LF Models 1/48 SAI 207

Historical section by Scott Van Aken:

Most of the major powers involved in the European portion of WWII at one time or another undertook the development of a lightweight fighter. The key to these aircraft was that they use very little in the way of valuable strategic resources, in this case, aluminum. Instead, the majority of the airframe for these light fighters was made of wood. While structurally as good as aluminum, wood requires special handling and a bit more power as a wooden planes tends to be a bit heavier than its aluminum counterpart.

The Italians built what was probably the most capable and successful of the lightweight fighters, however time was not on their side in this regard and the capitulation of the Italian government pretty well stopped these aircraft from entering squadron service.

Design of the fighter started in 1939. It was started as a single-seat test aircraft, the SAI 107, which was based on the previous SAI.7 two seat sports monoplane . The SAI 107 was powered by a 540hp Isotta-Fraschini engine and weighed but 2,200 lbs fully loaded. It reached a top speed of 350 mph, which was not bad at all and raised hopes. During the development of the 107, a fully militarized version, the SAI 207 was planned and construction started. 

Once completed, it entered flight testing and reached a maximum speed of nearly 400mph in military trim. Of course, the engine used was a more powerful 750 hp Isotta-Fraschini, but there were smiles everywhere when testing proved so successful. An order for 2,000 aircraft was placed. The initial batch of pre-production SAI 207s was started in 1942. However, only thirteen were completed before the Italian Air Ministry cancelled the order in favor of the more powerful SAI 403.

LF Models, not exactly a household name here in the U.S., is one of a hand full of Czech Republic cottage resin companies to spring up in the last 8 years or so. What LF has done has been a mixture of obscure Luftwaffe, Pre-WW 2, and other lesser know aircraft kits. Amongst them was this little known light defensive point fighter. I didn't find a whole lot of information on this version, although what I did find seems to match up pretty well with the kit as presented. The LF Models resin kit is well molded of a light tan colored resin that appears to be free of surface bubbles and pin holes. Upon closer inspection I found some tiny holes and a bit more excessive resin on the parts than you might find on some other resin kits, this however was only a minor annoyance and they were easily removed. One clear vacuformed canopy was also included. Instructions are a single letter size with exploded view, no writing. They were also a bit lacking in firm location of items; better have a good reference! Decals are for one fictitious aircraft.