1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70, 51° Stormo Caccia, Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force 1944

Dizzyfugu · October 31, 2018, 09:51:17 AM

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Some background:
I.M.A.M. (Industrie Meccaniche e Aeronautiche Meridionali) was an Italian aircraft manufacturer based in Naples. Originally, the company was part of the Officine Ferroviarie Meridionali ("Southern Railway Works"), which began to manufacture aircraft in 1923. From 1925 Fokker aircraft were built under license and I.M.A.M. also manufactured aircraft for Fiat.
The aircrafts' abbreviation "Ro" before the number means Romeo. This abbreviation had been used by all types since 1925 and was derived from the surname of the company's owner, Nicola Romeo, who was also the owner of a Milanese automobile and aircraft engine manufacturer (effectively, the designation lived on in the car manufacturer Alfa Romeo).

In 1934, Società Anonima Industrie Aeronautiche Romeo, which was founded for this purpose, took over this part of the now insolvent railway supplier and it immediately started with the construction of own aircraft. In 1936, Breda took over the Romeo works and finally formed the Società Anonima Industry Meccaniche e Aeronautiche Meridionali.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

I.M.A.M. aircraft were not particularly successful, though, the few notable constructions were the reconnaissance aircraft Ro.37, the Ro.43 seaplane and the Ro.70 fighter, which were all only produced in limited numbers, though. The Ro.70 was designed in response to a late 1939 tender for a fighter built around the Daimler-Benz DB 601, built in license as the Alfa Romeo RA.1000 R.C.41-I Monsone liquid-cooled V-12 engine, rated at 1,175 PS (864 kW). The all-metal, semi-monocoque fuselage was basically oval in cross-section, changing to a tapered, semi-triangular oval behind the cockpit canopy, with a maximum depth of 1.35 m (4 ft 5 in). Overall, the aircraft's outlines reminded a lot of the german Bf 109E, but the Ro.70 had overall bigger dimensions.

An unusual feature of the Ro.70 was that the engine bearers were constructed as an integral part of the forward fuselage, with the cowling side panels being fixed. For servicing or replacement, only the top and bottom cowling panels could be removed. A tapered, rectangular supercharger air intake was located on the port-side cowling. Behind the engine bulkhead were the ammunition boxes feeding a pair of synchronized 12.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns which were set in a "staggered" configuration (the port weapon slightly further forward than that to starboard) in a bay just above and behind the engine. The breeches partly projected into the cockpit, above the instrument panel. The ammunition capacity was limited, having only around 250 rounds for each weapon. A single 20mm MG 151/20 cannon of German production was mounted between the cylinder banks, firing though the propeller hub.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

A self-sealing fuel tank with a capacity of 165 L (44 US gal) was located behind the pilot's seat. The windshield was armored and there was a 13 mm (.51 in) armor plate behind the pilot. The radiator and oil cooler for the liquid-cooled engine were in a ventral location below the fuselage and wing trailing edge, covered by a rectangular section fairing with a large, adjustable exit flap.

The evenly-tapered wings had an aspect ratio of 7.2 with a gross area of 20 m² (215.28 ft²) and featured three spars; a Warren truss main spar and two auxiliary spars. The rear spar carried the split flaps and long, narrow-chord ailerons, while the front spar incorporated the undercarriage pivot points. The undercarriage track, which retracted inwards, was relatively wide at 4 m (13 ft 1.5 in). Each wing had a partially self-sealing 190 L (50 US gal) fuel tank behind the main spar, just outboard of the fuselage. A single weapon (initially 7.7 mm Breda-SAFAT machine guns with 500 RPG) was able to be carried in a weapons bay located behind the main spar.
The first prototype first flew in December 1941 at I.M.A.M. factory airfield near Naples. Although test pilots were enthusiastic about its self-sealing fuel tanks, upgraded armament, and good dive performance, the wing loading of 146.3 kg/m² (30 lb/ft²) at an all-up weight of 2,950 kg (6,500 lb) was viewed with skepticism by many of the senior officers and pilots of the Regia Aeronautica, who still believed in the light, highly maneuverable, lightly armed fighter.
Besides, by the time it first flew, one year after the Macchi C.202's first flight and three years after the first Bf 109E, the engine was already underpowered compared to the new 1,120 kW (1,500 hp) inline or 1,491 kW (2,000 hp) radial engines being developed (and already nearing the mass-production stage) to power the next generation of combat aircraft such as the Republic P-47 Thunderbolt.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

But due to the waging war the Ro.70 was put into production using imported DB 601Aa engines, while Alfa Romeo set up license production of the respective powerplant. Due to initial delays in engine production and quality issues, production rates and numbers of effectively operational aircraft were low. Consequently, by late 1942, Macchi Folgores outnumbered the Ro.70 and all other fighter aircraft in the Regia Aeronautica and became the Italian standard fighter.

The Ro.70's first deployment was during the Battle of Bir Hakeim (26 May 1942 – 11 June 1942), in which a dozen of the new fighters performed successfully against Desert Air Force fighters, using "dive and zoom" tactics, similar to those of the German Luftwaffe, scoring two air victories. At the end of the year, the growing strength of the Allied forces was overwhelming and after the defeat in the skies over Malta as well as El-Alamein the last operational Axis units lost their air superiority in the Mediterranean.

The Ro.70s continued fighting while retreating to Tunisia and then in the defense of Sicily, Sardinia and Italy against an increasingly stronger Allied opponent. Eventually, after roundabout 180 aircraft had been delivered to the Regia Aeronautica, the I.M.A.M. factory was captured by Allied troops in September 1943, with the facilities and many airframes intact. From this stock, a further 30 aircraft in various states of assembly were made airworthy and immediately allocated to the Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force (Aeronautica Co-Belligerante, ACI), also known as Air Force of the South (Aeronautica del Sud). 15 more machines were built from spares and surplus parts until February 1944, two of these machines were sent to the United States for flight evaluation.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The ACI's Ro.70s never operated over Italian territory, its objectives being always in the Balkans (Yugoslavia or Albania). This was a general order to avoid any possible encounter between Italian-manned aircraft fighting on opposite sides, since the National Republican Air Force (Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana, or ANR) was ostensibly part of the forces of the Benito Mussolini's Fascist state in northern Italy and fighting on the Axis' side. During the entire history of ACI, though, no encounter, let alone combat, was ever reported between ACI and ANR aircraft.

Clashes with Italian aircraft still occurred, though, e. g. over Croatia in 1944, where about 20–22 C.202s were used by Croatia as interceptors of Allied bombers by the Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia (Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske/ZNDH). Ro.70s of the 51° Stormo Caccia, based in Lecce, claimed a total of three victories against the Croatian forces over the Adriatic Sea and near Mostar.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

General characteristics:
Crew: One
Length: 8.94 m (29 ft 4 in)
Wingspan: 12.00 m (39 ft 4 in)
Height: 3.70 m (12 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 20.00 m² (215.28 ft²)
Airfoil: NACA 2R 16 wing root, NACA 24009 tip
Internal fuel capacity: 550 l (121 Imp gal)
Empty weight: 2,630 kg (5,800 lb)
Loaded weight: 3,470 kg (7,650 lb)

Powerplant:
1× Alfa Romeo RA.1000 R.C.41-I Monsone liquid-cooled supercharged inverted V-12 engine,
rated at 1,175 PS (864 kW) at 2,500 rpm for takeoff

Performance:
Maximum speed: 580 km/h (360 mph) at 5,000 m (16,405 ft)
Range: 580 km (360 mi)
Service ceiling: 11,600 m (38,100 ft)
Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)
Wing loading: 173.5 kg/m² (35.5 lb/ft²)
Power/mass: 0.25 kW/kg (0.15 hp/lb)
Time to altitude: 7.0 min to 5,000 m (16,405 ft)

Armament:
1× 20 mm MG 151/20 cannon, 200 rounds, firing though the propeller hub
2× 12.7 mm (0.50") Breda-SAFAT machine guns with 250 RPG above the engine
2× 7.7 mm (0.303") Breda-SAFAT machine guns with 500 RPG in the outer wings*;
*these were later often replaced by another pair of 12.7 mm (0.50") Breda-SAFAT machine guns
with 300 RPG or two 20mm (0.787") machine cannon with 150 RPG.
2× underwing hardpoints for 2x 200 l (44 Imp gal) drop tanks or bombs of up to 250 kg (550 lb) caliber

The kit and its assembly:
This Italian whif is both a simple and a complicated affair, because it is a travestied Kawasaki Ki-61 that fits into a small historic slot.

The Hasegawa kit was mostly built OOB, it is simple and easy to build - except for the sprue attachment points which extend on many parts onto the surfaces that are glued together. What did the Hasegawa engineers think, if they thought at all about it? O.K., it's just a matter of cleaning the parts, but that's an avoidable flaw!?

Only three small modifications were made:
- The wing tips were clipped into a square shape
- The stabilizers were replaced in order to match the wings' new outline
- I gave the kit a different spinner (from a Matchbox He 111, plus a central gun port)

The OOB drop tanks were left away, and I lowered the flaps since this was easy to realize. I also added short gun barrels to the wings, and the tail wheel became retractable through a pair of small covers.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Painting and markings:
This was supposed to become one of the machines that were found by Allied forces at the I.M.A.M. plant. Originally, it was built and painted according to German standards, but, as operational war bounty, its former markings were painted over, it received US markings and was quickly handed over to the co-belligerent air force. Hence, inspired by Allied aircraft like former USAAF P-39s that were operated by the ACI, the Italian roundels were simply and quickly painted over the US "Stars and Bars" markings.

Consequently, I gave the Ro.70 a conservative German splinter scheme in RLM 74/75/76 with some RLM 02 mottles added to the flanks and a black propeller spinner with a white spiral.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

The cockpit interior was painted in "Verde anticorrosione", which is a unique Italian tone and a relatively bright and intense green, I used Modelmaster's RLM83, which comes IMHO close. The landing gear interior was painted in aluminium (Humbrol 56)
As Allied ID markings for the Mediterranean TO I added yellow bands on the wings and around the fuselage (created with yellow decal sheet, except for the nose ring, which was painted with Humbrol 69). Inspired by Allied aircraft like former USAAF P-39s that were operated by the ACI, the Italian roundels received additional bars. These had the star simple painted over by the Italian roundel, sometimes the bar was overpainted, too, and I adapted this weird detail. The place where a former Regia Aeronautica tactical code or national marking had been placed was overpainted with US olive drab (Neutral Grey under the wings), and the new code letter placed on top of that. Since the aircraft would have been pressed quickly into service, I did not give it any other extra markings beyond the code letter.

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

Finally, some soot stains around the gun nozzles and the exhausts were created with graphite and the wings' leading edges treated with dry-brushed light grey, before the kit was sealed with matt acrylic varnish (Italeri).

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

1:72 I.M.A.M. Ro.70 'Asta', aircraft "H" of the 155° Gruppo, 51° Stormo Caccia, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-Belligerent Air Force, ACI); Lecce-Galatina (Southern Italy), October 1944 (Whif/Hasegawa Ki-61 conversion) by dizzyfugu, on Flickr

A relatively simple what-if model, but an exotic an effective one: a Japanese aircraft in a German livery, outfitted with US "Stars & Bars" eventually in Italian hands! The paint finish turned out nicely, as well as the mottled fuselage flanks (always a challenge, esp. w/o an airbrush).

Dingg · October 31, 2018, 10:33:39 AM

Magnificamente e meravigliosamente. Tanto di cappello/Beautifully and wonderfully. Hats off.

PR19_Kit · October 31, 2018, 10:39:30 AM

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on October 31, 2018, 09:51:17 AM

A relatively simple what-if model, but an exotic an effective one: a Japanese aircraft in a German livery, outfitted with US "Stars & Bars" eventually in Italian hands! The paint finish turned out nicely, as well as the mottled fuselage flanks (always a challenge, esp. w/o an airbrush).

No wonder that I hadn't a CLUE what it was when I first saw the pics! It's truly amazing, such a mix-and-match of structure and colour schemes surely plays with your mind when you look at it.

Super work Thomas.

nighthunter · October 31, 2018, 03:59:54 PM

Superb work, Thomas!

major · October 31, 2018, 06:11:24 PM

Thats cracking!

As I was scrolling down, I was trying to figure how many kits had been, yet again, blended together seamlessly!
ONE! Just one!

Dizzyfugu · November 01, 2018, 03:33:09 AM

Thank you, glad you like it.

IIRC, somebody (comrade harps?) here did something similar a while ago - an Italian Ki-61, but without any physical modifications. But this "story" makes a lot of sense, and this here is one of the potential interpretations. Works surprisingly well, though, and the modifications are very simple. Esp. the less pointy spinner changes a lot, and the clipped wing tips make the whole thing look like a Bf 190E's bigger brother!

Tophe · November 01, 2018, 04:53:34 AM

Congratulations!

I was puzzled

not recognizing the Ki-61 source...

Hotte · November 01, 2018, 05:19:32 AM

Fine work

Hotte

NARSES2 · November 01, 2018, 07:08:51 AM

Quote from: major on October 31, 2018, 06:11:24 PM

As I was scrolling down, I was trying to figure how many kits had been, yet again, blended together seamlessly!

I was doing exactly the same thing

Terrific work Dizzy

Snowtrooper · November 01, 2018, 07:35:59 AM

The German camouflage first made me think the basis was a He 100. Well played sir, well played.

Though, given that the Japanese did test the He 100, it would be strange if it didn't influence the Ki-61.

comrade harps · November 10, 2018, 05:53:48 PM

Quote from: Dizzyfugu on November 01, 2018, 03:33:09 AM
Thank you, glad you like it. IIRC, somebody (comrade harps?) here did something similar a while ago - an Italian Ki-61, but without any physical modifications. But this "story" makes a lot of sense, and this here is one of the potential interpretations. Works surprisingly well, though, and the modifications are very simple. Esp. the less pointy spinner changes a lot, and the clipped wing tips make the whole thing look like a Bf 190E's bigger brother!

I did too: http://www.whatifmodellers.com/index.php?topic=40849.0!

Funny thing is, I didn't pick the Ki-61 in yours

it

Dizzyfugu · November 12, 2018, 02:32:40 AM

I cannot see the pics in your post, but I assume that it then was your build which I had in the back of my mind when I started mine. It works SO well!