Macchi M.39, 1926 Schneider Trophy winner - SBS 1/72nd resin with accessories

 

(Image from the San Diego Air and Space Museum Flickr photostream):

 (the completed model can be seen here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2022/07/macchi-m39-1926-schneider-throphy.html

 

The Italian Macchi M.39 was a racing seaplane designed specifically to compete on the Schneider Trophy of 1926, which it won, piloted by Mario de Bernardi.
Five similar machines were built, three for racing purposes with a Fiat AS.2 engine (the other two flown by Ferrarin and Bacula), and two for training purposes which had a similar but less powerful Fiat engine.
They followed the design lines that were found by almost all competitors to work better, namely twin-float braced monoplanes, of extremely refined streamlining that used surface radiators.
Be careful while looking at references, as many photos captioned as a Macchi M.39 are actually of the very similar (but not identical) Macchi M.52 and 52R. Therefore the first task is to sort out your photos, helped by three clues:
-The M.52s had a much pronounced arrow angle for the wings
-The M.52s had slightly larger wing radiators
-The M.52s had different motifs on the fuselage and tail.
-The M.52 had a slightly different windshield.
(Four, four clues -Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition)
 
After studying from photos you promptly realize:
-that representations of the M.39 in drawings and 3views are often inaccurate, since they may include the graphic motifs that the M.52 had. As the winner of the Schneider, the M.39 had only the number 5 on the sides, no Italian tricolore on the rudder, and no fascia roundel on the fuselage.
-that the machine at the Vigna di Vale  museum has a different, much later scheme than the one that was worn at the race, and a wooden prop, used only on the practice machines, and not the Reed metal prop used on the race.
-That the windshield of the museum machine is again slightly different than the one seen in photos of the winning machine.
As an additional achievement, the Macchi M.39 established soon after the Schneider win a new speed record. 

As said above, the M.39 only had the number 5 at the moment of the win.
(Links to Youtube clips)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hsd3elDCvgs
Other contestants (next year, 1927):
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcrDPiGWIus

SBS took very good care during the production of this kit, faithfully representing the original and aiming for detail and accuracy with great success, and even the asymmetrical wings are present. 

Every time I open the sturdy and well-thought box of an SBS kit  I feel like in modeling paradise, given the detail and exquisite casting of the parts, plus the perks that come with them (P.E. parts, bronze-cast struts, excellent decals, masks, instrument panel film, etc. A very complete package). This M.39 is one of their latest releases and in this case you can get two additional sets that cover the beaching trolleys and metal rigging.

Box contents:

The sets that can be acquired separately:

The detail as per usual SBS standards is excellent:

Parts removed from their casting blocks and cleaned up. The smaller parts will be painted in place and later detached at the time of the build:

A careful cleaning of the remains of the casting blocks guarantees a good fit. The slit you see at the end of the fuselage is to insert the upper half of the vertical stabilizer: 

Work starts on the beaching trolleys, one per float. These are small parts that require careful study of the instructions drawing, as there are minuscule tabs that should not be obliterated during the parts' extraction from the pouring blocks. You get some small and big wheels spares. I use them all (my eyesight is not what it used to be), as the minutest parts kept flying to the Great Beyond. I followed the sequence depicted below, but others may find better ways:

 At this point all parts are put into a tight mesh coffee filter and given a wash with soap and lukewarm water using a very soft brush, being very careful not to lose any parts, and then letting them dry in the air:

Base colors are applied to some parts. The black is the base for the metallic hues:

Here, for the most committed among you, a few pages from old publications:

Aero Digest, 1926:

L'Année aéronautique:

Les Ailes:

L'Aérotechnique:

Some interior elements are assembled:

Painting proceeds with other parts:

I am so glad that SBS released this beautiful kit, as I had some time ago started to scratch this very plane. SBS has saved me a lot of time and no little grief, plus surely offering a much better result:

The interior is now in place. SBS tolerances are so precise that you can press-fit most parts. I prefer a more relaxed fit, thus I very lightly sand in all their kits the instrument panel bases and the bulkheads, both on the edges and flat on sandpaper, but just a little touch for a more comfortable fit, to account for primer and paint:

Fuselage closed. The high quality of SBS' kits allow you to build at a good pace, not having to deal with problems. With most kits, you have to improve what you get, but here is the reverse: you have to take care not to mar or compromise the quality of the parts:

One of the many perks of SBS kits are the bronze struts. These metal castings are gorgeous, and much stiffer than the usual white metal accessories:

Equally important are the locating holes for these parts, also cast with precision and a practical sense:

I use a jeweler saw to separate the parts from their casting blocks, leaving some material later to be removed with a sanding stick. They key perfectly in their locations, at the precise angles. An example I wish other manufacturers would follow:

Using C.A. glue of longer setting time the parts are joined together, and aligned from all angles, while the glue slowly cures. As said, the precision of the parts and perfect locating holes are of great help, taking away the usual stress associated with this process (take note, other manufacturers):

The other struts are separated and prepared:

The three parts that compose the vertical tail are glued in place. As mentioned, the upper and lower fin have thin tongues that go into narrow slots molded in the fuselage, a nice touch on part of SBS:

Horizontal tail and wings go on without a problem. A note here: the instructions recommend you to first add the floats to the fuselage via the struts, and then the wings. I prefer to deal with any minor blemishes/priming/ painting as two separate sub-assemblies -floats and the rest of the plane- to facilitate even painting (with no interference) and mostly because of the masking and painting of the wing radiators, that I believe would be easier this way:

The remaining struts are glued in place using again slow-curing superglue, being careful to align them with their fuselage locations:

Floats primed:

A gloss white coat is airbrushed as a base for the red:

The bottom of the floats is masked to apply the red color:

Red is airbrushed:

I forgot to mask and paint the windshield. Will do it in the next session:

Will let everything dry thoroughly before masking to paint the radiators.

Model masked and waiting for the brass color:

And painted:

Getting closer:

Transparency and headrest are added. The floats are mounted. Thanks to the well-cast parts and ingenious system SBS used, things go well without stress. Still, care is needed, and alignment has to be checked as you glue:

The model standing on the beaching trolleys:

SBS provides as mentioned an optional aftermarket photoetched set for the flat rigging wires. I sometimes feel a bit reluctant to use PE parts, as my eyesight is not good (far from it, actually) and I tend to fumble them. I will give it a try nonetheless, as they are optimal for this model. Museum machines have those wires painted red as the planes, but some original photos seem to indicate that they may have been left metal color. I think I may leave them metal color as the kit color drawing also have them like that:

The P.E. wires required care removing and applying them. Most needed just a nip of trim to fit right in their positions (that I had pre-drilled following the marks on the parts). I guess SBS gives you some slack there just in case. The only part that I had to work on the fit was the chin radiator, that needed removal of quite a bit of material from its inner face to fit properly. All the rest, a breeze. Photos and good plans show that the wires underneath the wing attach to it just an itsy-bitsy outward than the ones over; in the kit, they are in the same position. SBS offers tiny spark plugs to be inserted in molded recesses. I chickened out for several reasons: after priming and painting, the plugs wouldn't fit in the recesses because of the buildup (they could have been easily re-drilled, though). They are super-tiny and my eyesight is not up to it. The exact number needed is provided, which makes twanging one (likely to happen) to the Z dimension a concern (but they could be replaced with small lengths of fine stretched sprue).

All in all, as it is invariably the case with SBS, this is a high quality kit with a lot of thought behind it, of very high standards of detail and production. I have in my stash their Piaggio-Pegna PC-7 and Miles Sparrowhawk and look forward to those.

To be continued....