Wow, nice job with the masking and the airbrush work.

but will it blend?...

so much not fun

Good Lord... were they afraid British bombers would miss?

Rather, they were afraid Italian Bombers wouldn't miss. Most wacky markings on any number of types at different times (invasion stripes, for example) were more for avoiding friendly fire mishaps.

Invasion stripes I knew about, and they made sense considering the ovewhelming superiority in numbers enjoyed by the USAF and RAF. But I think I'd rather take my chances with the Italian air force mistaking me for an enemy than risking an attack by the allies, who know I'm the enemy.

You're kind of missing the point. The Allies would know her regardless of markings, while the Italian bombers might be a little less so, though pretty effective about sinking what they target, right or wrong. As it was, it is all moot, as she never sortied and was eventually sunk by German Fritz-X smart bombs with the Italian armasist.

I suppose that's so... though if you don't think it through too far you might wonder why camoflage a ship at all? Paint it yellow with red flames and blue racing strips! Big chromium Fasces everywhere, like the "mustang" on a Ford! But that would probably attract submarines all the way from the Pacific...

The splinter camo was only to make the outline iffy for range-finding/exact identity by other surface types. Interestingly, several Axis ships had the same splinter pattern, but done to different scales to fit the particular ship.
The overhead camo effort was largely a gesture in futility for any ship of size in all but the rarest of circumstances (range and weather/lighting) and the bright markings didn't compromise much of anything in practice.

As hard as it may be to believe, Italy and Germany had air superiority for much of the African campaign. British shipping was afraid to be caught in the Med, due to the heavy patrolling.

Up to about 1943, the Luftwaffe did pose a problem.

Nice work. Masking over all those details has to be a pain.

Is this a specific vessel or just a class exemplar?

It is specifically the Roma, as her sister ships had a less extensive paint job fore and some of the same on the stern, while the Roma didn't have any on her stern. However, I got the impression that all Italian warships of the period had some level of the same kind of feature.

The relief details have come out well!

Having had to do some pretty extensive masking in the past myself, I tip my hat to you for a job very well done. I look forward to seeing further progress on the model.

I'm impressed with your efforts. I like how you effectively masked over all those little "Fiddly Bits" such as the vents and deck fixtures, I think I saw a photo taken from the air of this ship, as I do recall that odd recognition pattern.

I saw a model kit for a U-Boat which had an old man riding a bicycle facing the stern of the craft. I guess someone was having a little "Fun" with the "Dazzle" camouflage patterns.

great model! Can't wait tosee the finished project. Good luck at the show/contest. The level of detail in the deck casting is impressiv.the stripes really bring out the "fiddly bits" bur masking it must have been a real pain. if nothing else, eyestrain city! what scale? 720? THE COLONEL

1/350, a nice big piece of plastic, 26in/68cm long. The basic making of the stripes was the hard part, making sure they were at the correct angle and properly spaced. All the fiddly-bits were no big deal to paint in comparison, just free-handed (trying to mask all that would have been madness)