Savoia-Marchetti SM.79

Additions have been made today to the Regia Aeronautica for my 1940 project. While the most important part of this order was the decals for the Italian aircraft there were the bombers I needed for rounding out the two squadrons.

In this order were the Savoia-Marchetti SM.79 and the Fiat BR.20. As the BR.20 has a particular role for the campaign I will leave it for a blog post of its own. The Italians can now launch a squadron each at the French in both southern France and on the island of Corsica.

One thing I found with the Oddzial Osmy (O8) is that they are tough, tougher than my drill bits. After ruining one bit, and having a He111 thrown at my chest (yes it left a mark) I decided to base the Oddzial Osmy aircraft on their own fixed bases. It also means I need to place an order for the bases from em4miniatures moving it up in front of a couple of small order to fill out the squadrons.  Has anyone else had similar problems with the Oddzial Osmy miniatures? The Tumbling Dice are a softer metal and are easy to craft.

I also saw there was a major difference in size between the Oddzial Osmy (O8) and the Tumbling Dice SM.79s. The Oddzial Osmy miniatures are cleaner and smaller, but not enough to be concerned. I will make sure that in the future all aircraft will come from the same manufacture.

The SM.79 does deserve a place in any campaign set in the Mediterranean from the Spanish Civil War to the Italian Social Republic. It is perfect fighter fodder against the landings in Sicily and on the mainland in 1943 against Allied P51s and P47s. I hope it will be more successful in 1940 against the French. With 1,240 built it was one of the most important bombers in the theater used as both a torpedo bomber and a level bomber.

As of this evening I have the three painted SM.79s with decals and I will work on the two G.50s next. The decals are so small that I need my camera in my iPad to tell me how to apply them. In hindsight I could of painted a white dot on the wings as I cannot see the markings in the middle.

More images soon and should be able to get these aircraft in the air for a game of Bag the Hun. I do not think anyone will mind that the French aircraft are missing their roundels.

Thank you for reading this post and please follow, as there is more to come.