As a fan of World War II Italian aircraft, I was excited by Italeri's new Re.2002 Ariete (Ram).
A 12-page, 12-step instruction booklet includes recommended colors for Model Master paints; also, a 48-page
Photographic Reference Manual provides a brief history of the plane. Building options abound: flaps and elevators can be posed; the two-part canopy can be open or closed; and you can choose to mount bombs or an auxiliary fuel tank. Decals with markings for six aircraft are printed by Zanchetti Buccinasco in Italy and look in-register and accurate. The clear windshield, hood, and gunsight are thin and precisely molded.
Parts shown in the four-view color and markings drawings, but not in kit, include a cowl gunsight and a radio antenna post on top of the vertical fin. Close examination reveals other errors: In Step 2, Decal 34 on the right should probably be Decal 32; one of the Decal 34s on the left should be Decal 35. In Step 3, Drawing F, Part 39A should probably be Part 40A.
Some parts don't match the illustrations. The propeller spinner is too small, the cowl opening is too large, and the cowl ring does not have enough slope. Moving aft, the headrest fairing scallops are too shallow (they should extend all the way to the rear of the fairing). The exhaust pipes should protrude through the lower cowl flaps instead of being fastened to the flaps.
Panel lines are delicately scribed. The holes replicating rivets may be a bit overstated, but I like the simulated fabric on the control surfaces. Parts such as the cockpit floor, the engine, the cowling, the landing gear struts are fitted with locating pins. The fit of some of the pins into the notches is sloppy, making it possible to misalign parts. Molded hatches must be removed to install hatch doors. Be careful of the wing fit so ridges don't appear at the fuselage joint.
Assembly and painting was easy enough. But the instruments are provided as individual decals, and the film around them made application a bit ticklish. (Solvaset was required to make them behave.) Neither the kit-supplied control column (Part 19A) nor the seat (Part 29A) matched the drawings in the
Manual.
My kit's upper surfaces are painted Floquil Military Italian olive green, the lower surfaces Floquil Military Italian blue/gray. Model Master FS34258 green closely matched interior shots in the
Manual.
I chose the markings of Wing Commander Major Giuseppe Cenni, with the national insignia painted over on his plane. (I chose a slightly different color green to show this.) Decals were applied over Model Master satin clear with Micro Sol and Solvaset to make them conform. One option shows one of the nose insignia pointed forward and another aft. Mine both face to the rear. The rudder crosses were too short, and the white translucent.
Photos show these planes had wire antennas. Mine is made from stretched clear sprue with white paint for insulators.
It took 18 enjoyable hours to get my kit to this point. The model measures almost perfectly to published specifications, with a dihedral that appears accurate. Other than the shape errors, it looks just like period photos of these planes. The kit is a worthy limited-production, historically significant aircraft.
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