Small Scale Military Headquarters

Well, finally picked up a Macchi in the paint scheme I wanted, and was impressed at the details. Though I'm terrified of breaking the landing gear, as it seems rather fragile and doesn't want to bend all the way into position. Are the wheels supposed to "snap" into place? any more pressure feels like i'll just tear them off...any suggestions on doing this gently?

And then a few days later, I noticed the big flaw: the Macchi's starboard wing emblem is backwards. I think. Reference photos always seems to show that the little horizontal lines in the middle of whatever-that-logo-is called should be facing out. On this particular paint scheme, they're facing the same way as the port wing. Did I get a bad plane or did they mess this up on all the Tarantola planes? a couple photos of packaged products make me think they are all messed up...

I don't know about the national emblem, but the landing gear is held in place by a strut located on the landing gear that folds down and snaps in place.. It is kinda tough to get in place so be careful you don't break it..

yeah, problem isn't that stru, it's getting the wheels spread far apart enough to lock the struts into place. it's like the wing doesn't have enough room to give it. all the pressure i'm applying to widen the stance feels like it's going to break it...

The Italian sign came from the ancient lictors' bundles (Italian: "fasci". The word "fascism" has the same source) with the axes. It was the old etruscan and roman symbol of the authority.

i know the blue circle on the fuselage with the axe is the fascist sign, but are the wing logos a variation of this?

nooker21 wrote:i know the blue circle on the fuselage with the axe is the fascist sign, but are the wing logos a variation of this?

Yes, they are. That is the simplified sign of three lictors' bundles.

On some of my Macchis, you have to apply a little force to get the landing gear pushrods to lock in place, on others it goes quite easily.

On another note, the fasces symbol is also very prevalent in American political iconography. Two grace either side of the speaker podium on the floor of the main hall of the US Congress and they can also be found on the chair of the Lincoln Memorial statue, among other places

Well, we are all grandchildren of ancient Rome (rather the Republic, than the Empire ). The Eagles in the coats of arms of our two countries (US and Poland) have such provenience, too...

The symbols on the upper and lower wings should be mirror images of one another....ie they should both point outwards, not in the same direction. If that is not the case on this model then it is a (big) mistake. Maybe you can get some 1/32 decals to correct this.

Very surprising.

Yeah it seems to be a mistake, because the emblems on the bottom of the wings are proper mirror images of each other. I'm just trying to see if this was screwed up on every example of the tarantola paint scheme (S3) or if just got a bum plane, since ebay pics aren't too helpful, and some online store pics have the same error as mine.

On the landing gear front, the pushpins aren't the problem; it's the wheel side that seems stiff and unwilling to open up all the way without immense pressure (which feels like it would break it). I'm just curious if i'm supposed to hear a snap or a click, or just push them wide enough for the pin and not worry about the wheels "locking" like they do on alot of the other planes...