1:32 FIAT G.50

The Fiat G.50 Freccia

The Freccia went down in history as the first Italian all-metal fighter monoplane with retractable landing gear. The first flight took place in February 1937, Giuseppe Gabrielli led the design and a Fiat A.74 radial engine provided the power. The type had its combat baptism over Spain, in the autumn of 1940 it escorted Italian bomber formations over the Channel and it served further over Greece, Malta and North Africa. The armament was a pair of Breda-SAFAT heavy machine guns above the engine and the cockpit had fairly intricate framing, which has always given modelers trouble. The Freccia got a second life in Finland, where thanks to its tough structure and calm behavior in a turn it earned a surprisingly good reputation with pilots.

Box contents

The set contains pre-cut self-adhesive masks for the framing of the cockpit, cut to the shape of the clear parts of the Special Hobby kit in 1:32 scale. Both the outer and the inner side of the glazing are covered, so the inside of the frames gets the cockpit shade and the outside the covering color of the airframe. The result is a sharp frame edge with no laborious outlining with a brush.

How to work with the masks

• Degrease the clear part before sticking the masks on and let it dry completely.
• Lay the mask on dry, press it down with a finger from the center to the edges and check the adhesion in the corners.
• Apply the paint in thin coats; a heavy layer bleeds under the edge of the film.
• Lift the film off shortly after the paint has dried, not after days.

The set deals only with the glazing. National insignia and decals are not in the package; those are offered by the richer ranges of the same brand.