I bought the model during a modeling outing with one of my
sons with the intention, as usual, of giving it a life in a much more pleasant
role, as a civil record aircraft. That is something I like to do with old dogs
that are still available when they had civil registrations. I was hesitant to
convert the kit to the “C” (civil) series, which involved a number of
challenges, a new fuselage to start with. So I was very happy to say the least
when I found among my references that a “B” series machine (same as the kit) was
taken off the production line at an early stage and converted to a long
distance record machine with the I-LAMA registration. It flew from Cadiz, Spain
to Caravelas, Brazil, establishing a record, but unfortunately when attempting
to reach Africa in the return flight it crashed and only one crew member,
Stoppani, survived and was eventually rescued.
Some modifications are necessary in order to represent such
machine. The most obvious being the elimination of all military parts, the removal
of windows on the fuselage sides and the deletion of the glazing on the front
and back of the gondola under the fuselage, plus new decals of course.
Given the time the molds were created the Supermodel kit is
not bad, but it surely benefits from some attention. Some surface details can
be erased and redone, the interior improved and there is even an aftermarket
photoetched set by RCR Models available if you wish to use it. The photoetched
parts are good and extensive, although not all of them can be used for this
specific modification. Its instructions are comprehensive and have a detailed
parts’ map, but leave a lot of areas totally unclear. Folding diagrams are
present, and detailed list of names and –in the real plane- uses for the parts,
but not group assemblies; the photos are of bad quality. Although one complete
seat supporting structure assembly is present, the other one is missing the
pedals and its associated supports. No instrument panel photofilm is included,
so I scanned the etched parts, pasted some instrument images on the
corresponding places, made decals of them and placed the etched parts on top of
the decals. Strange mix of good parts and disappointing instructions. Nevertheless,
the set is useful and will do well in an otherwise crude kit interior. Just be
prepared for a lot of head-scratching. I think that with the re-release of this
kit by Italeri, RCR could at least include in future sets the missing parts and
better images. At around $20 (plus S&H), it would be nice on their part.
I found only one color profile on the Net, with a few
discrepancies with the few photos I got. Bear in mind that at least three
liveries can be seen in photos, one has the tricolore on the rudder and not
fuselage lines, other has no tricolore and has the fuselage lines, and the
third has no tricolore and no lines, but only the registrations and the “I” on
the rudder. None have the aft fuselage little round windows present in the kit.
At the time the Z506 was built (as a civil plane prototype originally)
it was a remarkable aircraft that conquered a notorious number of records. Its
lines are not what you will call racy, but its clunkiness is of course what
made me chose it.
For those with a steady hand and strong heart, there is
always the possibility of making a new fuselage and model the plethora of
machines of the “C” series or the only land version which used the landing gear
of the SIAI S81. They wore splendorous liveries. Fellow modeler Alex Bigey
created a beauty (using partially a Broplan kit of the Z506C) that you can see
here:
You can not simply practice “surgery” on the kit’s fuselage
to obtain the “C” version, since in the “C” the fuselage was wider –not to
mention different viewed from the side too-.
As soon as work started on the kit its understandable lack
of detail became apparent, and a few refinements were practiced. There are
ejector pin marks, some blobs here and there, ragged edges, not happily located
sprue attachments and so forth. In my cleaning zealous I mistakenly erased some
excrescencies from the engine gondolas thinking that they were excess plastic
when in fact they resulted to be locators for the engines and cowls; nothing
terrible, though. The fuselage shells,
following references, were given internal structure in the form of stringers,
formers, seats, shelves and the like. The above-mentioned photoetched set
completed the interior, although part of it is hardly visible once the model is
finished. The kit compasses were replaced by scratch-made ones from clear rod.
The glazing on the lower front fuselage has two options in
the kit, for this plane you must use the “curved” one, which has to be smoothed
out and painted with rest of the fuselage. The aft lower transparency comes faceted, so you have
to scratch there a curved part as replacement or glue to the existing
transparency some styrene or apply putty and round it out since in the 1/1
plane again this was curved metal fairing.
I grouped the subassemblies as follows: the fuselage with
wings and tail, the floats and associated struts and the cowls and associated
parts. This facilitates the messy procedures of filing, puttying, sanding,
scribing, priming, etc. and leads to a better handling during painting and
decaling. The struts that connect the floats to the wing were adjusted and
given metal pins. Gloss black enamel was airbrushed on everything and then
different types of metal paint. A die was created to punch out inspection
hatches from metal-sprayed decal stock. Application of Future followed to
protect the metal finish and to provide a gloss surface for the home-made
decals. The diagonal struts braces that connect the floats to the fuselage did
not quite match the actual length of the gap, so new ones were measured and cut
from Contrail styrene airfoiled stock. The clear display stand that comes with
the kit was used to help position the parts and check their alignment, a clever
addition to the kit. Miscellaneous detail was added (control cables, antenna
loop, etc) and the model was finished.
Many kits that sit around or are easily found can be
converted to represent these remarkable civil planes without too much effort,
giving the shelves and club/contest tables a necessary breath of fresh air.
Thanks go to Fabrizio D’Isanto for his always enlightening help.
Bibliography:
AeroFan 1978-02
Ali d'Italia 5 - C.R.D.A. Cant Z506
Dimensione Cielo 5 - Bombardieri 2
The Pasta Should be Al Dente, by Giovanni Schubertini, Pugettoni
Editore, 2011
Another super conversion. Definitely will be using some of your ideas when I get to build my kit.
ReplyDeleteGlad it may help.
DeleteThanks for your kind words.