Scale Aviation Modeller International — February 2018

kept them for fitting until the end.

To add the guns to the model, I

fitted the ones on the fuselage sides

to a U-bracket on the sill of the side

windows, and braced them down

to the floor using microrod. (In

the actual aircraft, ammo was fed

downwards from magazines in the

ceiling, spent cases were sent down

a chute and into a bag attached to

the left side of the gun, and links

were collected in a hung bag.)

I now added ammo belts and

chutes taken from Eduard’s set 73

7. It was scary bending these
   to shape, and I only succeeded
   once I realised that they should
   be annealed over a flame, to make
   the metal more pliable. Placing the
   ammo belt inside the chute, before
   bending, makes things easier.
   The 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT at
   the rear of the gondola was also
   fixed to a U-bracket. On the aircraft,
   it was supplied by a magazine
   mounted across the middle of the
   fuselage, but in a canted position
   to assist a smooth ammo supply.
   There was no chute for this gun, as
   the ammunition belt fed directly
   into the gun. I scratch-built a
   magazine and support structure for

this, but I overlooked the correct

canted positioning. If you wish

to rig an ammo belt between the

magazine and the gun, at this point

you will have to add the gondola

to the right side of the fuselage.

Finally, I fitted the rear-defence

12.7 mm gun, at the aft end of the

hump, to another U-bracket. Eduard

provides this gun with several

hoppers: Part 21 is for spent casings

and Part 20 is storage, in a stack, for

fresh ammo magazines. The gun’s

“active” magazine was located

in a housing fitted down between

tubing on the left side of the support

structure. This is just a plain box

and is easy to scratch-build.

I was now able to spray the

inside of the fuselage shells and

all other interior parts using verde

anticorrosione. I selected No. C120

from my dwindling collection of the

defunct DBI range of enamels, but

alternatives are Humbrol 90 Matt

Beige Green, and the acrylic Tamiya

XF-21 Sky. When dry, I added dark

washes into recesses and corners.

I then set about the pleasant task

of fitting the instrument panels,

radio faces, guns, seats, etc,

not forgetting the tailwheel.

With this preliminary work out

of the way, I finally came to the

happy task of joining the fuselage

halves. When done, and once the

landing light in the nose was

installed, I could add an “engine

bearer” for the central engine.

The S.79’s actual engine bearers

were not visible, as they were

hidden away behind light metal

cone-shaped fairings. Airfix offers

nothing like these, but I used Part

84 from a Supermodel kit of the

S.81, although the wide end needed

to be further widened, by a couple of

laminations of 20 thou plasticard,

to achieve the correct size for the

S.79’s characteristic “notched”

collar behind the centre engine.

WINGS AND ENGINE

NACELLES

I had long decided that I wanted

to depict the control surfaces in

displaced positions. Using a good

drawing (I would recommend

Ali d’Italia No. 9), and without

any assembly first, I marked

and cut out the areas of slats and

flaps, and enlarged the aileron

areas. A second kit was used to

donate the actual control surfaces

(making for an easier life).

All cut edges were trued up

using files and sanding sticks

and blocks, but note that, on the

upper wing surface, there is a

84 • FEBRUARY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

082-89-VP-Sm79-0218.indd 84 12/01/2018 12:10