Savoia-Marchetti S-79 bis Torpedo Bomber

by John Valo

Classic Airframes' 1/48 scale S.79 bis/sil Torpedo Bomber is available online from Squadron

Classic Airframes is now shipping the second release of the S.79, this time in torpedo-bomber guise.

The kit is exactly the same as the bomber version, with the inclusion of parts to allow the modeler to make basically any variant of the Sparviero. Refer to Modeldad's preview for photos and descriptions of the new parts.

As the basic kit is the same, you may refer to my first release article for construction notes.

As with the original release, you have to option of opening the fuselage access door (which I again elected to chicken out on so I wouldn't have to build all the interior detail), as well as opening the dorsal hatch.

As I did open the hatch on my first Sparviero, I elected to keep this one closed to preserve the lines of the 'hunchback'. The kit builds very nicely, definitely one of CA's best efforts. I elected to deploy the scratchbuilt landing light under the fuselage just for fun.

With regard to the new and additional parts, most are just add-ons or substitutions. One note - if you are using the 'Wellington' exhausts, the fuselage exhaust must be modified slightly.

I cut the finished exhaust into three pieces and assembled them in place in order to follow the fuselage contours. I couldn't find any definitive photos or drawings of the fuselage exhaust, but it looks good compared to what references I have.

Be sure to dry-fit all of the parts of the torpedo rack as you are assembling it, as I needed to do a bit of clean up on the underwing molding to fit the racks.

I used PollyScale acrylics to paint my S.79 and decided to do a night-attack ANR version in overall Dark Green.

The Microscale-printed decals went on perfectly, and the finished product really looks great (if I must say so myself).

Highly recommended for Sparviero fans!


 

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2003 by John C. Valo
Page Created 16 April, 2003
Last Updated 17 March, 2004

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