfaction with the undersized and unusable exhaust stacks. Yes, they are a weak part of the kit appearing undersized and somewhat flat. There are two resin replacements, one from Quickboost #48282 and one from Ultracast 48177. The Quickboost exhaust offers a hollowed out version of the kit exhausts and look to thin and flat for my use. The Ultracast exhaust, # 48-177, provides a much better detailed robust exhaust and one that I will use in a future build since it is a clear improvement on a very visible area. 

I have followed a practice of purchasing resin or etched detail sets for “future” builds placing them inside the relevant kit box for future use. Fortunately a long time ago I bought the now out of production Jaguar #64801 Macchi 202 detail set which includes a resin cockpit, exhaust stacks, two seats – one with seat belts and one without, and the landing gear bay with all its complex pneumatic hose and wiring detail. It was designed by Roy Sutherland of Cooper Details who is now operating his trade through his Barracuda products shop. Roy’s set for the Jaguar resin Folgore, though 15 or more years have elapsed, is still a beautiful piece of resin for your Hasegawa kit.  With a little extra work (plus painting, dry brushing and washes) compared with using the kit cockpit it is easily transformed into an authentic cockpit for the C. 205 Veltro. (What happened to Jaguar resin?)

Since the Veltro uses the same DB 605 engine as the Bf-109F-K family you could also try using resin exhausts indicated for those kits. You might even have an old Moskit metal set in the stash that will work!  The undercarriage legs seemed to be riddled with ejector pin marks requiring a bit of clean-up. The undercarriage legs have to be filled and sanded or replaced by a white metal replacement.

I am just trying to be as open minded about any observation on potential changes so don’t take these comments as an indication of deficiencies in the kit – it is an awesome kit in my opinion.  It is nearly perfect in shape and dimensions and shows off some of the finest surface detail you can get. I have admired Hasegawa’s 202/205 series every time I go to work building this kit – the details are just that good! From all the cowl fasteners to the tail wheel – it’s all good.

The instructions are excellent, very typical of Hasegawa’s time proven instructions. There’s nothing new here since it is composed of well detailed explanations and clear illustrations. The parts count is low and will surprise you because the build goes very fast as a result of the minimal parts count.

 The kit cockpit is nicely laid out and includes decals for the instrument clusters. The sidewalls have adequate detail. I only say adequate because the Macchi 200 to 205 series used a unique restraint system composed of chains, belts and a seat pad that is missing from the OOB contents. You can fix this with the Eduard Color Zoom set. There are lots of other very nice details Hasegawa provides like the part # B17 magnetic compass, a nice trim wheel, etc. with its OOB parts. Many resin cockpit sets actually have you use some of the Hasegawa cockpit parts because they are that well moulded. I would express some caution about using the kits control stick if you are a detail freak. There are a different types of control sticks you will see explained in the Squadron C.205 Veltro Walk Around text so be aware if this is a concern for you.

 The wing subassembly that you build in step 3 has an adequate main wheel well that captures a small amount of the complex look of a C.202/205’s accessory and main wheel well bay details. But, compared to the photos of the actual area it does look “boxed-in” and flatly detailed. If you look at close ups from actual aircraft or had the opportunity to put your head underneath this area you will quickly recognize the compromise made in 2D injection plastic parts compared to the actual very busy 3D look of the MC.205 main landing gear bay. There are some significant electrical wires and color coded pneumatic hoses for its ignition system for example that are missing.

 Again, I would hope this would be the area some resin caster with superior abilities like Vector, Pavla or Aires/Quickboost could give us a big hand by supplying a simple resin bay enhancement piece. Since the kit has been out for a few years I am surprised none have been released. Now that Roy is back in business maybe Barracuda can help us out – if he does it will be awesome!

 I did have some trouble working with the part C16 assembly which represents some of the engine and nose bearing support struts. Although there’s not much Hasegawa detail in this area there was enough to give me some assembly fit mishaps especially with the main landing gear struts and the part C16 tubular supports. If you try to add some wire or bass guitar strings to this area to detail the “snake pit” use caution because it gets cramped like the real aircraft and can affect some of the kit plastic assembly. A color painting guide for the pneumatic and electrical hoses is available on the “Stormo” website.

 The landing gear is well detailed and the main gear door mounting frames are acceptable making a tradeoff between cost and accuracy. Perhaps I am still thinking about how Italeri approached this area and comparing it to Hasegawa’s effort? I was impressed with Italeri’s work (on their similar airframe Macchi MC.200 kit) in this area using photo-etch to mount the main landing gear wheel covers to the landing gear. Italeri provided a solid mount of the doors to their respective struts using etched metal while maintaining in-scale thickness and improved detailing. The Italeri combination of superbly moulded plastic and etched metal supports or attachment points gives an excellent representation of the landing gear and doors. It even included a tail wheel as a two part component permitting ease of painting and enhanced detail which is usually lost when a tail wheel is moulded as a one piece component as found in many other kits.

 There are some areas where I hoped to see more detail such as the clear light at the rear tip of the fuselage, the butterfly doors on the air intake and oil cooler exit area but the kit does not represent them. It would be nice to have the two sets of tail wheel configurations in the MC.205 kit as well. Again these are just observations and in no way an expression of disappointment since this is a beautiful kit!

This is a “special” release featuring AeroMaster decals. The decals come on a small but well printed sheet with two options. There is no indication of who printed them but it looks like Cartograph. They were thin, perfect in color density and register and went on without any problems. They went on the kit flawlessly and when dry conformed to all the underlying plastic detail. The printing is crisp, small details such as stencils are clearly printed and even the white bands if you choose to use them are opaque and easy to work with.

 The kit provides marking options for two aircraft, a MC.205V, Royal Egyptian Air Force, No. 2 Squadron, RAF Faid, 1948 in a two-tone RAF Dark Earth and Middle stone over Azure Blue undersurfaces finish. The second aircraft a MC.205V, Royal Egyptian Air Force, No. 2 Squadron, has the original delivery color scheme of Nocciola Chiaro 4 (Light Hazel Tan 4 – FS30219) upper surfaces over Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1 (Light Blue Gray 1 – FS36314) undersurfaces.  Both of these aircraft were featured on a Third Group Decal # 48-013 released in 1996.

 I was very pleased with Hasegawa on this kit. It is a very beautiful aircraft and they captured its lines and look perfectly. They have done a really nice job on this kit. It isn't over-engineered, nor are there any serious shortcuts taken either. The kit gave me a lot of building pleasure and filled in a huge gap for Italian Regia Aeronautica in my collection. Unfortunately it has been some time since Hasegawa has released any Macchi 202 or 205 kits. It looks like Hasegawa is reissuing its 1/48th scale products released in the 1990’s so one can only hope the 202/205 series kits in their original markings will be re-issued. I have seen the original kit # 9132 MC.202 issued this year with little fanfare and selling for $30.00 or so at internet discounters so perhaps the “205” will be coming out in the near future.

 There are unfortunately very few available aftermarket decals for the MC.205. Given it was released almost 19 years ago not much seems to have materialized for the MC.205 in aftermarket decals. There are some terrific and colorful schemes that I would like to see since there are both ANR and Co-Belligerent use as well as Luftwaffe use of the MC.205 with RLM 74/75/76 camouflage. However, I do have the Sky Models Skymodels 48020 Macchi MC.205 decal with 38 different C.205 options so there is hope and some great future builds awaiting me.

 I encourage Hasegawa to include the part tree “F” from their MC.202 kit in their future MC.205 releases because some MC.205’s used the MC.202 antenna mast and rear wheel arrangement with its speed fairings – such as this release of the REAF aircraft, so it is an omission in this REAF release and an oversight if not included in future MC.205 releases.

I decided to use an SBS Model # 48012 resin cockpit with this build and am very pleased that I did. It is a superlative cockpit set. Not only are the details there and the etched metal adds to the detail in a very positive way, it is essentially a “kit within a kit”. The superlative set is accompanied by good instructions and a nice painting guide so I can’t say enough about how pleased I was to use this cockpit set. Over the years I accumulated detail sets for the MC.202 & 205 from other suppliers like Jaguar, FM Details, Squadron and Eduard Zoom etched so I will be building some MC.202’s and 205’s with those sets for a comparison. Right now SBS is my favorite of all the currently available cockpit detailing sets for all the right reasons. 

The labor of love that was building this resin cockpit added a great deal to my satisfaction of building this kit. Once inserted it was a “fits like a glove” experience which was my big concern going into this project. It is a huge disappointment to buy a resin aftermarket set only to find it does not fit or details have to be removed to get it to fit (as in forced fit).

 Since the Hasegawa kit is nice OOB and with an Eduard Color Zoom set looks very nice why use a resin cockpit detail set? After spending the extra money on the resin set there is no doubt it gets you to the next level of detail. The improvements in the SBS cockpit are superlative. The gunsight looks like the San Giorgio Type B unit and the O.M.I. type 3 magnetic compass arrangement with its etched metal support alone were significant improvements. The seat and its belts with its distinctive chain effect was spot on in look and fit (see the Squadron  #5558 Walk Around for color seat belt and restraining system details). Even the water radiator flap lever in etched metal is provided in the resin cockpit wall detail! The extended panel with two dials appearing on the starboard side lower portion of the instrument panel is there sitting above the German Drager Auer II oxygen device. It is part of the etched metal and clear acetate with printed black detailed acetate sheet. That’s attention to detail!

My only concern in the SBS set is with the gun sight because gun sights are a complex subject with the Macchi C.205. Several types were used. The initial models used the San Giorgio Type B gunsight which is similar to that used on the MC.200 and MC.202. Some used the German Revi C/12 gunsight and others used the San Giorgio Type C gunsight which was the standard fit used on serie III through VI MC.205 aircraft. So later MC.205 aircraft need a dual lens configuration with the look similar to the Revi or S.G. Type C gun sight. The kit plastic is a one piece inaccurate or overly simplified example.

 Since this model is essentially a MC.202 conversion to an MC.205 the SBS gun sight was acceptable but might be incorrect. I am assuming the Macchi folks who prepared the airframes for the Egyptian order used the later gun sights and radio communications gear. But, if it was done on a budget using post-war surplus airframes, which I think is highly likely, the gun sight is acceptable. If you model a later MC.205 serie version and are a stickler for perfection I would suggest swapping the SBS gun sight for another resin aftermarket piece representing the German Revi C/12 which by the way looks a lot like the later San Giorgio Type B gun sight.

I have experienced other resin detail sets that look good in their packaging not fitting or requiring some nasty grinding and fitting, (losing some details in the process), effort to get them to work – but really good news - not the SBS resin set – it fit perfectly!

The SBS set includes many very nicely detailed components like the afore mentioned multi-part gunsight. It has resin seatbelts on the seat but the separate upper belt portion in etched metal – someone was thinking and serious about getting the look perfect when they mastered this resin cockpit. I was almost surprised when everything fit so well. The Hasegawa fuselage halves closed with no concerns coming from the aftermarket resin cockpit. When the cockpit was painted and dry brushed, then a black wash applied, I felt as though I had just completed a model. Although you can see much of it from the outside some of the perfect detail is in the lower portions and not easily visible – a shame since it is so well cast and precisely detailed.

When you glue the two fuselage halves together don’t forget the propeller shaft, part A6. When it comes to attaching props I prefer the vinyl washer approach Hasegawa takes in other kits because it permits you to remove the propeller and spinner and usually is a tight fit. The problem with this kits engineering of the attachment is you can easily glue the shaft to the fuselage and it is not a tight fit resulting in a wobbly prop that can look slightly askew.

Steps 3 and 4 have you construct the main wing, landing gear bay and attach it to the fuselage. This is where the “snake pit” detailing decision takes place. You can go OOB or try to replicate some or all of the details appearing the long OOP Jaguar MC202  resin detail set to improve the accuracy and intense detail of the landing gear bay with its myriad pneumatic pipes and electrical wiring connections. I am going the OOB route this time and looking forward to a build with my Jaguar resin set to see how it looks. I tried to use wire and guitar wire on some MC.200 builds recently and the caveat is you need to understand where everything goes and avoid getting in the way of kit components when you start to add wiring to detail this area before the kit parts are glued in place.

I have read other kit build reviews of this area, the landing gear assembly, with negative comments on the landing gear. The alternative is to mould it in one piece which usually is a recipe for disaster because you are faced with trying to open up the forks to insert a wheel – snap crackle and pop – not for me thank you. The mould punch out pin marks are unfortunately a by-product of Hasegawa’s approach so some clean up is required. You can add some wire for the brake lines and even try some replacement scratch building of the attachment points for the leg to gear covers for finer detail. I chose not do so on this build because the kit parts pass the 2 foot viewing test. The landing gear oleo linkages have weight reduction holes so you should think about some cosmetic drilling to improve this area as well.

The Macchi 205 has several metal covers over the aileron hinges that you could use some evergreen sheet to detail (see page 55 in the Squadron Walk Around text for details). The upper wings are missing the oval access panels to the armament box. They should be re-scribed into ovals. The spent shell casing ejector opening underneath the wing is there but there should be two holes. This area is missing the small raised teardrop shaped “speed bumps” that protected the wing from spent shell ejection damage. The opening for the belt links is missing so you will need to open up a second rectangular opening for this and add its raised tear drop “speed bump”. I used an etched metal template from Eduard to add the second hole. See page 58 in the Squadron Walk Around for two good color pictures of the two per-wing spent casing ejection holes for a better look at this feature.

Part A1, a boarding foot step on the port side fuselage is very small and the hole it goes into very large so you may want to use metal wire to replace it because it can get overwhelmed if you use liquid glue. Steps six and eight of the instructions have the bottom fuselage parts assembly steps. The kit has one rod, part B10 added in step eight to hold the part B10 radiator door open. It is actually two rods, one on each side and one more going horizontally across the middle. See the Squadron Walk Around # 5558 book page 45 for the details on both the front and back areas to see Hasegawa used some artistic license in their model which is not accurate in this area. Maybe they thought since it was underneath modeler’s would not look? Yeah, right….

 One reviewer noted you should be careful with the main spar (C17) indicating it must be glued absolutely perpendicular to the wing or it would cause problems later. I'm glad he warned me, as the part naturally wants to lean forward slightly. He also noted in the real Macchi’s a lot of the engine plumbing/wiring was visible in the forward part of the wheel wells but little to nothing is supplied in Hasegawa's kit.

Now, with the benefit of having completed the kits construction, I would strongly advise you to do as much gap and seam filling and sanding on sub-assemblies before final assembly. Keep an eye out for sub-assemblies that require some filler or seam filing to correct them before attachment. For example, parts A3 that goes on the air filter (part A4), the two oil coolers G7/G10 and G6/G8, and the fuselage seam where the rear center part of the wings meet the fuselage all have noticeable seams or tiny gaps that are much, much easier to fill and sand before they are committed to their attachment points on the fuselage or partially obscured by other assemblies. For example, the lower wing to fuselage join I thought would be covered up by the ventral radiator housing but it is not. It is exposed enough to be visible. Trying to fix this one after the radiator and its door with a support strut are attached is no fun – but it could have been so easy with a Flex-I-File clean up done at the right time.

The 20mm guns are well moulded but there is a circular dimple on the wing surface where it goes that must be removed before you attach it. This is due to the sharing of the common wing platform plastic between the MC.202 and MC.205 kits. The area behind the guns, on the top of the wing, have a few circles and indentations that Hasegawa’s instructions in step 3 indicates must be puttied and filled and sanded.   I used Mr. Surfacer 500 to fill this in.

I am not 100% certain that Hasegawa is correct using their standard MC.205V moulding for an Egyptian aircraft since reading the story about this airframe indicates some or all could be converted from C.202 fuselages which do have a different rear tail wheel structure.  I have found Hasegawa usually does a great job researching their kits so I am at peace knowing that they did their job well and it should be correct so don’t panic. However, I noticed the aircraft in the Italian Air Force Museum in Vigna di Valle at Rome is airframe # M.M. 9546 which is one of the aircraft destined for Egypt but was retained and never exported. It is prominently featured in the Squadron Color Walk Around text that was very encouraging and an excellent resource for this modeling exercise.

The concern I have is the rear wheel in the kit is missing the speed fairing in front of it seen in the photo on page 4 of the Squadron Color Walk Around and on the color profile on page 77 which happens to be the color scheme I am modeling. Fortunately, the Hasegawa kit # 9132 MC.202, on sprue # F, has three sets of parts for the rear wheel to permit the build of either early or late serie MC.202 Folgore rear tail wheels. Since only one of them is used in an MC.202 build I was able to take parts F11 & 12 from kit # 9132 to reconstruct what appears to be the missing part on an Egyptian aircraft if you use the existing M.M. 9546 airframe and color profile as the base model. This was the final fix and the model was ready for final construction and the paint shop.

The decals come on a small but well printed sheet with two options. There is no indication of who printed them but they looks like Cartograph. They were thin, perfect in color density and register and went on without any problems. They went on the kit flawlessly and when dry conformed to all the underlying plastic detail. The printing is crisp, small details such as stencils are clearly printed and even the white bands if you choose to use them are opaque and easy to work with.

Black 1214 is a Royal Egyptian air Force (REAF) Macchi MC.205 from the second squadron. This aircraft is a rebuilt C.202 retaining the fixed tail wheel. In some photos it appears the fuselage dorsal spine antenna lead-in was removed, since there were several iterations of radio communications and the planes that went to Egypt all had the latest radio communications according to the Squadron Walk around text you could model it with either antenna configuration and be right. Some references indicate the aircraft was delivered in a “bottle green” color which approximates Dark Oliver Green and when the Egyptians took possession they added RAF middle stone to the upper surfaces and Azure Blue to the undersurface. After the Nasser 1952 coup the national markings slightly changed and the Third Group Decal provides the slight change.

White K is an MC.205 III serie airframe numbered 1213 in Arabic. References using photos from January 1949 show the aircraft in a two-tone upper surface of RAF Middle stone and Dark Earth over Azure Blue with a white spinner. In some photos it appears the fuselage dorsal spine antenna lead-in was removed, since there were several iterations of radio communications and the planes that went to Egypt all had the latest radio communications according to the Squadron Walk around text you could model it with either antenna configuration and be right. There are photos of this Veltro at an earlier time when it was painted only Dark Earth or Desert Yellow with Azure Blue undersides with the spinner the same color as the rest of the airframe (see Squadron’s Walk Around). The Third Group recommends not wrapping the camouflage around the leading edges of the wings and stabilizers as there was uncertainty about this based on reference photos from some REAF airframes.

I chose the markings for the second aircraft, “White K” from the AeroMaster kit decal for a MC.205V, Royal Egyptian Air Force, No. 2 Squadron, in the original delivery color scheme of Nocciola Chiaro 4 (Light Hazel Tan 4 – FS30219) upper surfaces over Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1 (Light Blue Gray 1 – FS36314) undersurfaces.  If you have or can get the Third Group decals for this build they are excellent. The Third Group decal is better than the kit decals. Here’s how they differ: the Aeromaster decals use a two part, white with a black overlay to create the airframe data plate for example. A close inspection of the real thing shows it to be an aluminum plate with black lettering. Third Group has its decal printed by Microscale and used silver with black for the data plate plus added the Breda circular prop logo which was used on some MC.205’s – nice touch!

The cockpit and wheel wells of the MC.200 were painted in a color which comes from my declining stocks of AeroMaster paints (# 1120 U.K. Interior Green Acrylic). The instructions indicate to use pale green Model Master 1534. I chose to use the same color as the aircraft from the two museums I reviewed prior to building. However, some of those photos also show a light grey was used in portions of the lower cockpit areas such as the floor, rudder pedals and lower cockpit walls. The Tamiya instructions for the MC.200 indicate XF-21 Sky and XF-5 Green in a 50% each mixture for the cockpit. This mixture provides a similar color to the U.K. WWII color of interior green or cockpit green. The Squadron Walk Around text gives some very interesting advice on painting the interior of the MC.205, all of the components of which I will use on the next build.

For the overall fuselage finish I used Tamiya acrylics because they were close enough in color and I had the paint in hand. A web search indicated Model Master II Enamels - No. 2037 Flint Gray FS36314 is the exact match for undersurfaces. The top surfaces are matched by Model Master # 1742 Enamel Dark Tan FS30219

or Gunze Mr. Color # 310 Brown. The exact colors I used were Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow with a small amount of XF-52 Flat Earth. The undersides are painted Tamiya XF-25 Light Sea Grey (it is spelled “grey” not “gray” on the label) which is a very good blue gray tone similar to FS36314.

Weathering and Final Coat – some pastel chalk and black/brown pin wash was used. I sprayed on a Future coat used during the initial decal application and after decaling was completed I used Future using a brush to seal all of the decals. Testors Dull Cote was used during the final step to seal all of the decals and give the correct flat finish.

The props have the correct decal stencil which is found on the AeroMaster sheet. The Third Group decal provides some additional stencils not found on the AeroMaster sheet.

The kit looked very nice once assembly was completed and it was ready for the paint shop. I set it aside and with a fresh pair of eyes the next morning I looked it over and felt there were a number of small gaps or incomplete joins that should get the Mr. Surfacer 500 treatment. They were small and instead of using Tamiya or Squadron putty I opted for the “500” treatment. It, putty and sanding, is difficult in places due to the very complex radial surfaces on this airframe. For example, where part A7 joins the fuselage was an easy assembly gluing effort but the moulding did not click into place. There was a noticeable (to my eye) step no matter how I tried to align it while gluing the part to the two fuselage halves. It fit well with no gap but there was a big step on one side. This prompted a closer look at all the seams and I went into clean-up mode on a model that almost looked ready due to its generally perfect fit.

This was the first Hasegawa kit that I have built which did not suffer from the non-fit of the lower wing to the fuselage. It was perfect. The wing to fuselage had no gap (it did have a seam). I just had to hold it together with a berna-clamp and apply some liquid glue. After the glue set and I removed the clamps and thought NO filler was required which is, or to me, a big shock since I always have had this concern with 1/48th scale Hasegawa kits not fitting in the lower wing to fuselage join beneath the cockpit. But, a few days later I was concerned with the thought that maybe what looks like a panel line (the glue join) should be smooth and have no seam. Is it a seam or a panel line? Some Mr. Surfacer 500 was applied and sanded smooth.

Hasegawa supplied a clear gunsight (Part M1) which I did not use. Actually, I bought this kit from someone who did not realize the entire clear parts tree was missing. That meant I had no gunsight and no canopy. That’s bad… Thus, I had to purchase a vac-form canopy, some Eduard Zoom etched and the Squadron 9547 vac-u-form, to permit me to use the rest of the plastic that I bought. I found the SBS resin cockpit had a replacement gunsight so I was back in business and used that alternative. I left off the SBS gunsight and compass (Hasegawa part B17), leaving them off the instrument panel. The instructions have you inserting them in step 1 of the assembly process. I added them when the model was almost complete (post painting and decaling), as they can be very easy to break off and loose during pre-painting masking especially if you are using the SBS resin cockpit. They were essentially the very last step, just prior to when I attached the canopy and its connector wire that goes behind the armor plate (see page 33 photo in the Squadron Walk Around book). I used a “third hand” tool positioned below the canopy to hold it in position under the Gorilla glue hardened hours later.

Gun sights are a tricky subject with the Macchi 205. Several types were used. The initial models used the San Giorgio Type B gunsight which is similar to that used on the MC.200 and MC.202. Some used the German Revi C/12 gunsight and others used the San Giorgio Type C gunsight which was the standard fit used on serie III through VI aircraft. So before this last step think about what you want to do and then button up the cockpit.

I punched out three styrene disks from an Evergreen sheet to provide the intake doors for the air filter and two oil coolers. Note, the round door on the air intake is on the front and was smaller than the two doors on the oil coolers which go on the rear (see photo) of the oil coolers. 

The exhaust was finished by brushing on thinned Pactra IP96 Rust enamel after the Testors # 1781 Aluminum had dried.  When the Pactra was dry I used some Metalizer Dark Iron non-buffing as a wash. I was a bit disappointed with the kit exhausts which are too flat and will use some aftermarket (Ultracast) next time.

There was a tall antenna radio antenna post (there are two types of these, a long thin wooden mast and a thicker metal mast version which was hollow inside used on the MC.205) and antenna wire connected to the tail configuration used for most of the MC.205 aircraft. I don’t think the kit supplied antenna is correct for an Egyptian version and should be the thinner tapered top version (which is part F3 in the MC.202 kit) according to the Squadron Walk Around page 14 information.

I used some scrap etched copper fret to cut a connection tab for the antenna wire connection to the vertical tail’s front edge. I wound some thin copper wire around a thicker piece of wire to create a spring for this part. I also used two pieces of empty wire insulation as the insulators (see photo). I attached this before the final painting of the upper surfaces and canopy parts.

The main landing gear covers were painted off the model and added at this point. The small tabs (part C14) at the top did have a good fit since there was a small indentation just for them. I found other Macchi kits lacked fit in this area. Because this is an Egyptian aircraft using the MC.202 airframe I had to eliminate the tail wheel doors to accommodate the MC.202 fixed wheel configuration which did not have any doors and just the front speed fairing portion (see pages 62-65, and 71 in the MMP #8102 MC.202 text). This required filling in the fuselage fairing area behind and underneath the tail wheel with some Aves Apoxie Sculpt and not using the doors. The speed fairing in front of the tail wheel had to be added as well. 

The clear parts were added using Testors 8876C white glue. I use this because of its long, tapered black plastic applicator that allows small amounts to be carefully placed. I also used a Squadron “Fast Frames” vinyl canopy accessory # 41016 – on the inside of the vac-form canopy. Since it is an open canopy this is a very visible part and I needed a very clean delineation of the inside canopy frame which it provided. The now long OOP “Fast Frames” still works! But before you use them see if they fit. Since I used a vac-form that is actually sized for the Tauro kit they did not fit. I had to cut one end of the Fast Frames vinyl and reposition it. They did make for an easy way to add the black framing of the cockpit interior to a vac-form – which is not a fun task otherwise unless you use some pre-cut masks like the ones from Eduard.  I then added an etched metal gun sight and post in front of the canopy. The gun sight has no crosshair so you essentially need to find a loop on a post which I found on another etched fret.

There is a thin wire used to restrain the canopy when it is opened. This is clearly visible in a photo on page 33 of the Squadron Color Walk Around text. I used some smoke colored Sulky brand invisible sewing thread which is what I also used for the antenna wire because it is already darkened (not transparent like other invisible sewing threads) for the restraining wire. It needs to be glued behind the two mounting bolts on the armor plate behind the pilot. If you keep the canopy closed you won’t need this.

The SBS resin cockpit set has an etched metal armor plate. The problem I faced was what color to paint it. Looking at museum aircraft I found natural metal, dark gray and light interior green used. I went with the interior green but that was after much deliberation.

 The wing tip lights were painted Testors chrome silver. When it was dry I used Tamiya clear red and green over the lights and the model was finished.

I have no hesitation in highly recommending this kit. I really enjoyed this build. Assembly of the main parts was so quick that I thought I did something wrong but everything was there. The MC.205 is a beautiful aircraft and the model builds into an accurate replica.

The colorful camouflages and paint variations of the MC.205 include some German Bf-109 types of gray on blue-gray mottle for ANR aircraft as well as the Italian desert yellow with green smoke rings desert schemes or even overall green. The cockpit is fine OOB but you do have many enjoyable interior alternatives. There is plenty of aftermarket to upgrade the cockpit area using color zoom from Eduard, or complete resin cockpit sets from Squadron True Details, or SBS Model resin. My next build will just swap out the seat for an Ultracast seat with belts and use the Hasegawa instrument panel decals for what I expect to be a nice looking model. When I finished I thought: “What took me so long to build one of these nice kits?”.

There are some excellent reference books listed below. The Squadron Walk Around # 5558 is entirely in color (except for B&W WWII period photos) and answered every modeling detail question that I had. Throughout the build I was re-reading this book finding the correct detail for comparison to kit parts or identifying missing features. It too is highly recommended and its price is very reasonable given its quality and significant contribution to a fun build. The MMP book was also very useful in the same regard. 

Macchi C.202 Folgore MMP Books Orange Series No. 8102

Warpaint Series No. 78 Aer Macchi C.202-205 Folgore-Veltro 

SKYmodels decal 'Macchi MC 205', # 48-020

Macchi MC 205 “Veltro”; Maurizio Di Terlizzi; Avialibri #1; 1997

Squadron # 5558 Macchi MC 205 “Veltro” Walk Around Color Series; Maurizio Di Terlizzi,  2008

Aero Detail # 15 Macchi C.200/202/205 published 1995

Stormo! web site at  http://www.stormomagazine.com

Andrew Garcia

March 2013

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