Fiat G.91YP in the PoAF - "Big Butt Gina" - Finished PAG.8

[DogfighterZen]

Like the title of the topic says, this is a build of the twin engine variant of the Fiat G.91. 
The Portuguese Air Force was interested in a few of these back in the 1970s but ended up only operating the single engine variants so, what if they did buy some of the Y variant?
The schemes would probably be the same used by all other Gina variants they used but they did 9 different schemes during the type's service life in the PoAF so, a bit of research and pondering will take place to choose one while i build the kit.



Markings will be mixed from the kit and this sheet...





The kit's cockpit is a  very basic affair with rough shapes of styrene which were used as base. There will be some decals for the panels.



I though of discarding the original cockpit tub and use Hasegawa's F-16 part with some scratchbuilt bits but resorted to modifying the original part. The Hase F-16 pilot will fill the rest of the space.
In the pic above you can see that i'd already started cutting out some plastic from the kit's representation of the ejection seat cause i remembered i had a few spare seats and even better, i found the correct MB mk.6 used in the Gina, left over from the PJ productions Mirage III kit,(Yellow resin bits on the left of the pic below).



Scrounged up some styrene scraps and looked at some pics on the web to get the basic shapes and add a bit of interest and so far i have this...



The last pic shows the parts in the correct place but not glued. These were already teste inside the closed fuselage to make sure if all fits and there are no gaps. Also tested with the pilot in place, after carving out the ejection seat's belts and pilot's butt to be sure the canopy fits well over the guy's helmet and everything is working well.
This means i can go ahead and paint the parts needed to assemble everything and close the fuselage...

[Dizzyfugu]

Nice, the Matchbox Gina is quite a nice build, except for the odd seat/tub hybrid in the cockcpit. Exhausts should be opened, too.

Livery will be interesting, though - a grey/green/silver scheme, as if the Yankee had been taken over from Italy "as is" with just the roundels painted over could look nice (yet a bit ordinary), but it might be a good excuse to retain the 32° Stormo's signature shark mouth. 

[DogfighterZen]

Nice, the Matchbox Gina is quite a nice build, except for the odd seat/tub hybrid in the cockcpit. Exhausts should be opened, too.

Livery will be interesting, though - a grey/green/silver scheme, as if the Yankee had been taken over from Italy "as is" with just the roundels painted over could look nice (yet a bit ordinary), but it might be a good excuse to retain the 32° Stormo's signature shark mouth. 

Thanks for the heads up on the exhausts, Dizzy. 
The kit looks nice, i just hope there's not a lot of sanding involved.
The livery is still up for grabs as i have multiple choices and all of them could be interesting. I do want to think well about that cause there aren't many of these kits available at reasonable prices.
Portuguese Ginas also had sharkmouths, although a bit different so, i guess that it won't fall out of place anyway.
Painted everything, added a bunch of spare decals from the Revell F-4 Phantom so it's not too far as it's got gauges for two engines...    also put some decals on the sidewalls and the IPs, now it's time for the pilot and seat.
Not good but better than nothing, right? 

[Captain Canada]

I like big butts and I cannot lie !

[Dizzyfugu]

Looking good!  IIRC I replaced the OOB cockpit tub with a donor from a Revell G.91 during my last build of that kit (was lucky to get cheap sprues of that kit via ev!lbay), which also come with side consoles, but neither the dashboard nor the rear bulkhead would fit well into the G.91Y hull, had to improvise. Still an improvement, though. I also lowered the flaps, which is easy to do with the kit.

[NARSES2]

Neat progress 

[Vulcan7]

Great looking work, especially the instrument panel   

[Scotaidh]

Nice!  Always glad to see an "unloved/unknown" - relatively, anyway - type getting some attention.  I love building something OOB and hearing, "What is that?"  Doesn't happen often, but when it does ... 

[DogfighterZen]

Thanks, guys! 
I enjoy building these lesser known types and being Portuguese, the Gina family has a special place in my favorite types because it has so much history with the PoAF.
The cockpit came out ok, I guess... I only wish the decals had a grey back color instead of that light blue but can't have everything so those will have to do.

[DogfighterZen]

I like big butts and I cannot lie !

 Yes I do!   
Thinking about schemes, I could even go for a Tigermeet livery on this one. I have a couple of sheets for the PoAF's Ginas so more options to choose from.

[DogfighterZen]

Cockpit and pilot finished...



While i was looking for reference pics of the G.91Y, i came across one of Dizzy's creations, the G.91N, which has a radar for all weather capability... And i love how it looks so, i started thinking...
What if the PoAF didn't go ahead with the deal for the A-7P and decided to stick with the European industries for most military procurement?
This could lead to further interest in familiar types like the G.91, already operated for several years by the PoAF.
They wanted fighters for air defense but didn't have the funds for the modern types coming into service at the time like the F-16. They could've partnered with the Italians to further develop the G.91YS into the YP... 



I'm still not sure about this as these kits are rare and i won't have many opportunities to build another... if any at all... but if i do choose to do this, Dizzy i hope you don't mind, i'll be using that radar nose idea on this build. 
And i also read that the YS was supposed to have an extra hardpoint on the wings for AIM-9 Sidewinder missiles so, i either have to find or scratchbuild some pylons for those.

[Old Wombat]

"Oh, my! Grandma, what a big nose you have!"





(Approximate excerpt from "Little Red Riding Hood". )

[DogfighterZen]

"Oh, my! Grandma, what a big nose you have!"





(Approximate excerpt from "Little Red Riding Hood". )

Hum.. this may cause the need to change the title of the thread...  

[Vulcan7]

"Oh, my! Grandma, what a big nose you have!"





(Approximate excerpt from "Little Red Riding Hood". )

Hum.. this may cause the need to change the title of the thread...  

They take no prisoners on here  ..... really cool cockpit & pilot detail           

[Dizzyfugu]

Glad to hear that the Norwegian Gina offered some inspiration - even though it had/s a much shorter radome, axtually the tip from an Airfix F-86D drop tank, and intended as an ASW missile carrier (even though the Penguins did not leave much ground clearance...):


1:72 Fiat G.91N; RNoAF, 333 squadron, Ørland air base, 1988 (Whif/Italeri kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr


1:72 Fiat G.91N; RNoAF, 333 squadron, Ørland air base, 1988 (Whif/Italeri kit conversion) by Dizzyfugu, on Flickr