Fiat G.55 Centauro
Italian Aces - Part One

Stormo Decals, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Graham Carter

This Canadian company has produced a very nice sheet to suit either of the Special Hobby kits in 1/48 - kit numbers 48066 or 48087. The decals are © 2020.

They are beautifully printed with great colour density and featuring a bare whiff of clear trim to worry about. They smack of quality. The background sheet is a pale blue which helps delineate the white and other pale markings.

The clear and well-written instructions fill both sides of an A4 sheet and each subject is illustrated with a colour port or starboard profile and a set of generic top and underside views at the end of the sheet. These drawings are clear and the location of all decals and stencils is very clearly marked. There is also an additional sheet giving the background to the system of application and some hints re the proprietary decal materials to use, although I do object to the use of ‘allot’ rather than ‘a lot’ ( but that is probably just me). 

It is very pleasing to see the use of the correct Italian mimmetico colour numbers to acknowledge that Italian aircraft producers often used different paint manufacturers; references are provided as well. FIAT used a specific group of tan, green and pale grey paints which differed from those used by Macchi, CANT, Reggiane, Imam Ro and Savoie-Marchetti - it can get quite confusing. FS numbers are given for these colours.  A list of references is given at the end of the main sheet and these will help for further research. 

The subjects are all versions of the FIAT G.55 and each subject is given a very helpful description of its use, pilot, time and colour notes. The eight aircraft are mostly in the same scheme. Only the first is in Verde Oliva Scuro 2 with Nocciola Chiaro 4 ‘blobs’ over Grigio Azzuro Chiaro 1 ( that’s light hazelnut and dark olive green over light bluish grey), with the initial Italian fasces markings.

• I.  G.55 Prototype MM492 at Guidonia Test Centre March August 1942

All the others are Verde Oliva Scuro 2 over Grigio Azzuro Chiaro 1.

• II.  G.55 Sottoserie 0, MM91059 at Roma-Ciampino , August 1943

• III. G.55 Sottoserie 0, MM91067 in Luftwaffe markings on test at FIAT factory, September 1943

• IV. G.55 Sottoserie 0, MM91073 at Venaria Reale, in Luftwaffe markings, January 1944

• V. G.55 Sottoserie 0, MM91065 at Venaria Reale, March 1944, this one has rectangular ANR markings

• VI. G.55 Serie I, MM91060 at Venaria Reale, April 1944, this one has rectangular ANR markings

• VII. G.55 Sottoserie 0, MM91072 at Venaria Reale, April1944, this one has rectangular ANR markings, and

• VIII. G.55 Serie I, MM91097 at Venaria Reale, April 1944, this one has rectangular ANR markings.

Each aircraft has a detailed description of any special features or modifications to the airframe and a description of its use  and the pilots who used it - a very nice feature.

All in all a great set of markings with some very interesting schemes that will entice the modeller to invest in several kits.

This is a very well produced decal sheet - highly recommended to the 1/48th modeller of this aircraft and era

Thanks to Stormo Decals for the sample.

Text and Images Copyright © 2021 by Graham Carter
Page Created 14 April, 2021
Last updated 15 April, 2021

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