Italeri SM.79 Sparviero Build in 1/72 Scale Part II

With the decision reluctantly made to close up the Sparviero I ran into another problem – the kit only provides a piece to show the dorsal gun position with the covers in the stowed position. Another issue was fit of the parts left something to be desired, this was especially true of the clear parts.

After rummaging through the spares box I found that the underside of the cowl from an Airfix Spitfire matched the contour of the Sparviero fuselage, at least closely enough to start sanding into shape. The gaps around the windows were filled with superglue, and the gap at the upper bomb bay hatch was shimmed with Evergreen.

Fortunately, the wing to fuselage joint was a good fit, unfortunately the main cockpit transparency was not. This piece was problematic to get into position at all and kept falling into the fuselage.

This was becoming a frustrating build so I was happy just to get to everything together. The fabric effects are overdone but given everything else I will just have to live with that.

The Sparviero could carry two torpedoes on external racks. References say that this was only done to transport torpedoes between bases and not used operationally as the extra weight affected performance. Italeri provides both racks but only a single torpedo, I will leave off the starboard rack to match photos.

Here is a close-up of the ventral tub for the bomb-aimer and the ventral gun position. Fit was problematic here as well, and I didn’t like my odds of getting the underside windows to stay in place and look right so those will be replaced with Micro Krystal Klear at the end of the build.

Part III here: https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2025/12/26/italeri-sm-79-sparviero-build-in-1-72-scale-part-iii/