Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario

Sword, 1/48 scale

Reviewed by Brett Green

Airfix's 1/48 scale Spitfire Mk. Vb will be available online from Squadron.com

History

The Regianne Re.2005 Sagittario (Archer) was one of the three "Serie 5" Italian fighters built around the famous Daimler-Benz DB 605 engine. 

The combination of this powerful and well proven German engine with sleek Italian design created a graceful aircraft quite capable of holding its own against contemporary Allied fighters including the Mustang and Spitfire IX.

Of the three final generation Italian WWII fighters, the Re.2005 was the rarest due to limited, hand-built production. Only about 30 were completed.

Sagittario in 1/48 scale

For a relatively rare aircraft, the Sagittario has been surpsingly well represented in 1/48 scale over the years, albeit always in vacform or limited-run form.

Falcon released a nice vacform Sagittario in the late 1980s, followed by a pretty rough limited-run injection version. Neither of these kits included decals.

In 2002, Flying Machine's debut kit release was a 1/48 scale limited run injection moulded Re.2005. This was accurate and featured resin parts for cockpit and wheel well details.

And now, 18 years later, we have not one but two new 1/48 scale Sagittarios hitting the hobby shop shelves within months of each other. The new Special Hobby kit is a completely different kit to the Sword Re.2005 kit being reviewed here.

Sword is a limited-run model company from the Czech Republic that mainly focuses on 1/72 scale kits, although their 1/48 scale range is slowly growing.

Their latest new-tool release is a 1/48 scale Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario. This kit has nothing in common with the old Flying Machines Saggitario or the new Special Hobby kit released around the same time as this one.

Sword's 1/48 scale Reggiane Re.2005 Sagittario comprises 73 parts in grey plastic, two parts in clear plastic plus one resin part. The package is rounded out with markings for seven varied and interesting options.

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

Thumbnail panels:

The grey plastic parts for each kit are moulded onto two sprues with fine attachment points. The fuselage parts were loose in my bag.

Being a limited run kit, there are none of the little luxuries such as locating pins and tabs, so take time when aligning and gluing the plastic parts. There are a few raised ejector pin circles that look like they will interfere with wing fit, so you'll need to clean these up prior to assembly.

Surface textures, including fine recessed panel lines and rib tapes on fabric control surfaces, are well done.

The cockpit is simply broken down with sidewall detail moulded onto the interior of the fuselage halves. Moulding is crisp and detail is good here. It should pop out with careful painting and weathering.

The instrument panel is a single plastic part with recessed circles and raised switches etc. It would hve been nice to have an overlay decal with instrument dial detail but you're on your own there.

You'll need to supply your own harness straps (and seat cushion if you want one) too.

The wheel well looks to be highly detailed with stuctural detail moulded onto the main wheel well ceilings and separate supports and detail parts.

Resin parts are supplied for the exhausts. These feature scale-thin upper and lower guards and hollowed-out ends.

The clear parts are acceptably thin. The windscreen is a separate part so the canopy may be posed open if you wish.

Markings are provided for three options - one Regia Aeronautica, one ANR and one Luftwaffe.

They are printed by Techmodand appear to be in good register.

Sword's kits are limited run but the quality of moulding, the level of detail and the finesse of surface textures would challenge some mainstream injection moulding model companies.

Sword's 1/48 scale Reggiane Re.2005 is a fairly simple but nice limited run kit. Take your time with parts cleanup and alignment and you will have an impressive result.

Thanks to Sword Models for the review samples.

Text and Images Copyright © 2020 by Brett Green
Page Created 24 March, 2020
Last updated 24 March, 2020

Back to HyperScale Main Page