Search the Community

Source: http://frrom.com/index.php?page=jeu_N2-2 AZUR-FRROM is to release a aircraft new tool kit expected for release in March-April 2022. Three boxes will be provided. Guess the type? Game starts on Wednesday 17th of November at 06.00 PM Paris time The goal of the game is to guess what will be this new kit. Scale is : 1/72 nd . Every day additional informations on the plane or the kits (three clues each day) will be provided. Remember: AZUR-FRROM mainly producing 1/72nd kits of planes forgotten by mainstream kit makers. V.P.

New game from FRROM Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=jeu_N3-2 Start Thursday 16 December 2021 - 18:00 Paris time V.P.

FRROM is to announce a 1/72nd new kit at Telford. Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=Accueil-2 Bets are open. V.P.

FRROM is currently studying the idea of a 1/72nd Breguet Br.521 Bizerte kit. The brand would like to hear modellers about this project. The planning and explanations are here: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=frrom-frxx-2µ Source: http://www.avionslegendaires.net/avion-militaire/breguet-br-521-bizerte/#photos V.P.

Hello Here are a couple of Special Hobby / Azur FRROM 1/72 Dassault SMB2 I built just in time to bring them at SMW Telford. Actually, those kits are not already available and they are test shots given to me by the manufacturer. They are likely to be produced by the begining of next year. First, here is the SMB2 N° 88 10-RB from Escadron de Chasse 2/10 Seine in natural metal finish in 1962 at Creil AFB. Next is the SMB2 N° 59 10-SD from Escadron de Chasse 1/10 Valois covered by the last camouflage in 1974 at Creil AFB. Both of them are, except the scratch pilot harness, strictly built from the sprues, as the box does not exist. The decals came from two Berna Decals sheets (72-52 & 72-54). They were shown on the Special Hobby space at SMW. The French SMB2 will be produced under the brand Azur FRROM and the Israeli aircraft under Special Hobby. Patrick

FRROM-Azur is to release a 1/72nd Northrop Delta kit Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=Accueil-2 - ref. FR0032 - Delta Civilian Version "Swedish, TWA and Mexican Service" Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=frrom-fr0032-2 - ref. FR0033 - Delta over Spain Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=frrom-fr0033-2 V.P.

Special Hobby has just re- released the Azur-FRROM (link & link) 1/72nd Vickers Type 267 Vildebeest Mk. III kit - ref. SH72400 Sources: https://www.specialhobby.eu/en/our-own-production/special-hobby/vickers-vildebeest-mk-iii-1-72.html http://www.specialhobby.info/2018/10/sh72400-vickers-type-267-vildebeest.html In box review: https://www.detailscaleview.com/2018/11/special-hobby-vickers-type267-sh72400-review.html V.P.

Azur-FRROM is to release a 1/72nd Renard R-31 kit - ref. FR0039 Release expected in October May 2018. Source: http://www.specialhobby.net/2018/03/fr0036-renard-r-31-172-pripravujeme.html Box art Sprue A V.P.

AZUR/FRROM is to release in June 2017 a 1/32nd Industria Aeronautică Română IAR-80A kit - ref. FR8002 Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=frrom-fr8002-2 V.P.

French Wings 4 - Lioré et Olivier LeO 45 Azur FR.ROM The Lioré et Olivier LeO 45 was a French medium bomber from WWII. The aircraft was an effective bomber however it appeared too late to have much effect on the Battle for France. Even though the first prototypes were built in 1938 the shortage of propellers and the change from the original Hispano-Suiza engines led to only 22 aircraft being delivered by the start of WWII. The aircraft were particularly distinguishable by the large 20m cannon fitted for rearwards defence. In the end over 400 aircraft were produced and these would be used by the Vichy government. The aircraft were also used by the Luftwaffe though in the transport rather than bomber role. In a strange twist some of these aircraft would then receive American markings over the German camouflage after they were again captured. The book is softback A4 in size with 80 pages. There are a wealth of black & white photographs with 22 pages of colour profiles. The text is interspersed with technical drawings of the aircraft. The text covers Development, construction, combat use (including Vichy use in Syria), captured use, and use post WWII. These books in the French Wings series are excellent give an insight into often forgotten but import French aircraft, and this one is no exception. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of Available direct from MMP Bookis

Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=Accueil-2 To be followed V.P.

Calling this one done - earlier stuff can be seen here. Comments/thoughts/abuse appreciated! Have fun... Iain

Source: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=fr8001-iar-81-c-1-32-nd-2 AZUR-FRROM is to release in June 2013 a 1/32nd IAR 81-C fighter injected kit - ref. FR8001 V.P.

Howdy, folks! Here are my finished IK-2 and IK-3, Yugoslav pre-WWII planes. These brothers were made late 30s, very different designs and still very similar. IK-3 took part in air defense of Belgrade in April 1941. and had 11 wins with 4 casualties over Reich's Bf109s... Unfortunately, there wasn't enough of them for that defense to have any chance of success, out 12 produced only 6 were operational and after a few days the two remaining were captured and scraped. Heartbreaking... IK-2 was mostly stationed in Bosnia at the time and surviving ones were given to Croat Air Force. As for models themselves, mostly build out of box, Azur Frrom did a decent job with them. IK-2 was given a bit of details in the cockpit and not much more than that (save the wires on the outside, mentioned in instructions). There are a few inaccuracies outside, most of which can be easily fixed. Canopy could have been done better (goes for IK-3 also), but it's not completely useless. I wasn't going for 100% accuracy, so it didn't bother me much... IK-3 saw a bit more work in cockpit, seat and belts were made from scratch, as were side details. There were some touch-ups on the outside of both, mostly opening exhausts and intakes, IK-3 legs also got a bit of pedicure... More on this can be found in WIP thread... Thanks for watching... Cheers!

Vickers / C.A.S.A. Type 245 "Spanish Vildebeest" 1:72 FRROM Azur The Vildebeest was initially developed as a torpedo bomber by Vickers in response to specification 24/25 to provide a land based aircraft giving coastal defence capabilities. With several variants originating from the original design including the Vincent, Spain ordered 27 aircraft but specified the installation of a Hispano-Suiza V12 powerplant in place of the Bristol radials that were fitted to other aircraft. This changed the profile of the aircraft significantly at the front end giving a much more aerodynamic and tidier look. The order for 27 machines was met through 2 British aircraft being supplied and 25 being licence built in Spain by C.A.S.A. which were posted to Murcia although the delivery wasn’t until 1935, just before the Civil War despite manufacture starting in 1932. At this time, they were void of guns, bomb racks and bomb aiming equipment. Despite these omissions, they were pressed into service in 1936 by the Republicans during the civil war by using a 3rd crew member to drop bombs through a panel under the pilots seat! They later moved to Valencia in support of further bombing missions. After one and a half months of operations, seven Vildebeests had been lost in combat. Towards the end of 1936, the remaining aircraft were sent for repairs and to have the bombing equipment installed and went back into service with Grupo 73 in coastal defence duties until the end of the war. The kit This is another pleasing variant from FRROM Azur based on the original Vincent kit. Boxed in the new standard light blue style box with stunning artwork of an aircraft operating over the Aragon Front from Sarinena Airfield in 1937, the contents are plentiful containing injection moulded plastic, resin, etch and no less than 5 scheme options on the decal sheet. There is a hint of flash present along the mould seams in places, this is more noticeable on delicate parts such as the struts. I find running a sharp modelling knife along the edges is a good way of removing it. Typical of Azur’s product range, the kit doesn’t have location pins like you would expect on main stream kits, so construction will be more challenging if you’re not used to this. The instruction sheet is in a folded A5 booklet format with text in French and English. The diagrams are clearly drawn with exploded diagrams where detail necessitates. Assembly of the kit is very much the same as the Vincent Mk.I that I reviewed recently HERE. The cockpit is nicely detailed with a mix of etch, resin and plastic parts. The pilot’s seat is assembled on the internal framework that bridges the width of the cockpit to each side of the fuselage. On this is also mounted the resin control column. The seats are treated to some tech seat belts. According to the references I’ve read up on, the early operations lacked guns and had a third crew member, however the instructions include a rear gun position but no third seat (if the additional crew member actually had one), so keep this in mind when choosing your scheme. I suspect that a rear gun was indeed added for operations or else the rear gunner would of been able to drop the bombs instead of needing a third crewman. Due to the different powerplant, this version gets completely new fuselage halves. Again, interior detail is moulded in to the halves as on the other kits. Care will need to be taken fitting the small round side windows as there is no step to secure them as with on most main stream kits, so there is a higher risk of getting glue marks on them. A beautifully moulded resin engine is included that drops in to the opening at the top of the nose whilst the lower nose has two radiators sandwiched between the fuselage halves. A different propeller is included for this version with a pointed spinner. Unfortunately, my example has suffered from some sink marks on both the blades and spinner so some filling will be necessary. The tail on this version is different in that it has an extended base below the fuselage, similar to the hurricane but more pronounced. With the fuselage assembled, the wings are next. As mentioned in the other review, care should be taken aligning these up. Fortunately, this is made easier by the wings being completely parallel. A good thread is provided HERE by John (Viking) on handling this tricky stage. Some of the location points are barely visible, so you may want to address this with a micro drill. The instructions on the strut locations are quite thorough with exploded diagrams assisting the main drawings. The wings are moulded as single pieces with stunning surface detail. Whilst the sprue containing the spatted wheels is included, the Spanish versions didn’t use spats, so there are plenty of leftover parts to go in the spares box. I’ve read that some of the Spanish aircraft were fitted with floats and this version was covered by Special Hobby previously. It would of been good to have this option included. The weaponry in this kit is a little disappointing. The box artwork shows an aircraft fitted with wing racks which is to be expected for late 1936 onwards, but there isn’t any contained in the kit. Conversely, the instructions call for the torpedo to be fitted, but I’m not aware of them being fitted in service. It would of been good to see the wings ‘bombed up’ from the box. As with the other Vildebeest variants in this range, the kit is thoughtfully adorned with lots of resin and etch detail to give it the busy look reflected in the real aircraft. Additional coolers are mounted under the lower wing leading edges, these are provided in resin. There are prominent slat guides on the top wings of the Vincent, these are provided on the etch sheet. Markings There are 5 options included in the kit. Given the history of weaponry fitted that is described in the introduction above, this should be considered as to what year(s) of service your chosen aircraft was operational in, particularly if you want to scratch build some wing racks. The choice of schemes offers some eclectic finishes from brightly coloured over silver, dark green, and mottled green / yellow oche. The decals are printed by Aviprint with sharp definition and no evidence of registry misalignment. T-5 – Silver / red bands – Sarinena Airfield 1937 T-23 – Dark Green / Yellow Oche Mottle over silver – Los Alcaceres 1937 T-9 – Silver / red bands – Manises Airfield (nr Valencia) T-1 – Silver – shortly after delivery (1935 ??) BR-60 – Dark Green / red bands – Grupo 73 based at Los Alcaceres 1938 Conclusion This is another great variant to the Vildebeest range with quite a different look to it because of the liquid cooled powerplant. It's disappointing not to have wing mounted bomb racks and bombs included considering these were catered for in the Vincent Mk.I and the sink marks in the propeller will need some filling to tidy up this prominent feature. Apart from these issues, it’s a great kit full of detail thanks to the etch and resin supplements. The nature of these short run style kits means that beginners will find it a more challenging build if not used to them, but there is no doubt as to the quality of build you can achieve from the box. Review sample courtesy of

Vickers vincent Mk.I 1:72 Azur FRROM The large, ungainly and yet somewhat attractive Vildebeest was first flown in 1928 using proven design methodology incorporating an all metal airframe with fabric skinning. Crewed by either two or three, production variants predominantly used the Pegasus radial engine. Whilst the Vildebeest was primarily employed as a torpedo bomber, a private venture by Vickers was to create a general purpose version to replace the Westland Wapitis and Fairey III’s in supporting the army out in the Middle East. Successful trials in the hotter climates were successful and this was to become the Vincent. The Vincent first entered service in 1934 with 84 Sqn based at Shaibah in Iraq and by 1937 equipped 6 squadrons in Iraq, Kenya, Sudan and Egypt. Differences on the Vincent were fairly minor with the most noticeable change replacing the torpedo with a long range underbelly tank. By WWII, the Vincent was mostly replaced by Blenheims and Wellesleys, however 84 aircraft continued service into WWII. They operated bombing missions against the Italians in the East African Campaign and Iraqi rebel forces attempting a coup in 1941 as well as coastal patrols from Aden. A notable achievement was the attack on the Italian submarine Galileo Galilei which led to its surrender. Vincent’s were retired from front line RAF service in 1943 although continued on in some more unusual activities until 1944. Around 60 of the retired machines were passed to the RNZAF in 1939 where they served in the reconnaissance and attack role. Altogether, 197 Vincent’s were either produced or modified from Wildebeests. The kit Azur released the Vildebeest a few years ago (See Paul’s review HERE) and it was warmly welcomed by the modelling community. This is a release of the same kit with some additional parts as necessary to create a Vincent. Whilst it’s a limited run kit with typical characteristics like a lack of location pins, the quality of the moulding is quite stunning. So what’s included in the kit? Firstly, there’s 4 medium grey injection moulded sprues holding around 80 parts of which some aren’t used. There is hardly any flash present. This is supplemented by 24 resin parts; a clear sprue and a fret of etch containing over 50 parts. In the box I received, there was also an additional larger resin engine that isn’t mentioned in the instructions but I assume to be a Perseus engine with moulded on connecting rods. This was only used in small numbers on the Vildebeest Mk.IV, 12 of which were sold to the RNZAF so there is the possibility to make one of these. The A5 instruction booklet is provided with text in English and French. The diagrams were well drawn with useful exploded views of some of the more intricate elements such as accurate location of wing struts relative to each other. Paint schemes refer to Gunze paints. Rigging diagrams are also included. Perseus engine ? Construction starts with the cockpit interior. Azur don’t just provide great external detail, they make sure the interior is well provided for too. A combination of etch, resin and plastic is used to give the cockpit a comprehensive and scale accurate look. The interior of the fuselage halves include detail to represent the metal framework. Etch parts include seatbelts, trim wheels and rudder pedal straps. The control column is finely produced out of resin. One of the more tricky elements of the kit is the clear windows. Whilst most mainstream kits tend to have a tab that windows locate against, these simply push in from behind with a very subtle taper to hold them. Take care to ensure you glue them carefully and adequately so they don’t push in when it comes to painting. With the interior complete, the two fuselage halves are closed up and mounted onto the lower wing. Surface detail on the exterior is a combination of fine recessed panel lines and raised fabric effect and access panels. Mounting the tail and tail planes looks to be simple by way of the design of both aircraft and kit. What I think will be the most difficult part will be mounting the upper wing to the lower one via the struts. This isn’t a skill that I’ve readily mastered, so I’ll let someone else off advice on this step! (Edit: See Christopher's comment below ) One thing to be aware is that the location points for the struts in the wing are very shallow and a few are marginal, so it might be worth drilling them out with a suitably sized micro drill. With the feathers on, the engine comes next. The assembly is quite a complicated affair and Azur have replicated this superbly. The resin engine is sandwiched between the exhaust manifolds and the exhausts mounted to the sides of the fuselage. There are no location pins for the exhausts to mount to the fuselage, so care will have to be taken when gluing them, especially if you prefer to fit these parts after painting. The undercarriage has two options; spatted or non-spatted so at this point you will have to choose your scheme to suit. According to the instructions, there’s a hook mounted to the starboard unit but it’s not clear how it’s stowed. As with the wing strut points, the holes for the undercarriage mounting points are either fine or non-existent, so take care. It might be worth doing this before you even build the model as a dry fitting exercise. The final major step is fitting the weaponry. The aircraft was armed with bombs and a central fuel tank. The bomb racks are each comprised of a plastic body with two etch clamps to support the bomb. These look very fine indeed. The bombs themselves are made of resin with separate fin sections. Each wing holds 4 bombs. Various etch parts are finally added to the wings and fuselage such as control linkages, mass balances, access ladder etc. There are very delicate so probably better to fit after painting if you’re clumsy like me! The rear facing gun gets an equal treatment of detail from the etch fret to supplement the plastic main components. Decals One of the things I like about the Azur kits is the great selection of schemes that you get straight from the box. 4 options are included, two RAF and two RNZAF. The colour on the decals look excellent, the register spot on although the small placards look a little under defined compared to some I’ve seen, but this is me trying to be balanced in my observations. The schemes included are: K4712 - 8 Sqn RAF based at Khormaksar, Aden, August 1940 – 6 colour shadow scheme K6363 - 244 Sqn RAF based at Sharjah, 1942 – Mid stone / Dark Earth / azure scheme NZ344 – 30 Sqn RNZAF, Gisborne, May – July 1943 – Dark earth / dark green / grey scheme NZ322 – 2 SFTS, Woodbourne, 1940/41 – Dark earth / dark green / aluminium high level demarcation scheme Conclusion Bi-planes are typically more difficult to build than monoplanes. Couple this with the some of the issues like strut location points I’ve mentioned and the small etch parts, it’s not going to be one of the easiest kits to put together. That said, the quality of the kit is certainly worthy of praise, the moulding is superb and the detail is very well catered for, so I’m very pleased that Azur have chosen this subject as part of their range. Clearly, a lot of research has gone into its design. In a nut shell, I think this kit is a little gem! Review sample courtesy of

Focke Wulf Fw-58B "Export" and "South American" kits Azur 1:72 Kit FR009 - Fw 58B "Export" Kit FR010 - Fw 58B "South American" Before doing this review I hadn’t heard of the Focke Wulf Fw-58. After doing some research, I can honestly say that I don’t know much more than before I started! What I do know is that there were over 1300 produced with many being exported to no less than 8 nations. Wikipedia states that 17 nations in total operated the aircraft, so I find it quite surprising that there is so little information about this attractive little aeroplane. First flying in 1935, it set out to provide a light training, transport and communications aircraft for the Luftwaffe. It was powered by two Argus AS 10 inverted V8’s of 240hp and constructed of welded steel tube and semi-cantilevered wing. The surfaces were a mix of fabric and metal. The two main variants were the Fw-58B as modelled here and the more widely used Fw-58C that was fitted out to carry passengers. The armed version was fitted with guns in the nose and ventral position. The B model also has provision to carry small bombs, although more for training than any combat requirement. Only one aircraft survives today in Brazil but another one is being restored in Norway. The kit The B & C models were released by Special Hobby a few years ago. This is a re-release under the Azur brand of the B model. Both kits have the same plastic offerings but with different decal options. OK, let’s start with first impressions. The kits are presented in the new style top opening boxes with inspiring art work of what I believe to be a nicely formed aircraft. Three medium grey sprues are supplemented by several resin components and an etch sheet that are separately bagged. Moulding quality on the plastic looks to be very good although limited run, missing the location pins that were are used to on more mainstream kits. The fabric effect on the fuselage and wings is very well reproduced in a subtle way that gives good scale accuracy and finely recessed panel lines give a good presentation of the metal surface areas. There is minimal flash and no sink marks that I can see. The A5 instruction booklet provides clear diagrams for assembly. Before I go on, I’ve come across a good pdf document that would be useful for building this kit. Please find it HERE. It has good drawings of the structure and undercarriage assembly if you wish to add some scratch built detail. You will have to register with the site to access it if you've not already. Construction starts with the interior. There is more than enough detail to leave you satisfied straight from the box. The plastic parts are boosted by etch details that include panel, seatbelts, rudder pedals and throttles. The etch panel also has a film that is to be fitted behind it with the instrument details on. Referring to the link I mentioned above, there is a diagram showing a dual control option. The kit only provides for single control options and one seat, so if you want to add further detail, adding the second pilot position could be your chance! The interior steel framework is represented by formed detail on the inside of the fuselage halves. A great addition often over looked on kits is side walls to cover the wing root area inside the fuselage. These wing chord shaped parts simply locate on the side walls. The ventral gun location needs to be cut out from the upper fuselage. As there are no marks on the fuselage as where to apply your cuts, you will have to mark them by lining up the ventral fairing that fits into the cut-out. As there are no locating pins, the usual care will be necessary to get the fuselage halves accurately joined. I find using Liquid Poly or similar very useful for this as it gives a good initial bit but allows manipulation until you’re happy with your positioning. Holding it together with strips of masking tape is suffice until the glue (or weld) has dried. I’d recommend dry fitting the clear nose and cockpit before going ahead with the gluing just in case there are any alignment issues which might necessitate a thin fillet or plastic removal for a flush fit. The lower wing root houses the rear nacelles. Blanks are provided for these so that you’re not left looking into a big void inside the wheel bays. There’s no detail in these blanks, so you might want to add a bit of detailing yourself. The wing root locates to the underside of the assembled fuselage with the outer lower wings and uppers wings fitting around them. Again, short run kits can have a tendency to be challenging during this phase, so be prepared for any surprises that you might face. The tail plane has an unusual forward location of the tail. Again the fabric is well represented on this part without being over done. The nacelles are supplied in two halves with a front part locating the prop hub face and radiator intakes. The undercarriage is quite a complicated affair using a mixture of etch, resin and plastic. Etch wheel hubs give a good lick of detail in a place where it really gets noticed. The clear parts are beautifully formed. The transparent nose is moulded as a complete circumference so there are no fears about hiding glued seems. The nose blister is a separate part and houses a resin gun with additional ammunition magazine. I'd recommend dry fitting the smaller windows as some fettling may be required to seat them correctly. Note that some of them aren't required in this kit. With the bulk of the kit assembled, focus turns to the detail. Several struts, aerials and masts are provided in resin, plastic and etch to finish the kit off. I’d be tempted to leave the struts off until after painting to make masking easier if doing the camouflaged scheme. The resin parts are a little vague and will requite care cleaning them up. Decals The sheets in the kits are produced by Aviprint. Register is spot on with very sharp and precise detail. Schemes provided are: Kit FR009 “Export” – note the box top is labelled “Expert”! Hungarian G2+58 - operating from Poltava, Russia 1943 – light grey scheme Hungarian G2+47 – military mail runs on Hungarian front lines 1944 – camouflage scheme Romanian – Popesti –Leordeni Training School, Romania 1942 – camouflage scheme Romanian – Popesti –Leordeni Training School, Romania 1944 – camouflage scheme This last aircraft was shot down by a US P-38 on the 10th June 1944 Kit FR010 “South America” Argentinean “171” – Grupo 1 de Observacion, BAM Parana 1938-48 – aluminium scheme Brazilian “2-V-6” – Aviacao Naval, Brazil 1938-41 – aluminium scheme Brazilian “AT-Fw-1530” – Forca Aerea do Brasil, 1948-50 – Light grey scheme This last aircraft has been restored and is on show in Rio de Janeiro Conclusion This is a very nicely detailed if unusual kit. I doubt it will fall together given the limited run sprue design, but for a modeller used to doing such builds, I’m confident great results are possible straight from the box. How accurate the kit is, I couldn't accurately comment. It certainly picks up the character of the aircraft. Whilst some manufacturers offer main stream aircraft choices, I’m really grateful that Azur (amongst others) are prepared to invest in these rarer aircraft, especially when they are as attractive as the FW-58! Review sample courtesy of

Savoia Marchetti SM79 JIS / JRS B & SM79 JRS B1 Azur 1:72 Kit FR004 - SM 79 JIS/JRS B Kit FR005 - SM 79 JRS B1 This famous trimotor Italian workhorse started out as a proposed passenger aircraft in the mid 30’s. With a good pre-war performance, it was also envisaged to be capable of air racing and did in fact set several air speed records in 1935. It was constructed out of wood and metal, with a wooden wing including the spars with a welded steel tubular frame, plywood and duralumin fuselage. Powered by three Alfa Romeo radials of 780hp, the aircraft could endure at over 220mph and had good low speed handling thanks to the flaps and slats fitted to the wings. Indeed, it could land in 200m and take off in just 300m! The aircraft took a crew of 5 or 6 of whom it was popular with and operated in the bomber and torpedo role. The SM.79 first saw combat in 1936 during the Spanish Civil War and went on to serve with several air forces including the RAF in the Middle East. In 1937 Romania ordered a twin-engine version of the SM.79 to serve with the Aeronautica Regala Romania. An initial order for 24 aircraft powered by 1000hp Gnome-Rhone Mistral radial engines proved to be underpowered so a new power plant was sourced in the guise of the Junkers Jumo 211 engine with 1200 hp. The first 8 aircraft were built in Italy as the JIS.79B (JIS standing for Jumo Italia Savoia, B standing for Bimotor), however subsequent aircraft were license built in Romania. This included the JRS 79B (R indicating Romanian built) and the JRS 79B1 which had the more powerful Jumo 211F engines of 1380hp. As well as having only two engines, the cockpit arrangement was changed from a side-by-side arrangement to a tandem set up. Production continued in Romania until 1946 with 72 license built machines being produced in total. Romanian combat was initially against the Soviet Union, but as the war progressed, attention was turned to Germany and its allies. The kit Presented in a top opening box that judging from our review samples seems to be the standard for their newer kits, you are welcomed by three bags, one containing f grey sprues, one containing the clear parts and one containing the resin supplements. These kits were first released in 2009. First impressions are of a very good quality limited run kit; typical of such kits is a lack of location pins. Surface detail across the kit is a mixture of fine recessed panel lines for the metallic & plywood area and subtle raised fabric effect where it would be stretched across the stringers along the fuselage sides. They have got the effect spot on in my opinion given the scale we are dealing with. The instruction booklet comes in an A5 folded form with text in English, French and Romanian. Whilst the parts on the sprues aren’t numbered, there are suitable drawings in the booklet giving the part numbers to refer to. Paint references are to Gunze colours. The assembly diagrams are quite straight forwards to follow and include where to fit the rigging & aerials wires if you choose to fit them. Assembly starts with the interior of the aircraft. The tubular steel framework is represented on the interior of the fuselage halves and is more than adequate for the scale considering what will be seen once closed up. The interior is very well catered for with the tandem cockpit, nose area, rear gun and rear fuselage areas getting suitable attention to the detail fairy! Using a wash when painting the interior will give much opportunity to reveal the detail in most places. Unfortunately, there is no option to have the rear facing gunner position open immediately behind the cockpit which would show off some of the interior detail; however I’m sure this could be done by cutting out the sliding panels and replacing with some thin sheet plastic bent to the correct profile to simulate them in the opened position. As there are no location pins, I’d strongly suggest plenty of dry fitting as you build up the interior to ensure that it all goes together as planned. With the fuselage closed up, the tail planes and rudder go on next. The tail planes are secured by two struts below for each side; however there is no locating tab so making your own out of some thin steel rod would be advisable. This is the type of thing that would differentiate the kit from being suitable for beginners. There are a lot of windows on this aircraft. The glazed nose comes supplied in two halves which inevitably leaves a seam down the middle to take care of, so care will need to be taken to get this assembled without glue marks. The JRS B1 kit (FR005) only has one nose type, although both boxings come with the same clear sprue containing two options. The earlier JIS variant contained in set FR004 utilises the second option. Apart from the nose seam as just mentioned, the clear parts are thin and free from distortion. Many kits that provide side windows suffer from concave profiles resulting from the moulding process, but the windows in these kits are beautifully flat. A quick attempt at locating one of the windows into the rear fuselage indicated that some fettling will be required to get them to fit, however a snug fit should be achievable as a result. The wings are a straight forwards affair and the wing spars are simulated by plastic strips that sit within the gear bays before joining the top and bottom parts together. The full wing section fits into t5he completed fuselage section. The gear bays are quite basic other than the wing spars, so you may choose to add some detail in here. With the wings on, the next major assembly is the engines. The cowlings are simply two halves with the exhausts attached. Again, detail in the surfaces and the exhausts are very refined. The large radiator housings are mounted below the cowlings and have resin radiators that locate inside. The undercarriage mounts across the wing spars inside the gear bays. I suspect these will be fiddly to assemble as the trailing links don’t have locating pins to attach them to the main legs, so patience and your best set of tweezers will be necessary here. The gear doors are lacking in any interior detail. What the real items looked like, I couldn’t say, but you may want to add some creative detail through scribing or plastic strip to add some interest. Finally the props are added. These come moulded as complete units that then sit on a back plate with the hub fitted over the top. Good photos of these variants are few and far between. If they had the same props as the Ju-87, the leading edge roots of the props where they enter the hubs look a little too straight, but this could be corrected (or at least improved) by filing the plastic away if it bothered you. Someone may be able to comment on this better than I can. Decals The decals are printed by Aviprint. Register of the colours is excellent and the colours vivid. The decals have a glossy finish to them. The schemes included are as follows: Kit FR004 – SM.79 JIS / JRS B JIS 79B ‘155’ - ‘Yolanda’, Escadrila 71, Grupul 1 Bombardament, Stalingrad, October 1942 JRS 79B ‘4’ – Escadrila 75, Grupul 2 Bombardament, gruparea Aeriana de Lupta, July 1941 JRS 79B ‘134’ – Escadrila 72, Grupul 1 Bombardament, October 1942 JIS 79B ‘120’, summer 1942 Kit FR005 – SM.79 JRS B1 ‘216’ – Trencin, Slovakia – April 1945 – Dark Green ‘154’ - Trencin, Slovakia – April 1945 – Dark Green ‘219’ – Markings prior to coup 23rd August 1944 – dark green / light brown / light blue camouflage Conclusion These are very fine kits and great to see such unusual variants being produced. Due to the limited run features, they aren’t kits for beginners; care has to be taken with some of the inherent features such as lack of locating pins if this is something new to you. It would of been good to have the rear gunner position with an optional 'open' position from the box, but this shouldn't be too difficult to scratch build. The quality of the moulding is excellent and with average skills a stunning and rare model may be built. Review sample courtesy of