1⁄48Ansaldo I.S.V.A. Big ''A''
8
Comments
Ansaldo I.S.V.A.
A single-seat float fighter version of the S.V.A., the I.S.V.A. (the "I" prefix indicating Idro or water) was built at La Spezia in 1918. Power was provided by a 205hp SPA 6A engine and armament consisted of two synchronised 7.7mm Vickers machine guns. A total of 50 I.S.V.A. fighters was manufactured and these aircraft were used both for the defence of naval bases and coastal reconnaissance.
The build
For this build I used an old 1/48th Smer kit of the Ansaldo S.V.A. 5 . The kit has a price of less than $10 and is a solid base kit. The hull has the correct dimensions but it takes a lot of work to bring the best out of it.
The propeller in the kit is the wrong shape and direction of rotation. I made a new propeller from styrene. For the exhaust pipe I used a 1mm medical needle. The cockpit is also very basic, but it was no problem to scratch build a lot of the details, as there are plenty of good references, in the way of images of original S.v.a from museums. A minor problem was to find reference of instrument panel.
The fit of the lower wings on the kit is very poor, so I cut the wings in half, and mounted locating tabs. I lost a lot of time getting the fit right, but it worked in the end.
The upper wing also has some errors, so I made a new wings joints out of styrene and a 1'3mm medical needle.
I re-did the ribbing on the wings. I made wing struts out of copper wires, rigging cables from 0.16 mm fishing nylon and a 0.30 mm medical needle. The tail of the plane was also re-built from an expired credit card.
No one has produced a kit with floats, but fortunately, in these days and help of the Internet I found a drawings of the floats. I made the floats from brass, turned on a lathe, and added a supporting structure of the copper wire.
The build blog of this kit can be found here
Dani Fabris
A single-seat float fighter version of the S.V.A., the I.S.V.A. (the "I" prefix indicating Idro or water) was built at La Spezia in 1918. Power was provided by a 205hp SPA 6A engine and armament consisted of two synchronised 7.7mm Vickers machine guns. A total of 50 I.S.V.A. fighters was manufactured and these aircraft were used both for the defence of naval bases and coastal reconnaissance.
The build
For this build I used an old 1/48th Smer kit of the Ansaldo S.V.A. 5 . The kit has a price of less than $10 and is a solid base kit. The hull has the correct dimensions but it takes a lot of work to bring the best out of it.
The propeller in the kit is the wrong shape and direction of rotation. I made a new propeller from styrene. For the exhaust pipe I used a 1mm medical needle. The cockpit is also very basic, but it was no problem to scratch build a lot of the details, as there are plenty of good references, in the way of images of original S.v.a from museums. A minor problem was to find reference of instrument panel.
The fit of the lower wings on the kit is very poor, so I cut the wings in half, and mounted locating tabs. I lost a lot of time getting the fit right, but it worked in the end.
The upper wing also has some errors, so I made a new wings joints out of styrene and a 1'3mm medical needle.
I re-did the ribbing on the wings. I made wing struts out of copper wires, rigging cables from 0.16 mm fishing nylon and a 0.30 mm medical needle. The tail of the plane was also re-built from an expired credit card.
No one has produced a kit with floats, but fortunately, in these days and help of the Internet I found a drawings of the floats. I made the floats from brass, turned on a lathe, and added a supporting structure of the copper wire.
The build blog of this kit can be found here
Dani Fabris
Comments
Outstanding project Dani. Ivica would be proud of your work dedicated to him.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette
AUG 27, 2011 - 06:32 AM
Hi Dani,
Outstanding! Thanks for showing us what can be done even with SMER kits!
AUG 27, 2011 - 02:58 PM
Great Job...!!!
I like to learn how to build nice models starting from vintage kit and simple solutions...! Pretty inspiring
Thanks
P/D Sorry for my English...
AUG 28, 2011 - 02:14 PM
Dani,
I add my congratulations as well; it is great to see you gain recognition for a truly beautiful build! You have done your friend very proud. Hope to see more of your work in the future and again, well done!
Cheers,
Lance
AUG 29, 2011 - 03:02 AM
Thanks again friends, 4 all the kind words and encouragement. Friendly atmosvera on this forum make work easier and more enjoyable.
Special thanks to Andy who gave a lot of work 2 made my English readable, corrections he did to make this topik looks better.
Because of the tourist season here, I have not a lot of peace of mind and time for modeling, but soon I hope to continue work on my Fokker E.III
SEP 03, 2011 - 11:07 PM
Copyright ©2021 by Dani Fabris. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. The views and opinions expressed herein are solely the views and opinions of the authors and/or contributors to this Web site and do not necessarily represent the views and/or opinions of AeroScale, KitMaker Network, or Silver Star Enterrpises. Images also by copyright holder unless otherwise noted. Opinions expressed are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of AeroScale. All rights reserved. Originally published on: 2011-08-28 00:00:00. Unique Reads: 8830