Biplanes twisting and turning, vying for advantage was a combat mode left over from the World War I; except the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Air Force) still thought it was a viable option leading up to the beginning of the World War II with its highly agile, and outdated, CR.42 Falco. Serving in lower threat areas, the Falco held on as a fighter for a while but was easily outclassed when meeting modern monoplanes like the Hurricane. Secondary duty as a ground attack mount followed.
ICM released this pretty Italian bird of prey in 1/32 scale, starting with the standard fighter version. Detail is good, and surface detail is well done. All strut mounting points are well defined leading to a sturdy assembly.
The kit includes optional open cowlings for displaying the nicely detailed Fiat A.74 engine. Also included but not used are parts for landing gear lacking the streamlined fairings and underwing weapons appropriate for the ground attack version released separately by ICM.
Two decal options are provided, one from the ill-fated assault on England during the Battle of Britain, and one based in Sicily during the summer of 1941 assault on the island of Malta. Both are in standard two-tone “splotchy” green and brown over tan with grey undersides. Yellow cowlings feature on both. A tiny errata sheet is in the kit giving a missing second serial number for the Battle of Britain option.
The cockpit assembles easily after carefully cleaning up the separate tubular framework. I left off the side consoles for separate painting. Individual decals are provided for the instruments and require careful placement. Don’t forget to attach the wing root intake blocks (parts D39 and D40) before closing up the fuselage. The stabilizers attach with perfect fit, and the elevators and rudder are separate. The forward upper fuselage decking fits perfectly as well.
The right and left lower wings are single piece moldings and attach to the fuselage with sturdy tabs. Take care with alignment as there is some wiggle room at the wing root. The fit of the windscreen is perfect and ICM includes a template in the instructions for cutting your own paint masks.
The Fiat engine is a highlight of the kit and includes a full exhaust system, along with rocker arm covers for all cylinders, with a note to delete them if installing the cowling. I was able to leave one of the four cowl panels off to display a portion of the engine, adding three sets of covers in the visible area. I assembled the cowling over the engine, which may have been a mistake because it fit together perfectly on its own. It may be best to fully assemble the cowling and place it over the assembled engine.
Painting was completed with the upper wing and struts separate. MRP colors were used for all four camouflage colors: gray (No. 301), brown (No. 325), tan (No. 325) , and green (No. 329). The decals are very thin and do not require setting solution. They will wrinkle easily if you don’t use enough water underneath them during placement. Since I needed to paint a white band on the fuselage, I painted the stripes on the tail as well instead of using the decals supplied.
Once the decals were sealed with a flat coat, the center section cabane struts were added to the fuselage and allowed to dry. The upper wing was then easily attached. This allowed the wing to be in the proper position for adding the unusual “W-truss” struts, which clicked into place – I was tempted to not add glue.
The landing gear fit nearly as well. I was missing one half of the tail wheel fairing, so I was forced to scratch build one using the main landing gear fairing of a 1/32 Matchbox Lysander kit. The engine and cowling assembly were easily attached at the end of the build. The small amount of rigging was added using EZ Line Heavy, while the tiny control lines were completed with EZ Line Fine.
I finished my Falco in a fast 24 hours, not bad for a biplane in this scale. The fit is outstanding and would make a good initial foray into rigging and biplanes. ICM definitely has figured out biplane kit design.