I got this kit from the Skyway Model Shop, in a ziploc bag. One of the blades on the propeller was broken (but present in the bag), but otherwise all parts were accounted for. To supplement that off-register decals, I got a set from Pacific Coast Model (review). This build is part of the Regia Aeronautica Project.

1. Interior

This is a kit from the 1970s and it shows. Panel lines are raised, the molds are not incredibly detailed and the interior is pretty spartan. That said, the shape of the plane is accurate and it looks like a good  starting point for my project.

The interior consists of the chair, rudder stick and a flat instrument panel.

I painted the inside in light grey (mid-war, the RA started using light grey instead of anti-corrosion green), the chair in flat aluminum and the panel black.

On that I rubbed the dry transfer  basic decals and that was pretty much it for the cockpit.

I'm still pondering if adding the pilot figure or put a scratchbuilt harness set.

Scribing

Raised panel lines, eh?

Challenge accepted!

Let's see if I can use that Tamiya scriber to do something other than fix mistakes...

Hrm. Not too shabby for a first attempt. Next, let's try with a first coat of Vallejo Surface Primer, just to check for imperfections...

While the kit was supposed to have all the parts, one little thing was missing: the front part of the air filter intake.

I know what it was supposed to look like from a walk through photo:

so I tried to build it from scratch, starting from a styrene rod:

After a bit of sanding, it turned out as a reasonable equivalent

Here it is, after the Verde Oliva Scuro 2 basecoat (Vallejo Model Air 71013)

Not too awful :)

The "correct" color schema for this plane would be the schema D3, with olive green "smoke rings" over a dark yellow base. I am still nowhere close to be able to paint those rings with my airbrush, so I decided to cheat a bit: instead of rings, I'll have dark green blobs over a dark yellow background.

To achieve that effect, I liberally sprinkled the top of the aircraft with small blue tac balls (yeah, I know, they're white. Same thing)

Then covered it with a Nocciola Chiaro 4 coat (Vallejo Model Color 70882)

And then removed the tacky blobs:

Somehow convincing, if not 100% historically accurate...

Some dark green paint decided to seep under the masking tape in a couple of places:

Nothing that can't be fixed with a bit of touchup.

I then proceeded to cover the whole aircraft with Testors Glasscote and position the decals. As I mentioned, these came from an aftermarket sheet from Sky Models, really beautiful stuff.

After all the decals were in place, I sprayed a coat of Citadel Purity Seal to give the overall finish a matte appearance. That was called out by the painting standards of the Regia Aeronautica, in the Tavola X (Table 10) in 1942.

I then put together the landing gear and the propeller, painted the canopy, added the radio mast with a stretched styrene antenna and some vary light weathering on the guns and the engine exhausts.

Et voila', my first entry for my Regia Aeronautica Project. Still a long way to go to reach the standard I've self-imposed on myself, but each build is a bit better than the previous one.

We call it progress :)

Raw photos of this build, with no commentary