Delta2 1/72 Savoia-Marchetti S-55X

I found this kit at a swap meet and had a chance to look in the box before I plopped down my hard earned cash. Considering the subject and my love of Seaplanes, I find it money well spent. Upon opening the box, one gets the impression of a SMER kit; lots of flash, heavy molding and simplistic detail. The parts are cast in a soft, gray plastic. There is 2 rather large sprues containing the plane and 1 large clear sprue. The model sprues contain large gates that will make the parts difficult to remove cleanly. The clear parts are thick but well cast. The horizonal control surfaces are molded separate, but the triple rudders are one piece. Also included is a clear display stand and a rather simple set of beaching gear.
The model itself is well molded with no panel lines. There is no internal detail to speak of other then 2 simple seats and a crude panel. The one strange part is that a partial decal sheet is included for Italo Balbo's aircraft, but for some reason it doesn't include the the wing serials.
The instructions are a single page printed on both sides. They are all in Italian, as are the color call outs.

What can I say... this kits a pig. I knew that going in, so I really wasn't surprised. The wing is made up of a single lower part with 3 upper parts; a center section and then the upper wings. No matter what I tried, a large step resulted where the outter panels met the center section. This step required a LOT of filler and took me several applications to get it looking halfway decent. Thank God the plane has no panel lines!