| 1/48 Fly Macchi M.5 flying boat by Alex Kontiveis |
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Alex Kontiveis continues his fast and furious OOB builds, by sending this time a Biplane. Well done Alex.
1/48 Fly Macchi M.5 flying boat
The Macchi M.5 was an Italian single-seat fighter flying boat designed and built by Macchi-Nieuport at Varese. It was extremely maneuverable and agile and matched the land-based aircraft it had to fight. The first prototype of a single-seat sesquiplane fighter was the Type M which first flew in 1917. Developed by engineers Buzio and Calzavera it had single-step hull and an open cockpit forward of the wings and was similar to the earlier Macchi M.3. It was followed by another prototype with a revised tail unit designated the Ma and further developed as the M bis and Ma bis. 
The production aircraft was designated the M.5 and like the prototypes were powered by a single Isotta-Fraschini V.4B engine in pusher configuration.Deliveries soon commenced in the summer of 1917 to the Aviazone per la Regia Marina (Italian Navy Aviation).
Late production aircraft had a more powerful Isotta-Fraschini
V.6 engine and redesigned wingtip floats, they were designated M.5 mod.
Macchi produced 200 aircraft and another 44 were built by Societa Aeronautica Italiana. The M.5 was operated by five Italian maritime patrol squadrons as a fighter and convoy escort, and some were embarked on the Giuseppe Miraglia. Towards the end of World War I, the aircraft were flown by both United States Navy and United States Marine Corps airmen. Ensign Charles Hammann won the first Medal of Honor awarded to a United States naval aviator in an M.5. In 1923, when the Regia Aeronautica was formed, 65 M.5s were still in service, although they all had been scrapped within a few years. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macchi_M.5)
Hi guys, This my first attempt on a Biplane. When I saw it, especially the particular one with the “special” scheme, I decided to buy it immediately. Actually, I fall in love with it. The kit comes up in a very small box. 2 trees of light sand plastic, 1 resin part for the engine, one decal sheet (two options Italian or German markings) composes your Kit.
The plastic quality is very good for the standards of a small manufacture. Crispy detail wherever is need for. A quite good instructions booklet will drive you easily at finish line. The only disadvantages are the decals.
Although their good adhesively, the very few
elements for the “special” nose scheme are OUT of scale.. Maybe in 1/35!!!
The construction comes up very simple for everybody. You have to pay attention on some very small parts, but don’t worry. You will do it. Personally I didn’t made any crazy things on it. For the cockpit, I made a new instruments panel some spares PE parts found. For the Big instrument on the left side I used a rod painted in black and a bezel to simulate the compass. A made a new typical “XX” framing for the both interior sides. The pilot’s seat was painted in aluminum. For the seat belts, I used some Pre-painted of Eduard’s found into my spares box. The whole interior was painted in Red Brown according to my info. The engine is a Beauty! No details added, trying to make seem good enough by painting job. Aluminum (Alclad II) was used for painting the radiator’s frame. A new crank was made from the beginning. The Engine’s wooden holds were painted in brown color, and were “wooded” using oils. The same method followed for all the rest wooden parts such as propeller, wing holds, floats etc. For the floats I used home made masks to achieve the aluminum framing around them. The Kit was finished within 24hours.
FLY, is not so clear about the accurate painting
colors. Suggests: DARK Green for painting the main fuselage plus upper wing’s
painting, a Yellow – Orange color for the nose
art, and the typical Green-White-Red for painting the Italian flag. I chose the
RAF Dark Green, and a mix of Yellow and Orange
to paint the nose. Most of the painting job there was hand brushed according to
color profiles. You will need to be very patient to paint all the “doggy
look”!!!!. Anyway…I managed to bring out a good result.
Although FLY is not a much known model kit manufacturer, provides a very good quality similar to famous model makers. I believe that this kit is a very good choice in case you want to build a delicate WWII float plane especially if you are thinking of placing it on a diorama. You are gonna enjoy it, without any bad “surprises”. I hope you like it.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Text & Photos by Alex Kontiveis |
