Aeronautica Macchi C.205M Post WWII Merlin Engine-Powered Variant

[Inactive]

Following WWII Aeronautica Macchi and FIAT resumed production of their Daimler-Benz DB 605-powered C.205V and G.55 fighters for the Aeronautica Militare Italiana, Egypt and Levantine state air forces at a time when Britain and the U.S.A. in particular were unwilling to sell high-performance military aircraft to the latter eastern Mediterranean militaries given escalating violence adjacent to and within British-governed Palestine. Whilst DB 605 engine stocks were being used up FIAT commenced building the Rolls-Royce Merlin-powered G.59 Aeronautica Macchi alternatively developing the C.205M (Merlin) it never going beyond the wooden mockup stage of the forward fuselage "power egg":



Several years ago Italian Kits Wings marketed the IKW 7206 Macchi C.205M Resin Conversion Kit for the 1/72 scale Hasegawa Macchi C.202 kit one of which I'd purchased in 2017 and completed today March 28, 2019 in Aeronautica Militare Italiana livery:

[Old Wombat]

Neat!

[Inactive]

More Photos:

[elmayerle]

Beautiful!!  I've got several of those conversions and I keep thinking of one of them built as a captured MC.202 converted by Rolls-Royce for comparison purposes.

[GTX_Admin]

 

[Brian da Basher]

Talk about a magnificent Merlin Macchi!

I wasn't aware of this before and yours looks absolutely flawless!

Brian da Basher

[Inactive]

Talk about a magnificent Merlin Macchi!

I wasn't aware of this before and yours looks absolutely flawless!

Brian da Basher

Building the 1/72 scale SEM Model Macchi C.204 Resin Kit Conversion of the Italeri C.205 Kit powered by a 900hp Isotta Fraschini Asso XI L 121 RC.40 liquid-cooled V-12 engine in full wartime Regia Aeronautica Italiana livery, should be done mid-month. The STORMO Magazine Forum where I've been posting all my "Italians" for nearly a year now is still offline so will post this build here ala the C.205M given both were never built projects.

[Old Wombat]

The wing looks somewhat out of place, like someone skinned an old biplane lower wing in aluminium & slapped it onto a "modern" fuselage. Weird.

[Inactive]

The wing looks somewhat out of place, like someone skinned an old biplane lower wing in aluminium & slapped it onto a "modern" fuselage. Weird.

If you're referring to the period photo above of the C.205M "Power Egg" mockup thing on the right likely is a main wing with 20 mm cannon on a construction jig (note the Navigation Light recess) assuming its for the C.205M. When the STORMO Magazine Forum is back up will ask if any folks on it have more info regarding this enigmatic bird that wasn't.

[Old Wombat]

The wing looks somewhat out of place, like someone skinned an old biplane lower wing in aluminium & slapped it onto a "modern" fuselage. Weird.

If you're referring to the period photo above of the C.205M "Power Egg" mockup thing on the right likely is a main wing with 20 mm cannon on a construction jig (note the Navigation Light recess) assuming its for the C.205M. When the STORMO Magazine Forum is back up will ask if any folks on it have more info regarding this enigmatic bird that wasn't.

No, I was referring to the model. The oddly straight & near-parallel leading & trailing edges are very reminiscent of the lower wings of biplanes.

[Inactive]

The wing looks somewhat out of place, like someone skinned an old biplane lower wing in aluminium & slapped it onto a "modern" fuselage. Weird.

If you're referring to the period photo above of the C.205M "Power Egg" mockup thing on the right likely is a main wing with 20 mm cannon on a construction jig (note the Navigation Light recess) assuming its for the C.205M. When the STORMO Magazine Forum is back up will ask if any folks on it have more info regarding this enigmatic bird that wasn't.

No, I was referring to the model. The oddly straight & near-parallel leading & trailing edges are very reminiscent of the lower wings of biplanes.

Macchi C.200 to C.205 series aircraft had very similar if not identical wing planforms, the Bf 109E arguably had boxier ones more like those on biplanes; Macchi wings I think on the starboard side were up to six inches longer to control engine torque. The Macchis I'd read had spin control problems particularly in dives though the C.200 reportedly had excellent level diving performance.

The port side rear wing root of the Italian Kits Wings C.205M fuselage casting was too short and thick even after filing it down to fit in the one-piece Hasegawa C.202 lower main wing, lotta putty filling was involved, port side lower rear fuselage wasn't symmetrical making things that much worse. I'd built far more challenging resin-based kits before, the 14 or so Choroszy Modelbud Caproni 100 variants built in 2017 all were heart-stoppers, came close tossing a couple somehow managed to salvage them.

[Old Wombat]

The difference in chord from the wing tip to the wing root is much greater on the Bf 109 than the Macchi;




It's that raking of the leading & trailing edges that makes the 109's wing look (& probably perform) more appropriate with its peers

[apophenia]

That is gorgeous! Very much looking forward to the SEM C.204 as well 

[Inactive]

That is gorgeous! Very much looking forward to the SEM C.204 as well 

Finished it today April 6th, will take photos, post them on new thread tomorrow.