SIAI-Marchetti SF-260EA/D/EU
This time I decided to take a closer look at a kit from the Special Hobby brand, namely the second edition of the SIAI-Marchetti SF-260 trainer miniature, subtitled “Late Bulged Canopy Type”. Scale 1:72 of course.
First look
The side-opening box designed in the recognisable three-colour style comes with the catalogue number SH72433 and a quite nice boxart.
Inside one will find three injection moulded sprues made of grey plastic, one with transparent parts, tiny photo-etched fret, decal sheet and assembly manual.
The above largely reflects the content of the earlier SF-260 edition (SH72418 with M/AM/W versions), but as you know – the devil is in the details. To which we will move at once.
In details
The main parts of the airframe are located on the largest injection moulded sprue of the kit. Fuselage, split along its length, is covered with sparse yet delicate engraved panel lines.
Vertical stabiliser and rudder were cast as one piece, together with the fuselage's right side.
The somewhat rough surface finish and fading panel lines affirm the short-run character of the kit.
So is the padding indicated on the inner surfaces of the cabin section.
Wings comes as one piece, cast together with the portion of the fuselage.
The airfoil isn’t thick by no means, so there is no room for sinkholes. Instead we have a pretty good, thin trailing edge.
Wings upper surfaces looks similar to the fuselage. Some fine panel lines, which probably many modellers will decide to enhance.
Bottom is the same, only with a bigger dose of raised details.
Middle section of the wing looks the worst, due to the blurry details between the landing gear bays and the rear edge of the part, which clearly needs a bit of cleaning. The main landing gear bays itself (although relatively shallow) and the exhausts bases look quite decent.
Quick look at the horizontal stabilisers confirms that the design of the model doesn't allow any control surfaces tilt.
You can however spin the propeller, which is unfortunately cast as one piece with the spinner.
The last elements included on this sprue are crew seats.
And a couch for those who prefer to travel at the back.
The cabin itself is built using the elements from the second, much better looking sprue. Admittedly, the walls for the front and rear of the compartment…
…or the rear shelf, doesn't look spectacular.
But the floor is pretty decent.
The fact that we are no longer dealing with a manually prepared parts templates ultimately reveals a rather nice instrument panel.
Or actually panels, as there are three of these in the set (including one that is unnecessary in this edition).
The topic of cabin equipment ends with the control sticks and pedals, which look quite acceptable as far as plastic elements goes.
You may have noticed that the front of the engine compartment was not among the fuselage parts shown so far. It's here, in two versions. Although I have a strong impression that this is a bit excessive and one variant with the “difference” glued on would be enough.
Let's move on to the chassis. The front wheel bay is made up of two pieces and has to be sanded down to fit in its place. At least that is what the assembly manual say.
The front wheel itself, cast together with the strut, looks quite nice.
The above should be supplemented by a folding mechanism piece, prepared as a separate component.
The same is true for the main landing gear struts.
Which also has additional details of the folding mechanism provided.
In this case the wheels are separate – each consists of two parts and in this edition we should use only one of the two possible variants.
The finished landing gear still needs to be fitted with covers, which are by no means impressive, especially the one for the front.
Wingtip-mounted fuel tanks with the embedded position lights conclude the “B” sprue inventory.
What remain to be mentioned is the separately grouped handful of antennas and similar details.
The set in question doesn't contain the armament sprue known from the previous edition.
Transparencies
The subtitle printed on the box immediately reveals the biggest difference between this and the previously released variant – cockpit glazing, this time in its later, more bulged form.
With quite decent (though not perfect) transparency, so even without opening the cabin (which is not helped by the one-piece canopy), the interior shouldn't be neglected.
Despite appearances, there is one more item on the clear frame – a position light that goes on the fuselage’s underside (incorrectly marked on the assembly drawings as part C1 – in this edition it is F1).
PE
The kit comes with a small sheet of photo-etched parts. Although “small” is really an understatement in this case.
Wing fences are the only detail you will find here. There was no room for the instrument panel (no loss, as the plastic ones look quite promising) or at least the crew seat belts (a pity, cause the decals are not that effective).
Decals
Considerably larger is the decal sheet, printed by another well-known Czech manufacturer, Eduard.
Print quality makes a rather mixed impression. Quite clear details, which also translates into the readability of some stencils, is of course a plus.
The downside, however, is a slight colour inconsistency, noticeable on larger uniform areas. It's not bad, and I've certainly seen much worse cases, but it's noticeable nonetheless.
The flight instruments look pretty good – combined with the plastic part could give a really nice end result.
On the other hand, I don't like decal belts at all, but if you don't mind them being so flat – here they are.
Assembly manual
The brochure with a build guide has been prepared in a typical Special Hobby style. Clear drawings, colours indicating the tones that should be used to paint the individual elements and additional assembly notes (e.g. pointing out the correct orientation of the main undercarriage wheels) are definitely advantages of this work.
The manual clearly explains the modifications which should be introduced to the miniature. Fill in some panel lines absent in this version, add couple of scratch built antennas or undercarriage cover supports. Nothing too hard.
Basic paints required in the construction of the model were compiled in a small table, which lists numbers from Gunze palettes only (C and H).
Similarly wide selection is provided for the camouflage paints specified under the colour profiles.
Which explain the painting and markings of individual machines in a comprehensive manner. Although I don't really see the point of marking the lower surface of the wings with a lighter shade on the side profiles.
The manual features also diagrams with the numbering of the parts, which in the lack of any markings on the plastic frames is simply a necessity.
Painting options
The kit lets you make a miniature SF-260 in one of four colour schemes, which is disclosed on the back of the box.
There is already known from the boxart Italian machine (EA version) with the side number 70-35.
Kit painting option (Special Hobby)Belgian SF-260D ST-47 with a notably disgusted expression.
Kit painting option (Special Hobby)Scarcely painted machine from Bolivia, EU version, number 1248.
Kit painting option (Special Hobby)A red and white aircraft from Uruguay (side number 612) in the same version.
Kit painting option (Special Hobby)But that's not all, there is a fifth option. SF-260 from Italy can be also finished in the earlier paint scheme, without the black accents (which involves a slight change in the applied decals, explained in the instructions).
The end
Little SF-260 from Special Hobby is quite a mixed bag. On the one hand it has some pretty nice details, on the other – main elements of the airframe look definitely like a typical “short-run”. On top of that the photo-etched details were applied rather sparingly, which is a nice way of saying that there are barely any. Some may also frown upon the separately sold masks, but considering the complexity of the canopy – those do not seem to be necessary.
Nevertheless, in my opinion it is an interesting option for modellers looking for a bit more original subject, not to mention the Italian aviation aficionados. It will just require a bit more work, as is often the case with “shortruns”.
MMXXI