Breda Ba 65 A80

AZ Model, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Mark Davies

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The Ba 65 was designed to fulfill the roles of ground attack, reconnaissance and fighter; although this last role appears to be very optimistic.

First flown in late 1935, its operational debut was in the Spanish Civil War during which, despite my earlier comments, one did manage to shoot down a Tupolev SB2 bomber.

Ba 65s saw service with the Italians in WW2 in North Africa, and were also used by Chile, Iraq, Spain, Portugal, and the Soviet Union.

Obviously there are quite a number of boxing opportunities for AZ Model. I do hope they produce the version used by Chile with its Piaggio P-11 engine and gun turret.

I was keen to examine this kit as I built the Azur kit of the Ba 65 some years ago, plus I had a rather nice unbuilt Rareplanes vac-form Ba 65 as well.

The AZ Model 1/72 scale Breda Ba 65 comprises a cleanly moulded sprue of clearly limited run parts for the airframe, undercarriage and major interior structure. The 3-blade propeller fortunately moulded as one piece, and so avoids blade alignment problems. Surface detail is a nice combination of raised surfaces where required, with recessed panel lines that are quite fine. Typically for this type of kit there are no locating pins; but who needs them anyway?

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The engine cowl is nicely very cast in resin with very cooling flaps open. The other resin parts provide the very characteristic exhaust manifold and pipes and main wheels. The resin parts are on what look to be very easily removable casting blocks.

A small PE fret provides seat belts, engine pushrods, rudder pedals, tail-plane braces, an intricate piece of framing to go behind the pilot’s seat. There is also an instrument panel complete with photo-film for instruments. A couple of the PE part # call-outs in the instructions are muddled, but the intended part to be used is quite clearly illustrated. I’m not a fan of PE pushrods and would make my own from thin rod. Likewise I feel the tailplane braces are less than ideal. You could bulk them up a bit with Mr Surfacer, or simply use some stretched Contrail strut. I feel that the braces would have been better in resin, and that in this scale the pushrod could be incorporated with the resin engine cylinders. But these are minor issues.

Having mentioned the PE fret, it’s worth stating that the PE parts and the styrene seat, floor and tubular framing should all combine to make a nicely detailed cockpit. Certainly more than adequate if the canopy is left closed.

Two vac-form canopies are supplied. They are generally well formed but, such is the nature of a Ba 65’s canopy, care will be needed to fit the panels that are let into the fuselage below the windscreen. This is not AZ Model’s fault; it’s just the way a Ba 65 is.

Kit number AZ72054 offers markings for two North African Bredas.

For kit number AZ7255, decals for one Spanish Civil War and one Italian machine of 1940 are provided. The decals look to be well registered with good colour density.

The aircraft history is in English. The instruction sheet has a parts map, and the assembly diagram is concise and quite adequate for the task. Interior colour call-outs are in English.

The resin and PE parts each have their own zip-lock bag and the all parts and decals are sealed in a larger zip-lock bag.

The box has nice artwork on the front and coloured painting guide on the back with decal locations indicated. Colour call-outs are in English, but these are generic (i.e. dark-green, sand etc), although some colours are named in Italian.

AZ Model's 1/72 scale Breda is quite an advance over the earlier Azur offering, and also the Rareplanes vacform (although the latter offers more variations – something I’m sure AZ Model will do in due course).

The resin cowling and very nice 2-piece engine are a huge advance over Azur’s (which I had to remove from the cowl and replaced with a more accurately sized plastic radial). Likewise the exhaust pipe and manifold are also big improvements. The surface detail is a bit better too.  

I look forward to building this kit to see if my impressions are confirmed.

I recommend this kit to Italian aircraft and SCW fans alike, or anyone who wants an attractive ground attack plane in their collection.

Thanks to Legato  / AZ Models for the sample

Review Text Copyright © 2008 by Mark Davies
Page Created 23 November, 2008
Last updated 23 November, 2008

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