PHAROAH/DREAM MODEL 1:72 BREDA BA.25
'INBOX Review'

 

Reviewer: Johan De Wolf  (rec.models.scale)   

Kit Details

History

The Breda 25 was the standard trainer of the Italian air force during the 1930’s. Most of Italy’s WW II aces received their wings on the Ba.25. It was initially designed as a single seat sports aircraft and had its first flight in 1931. As there was little interest in it, the prototype was converted to a two seat trainer. Flight testing was successful and by the end of the same year Breda had a firm order for 100 machines for the Italian air force. The last of these was delivered in 1935. However with the build up of the air force under the new leader Mussolini the demand for trainers was ever growing and the order was increased several times. A float plane version was also developed. The export version was powered by a license built Gnome-Rhone 7K and designated Ba.28. This version was also available on floats. Several were produced for private use, some of which were single seaters. Most were for military operators however. Not only the Italian air force used the type but also Afghanistan, Ethiopia, China, Norway, Hungary and several south American air arms. It is very likely that the Luftwaffe also confiscated several on their retreat from Italy. With over 700 machines produced the Ba.25/28 was a very successful design. 

The kit

Packed in a sturdy end-opening box you will find one ziplock bag with all the resin parts, the vacu canopy and decals. Also included are two A-4 size leaflets. The resin parts are very finely detailed with some very minute details. I could find neither mold defects nor bubbles, but the wings and fuselage are all slightly warped. A bath in hot water should help to put this right though. The vacuform parts are reasonably clear and careful polishing and/or a dip in future will improve the clarity even further. The simple decals are sharply printed and without registry problems. The blue might be a bit too light though and I have my doubts about the opacity of the white parts. One instruction leaflet shows a picture of the completed kit a rather fuzzy 3-view drawing, two photographs of mediocre but still helpful quality and a Chinese text of what I assume is the machines history in the Chinese air force. The other leaflet shows a clear 3-view drawing and 5, rather ambiguous, construction drawings of the “exploded view” kind. 

Accuracy

Dimensionally the kit is slightly under scale being about 1/74. However the kit captures the lines of the original very well. Detailing is beautifully executed and compares favorably with the few photographs I could find. 

Construction 

Of the 60 parts only some 40 are shown in the construction diagrams, so it will be interesting to find out where the rest go. The only English in the leaflets is used to show which instrument panel goes in the forward cockpit and which in the rear, showing the parts marked with an F and a B. However the parts themselves are marked with a 1 and a 2! As mentioned before the construction diagrams are rather ambiguous and therefore not very helpful. A scrap view of the installed parts would have cleared things up much better. A rigging diagram is also missing, and the quality of the supplied photographs is such that these are of little help in that respect. As if this was not enough already, the picture of the finished kit and one of the photographs actually show a Ba.28. The kit does include the parts for this version but the instruction diagrams make no mention of them. 

Painting and Decals

As far as I can tell no painting details are given anywhere. The picture of the finished model shows a green machine with a white/blue striped rudder. What the photograph doesn’t show is that these machines more than likely had a light blue underside. As far as the interior and detail colours go; your guess is as good as mine.

Conclusion

The resin parts are of very high quality. The slightly under scale dimensions don’t really bother me, but the pretty much useless instructions are a major let down. An experienced (biplane) modeler will probably work things out, however I wouldn’t recommend this kit to less skilled builders. 

I some how can’t escape the distinct feeling of “deja vu”, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this kit turns out to be a copy of a Chorozy modelbud kit.

 

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