Zio's Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero prototype

[Paper Kosmonaut]

After a false start (I messed up the wing construction, on which I will elaborate later on) this is my vacation build of Zio's Savoia-Marchetti S.79 Sparviero prototype.
Two pages, nice colour and one exploded view of hot the plane should come together. there we go.
Usually, I just build Zio's planes as-is. Because that is how I like them. But this time I wanted to try a different road and use inner glue strips instead of Zio's tab-to-tab system.
The result was noticeable. It looked tighter. The seams were smaller. And the notches to create better curves also were tighter.
The fuselage is straight forward stuff. The 'hump behind the cockpit needs some attention and it is recommended to use something like a no.5 or 6 knitting needle for shaping. The parts where the fuselage meets the wing need to have an outward curve, it is part of the chines. The cockpit windows also look better without the tabs. The transition from windshield to nose is not perfect. I used a sickle-shaped piece out of a spare part print to fill up the noticeable gap between the windows and the nose section. (it will show up later in the photos.)
Now, the instructions are clear about where stuff goes, but rather unclear of when and how the stuff goes together. Especially the wings in this build.

When the fuselage is ready, you can start with the wings. First I used a longer and thicker knitting needle to curve the leading edge. Next, attach the upper wings to the chines. Start from the back work your way to the leading edge. Again, glue strips instead of the tabs improve the fit. But that is up to you. With the upper wings attached, do the underside of the wings. Curve them a little, and attach them separately to their upper part. Leading edge first, then trailing edge, then wingtips. That at least worked for me. Only then, use the center part of the underside wing section. It is a little too wide but the length is fine. I first glued the rear end, then the front bit and then both of the sides. They will stretch out further than the inside of the original glue tabs but that doesn't matter. This is how to get the wings straight and tight. You can again use a knitting needle through the openings of where the engines will go to press the glue tabs and the center wing piece together.
And there we are. Wings. I smuggled a little more and glued a wooden coffee stirrer on the inside of the lower wing parts. It almost wasn't necessary nut I wanted to be sure the wings wouldn't bend. So there.
On the last photo you can see how that sickle part below the windscreen looks.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

The engines were made from aluminium coloured paper. A litle thin but with a nice shine to it. Now the original prototype engines were diferent from the military versions, in that the wing engines had those bulges on the cowlings. But the shape of those cowlings was tapered and these cowlings hardly look tapered at all. So I decided to leave off the bulges (recesses for engine protrusions I presume) however neat they looked and went for clean cowlings. Sue me. (-; I used my regular sewing pin and beads construction to get the propellers spinning and for some stability I made a shaft from some rolled-up paper. The propellers were curved in a screw shape when still wet from the PVA glue and dried up with that curve.
The wing nacelles are a little tricky in the sense that the upper part and the lower part are connected by a very small 'bridge'. Careful when handling them. I rounded them again with a knitting needle. They went on quite easily. I used tweezers to get the tabs tightly against the wing surface.

I reinforced the nacelles with an extra circle of cardboard with an opening for the pin-and-bead axle of the propeller. The spinner caps were made from glossy metallic card.
Zio's kit provides rather crude landing gear so I made my own from rolled paper and the mid-section of Zio's part. The wheels were made with six circles of card inside and I drilled out the center, put a little brass rod through and CA glued it to the landing gear struts. Rolling wheels. Well have you ever.
Here's the end result. For a short fun build, I really like how it came out althoug it is far from museum quality. But I wasn't aiming for any of that.
Fabrizio Prudenziati's planes to me are the ultimate careless fun build. I always take some of his kits along on holiday to sit out in the open air on a picknick table and just mess around with it. They make me happy and clear my mind. And that is why I never really mind a little happy accident or misalignment. This one came out quite well and brought a smile to my face.

[yankeekilo]

very nice, congrats!

[Erik Zwaan]

That's a holiday very well spent PK! And a very good result too. I hope the model survived the trip back home....

Groeten uit het westen,
Erik

[Draco]

Yes, I love Zio models, you can find them in Zioprudenzio - aerei di carta - paper airplanes
I don't recomend his tab-to-tab method, your approach is better, or just cut one of the tabs and use the other.
I love my models at the same scale, so I rescaled them. The rest, your model is well done, so congrats!

[rifleman]

thats a great build pk well done came out great

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Thanks everyone for the kind words.

Originally Posted by Erik Zwaan

That's a holiday very well spent PK! And a very good result too. I hope the model survived the trip back home....

Groeten uit het westen,
Erik

Ha die Erik, You also can have a holiday at home! I was at home for this build. But all craziness on a little stick, when I actually plan to build stuff somewhere else on vacation, I always take along a sort of shoebox or get something like that on location which fits the model, fill in the gaps with tissues or toilet paper and keep them separate from the luggage. That, and I always tend to build small stuff when I'm away. (-:

Originally Posted by Draco

Yes, I love Zio models, you can find them in Zioprudenzio - aerei di carta - paper airplanes
I don't recomend his tab-to-tab method, your approach is better, or just cut one of the tabs and use the other.
I love my models at the same scale, so I rescaled them. The rest, your model is well done, so congrats!

Using a single glue tab always gives you a nasty overlap, which I don't like. It's either Zio's double tabs or an inner glue strip. Or edge glueing. That is also an option.
Good you linked to his models. It is great Fabrizio's models still are available online. They are some of the greatest free models around. I just love their overall shape and the effort he put into designing them. It's visible. little works of art they are.

[Draco]

Yes, a single glue tab causes overlap. I was talking about the beginner hobbist, that is the target of most of Zios models, and who wouldn't be worried by this detail.