21st Century Toys 1/32 Mc.202 Folgore Kit First Look

By Kelly Jamison

First Look

You get a whole kit in a sturdy box that is reminiscent of the old box scale size boxes. Longer and thinner in width than we are use to seeing in the normal model world. The artwork on the front is very nice too. The plastic is injected in a cream colored plastic looking very much like the cream colored resin more familiar to us.

All parts have been cut from the sprue tree already with the smaller parts being packaged into a nice little clear plastic tray making the parts very easy to find. The cockpit is sparse but basically all there. Scratch building and photo-etch could really set off this area. The tires and screw plugs are the few pieces cast in black. The instruction sheet is done in a 45 degree exploded view and is very easy to understand.

One little gem is the pre-painted pilot that seems to be available in all of their Axis line of aircraft. It is the only thing painted in the kit. This one painted in leather brown and is detailed out nicely with moveable arms too!

The painting profile features three different aircraft and even gives you Model Master and Polly Scale color numbers. The three planes featured are 151 Spuadriglia, 20th Gruppo, 51st Stormo CT based at Gela, Italy in September 1942 in the classic smoke rings. (Are you listening Mike Grant?) The next plane is the splotched sand and olive green 70 Squadriglia, 23rd Gruppo, 3rd Stormo CT after the collapse of the Fascist Government. And the last is the dark brown and blue gray 6th Squadriglia, 9th Gruppo, 4th Stormo from Lybia, 1941. Now for another one of those little gems of the kit are the decals. They are fantastic and worth the price of the kit alone. They are in register and the colors look great.

Using the Mushroom Model Macchi C.202 Folgore by Przemyslaw Skulski, I concluded that most of the panel lines are correctly placed but are very deep and overdone. Surface detail is also accurate but overdone. One of the most distracting things on this kit is the holes used to screw the two fuselage halves together and the wing panels together. There are small black plugs with letters on the back corresponding to the instruction sheet to tell you which hole they should plug.

The propeller looks a bit too thick in the chord and the spinner looks a bit too bulbous but not too bad. The canopy is very clear but comes to too much of a point at the top of the canopy. The top should be a smoother bend. It is also molded with tabs to help it hinge to be positioned open or closed.

I was pleasantly surprised to find the distinctive longer left wing tip than the right wing tip to counteract the P-factor of the engine torque but the wings themselves seem too thick in the chord. There is no wheel well detail or engine detail to be had. The landing gear are a bit spindly but decently accurate.

I see two ways of building this. Either super-detail it using all your modeling skills and spare time saving lots of money over very expensive limited run resin kits or build the thing and have some fun.

Remember that this kit started life as a very accurate toy and you are getting the nuts and bolts to build your own very accurate toy. Build it to the level you are comfortable with and enjoy the hobby for what it is suppose to be. Fun!