Monday, April 10, 2023

Savoia Marchetti SM.79, Airfix, Lodela,

There was a time when Lodela produced Airfix models in Mexico under license, it must have been at the end of the 80s, and it was a peculiar time, when it was still better to produce things locally, have factories and employees, something that globalization ended, because suddenly it was cheaper to import the products and just pack them or put the import label on them, a concept, which is now being abandoned, because the international trade routes are not safe, because it caused many industries to lay off lots of people and because it is safer and cheaper, from a distribution point of view, to produce everything locally.

The boxart was the classic Airfix, only in gray boxes, with the Lodela logo, but they weren't that well done, the model name was incomplete, the information on the side was almost non-existent, the instructions were a single printed sheet, of both On the other hand, it didn't matter how complex the model was, the images were reduced until they were tiny, on the other hand, Lodela's green plastic gives a unique flavor to those Airfix models, which have always been grey, (good in the 70s for a brief time were silver, but that doesn't count)


The boxart was very good, I don't know the painter, but the composition is excellent, if we see it from the geometric point of view, the main element is in a triangle, well centered, but with its base closer to the diagonal, and the addition of the second apparatus in formation, it is magnificent, it is a similar triangle, inscribed in the main one, the blue colors, intense, à la Vermeer, as it is before the 80s, a battle is represented, but it is barely hinted at, the English fleet below, with the fighters chasing the formation, are secondary actors in this scene where the SM.79 is king.