Fiat G.91Y Yankee

ADV Models, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Tamiya's 1/48 scale Il-2 Shturmovik will be available online from Squadron
 

 
The Fiat G.91Y “Yankee” was a two-engine development of the highly successful Fiat G-91 Gina family.
 
In 1953, the single-engine Fiat G.91 win the NATO competition for a standard European Lightweight Strike Fighter aircraft. It subsequently entered service with the Italian, West German and Portuguese air forces. France and Britain, however, ignored the results of the competition to focus on their own local strike aircraft – the Étendard and Hunter respectively.
 
The Gina was in production until 1977, with more than 700 built.
 
In 1966, Aeritalia designed a much-upgraded version of the Fiat G.91. The new version featured two General Electric J85 engines, upgraded avionics and leading edge slats. The upgraded aircraft delivered improved speed, range and manoeuvrability. The original machine gun armament was also replaced with two DEFA 552 30mm cannon, and the payload was higher thanks to the more powerful engines. This improved version was the Fiat G.91Y, nicknamed “Yankee”.
 
Export sales were unsuccessful despite these enhancements. 67 Fiat G.91Ys were produced, all of which saw service with the Italian Air Force.

Although both ESCI (later reboxed by Italeri) and Ocidental have produced models of the single-engine Fiat G.91 Gina, we have not seen a G.91Y Yankee in 1/48 scale until now.
 
This is ADV Models' first full aircraft model kit, and it is a very impressive offering.
 
ADV Models’ 1:48 scale Fiat G.91Y Yankee comprises 79 parts in grey resin, 11 parts in metal (cast brass and metal tube), a photo-etched fret, four vacform parts and markings for two aircraft. The impression is good even before viewing the parts. The contents are packed inside a stout cardboard box, while the wings and fuselage halves are couched in separate bubblewrap bags.

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Thumbnail panels:

The resin parts are simply outstanding. Casting is flawless and surface detail is some of the best that I have seen in any media. Panel lines are crisp and very fine, with vents, scoops and raised detail wherever appropriate. I have test-fitted the fuselage halves and they seem to line up very well on my sample, with no gaps or steps. They are almost ready to go straight from the box too, with no casting blocks or strips.

The wings look equally good. They feature separate flaps and leading edge slats. The wings are also cast with locating tabs for the fuselage join, which will make that critical job easier and also will result in a solid bond. The wings are cast onto a large single strip.
 
Cockpit detail is rendered entirely in resin. The raised switches and bezels look great and should respond well to careful painting.

The ejection seat has the harness straps cast in place.

The wheel wells and air brake bays also feature a good level of raised detail. ADV supplies alternate parts for open and closed main gear doors. The closed version is a single part that covers the whole main undercarriage bay – a nice touch.
 
The undercarriage legs are cast in high quality brass.

 
Four wing pylons and two drop tanks are supplied but no weapons are included.
 
The exhausts include a length of tube, so there is some depth in this area.

The photo-etched fret provides actuators for the leading edge slats and rear-view mirrors.

 
The canopy is vacform with separate parts for the windscreen and the main bubble. Two sets of the parts are supplied in case of slip-ups. The vacform parts are very clear and free from distortion. A separate resin frame is provided for the main canopy section.

 
Markings are supplied for two Yankees – one with a shark’s mouth and one with a red lightning bolt on the nose. Both are in standard Italian camouflage of the day – Dark Green and Dark Gull Grey over Aluminium.

The decals appear to be very thin and are in register. The printer is not mentioned.

ADV Models’ 1:48 scale Fiat G.91Y is a stunning kit. From the appearance of the parts in the box, ADV goes straight to the top of the resin aircraft model manufacturer’s class in a similar category to Fisher Models. Casting is flawless; surface features are outstanding and detail is excellent.
 
Test fitting is encouraging too, but the ultimate proof will be in the building. The multimedia nature of the kit, and in particular some fiddly construction sequences including the leading edge slat actuators, means that the kit will be best suited to modellers with some experience working with resin and photo-etch, but I can’t see any particular danger signs so far.
 
Highly Recommended.

Thanks to ADV Models for the sample.

Text and Images Copyright © 2012 by Brett Green
Page Created 18 May, 2012
Last updated 18 May, 2012

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