Author Topic: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi  (Read 23156 times)

Offline andonio64

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ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« on: April 17, 2013, 08:43:51 PM »
Hallo everybody,
I decided my next work: I received this from a French friend as a "Christmas Exchange GB", in exchange I sent him a Resin Ardpol Pomilio in 72.
The SVA5 was the plane with which I started my new modeling life but the kit was a dreadful SMER, this is a FLY and appears to be much better.

Usual preliminary pics:



Mine will be a SVA 5 belonging to the 87a squadriglia "la Serenissima", 1918.
I've chosen the center profile, the one with the white 3 on the green fin...
To be precise the green tail was no.5 (no.3 had a yellow tail scattered with red stars)
So I have to reproduce 4 white "5"s either as a decal or in some alternative way.
Any suggestion?


The decals look good, the print is neat and in good register. The colours according to my opinion are too bright.




The detail of the plastic pieces is fair enough, although the panel lines are not enough visible (they don't even appear in the picture).
I was also thinking about "riveting" the joint lines... but so far I don't remember any picture in which the rivets (or nails, better) are visible
The cockpit structure is molded on the inner side of the fuselage, I don't like it very much but I will check whether to leave it as it is or not.



Resin pieces appear good enough, except the Vickers MGs. I will use photoetched parts.
Anyone can suggest "ready made" Vickers MG of good quality in 48th?
The belts are molded on the seat cushion, but appear to have a good detail definition. Although I was thinking about a scratch built seat or a PE one, will see what to do looking at it after spraying some primer.




I have a lot of documentation from my last build and will use it all, along with the notes I took while studying and building the no.1 of the 87a Squad.

The S/N of the plane I chose is 11779, it was piloted by Lt. Aldo Finzi




The 3rd picture shows the no.5, closing up the fin: the colour shade is darker than the green band of the rudder so I will choose a darker shade of green.
Although this was not his personal plane he flew that plane over Vienna in the legendary raid led by the Italian nationalist poet Gabriele D'Annunzio in August 1918

Here is the correct profile:





OK that is all for now, thanks for your attention!

Antonio

======================================================================

PS here are some simplified notes on Ten. Aldo Finzi (Ten. = Tenente = Lieutenant)

Aldo Finzi Legnago, 20 april 1891 – Roma 24 march 1944

Aldo Finzi was of Jewish Origins, although he professed himself agnostic he educated his 7 sons according to Christian ideals.
In 1915 he was discarded by the recruiting commission because he had thoracic inadequacy, but he succeeded in getting into the Army to serve in WW1.
He started as dispatch rider on motorcycle, in 1916 he was transferred to Artillery Corps and then he became a pilot in the 48th Reconnoissance Squadriglia, equipped with Caudron G.3 / G.4.
He knew there Natale Palli who invited him late in 1917 to join the 87th Squadriglia "La serenissima" of which he was the commander dispatch rider.

After the war he got the degree in law and started his political career, he joined the Fascist Party in 1920 and took part in the March on Rome and was appointed vice-Commander in Chief of the Police, he also was elected deputy to the Italian parliament before the rise of the Fascists. But after few years he started indicating risks and problems of the dictatorship, then he wrote a report about some "special" action squad acting in illegality so he was set out of any governmental. He openly showed his ideas against racial laws. In the end he was sent to exile and lately (1943) he became a partisan. He acted as a dispatch rider again, but this time he was caught by the nazis and sent to prison.
On March 24th 1944 he was killed by order of Herbert Kappler, German Commander of the SS in occupied Rome, to the "Fosse Ardeatine" an open quarry where 335 persons, most of them civilian, were slain in that same day as an act of retaliation after a partisan attack to an SS Regiment in the city.

Offline Pete Nottingham

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #1 on: April 17, 2013, 09:51:06 PM »
Lovely project Antonio, look forward to seeing your build photos.

Cheers

Pete.

Offline andonio64

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2013, 10:11:12 PM »
Thanks Pete! I hope to weigh anchor next weekend, I am still in the studying phase...

8-)

Offline Chris Johnson

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #3 on: April 17, 2013, 10:16:51 PM »
You've chosen a colourful scheme and I'm looking forward to seeing it take shape. As for the white '5's, I've always had good luck using dry transfers (Letraset etc.) on clear decal paper.

Cheers,

Chris
You can have it good; You can have it fast; you can have it cheap. Pick any two, but all three are impossible.

Offline andonio64

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #4 on: April 17, 2013, 10:35:02 PM »
Thanks Chris, I was thinking about Letraset or similar, the problem is to find them in right font and size, do you have any suggestion where to buy?
Here I am afraid nobody uses that transfers anymore.
By the way d you think it's better to transfer them on the decal paper rather than directly on the model?

Antonio

PS
I _love_ your triplane building, the hair spray technique you used produced fantastic results

« Last Edit: April 17, 2013, 11:07:41 PM by andonio64 »

Offline pepperman42

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #5 on: April 17, 2013, 11:05:36 PM »
Looks like youre all ready to go to work on a colourful bird. Looking forward to the build. I have their Macchi M5 so the fit etc is of interest.

Steve

Offline Chris Johnson

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #6 on: April 18, 2013, 12:41:07 AM »
Thanks Chris, I was thinking about Letraset or similar, the problem is to find them in right font and size, do you have any suggestion where to buy?
Here I am afraid nobody uses that transfers anymore.
By the way d you think it's better to transfer them on the decal paper rather than directly on the model?

Antonio

PS
I _love_ your triplane building, the hair spray technique you used produced fantastic results

I'd suggest checking out model railroading sites or the railroading section of your local hobby shop if you have one. Sometimes office supply stores stock lettering too.

I always found it difficult to apply transfers directly on a model as there's no ability to tweak their position. When I apply it to decal paper and seal it, I can fumble around with it all I want . . . or need to.  ;D

Thanks for your kind comments on my Triplane.

Cheers,

Chris
You can have it good; You can have it fast; you can have it cheap. Pick any two, but all three are impossible.

Offline GAJouette

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #7 on: April 18, 2013, 12:47:23 AM »
  Antonio,
My old friend I'm truly looking forward to this latest project of yours. The Ansaldo SVA-5 is one of the most beautiful aircraft produced during WW I in my opinion. From your photos the Fly kit certainly does appear a far better kit than the old Smer kit. Best of luck with this new project.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
" What Me Worry"

Offline andonio64

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #8 on: April 18, 2013, 12:56:53 AM »
I'd suggest checking out model railroading sites or the railroading section of your local hobby shop if you have one. Sometimes office supply stores stock lettering too.

I will try model railroading sites, I always used to purchase transfers from office / architect / engineer supplies shops in my youth when doing graphic work (fanzines and handouts to photocopy) when the computer was a word you could hear in the universities or in the sci-fi fictions, but now I noticed none of those shops is open still.

I always found it difficult to apply transfers directly on a model as there's no ability to tweak their position. When I apply it to decal paper and seal it, I can fumble around with it all I want . . . or need to.  ;D

Thanks for your kind comments on my Triplane.

If I'll find the transfers I'll try both ways and let you know. Thanks for your advice.

Antonio

Offline coyotemagic

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #9 on: April 18, 2013, 02:58:45 AM »
I'm really looking forward to this one, Antonio.  The Ansaldo line of aircraft are, in my opinion, the most asthetically pleasing of the Great War.
Cheers,
Bud
"All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream in the dark recesses of the night awake in the day to find all was vanity. But the dreamers of day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, and make it possible." -T. E. Lawrence

Offline andonio64

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #10 on: April 27, 2013, 10:57:56 PM »
Hallo gents, I finally weighed anchor on thursday, national holiday here in Italy (as well as in AU & NZ) and, after spraying primer on all the pieces (white on wings and tail surfaces, gray on the rest of the pieces) I essentially worked on the fuselage external parts:

First of all the panel lines were totally wrong and I traced the correct lines with a brown pencil...



The inspection panels in the kit appear equals on both the fuselage sides while on the port side no photo I have in my documentation shows all of them, just the small one.

The vertical oval panel is just a sort of basis for an air intake which was only on the starboarrd side. It was removed on later SVA5 versions.

Checking the pieces on some drawings I found on the web (in 48th) I noticed that taking the cockpit opening as a pivot, the fuselage is longer than it should be.


I decided just to work on the tail because to work on the nose it would be such an heavy work... I should change too many things, to me is nearly impossible...

Here is the fuselage at an intermediate stage, you can see I re-traced the metal framework the SVA series had on the rearmost part of the fuselage (of course this was due to the heavy shortening of the fuselage itself)

The new panel lines here are traced with a scriber and the old ones were filled with putty as well as the wrong inspection openings on the port side.

I had to build the steps giving access to the cockpit because those on the kit were carved while in the real plane they were a sort of metal rimming to the step opening...

I used evergreen styrene tube (4 mm  O.D.) cut in thin rings (a) with a JLC combo saw with a 0.5 mm extender (2) and two parallel blades (1 & 3) .
I bought from UMM their 15 "Years Anniversary Saw Pack" which comes with 3 spare blades and a set of different extenders (0.5 - 1.5 - 2.5 and 2x1.0 mm). This was the first time I use it and I found it very useful and easy to use...




Here is how the two fuselage halves look just now. I have drilled holes for the rigging.
I also used 2 slices of the rubber coat of an electric wire to rim the holes in the rear part (exit point for wires commanding the rudder).

Let's go back to the workbench now!!!
Thanks for looking

Antonio

Offline uncletony

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #11 on: April 28, 2013, 12:35:09 AM »
Yay a new Antonio build log! Always enjoy watching your thought process unfold. Great start on a cool aircraft.

Offline GAJouette

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #12 on: April 28, 2013, 09:33:45 AM »
  Antonio,
Outstanding first progress my old friend. As always your projects threads are a great pleasure to follow gather tips from.Keep up the grand works.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
" What Me Worry"

Offline pepperman42

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #13 on: April 28, 2013, 11:48:10 PM »
Nice start. Looking forward to the progress. She looks well researched.

Steve

Offline andonio64

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Re: ANSALDO SVA 5 - 1/48 Fly - Ten. Aldo Finzi
« Reply #14 on: April 30, 2013, 04:34:38 PM »
Thanks everybody,
I proceeded further with the cockpit wood work, IP and other details in the pit, once painted the resin seat reveals to be excellent, so the other resin pieces have sharp details and look well done.
I hope to get a bit forward tonight and tomorrow (Labour Day) so that I have some new pics to share.

Thanks again guys for following!

Antonio