Latest build: Sovoia-Marchetti S.55 X

Modeling Subjects Aircraft
1

Pardon the poor quality, had to use the Snappy on these… [:0]

The S.55X was a welcomed break from the monotony, although the build was a proverbial “poster child” for the honing of ones modeling skills!!
Poor fit, warped and misaligned pieces, each of the pieces had an excessive amount of FLASH and were connected to the tree’s by VERY thick processes, which required much trimming and sanding.

The “canopy” supplied in the kit is too thick and too tall. I vacu-formed a new transparency using the kit supplied one as the mold, then trimmed the bottom 1/4th of it off, to achieve the correct height.

The “rigging” was accomplished using stretched (hair thin) spru.

Take care,
Frank

2

BEAUTIFUL build, Frank ! Love those pontoons. Great job on the rigging. Nicely cleaned up (I know the limited-run kits !). What did you use for the metallic finish?

By the position of that engine, I don’t imagine that the pilots had much hearing left ! [(-D] That must have been one LOUD ride !

Looks sharp, Frank. A pleasure to view.

3

Nice job, Frank!

It sounds like you had quite a battle with that kit; I am glad you won…

Regards, Dan

4

sweet build frank

5

Wow, very very nice!
Definitely looks out of the ordinary. Looks like you really took a lot of care in this, especially with the rigging, considering it’s stretched sprue. Did you use CA or normal plastic cement to attatch the rigging together?

6

great looking “out of the ordinary” build!![8D]
the thought of that rigging though…i’m still having therapy to say the word bipla…bipl…biplan…bi…no, i still can’t say b i p l a n e !!![(-D]
regards,
nick

7

fantastic build. awesome job.

joe

8

Pix:
Thanks man… The Floats were unique in there design and purpose; providing excellent stability on water, and as a personnel/cargo carrier. The earlier version had machine gun enclosures on the fore/top, and an observation bubble on the aft/top, of each float. General Italo Balbo used the S.55 X for a 12 plane mass flight from Italy to Rio de Janerio in 1931, and a 24 plane mass flight from Italy to Chicago in 1933… the Floats provided a suitable dormitory/navigation suite during these long trips.

The finish is rubbed chrome spray paint, to replicate the aircraft’s canvas skin.

Yes, I imagine the engine “harmonics” stayed with a crew for a few days after being on it.

Dan:
Thanks!

The “Improvise, Overcome, Adapt” mind set was in full force throughout this project! It’s a good kit for honing techniques, and works up into a pretty enjoyable build… to that end. [:0]

willuride:
Thanks!

zokissima:
Thanks!
I used Super Glue Jell to attach the rigging, which worked out really well and tightened up beautifully with a few passes of a cigar.[;)] The plane needs to be in a display case however, because dusting and cable breakage would go hand in hand.

Nick:
Thanks!
Actually, the rigging turned out to be the smoothest part of the entire construction! (now what does that tell you!!) [:0]

fightnjoe:
Thanks!

Notes of interest regarding Gen. Italo Balbo:

Chicago named Balbo Avenue after him and staged a parade in his honor; President Roosevelt invited him to a lunch. Back home in Italy, he was promoted Air Marshal and became a National Hero; hence, the term “Balbo” entered common usage to describe any large formation of airplanes. On June 28 1940, Balbo was killed when he was returning from a patrol flight in Tobruk, Libya, when his plane was shot down by an Italian anti-aircraft gun of an Italian cruiser. The Italian government maintained that the incident was an accident of friendly fire, but Balbo’s widow, Emanuela Florio, believed that it was an intentional assassination on Mussolini’s orders, because he had garnered so much of the public’s love and admiration.

Frank

9

Frank,
that’s a beautiful model![bow][bow][bow] You’ve certainly put a lot of hard work into it and it shows. I have the upmost respect for anyone who can do rigging like that[^].

A great build and a real pleasure to look at, thanks for sharing it with us.

Regards,

Darren[;)]

10

Frank, that’s a great build of a difficult kit. I’ve always loved that aircraft and wish I could find one (even vac) in 1/48. You certainly did a beautiful job. Suggest you submit pictures and write up to Hyperscale, ARC or Modeling Madness, In fact, I would send it to all three so everyone can apperciate the great job you did.

11

Fantastic Build. I would never attempt this kit, but you certainly came out the winner over a difficult kit. Congratulations!

12

thankyou for the hist also. its nice to hear the background of a/c as well as to see the pics.

joe

13

Absolutly fantastic, thanks for the peek.

14

SWEET !

A GREAT job on that one man. - and an incredibly unique subject. I’ve never seen that plane before. She’s a beauty.

Can you let us know what the wingspan is on that kit ? Just trying to get an idea of the size.

15

It’s right at 13". There’s another company that makes a 1/98 scale S.55 X, but have never seen it in any larger scale.

Thanks Dave, Swanny (for the lead on the submissions), rjkplasticmod, Darren, and Joe! It must have been a sight back in 1933, to see 24 of these things flying in tight formation…

… as a matter of fact, it would be quite a sight in 2004 also!! [;)]

Tanks again everyone!
Frank

16

awesome pic.

joe

17

beautifully done. Pictures look great.
ya know, you could set up a photo manip for a 2004 shot.
I betch’a it would look real sweet.

18

Neat build of a great plane. A while ago someone was selling a set of photos from the Italy - Brazil flight, about 100 photos if I recall. Went for way too much money. I think it was an official souvenier package or something. Probably would have been a great reference for you, not that it looks like you needed much more than whatever you may have had, with how good it turned out.

19

fantastic job and so stylish!
Only the italians would design something as beautiful as that.
thanks for the history lesson too.

thats a great tribute to General Italo Balbo.

20

Excellent work, Frank!
Very interesting subject.