Many regular readers will remember me doing an article on the Airfix SM79 and why it’s important to me – this aircraft helped shaped my obsession with the non-mainstream aircraft of my country. Aircraft of Italy, France, Romania, Poland, and Sweden all became an obsession for me.

Airfix’s G.50 was one I remember always looking at. One memory I have is at my late grandmothers as a child looking at it on my parents laptop and thinking how exciting it was to see a Fiat plane that I could potentially get! Alas, I would never get this kit – though I did have the G91 that Airfix made not long after this memory ended.

Now that I’m much more of a frequent modeller in 2022, I decided to try and get my hands on this relic of modeller’s past – indeed, I did obtain one for around £12-16. Hilariously, weeks after, Airfix announced they were re-releasing the kit as part of their vintage classics range! Now at £6.99 the aircraft was easy to obtain and much more affordable.

Coming in an old school bag with new parts from the old moulds, and crisp shiny fresh decals, the G50 is a really simple kit compared to the new productions from Airfix. The cockpit is a product of it’s time, being a bucket seat wit little else – though the included pilot helps make the tiny cockpit feel much more alive. The rest of the model is obviously not quite as detailed as a modern kit, yet somehow it surpassed my expectations for a kit that is old enough to be my parent.

I did a unique test wit this kit as part of my “testing every model paint series” meaning that tis Fiat was using Itlaeri’s Regia Aeronautica set (see the video below if you want more information). The set features all the colours needed to do Italy’s wide range of colourful schemes from either the early years of the war or the later years…though if you’re looking at the grey’s of the Russian front you are out of luck – Mediterranean colours only.

The aircraft went together very easily and I did not find that I needed a lot of filling paste to make the aircraft look pretty swish. The unique shape of the aircraft brought a smile to my face as soon as the wings were attached. Surprisingly the landing gear also held extremely well – which is my biggest bug bare – s seeing it sit nicely was again a pleasant suprise.

For painting I did my scheme from memory and consequently my ‘blobs’ of colour were at least double the size of what they should’ve been. Despite this, I was really pleased with the results I got. I painted the light colours first before adding green and then the darker brown. What I think got me the best result is the technique I used on the CR42 and SM79 – doing a super watered down thin inkish layer of the ochre colour on top of the gree and brown to try and blend everything…and I must say I think it worked really well.

Buy or Fly?

The aircraft is so cheap that I could never recommend skipping on such a glorious little kit. A unique subject of what was, in real life, an absolutely abysmal aircraft. I absolutely love this frisky fighter and it’s 30s design. Though it will eventually be lost to it’s contemporise such as the MC200 it will always hold a special place in my heart as Fiat’s legacy monoplane.

Also, at £6.99 / €8 it’s an absolute steal of a kit that will take you only a few hours from start to finish. I mean, I’m an average model maker and I think I got a great result in the end!