There isn't much I can tell you aside from what's on the instruction sheet. The first prototype flew in November 1938 and entered service in 1940 as the R.A.s standard primary trainer. The type was also used as a courier and unit hack. 146 examples were built with 31 captured by the Germans and a few more by the Allies. The aircraft had a full wooden airframe with plywood covering. Its 185 hp Alfa Romeo engine gave a top speed of 220 kph.

Molded in a light grey plastic, the moldings are extremely clean and free from flash, sink areas and small ejector pin marks. There are a few inside the fuselage but should be easily removed. The fuselage interior has a lattice framework on the side panels. The interior cosnsists of a floor section, two seats and two control sticks. A pair of instrument panels are also provided, both of these having nice raised detailing. The wings are single piece and the attachment holes for these and the struts are well located and look to be properly deep. Fortunately the wing and landing gear struts are not single struts but N or V constructs, which really helps with assembly. The prop/hub is a single piece so no problems with individual bits. The lack of fiddlyness is something that I appreciate in short run kits like this. Two nicely molded windscreens complete the ensemble.

The modeler does have to provide some of the smaller parts and this includes the six exhaust stubs. These need to be made of stretched sprue or small tubing. The instructions are quite good and show how this is to be done. Color information is supplied where needed and is keyed to generic color references. Markings are for two aircraft. One is an overall white Reggia Aeronautica trainer with large tricolors on the rudder and elevators. The other is an all black version captured by the USAAF and used as a hack. The decals are very nicely printed and appear to be quite thin.

Overall, this is an excellent short run kit. The subject is interesting, the molding appears to be quite good and there are not the usual mass of fiddly parts or the need to resort to resin or photo etch to complete the kit. Probably the only thing that will hold some back is that this is a biplane so needs rigging. However, this is minimal and both the box art and instructions provide excellent rigging guides.

November 2005

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