Fiat G-91Y

by Andrea Mariottini

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This is the 1/72 scale Fiat G 91 Y produced by the Italian "cottage company" Cunarmodel of the Gualdoni brothers ( www.cunarmodel.it ). It is a 22 year old model; I made it on leave during my military service in the Italian Army between 1979 and 1980.

Well known in Italy for their aircraft desk models and their aircraft color profiles published by the Italian Aviation Research Branch and Aerofan magazines, the Gualdoni brothers also produced a range of Aermacchi jet trainers.

After many years of absence, Cunarmodel is back again on the shelves of the model shops with a range of Italian aircraft made in resin; a new G 91 Y is part of the new range of resin kits.

The G 91 Y was a single-seat strike and reconnaissance fighter, successor of the Fiat G 91 R. Due to the two General Electric J85-GE13A turbojets, the G 91 Y possessed more power and improved load-carrying capability.

But I do not want to tell the story of this aircraft. The purpose of my article is to show the difference between the today's available technology to make models and what was available more than 20 years ago.

To make the Me 410 that appeared recently on HyperScale I had the opportunity to use a very detailed kit with neatly engraved panel lines, a photo etched sheet with tons of components, resin and metal accessories, a vacuformed canopy, a dedicated decal sheet, softening liquids for decals, acrylic colors, transparent sealers, an airbrush, some kilos of documentation.

To make the G 91 Y I could use almost nothing except the kit itself, a Microscale decal sheet for the Italian roundels, a few photos on some magazines and a lot of inventiveness.

At that time (and maybe also today) the kit was very good with detailed cockpit, cannon bay, separeted flaps and dive brakes. It was produced by using a low pressure injection process; I have been told by the Gualdoni brothers that the mould unfortunately broke after a short time.

Many details have been hand made like the guns, their protections, the lenses of the cameras, the seat belts and other details in the cockpit.

The model has been hand-painted in the NATO gray-green scheme on the upper-surface with Humbrol enamels. Since the airbrushes were not easily available, my problem was how to paint the lower surfaces in silver; the solution was found in a small tube of Rub 'n Buff silver paste. Do you remember it? It has been sufficient to thin the silver paste with the Humbrol thinner, gently paint the lower surfaces with a soft brush and the silver was done with a smooth finish.

As I mentioned before, the Italian roundels come from a Microscale decal sheet. No other decals were available for this aircraft so the 32 - 7 code were done with dry transfers of quite good size and shape from Letraset; the shark-mouth, the eyes, the 32° Stormo badge on the fin and all the stencils, walkways included, have been hand-painted.

The model was sealed with a Letraset transparent spray generally used to fix the dry transfers on the paper.

Some years later my model was finished, the Matchbox's G 91 Y became available on the market. RCR's photo etched sheet also became available. I think that now it should be much easier to make a better G 91 Y model.

I do not want to make any comparison between today and 20 years ago and I do not want to conclude what is better. I just want to show to the young modellers and to remember to the old modellers (like me) how we did work in the past.

What I can say for sure is that to make a model is as entertaining for me today as it was in the past!

 

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2002 by Andrea Mariottini
Page Created 23 December, 2002
Last Updated 04 June, 2007

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