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IAR 39 1:72 Azur FRROM During the 1930s, the IAR society (Industria Aeronautica Romania) built planes from Poland and France under licence. These included the PZL P.11, later P.24, Potez 25. In 1936 the IAR-Brasov project team designed a reconnaissance and light bomber plane (IAR 37), this was basically an improved Potez 25. A first batch of 50 aircraft was built in 1937. Following the experience of flying the IAR 37 and, the IAR 38 (built with imported BMW engines) this led to slight modifications. The resulting aircraft was designated the IAR 39, this was test flown for the first time on the 13th of March, 1940. The production was then switched to the IAR 39 variant. At beginning of 1942, the IAR plant in Brasov, heavily engaged in the assembly of urgently needed IAR 80 and Savoias 79, transferred the IAR 39 production to the SET society in Bucharest. A /S was added to the serial number of the SET built planes, so that they were easily distinguished from the IAR built ones. During WWII, the IAR 39s were used by the Rumanian Army against The Soviet Union, and following the August 1944 coup, against the Axis forces.(Information from Azur FFROM) The Kit The kit arrives in Azur FFROMs standard open ended box. The parts consist of two sprues of injected plastic, one sheet of photo etched parts, one bag of resin parts, one clear sprue, one vac form canopy (in addition to the injected one) and an acetate film for the instrument panel. Construction starts with the cockpit. There are a lot of parts for this, and given the large canopy this should look very good if time is taken to do a good job. The inside consists of a frame into which the Pilot, observer and rear gunner sit; very much like the Swordfish. The instrument panel is provided in resin if you should just wish to paint this. If you want to use the PE & acetate film then you will need to sand the detail from the resin part. There is an under fuselage provided, however the modeller will have to make a cut in the fuselage for this as there is not one provided. Once all the cockpit parts are in the fuselage can be closed up. The glazing panels in the side of the aircraft are then added along with the tail planes. The PE struts for these will need slight trimming according to the instructions. Following this its on to the addition of the wings. This is not straight forward. The lower wings just join to the fuselage with a butt joint. I really think this will need to be pinned to get a good strong fit. The upper wing is one wing split into two parts. There are 8 struts holding the top wing up and these are all individual, this will be tricky. Once the wings are attached the engine can be made. This consists of a resin engine to fit inside the cowl. Looking at the kit there is no reason the engine can not be left off until after painting, even more so if doing the aircraft with a yellow cowl as this will relieve the need to mask it off. The canopy can then be added. Its very good that they have provided both an injection canopy for those of us who loathe vac form ones; and also a vac form canopy for those who prefer them. It will be a complicated masking job which ever is chosen. Finally the landing gear and bomb racks can be attached. 24 separate resin bombs in what look to be the 20lb range are provided, 12 for each side, these will be a painting challenge! Lastly the prop is added. Decals Decals are provided for 3 examples in Rumanian service. All are painted RLM71 over RLM65 with Yellow underside wing tips. Standard markings, yellow fuselage stripe, yellow wing tips (underside) Standard markings, yellow fuselage stripe, yellow engine cowl,yellow wing tips (underside)[/ This version is post the 1944 coup and features white underside wing tips, a white fuselage stripe and roundels in place of the pre coup crosses. No unit information, or in fact any information is provided for the markings. Conclusion This is a nice kit of an aircraft type I certainly have never heard of. The kit is quite complex with its mulitmedia parts, intricate cockpit and bi-plane configuration. It is certainly not for the beginner. Azur are to be complemented on giving us both a vac form canopy and an injection one. However again we have no rigging diagram supplied. The box art gives a good impression of what looks like complicated rigging, but it would be nice to have a diagram provided. Overall I would recommend this kit to those with some experience of short run kits and bi-planes. Review sample courtesy of