1:72 Aeritalia G.91Y; aircraft "32-13/M.M. 6494" of the Aeronautica Militare (Italian Air Force) 13° Gruppo/32° Stormo 'Cap. Pil. Armando Boetto', carrying the unit's 70th anniversary paint scheme; Brindisi AB, 1988 (modified Matchbox kit)

Some background:

The G.91Y was an increased-performance version of the Fiat G.91 funded by the Italian government. Based on the G.91T two-seat trainer variant, the single Bristol Orpheus turbojet engine of this aircraft was replaced by two afterburning General Electric J85 turbojets which increased thrust by 60% over the single-engined variant. Structural modifications to reduce airframe weight increased performance further and an additional fuel tank occupying the space of the G.91T's rear seat provided extra range. Combat manoeuvrability was improved with the addition of automatic leading edge slats.

 

The avionics equipment of the G.91Y was considerably upgraded with many of the American, British and Canadian systems being licence-manufactured in Italy.

 

Flight testing of three pre-production aircraft was successful, with one aircraft reaching a maximum speed of Mach 0.98. Airframe buffeting was noted and was rectified in production aircraft by raising the position of the tailplane slightly.

 

An initial order of 55 aircraft for the Italian Air Force was completed by Fiat in March 1971, by which time the company had changed its name to Aeritalia (from 1969, when Fiat aviazione joined the Aerfer). The order was increased to 75 aircraft with 67 eventually being delivered. In fact, the development of the new G.91Y was quite long, and the first order was for about 20 pre-series examples that followed the two prototypes. The first pre-series 'Yankee' (the nickname of the new aircraft) flew in July 1968.

 

AMI (Italian Air Force) placed orders for two batches, 35 fighters followed by another 20, later cut to ten. The last one was delivered around mid 1976, so the total was two prototypes, 20 pre-series and 45 series aircraft. No export success followed. These aircraft served with 101° Gruppo/8° Stormo (Cervia-S.Giorgio) from 1970, and later, from 1974, they served with the 13° Gruppo/32° Stormo (Brindisi).

 

Those 'Gruppi' (Italian equivalent of British 'squadrons', usually equipped with 18 aircraft) lasted until the early '90s, as the only ones equipped with the 'Yankee', using them as attack/recce machines, both over ground and sea, until the AMX replaced them. All in all, Italy operated 65 Fiat G.91Ys until 1994.

 

 

General characteristics:

Crew: one

Length: 11.67 m (38 ft 3.5 in)

Wingspan: 9.01 m (29 ft 6.5 in)

Height: 4.43 m (14 ft 6.3 in)

Wing area: 18.13 m² (195.149 ft²)

Empty weight: 3,900 kg (8,598 lb)

Loaded weight: 7,800 kg (17,196 lb)

Max. takeoff weight: 8,700 kg (19,180 lb)

Powerplant:

2 × General Electric J85-GE-13A turbojets, 18.15 kN (4,080 lbf) each

 

Performance:

Maximum speed: 1,110 km/h (600 kn, 690 mph. (Mach 0.95 at 10,000 m (33,000 ft)

Range: 3,400 km (ferry range with droptanks) (2,110 mls)

Service ceiling: 12,500 m (41,000 ft)

Rate of climb: 86.36 m/s (17,000 ft/min)

Wing loading: 480 kg/m² (98.3 lb/ft² (maximum)

Thrust/weight: 0.47 at maximum loading

 

Armament:

2× 30 mm (1.18 in) DEFA cannons

4× under-wing pylon stations with a capacity of 1,814 kg (4,000 lb)

 

 

The kit and its assembly:

A real world model, and IMHO one of the nicest special paint schemes I've come across because it's so simple. For its 70th anniversary in 1987, the Italian Air Force's 13° Gruppo turned one of its 32° Stormo G.91Y fighter bombers (as far as I could tell it's 32-13, confirmed by a small code number on the frontal landing gear cover) into a fill-fledged shark, taking the squadron's markings (a classic shark mouth on the aircraft's nose) literally to full scale.

 

But instead of adding lots of glitter and colors, the scheme remained very simple - a black shark on a white background, with minimal markings and stencils. I've already built this aircraft many years ago when I saw it in a print magazine in 1988 or so (remember - there was no internet at that time!), but I had the plan to re-create it on the basis of more and better photo footage.

 

Said and done, I dug a Matchbox G.91Y out of the pile and started. The kit is pretty simple, and in this case the fit of the fuselage halves was questionable, calling for massive PSR along the seams. In some areas the kit is really primitive, so I made some minor cosmetic mods:

 

The cockpit "tub" with an integrated seat is a clumsy joke and was replaced by a cockpit floor with side consoles from a Revell G.91. The seat comes from a Matchbox Gnat trainer and was pimped with ejection handles made from thin wire.

 

The kit's landing gear is rather simple, too, but I took it OOB since noone would later look into the wells.

 

The jet exhausts were drilled open (OOB these are just blank covers, only 0.5 mm deep!) and inside some afterburners were simulated.

 

The molded guns were cut away, to be later replaced with free-standing hollow steel needles. In order to add some more exterior detail I also scratched the thin protector frames around the nozzles with thin wire.

 

Finally, the drop tanks were replaced by F-86 alternatives with end plate fins, which were typically carried by Italian G.91s, including the anniversary G.91Y (as confirmed by photo footage).

 

 

Painting and markings:

I must admit that the paint scheme is, to a certain degree, the result of a guessing game, because any shots I found are profiles views, even in flight! Some details, like the black fins on the wings and the stabilizers could be deduced from the material at hand, but I have no idea how the wings' undersides look like. I think that they remained all-white, just like the aircraft's belly - at least that's what the information I have suggest.

 

And even though the two-tone paint scheme is rather simple it's still challenging - esp. because I do not use an airbrush. As a consequence, I had to improvise with the means at hand, which meant a basic coat of acrylic white (actually an off-white Volkswagen car color called "Grauweiss") from the rattle can with the shark added on top of that with matt black (in this case from Modelmaster). This is not the smartest way to create the scheme, but I wanted to avoid tedious multi-layers of uneven, brushed white. Horror... :-(

 

Anyway, the white basic layer ended up thicker than I expected (the paint turned out to be a bit pastous due to age), but the black shark would cover many problem zones, anyway. Painting was done free-handedly, the only masking was used on the canopy during the white base spraying.

 

The finish was not perfect, but I did not want a "uniform" aircraft, anyway, since most of the aircraft's pictures show it in a used state and not as a pristine museum piece. After a black ink wash (in order to emphasize surface details) the final blemisches were covered under some post-shading and dry-brushing with various shades of black, very dark grey and white that would add some more structure to the hull.

 

The few markings of this aircraft were taken from the OOB sheet. Since I was not able to find pictures that show it from above or below. I guesstimated the warning stencils on the wings.

 

The drop tanks became all-white and the "70 anni" slogan on the outer flanks was created with single, black 3mm letters from TL Modellbau.

 

Finally the kit was sealed with rather matt varnish, a mix of matt and semi-gloss Italeri acyrlic varnish in a 4:1 ratio. Apparently, 32-13 had been painted in a rather dull finish, despite carrying an anniversary scheme.

 

 

Well, I am not 100% happy with the result, I had hoped for a better, sharper finish. But it's an improvement when compared to my first attempt to build this machine 30 years ago, and I still find this simple anniversary to be very stylish and elegant, since it goes so well with the G.91Y's lines.

 

Done