The all-metal
FIAT G.12 designed by Giuseppe Gabrielli (1903-1987) powered by three 800hp-plus
FIAT A.74 R.C.42 supercharged 14-cylinder radial engines first flew on October 15, 1940 as an civilian airliner for
Avio Linee Italiane though was immediately adopted by the
Regia Aeronautica Italiana (RAI) as a tactical passenger & cargo transport aircraft. Briefly flown post WWII by
Alitalia airlines it was the bases of the 1,065hp
Pratt & Whitney Twin Wasp R-1830-S1C3-G 14-cylinder radial engine-powered
G.212 civilian & military passenger & cargo transport. One hundred-four G.12s in eleven versions were built 1941-1944 most being G.12T (Transporti) in RAI,
Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana,
Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana,
Deutsche Luftwaffe, Hungarian
Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő service well as with the post WWII
Aeronautica Militare Italiana.
The 2018-vintage 1/72 scale
SEM Model 72020 FIAT G.12T resin kit based on the
Aerodim 72-03 kit are the only ones available in any scale of the FIAT G.12. Adequately detailed with elevator, tailfin & rudder options for various model build versions the resin castings are quite heavy particularly the massive one-piece main wings, through-fuselage reinforcement with quarter-inch plastic dowels being necessary to securely anchor them to the fuselage; no parts for navigation lights & pitot tubes were provided these I'd fabricated. The fuselage castings were inwardly warped to where a
massive amount of under fuselage puttying/filing/sanding work was necessary complicated by there being a structural ridge element along most of the fuselage
it being better reproduced with a separately molded glued-on kit part. Fuselage & main wing engine nose mounting areas were poorly molded necessitating having to guess where to mount the FIAT A.74 engine parts on them relative to the engine cowlings. Main landing gear & tires required significant pre-assembly planning insofar as making sure they’d not break apart from the weight of the model, through-wheel to landing gear assembly weight-bearing bars are recommended though luckily was able to get by without them – for now.
The SEM Model comes with decal options for RAI (two), Hungarian & Avio Linee Italiane versions I choosing to build
MM.60673 “606-2” 606 Squadriglia, 148 Gruppo Transporto Ciampino, Italy c. February-March 1942 in FIAT-style
Schema C1A/C1B Mimetico mottles with Humbrol, Testors & Model Master enamel paints, not having access to photos of this aircraft employed “artistic license” with respect to the mottle pattern.
