Subject: Re: Hi Steve - review of Special Hobby Ba.65 follows...
From: "Submissions for ARC" <[email-masked]>
To: "Nicholas Moore" <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 10 Oct 2010 10:45:56 -0700

Hi,
I just wanted to let you know your article went on ARC today.  Thanks again for sending it in.

Steve Bamford
Aircraft Resource Center
http://www.aircraftresourcecenter.com

Live like there is no tomorrow;
Love like you've never been hurt.
Work like you don't need the money.
Dance like nobody's watching.
Sing like nobody's listening.
Live like it's Heaven on Earth.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Nicholas Moore 
  To: [email-masked] 
  Sent: Thursday, September 30, 2010 1:32 AM
  Subject: Hi Steve - review of Special Hobby Ba.65 follows...

        Special Hobby

        1/48 Breda Ba.65

        ”Single-Seater with Fiat A.80 RC.41 Engine”

        SPH48053 from HobbyLink Japan http://www.hlj.com/

        Product article by Nick Moore

        The Ba.65’s combat career lasted from 1936 to 1941 and it was utilised in the Spanish Civil War, the Anglo-Iraqi War of 1941 and in North Africa up to the beginning of 1941. The Ba.65 seemed to belong to a generation of Italian aircraft that came into their own in the late 1930’s and proved effective over Spain but quickly fell into obsolescence by the outset of WWII. Collectively they are fine looking aircraft with great camouflage, interesting markings and a great deal of character. 

        Special Hobby’s current packaging is straight forward and simple with attractive artwork on the lid and an interesting selection of mixed media parts within the box. You receive four sprues of plastic parts, one bag full of resin parts, a substantial PE fret and a set of decals along with twelve pages of loose leaf instructions.

        The plastic parts feature finely engraved panel lines on the fuselage, wings and horizontal stabilisers. These large areas are for the most part cleanly cast but there is still some coarseness here and there with flash and occasional small bumps in the plastic. These flaws shouldn’t present any challenge to remove. The cockpit sub-assembly begins at the firewall and continues to just aft of the fuel tank. Special Hobby has included some great detail here taking up much of the PE and including the resin bomb load. It’s a shame it will be fully enclosed but this area is still visible through the glazing aft of the head rest and on the underside of the fuselage aft of the bomb bay. Fortunately the clear parts which allow these views are cleanly cast.  The casting and level of detail of many of the small parts is coarse and will require clean up and the area as a whole certainly deserves a little enhancement and further detailing. Note: after photographing the contents I realised a few parts had come loose from the sprues (in case it appears parts are missing).

        As relayed above the PE fret is mostly utilised within the fuselage and this includes several parts to assemble the internal bomb racks (see photo of instructions). This has the makings of a fine and intricate structure. Further supplementary PE detail for the cockpit mitigates somewhat the chunkiness of the smaller plastic parts. All up it’s a decent quantity of metal.

        The bag of resin contains nearly all the parts that comprise the engine and cowlings. The radial engine is broken down into crank case and individual cylinders all with fine and regular detailing. The prop boss is very well done and the prop blades are clean, straight and delicate in section. Bombs show a very regular form but fins, as cast, will be too thick for some. The one piece cowling is very cleanly done, has regular shaped and consistently patterned bulging and ends at the cowl flaps with some fine edges that can of course be thinned even further. The exhausts have been cast hollow ended with very thin walls and look absolutely great. The quality of the resin in this kit is excellent.

        Decals are by Dead Design and are printed by AVIPRINT.CZ. The colours seem fine and the printing and register is good. Markings are provided for three aircraft of 159a Squadriglia, 12 Grupo, 50 Stormo Assalto based in North Africa in 1940.

        Instructions are comprised of 12 loose leaf pages in small booklet form. The diagrams are clear and include Gunze Colour call outs. The instructions also mention that camouflage schemes (and the full instructions) are available in colour through Special Hobby’s website: www.cmkkits.com. 

        In conclusion this is another limited run gem from Special Hobby and is thoroughly recommended. The aircraft itself is so unusual and ungainly in appearance that I think it will look great in plastic next to all the glamour planes out there. This model is shown in great depth in at least one online build up.

        The kit can be purchased here:  http://www.hlj.com/product/SPH48053

        My thanks to HobbyLink Japan (http://www..hlj.com/) for providing this review sample.

        Nick Moore 30 September 2010