The wing and rudder stripes were painted instead of using the decals. In the movie, the airplane is shot down and rebuilt, receiving a larger, more powerful "Ghibli" engine and having one machine gun replaced by an extra seat in the nose.Ĭolors are Model Master Italian Red upper surfaces, with the lower hull and floats painted in MM RLM-79 Sandgelb, which matches the original plastic color pretty well. Armament is a pair of 7.9mm Spandau machine guns in the nose compartment. The fictional airplane is powered by an Isotta Fraschini Asso supercharged V-12 of approximately 850 hp. The real S-21 was a biplane which bears no resemblance whatsoever to the model. The antagonist in the film is named Curtiss and flies a modified R3C racer, which is also available as a kit from Fine Molds. The airplane is based on the real life Macchi M-33, which lost the Schneider Cup to Jimmy Doolittle's Curtiss R3C. It's family suitable as well, so it can be enjoyed with the kids and wife, assuming you can talk them into it! It is a wonderful film, well worth watching. He lives under a curse, having been turned into a pig after abandoning his squadron mates during a WWI dogfight. The Savoia S-21 is a fictional seaplane featured in the Japanese anime film " Porco Rosso" (The Crimson Pig), about an Italian fighter pilot who makes a living fighting air pirates in the late 1920's. I don't remember who posted the article, but I would like to thank him for introducing me to this lovely little airplane. Without it, I would never have known about this machine, as it sure isn't the usual kit on my radar.
The inspiration came from an article here on iModeler posted sometime last year. Sometimes you see something that piques your interest enough to make you want to do something about it, and so it was with this model.