When the Italian Italeri company brought their injection molded 1/32 scale Macchi MC.202 to the market, several other manufactures of accessories rushed to produce alternate parts for it, such as resin wheels or metal instrument panels. Yahu Models produced their 1/32 scale instrument panel for the Italeri Macchi MC.202 in 1/32 scale at the end of 2023 as an alternative to the kit’s instrument panel.

This product comes in a small clear plastic bag and contains three elements: a photo etched fret for the two smaller control panel raised panels, the main brass instrument panel and a clear sheet for one of the instrument faces. There is a simple color drawing on the cardboard insert showing how to assemble the provided elements.

The quality of the painted brass parts is outstanding and the instruments’ rendition is very sharp. The instrument panels feature instruments both in black and white and in full color. The background color is black with a nice texture imitating an actual aircraft’s panel.

I cut out the photo-etched parts from the brass fret with no problem. The brass parts are thick and sturdy enough to avoid bending them. This was followed by cutting one of the clear sheet’s faces and attaching it to the back of the smaller raised rectangular panel with white glue. This part goes underneath the main panel and onto the plastic kit part 4A. The clear sheet’s backing needs to be painted white to properly display the instrument faces when attached to the kit’s plastic part.

Next, I attached the smaller raised instrument panel to the main one with the white glue as well. There is no clear face provided or needed for the round instruments, but one may consider adding a drop of clear acrylic or lacquer to imitate the instruments’ glass faces. Everything aligns perfectly and the main instrument panel fits over the kit’s part like a glove, including a cut out for one of the levers on the left side.

It is worth mentioning that there is another small instrument face on the clear sheet but there is no mention where it goes. I could not find the same part in the MC.202 kit’s instructions either.

Interestingly enough, the Italeri MC.202 kit includes a set of 3D decals for the instrument panels. They look quite good, especially with the three-dimensional features for some levers and buttons. I included a picture of the Yahu assembled parts and the Italeri 3D decals for comparison. Italeri decals have 5 parts to it. I could not find where the decal #5 goes in the kit’s instructions. Although very similar, the Yahu Models panel has slightly sharper dials and features and the black instrument panel background texture seems to be less shiny and much closer in appearance to the real aircraft’s panel. I am leaning more toward using the Yahu Models parts in the kit for the above reasons. The instrument panel is very easy to assemble, except that the clear sheet’s backing has to be pained white, but the overall final result is outstanding. I recommend using the Yahu Models accessory as an alternative in the MC.202 construction, but the kit’s provided 3D decal is a close contender.

The Yahu Models 1/32 Instrument Panel for Macchi MC.202 can be found in some online stores, but for some reason it is absent from Yahu Models website.

My sincere thanks go to Yahu Models for generously providing this accessory sample for review and IPMS/USA for allowing me to review it.