[Serpiko]

For the 50th birthday of the Italian aerobatic team "Frecce Tricolori" (tri-color arrows), Italeri has recently released a celebrative box, including the complete kits of the 3 aircrafts that have equipped the team during these years.
This release is actually a re-boxing of three existing kits, whose pieces are separately bagged, providing for each one a new instructions sheet and a decal set to realize the "P.A.N." version (Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale = National Aerobatic Team).
For obvious reasons, this multi-kit is mainly intended for the Italian market. Nevertheless, people from other countries may find it interesting as well, at least because it provides three complete kits for the price of two (I paid less than 20€ for it).
I'm going to post here separate reviews for each kit, as soon as I finish building them. At the end, we'll be able to summarize the overall quality of this offer.

[Serpiko]

F-86F P.A.N.

THE PLANE

The F-86 Sabre needs no introduction. Let's just say that, according to a NATO exchange program, the AMI (Aeronautica Militare Italiana) received 179 Mk.4 Sabres manufactured by Canadair. These planes served in many Squadrons, including the "Lancieri Neri" and "Cavallino Rampante" aerobatic teams. When, in 1960, the Pattuglia Acrobatica Nazionale "Frecce Tricolori" was born, it was equipped with Sabres.



IN THE BOX

Looking at the 4 sprues (3 grey + 1 transparent) the first impression is positive. No flash, recessed panels, detailed parts and overall good quality. Then you notice the molded ACADEMY logos and you know why. :mrgreen:
There are several unused parts (including leading edge slats), so the sprues probably come from a multi-version kit. Anyway, as I said before, the only provided decals are for the P.A.N. version. Decals include numbers and serials for every plane in the formation, but no maintenence markings (I'm nor sure if this is correct or an omission)



BUILDING

The first step is the construction of the cockpit-airduct block. the internal air duct is split in two pieces: the lower half includes the front gear bay, while the upper half includes cockpit side panels and pedals. Stick, gauges, assembled seat and rear panel must be glued on it.
Now, you immediately face a little challenge: the two halves of the air duct have pins to fix in the correct position; unfortunately, these pins and their holes are molded on the INTERNAL side of the duct. I kept them as they were and, once the model is finished, they remain somewhat visible as "pillars" protruding from duct sides, so you may consider removing them to flatten the internal surface. Anyway, the flaw will be visible only by looking closely inside the air intake, therefore it's up to your judgement if it's worth the extra work.
There's a flat panel closing the rear of the air duct. Instructions are to paint it with aluminium/silver; but you could as well paint it black. Personally, i draw a fan on it! But again, this is a "only-if-you-look-inside-the-hole" detail.
Now it's time to join the fuselage halves... but don't forget the golden rule, TRY DRY FITTING FIRST! You must check the fitting of the rear "pipe" with the internal of the exhaust and, more important, of the cockpit-duct block. First, if you plan to build the plane wheels down, remember to add some weight inside the nose (instructions say at least 10 grammes), or else your model will be sitting on its tail. Then, make sure both cockpit and front gear bay match correctly their respective "slots" in the fuselage.

NOTE FOR DARING MODELERS: if you think you're good enough (I didn't take the risk), there's a chance of getting this model with a sliding canopy, but you must do it before enclosing the cockpit inside the fuselage. At this point, the rear of the cockpit is a flat horizontal panel with a "rail". The piece featuring the radio, which is supposed to slide back and forward together with the bubble canopy, has a pin that goes into that rail to help fixing it either in open or closed position. Now, if you just put the pin inside the rail and fix something broader on its tip to prevent the pin from exiting, you will have the radio piece sliding free and so, later, the canopy!
But remember: I DIDN'T DO THAT, as this is likely to create complications both in canopy fitting and painting. And, if your internal modification breaks once the fuselage is closed, you can still glue the canopy fixed, sure, but you'll also be able to play your model like a "maraca" with the broken pin dancing free inside it! So, FOLLOW THIS HINT AT OWN RISK! :wink:

Back to the "standard" building now. Assemblying the wings is an easy job, just remember to drill holes for pylons if you want to add droptanks. The gear bay piece doesn't have a perfect fitting, but no real problems here. The fuselage-wings joint is good, I didn't use any filler. The nose air intake goes on simply, too. The tailplanes require a little attention, because they are not ambidextrous and must be "manually" set at the correct inclination. This is also the moment to glue windshield and canopy, whether you have built the stock or the "modded" one. Pay a little attention when glueing piece 34c onto the radio piece: don't let it protrude forward, or it will prevent the canopy from fitting in closed position.
It's now time for undercarriage and air brakes. Both of them (and their bays) have a good detail level and, as in most cases, are optimized for extended position. If you build them closed, rear wheels panels and airbrakes need some slicing to fit properly.
The only external loadout option is a pair of droptanks. If you want to add them, you should only mount the pylons on the tanks at this point. DON'T attach the pylons under the wings now, or you will have a terrible time with decals! You can leave this as the last part.



PAINTING AND DECALS

Painting the P.A.N. livery shouldn't be a tough matter: the upper side of the plane is completely blue, the belly is aluminium silver, and there are decals for the whole lower surface of both wings and tailplanes, which are fully covered with the green-white-red bands of the Italian flag.
The instructions sheet defines the blue as "Blue Angel Blue (gloss)". I've Googled around for actual surviving Sabres in P.A.N. colors: I've found a few pics, and they showed a variety of blue tints. So my advice is: choose a blue tint and use it for all three models, and you won't do wrong!
Once in a while, I have good news about the decals: I found them to be EXCELLENT (hooray!), probably also because they must be recent. Given my past experience with large decals always breaking up, I was prepared to paint green-white-red bands under the wings; instead, even those wing-sized flags were a pleasure to apply. All decals required little diving time, lifted uniformly and stuck well while allowing for repositioning if needed. Someone could find them to be slightly thick, but I'd be pleased with such decals any day. Mind one thing only: the instruction sheet indications about wings/fuselage roundels are inverted. Actually, larger roundels (decals n° 5) are for wings, and smaller ones for the fuselage.

CONCLUSIONS

Nice one! This kit shows the usual Academy quality. Quick builders will appreciate the lack of flaws and fitting problems (and the user-friendly decals), and pros will find a good level of detail to start from for further enhancements.

I'll be back when the next kit is finished!

[Deutschmark]

Any photos? the read was nice.

Deutschmark

[Serpiko]

You've been too quick! Just added them.

[Deutschmark]

I got to see the Italian aerobatic team Frecce Tricolori this pass summer
On my holiday they where really something to see.

Thanks for the photos looks good.

Deutschmark

[Planemad]

Nice review, I do like reading your reviews.

They are always top quality

Planemad

[LeBigTed]

Nice review, I do like reading your reviews.

They are always top quality

Planemad

Every time you say you like to read it :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

lol... me too ;o)


Thanks ;o)

Ted

[Serpiko]

G-91 P.A.N.

THE PLANE

In the late '50s, following a NATO request for a low-cost lightweight fighter, Italy peesented the G-91, which was essentially a downsized version of the Sabre developed by FIAT. Although the plane was judged superior to its direct competitors, political and economical interests led many countries to cancel their orders. In the end, The G-91 was adopted by Italy, Germany and, later, Portugal, mostly in its R (recon) versions.
In 1963, preproduction G-91s were converted to P.A.N. version and became the new "mount" of the "Frecce Tricolori" until 1982.



IN THE BOX

This time, the interior of the fuselage shows the REVELL logo. Therefore, there's absolutely nothing wrong with this kit, I can only recommend it, and long live Deutschmark, who is waving a broom at me. :mrgreen:
No, seriously: the first look is impressive. Despite the small scale, there's plenty of details and internals. These sprues probably come from a recent Revell multi-version G-91 kit, as there are several unnecessary optional parts, such as rocket launchers and large droptanks. No flash, recessed panels, two-pieces canopy, detailed gear bays, cockpit and ejection seat... everything looks just good!
As with the Sabre, there are decals for every single plane in the formation. Although gauges panels are detailed, there are also decals for them, in case you want to avoid some headache painting them.



BUILDING

The cockpit isn't particularly difficult to build because pedals, rear and side panels are molded in one piece with the floor. You only have to add the stick and assemble the seat, that comes with two sides plus the main piece. Seatbelts are molded on it. I was happy with stock details, I only added the two ejection handles on the headrest (my first scratch building!)
The two fuselage halves have slots and pins that help fixing internal parts in the correct positions. Such parts are the assembled cockpit, the gauges panel, gear and airbrakes bays and the exhaust pipe. Also, remember to add some weight inside the nose to prevent the model from sitting on its tail. If all parts are placed correctly, the two fuselage halves will fit without problems.
Being this a multi-version kit, there are alternative nose cones and "cheek" panels options. In this case, we need the "pointy" cone (the one without the recon camera) and the plates featuring two MGs on each side. Be careful not to glue the cone upside down!

(NOTE: weapon bays interior is partially detailed, although no guns are provided. Several photos portray real G-91 PANs with gun muzzles, but I can't tell you for sure wether they actually carried internal armament or not. So, IMO, there's no reason to build gun bays opened in this case.)



Wings and tailplanes must be fixed horizontally, with no dihedral. Unfortunately, while upper and lower sides of the wings fit OK on eack other, there are other minor fitting problems:
- Wing roots are straight, while the fuselage has a slightly curved profile. Some filler may be needed.
- Pylons: first of all, if you want to add droptanks, then WAIT, because you need to apply a wing-sized decal under each wing BEFORE attaching the pylons (which appear to be ambidextrous). This said, there are holes on each wing: The pylons are supposed to "hook" on the leading edge while fitting a rear pin in that hole. But this way, they tend to face outwards. Make sure to try dry fitting, you will need to either remove the pins or sand the internal of the "hook".
- Wing "spoilers": same as with the pylons.

Also, provided instructions state that you should cut off the existing pitot tube (right wing) and replace it (sic) making a 9mm long "wire". Honestly, I can live with the stock pitot!

Tailplanes don't cause any problem. But there are two small intakes to be applied below gun bays, and these suffer the same problem as wing roots, being straight while the fuselage is curved.



It's now time for Undercarriage and airbrakes. Since I liked the detailed internals, for the first time I decided to build everything in extended position. Now that the job is done, I'm quite happy with the result, but I think I could have chosen a simpler subject to start building gears down! I mean, nothing wrong with the kit, it's just the shape of the gear itself. Legs and wheels fix OK, the hard part comes with covering panels of main legs: they both have to be split in three tiny pieces, which stick to three different places (belly, wheel and wing). Luckily, the instructions sheet includes a figure showing also the correct angle for all pieces.
Remember to glue the smallest gear panel (referred to as part Z of pieces 35a and 36a - clear, huh? ) on the gear leg and NOT on the wing, or it will interfere with the application of the large wing decal.
Front gear and airbrakes require no particular attention, Just make sure to fix the two airbrakes in the same position.

The canopy is a simple job, as it only consists of two pieces. To complicate things a bit, I experimented a simple way to make it liftable: the mobile part isn't glued, but it's only fixed in position by two small pieces of transparent tape at the joint. (The tapes are "reinforced" by a bit of glue, and the external tape lies under the paint layer.) It's somewhat fragile, but this way the canopy is free to rotate up and down.



PAINTING AND DECALS

The livery is exactly the same as the Sabre, except for the black antidazzler on the nose. It is provided as a decal, which only requires a little care to wrap correctly around the nose.
This time, there's a problem with the big tri-color decals: they appear to be a little too large, expecially those under the wings. My advice is to slice off about 1mm from both their front and rear edges (green and red bands) before applying them.
Apart from that, same good quality as before.

CONCLUSIONS

Although taking care of details made this a longer work, and despite the few flaws in the finished job (all of which are my fault) I'm particularly happy with the result. I recommend this kit, because its minor flaws don't hamper the overall high quality. If you're looking for a G-91 kit, this one from Revell won't disappoint you.

See you later with the third kit!

[EDIT] If you can't see images, it's only Mediafire's fault!

[LeBigTed]

Hi Serpico,

I have not wait too much time loool :lol: (refering my previous post HERE ;o)

Nice review, I like it !!!
Congrats, and impatient to see the next !


Ted

[Planemad]

Another great review Serpiko

Planemad

[KG64_Cnopicilin]

The internal parts' detail is outstanding, nice!

[Serpiko]

MB-339 P.A.N.

THE PLANE

Unlike the Sabre and the G-91, the Aermacchi MB-339 wasn't developed to be a fighter, but a dedicated trainer. For this reason the design was focused on flight characteristics and costs containment, rather than high performances. In its primary role, the MB-339 validly replaced its "dad" (the appreciated MB-326, of which the 339 was an evolution), providing a good platform for advanced training and displaying excellent aerobatic capabilities (i.e. watch this video - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=og7fCw85Qns - and tell me how many jets can do that!), thus becoming an ideal candidate to re-equip the P.A.N. in 1982.
Nevertheless, both in its two seater and K (cannon-armed single seater) versions, The MB-339 can also fulfill the secondary role of light attack plane. It has seen action in the Falklands war (reported to have been the first Argentinian plane to attack the Royal Navy) and in the Eritrean Air Force against Etiopia.



IN THE BOX

The bag contains the usual two grey sprues and the transparent one, plus decals and instructions sheets. I open it and... D'OH! Raised lines! Not necessarily a flaw, ok, but a limit to me, because I need engraved details to perform my usual weathering technique. On the other hand, a shiny aerobatic model can look good even without weathering, so let's ger over it...
The detail level is generally decent, with some positive (seats) and negative (gear/airbrake bays) exceptions. This is probably the oldest of the three kits in the box: not many people are interested in this little plane, therefore there have been very few MB-339 kits around. This time there isn't any logo molded in the sprues, but a quick confrontation revealed this one to be a SUPERMODEL release. Again, there are some unnecessary parts, mostly external loads.
Speaking of the decals sheet, this one appears to be the most detailed of the three, as it provides bands, flags, roundels, logos, gauges panels, numbers and serials for each plane, but also some stenciling and pilot names.
Instructions are quite simple, although a few passages are not totally clear IMO. But we'll see that later.

Ejection handles on the seats are the only extra detail I added to my model, all the rest was built "as it comes".



BUILDING

First of all, I must say that the overall fitting of the parts is surprisingly good. There are a few minor issues, but all "critical" areas (such as wing roots and gear panels) come together nicely without the need for extra work, which is quite rare.

Assemblying the cockpit is simpler than it may appear. It's the usual job with adding seat, stick and gauges panel to the floor, you just have to do it twice. The detail of the seats is nice; gauges panels instead are totally flat, but anyway you get decals for them. Be careful while handling the sticks, they break easily!
Once the cockpit is finished, you have to enclose it between the two fuselage halves. Remember to add some weight inside the nose! However, since there isn't any piece for the exhaust, the tailpipe will remain open, so you could add more weight later if needed.

IMPORTANT: While trying dry fitting I noticed that, if you glue the cockpit piece exactly in its expected position, the headrest of the rear seat will protrude a little too much, preventing the canopy from fitting in closed position! To avoid this, while the glue is still wet, you can dry fit the canopy pressing it down to its correct position, thus forcing the rear side of the cockpit to fix in a "compromise" way. This way, there will be a 1-2mm gap between the rear side of the cockpit panel and its prosecution on the fuselage, but it will be almost completely hidden by the seat itself, and nobody will notice the "cheat".

As I said above, the construction of the wings is a pretty easy matter. They must be fixed with a slightly positive dihedral, while the tailplanes must be horizontal. This plane also has two small ventral fins, that must be attached under the tail with a 45° outwards inclination (the correct place for these fins is clearly shown by the raised lines on the fuselage).
Since the internal bays have almost no details here, I built my model with gear up and closed airbrake. REMEMBER: just like the other two kits, this one is supposed to wear large flag decals under its wings; therefore, pylons and/or gear legs must be fixed AFTER applying such decals.



Before glueing the canopy, you should add the pieces for opening mechanism (piston + staff) and rear instrument panel covering. Instructions aren't 100% clear about how to do that: in fact, after adding the panel covering, i found myself with no room for the piston anymore. Anyway, if you build the canopy closed, that's not a real problem.

It's now time for a few minor details. The molded pitot tube on the tail must be removed; instead of it, there are two tiny little pitots to be attached just ahead and aside of the windshield. More little than tiny, in fact: trying to handle them will make you sweat and swear, a LOT! Then there are two small fin-shaped antennas. The upper one goes just ahead of the tail, the other goes on the belly below the cockpit (instructions miss this passage!). Four small spoilers (two on each wing) must be fixed on the leading edge, near the wingtips. Last, there are two more fins to be fixed on the sides of the vertical stabilizer. A note about these fins: according to instructions and tail details, their place is near the top of the rudder, and so I fixed them. Nevertheless, recent MB339s have these fin in a lower position (about mid-height of the stabilizer), as showed by the decal reference pictures. But this way, they will interfere with the tail number decals, so you may decide to pass over this detail.

Last, the external loadout. Here's a very odd thing: Instructions show a loadout option featuring wingtip tanks, and there's even a dedicated decal for them... but, in real life, MB339 PANs have their wingtip attachments REMOVED to improve maneuverability, so this is just nonsense! The usual loadout is 4 underwing pylons with small tanks on the inner pylons only.



PAINTING AND DECALS

The base livery is the usual full blue with aluminium belly, but this time a little more work is required, since leading edges must be painted white (including those of vertical and horizontal stabilizers), while the air intakes have a black edge. Wing and fuselage bands are provided as decals.
The decal sheet for this plane includes a few more details, such as the "50° anniversary" badge and the current pilot name for every plane in the formation. I'm glad to say that, once again, decals are nearly perfect: they are well printed, resistant, not too thick, and they match the size of the model with surprising precision. This is expecially evident (and useful) with the large flags under wings and tailplanes and with the fuselage bands (each of which comes in two pieces). Applying such wide decals could be a frustrating job, but in this case the high quality makes it much simpler.
As usual, I applied a final coating with transparent spray.



CONCLUSIONS

Considering the age of the original kit, its level is pretty good. Despite being initially disappointed by the raised details, I enjoyed the good quality of kit and decals, that made this a mostly painless build. In the end, I'm very pleased with the finished model. Thumbs up!

[Serpiko]

OVERALL JUDGEMENT

So, is this triple kit worth getting? If you are a "Frecce Tricolori" enthusiast, undoubtedly it is. If you are a "common" modeler, you might find some interest in this release, featuring not-so-famous planes (but the Sabre) in a particular livery. The quality of the offer is good: Italeri packed together nice kits from other manufacturers, making a really excellent job itself with the decals. Besides, it's roughly three kits for the price of two (I paid my box less than 20€).
I liked building these three kits, and I think that you won't be disappointed if you do too. In case, you may prefer not to build all three kits in a row, but rather alternate them with other models, to avoid the risk of getting bored with the subject.



See you with the next review, modelers!

[Deutschmark]

Nice model work

Deutschmark

[Codex_PT]

~S Serpiko, according to the video link you've posted... check this one from 2:50 time.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V9wh_m-2 ... 7858BB88DE

hope you appreciate it, and also that will answer your question!

~S,
Regards