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Flying Machines 1/48 Re-2005

By Allan Wanta

History

The last fighter Reggiane built was the best. The Re.2005 Sagittario, which many observers considered the most beautiful fighter of the war, represented the final development of the formula that had been initiated in the 1939 with the Re.2000 Falco. However the Re.2005 was different in many respects. Although the wings were similar in plan, the structure and profile were altered and improved. The landing gear was new, with the wheels folding outward under the wings. The plane was heavily armed, with three 20mm cannon and two 12.7mm machine guns. The well balanced lines of the fuselage were aerodynamically perfect. Everything about the plane was designed to the most of the 1,475 hp (1100 kw) Daimler Benz engine.

Overall the Re.2005's performance was superior to that of its direct rival, the Fiat G.55 Centauro. The only difficulty was a certain structural weakness in the rear section of the fuselage. This defect appeared in the first phases of its short operational life, and at one point all flights of this aircraft were suspended until this problem was corrected.

Work on the prototype aircraft began in 1941, and the first aircraft were ready in December. But four months were lost waiting for delivery of the engine. The engine was sent from Germany by rail but disappeared in transit. It was April 1942 before the new fighter was ready for test flights. The other two Series 5 planes were readied in the meantime, The Macchi MC.205V Veltro (greyhound) and the Fiat G.55 Centauro (centaur). The MC.205V made its first test flight on 19 April 1942, the G.55 on 30 April but it wasn't until 9 May that the first Re.2005 prototype took flight. The Reggiane fighter did make a flight the week before but it had been damaged in landing because of a weak landing gear strut.

Test flights and comparative trials displayed the Re.2005's fine features. It was fast and maneouverable. At 6,600 feet the prototype flew at about 425 mph (686 km/h). Large scale production was not ordered immediately. Only 16 0-series and 18 pre-series were at first ordered. In February 1943, and order for 750 aircraft was finally placed, but only 48 Re.2005s ever came off the assembly line before the armistice was signed and production halted.

The plane's operational career begain in May 1943, when it was assigned to the 362nd Squadrigia of the 22nd Gruppo. The unit was sent to Sicily at the time of the Allied invasion. Late in June it was based in Capua and used in operations against Allied bombers until 26 August 1943. When the armistice was signed in September, many of the surviving Re.2005s were destroyed by their pilots to prevent them from falling into German hands. Mussolini's forces in the north did manage to get six of these aircraft which they used as trainers. Some aircraft (as many as 13) were captured by the Germans. Some sources maintain that these aircraft were used late in 1943 against Allied bombing raids on Berlin. Others believe that these planes were used as intercepters in defence of the Romanian oil fields. Thanks to The Flightline Aviation Archive, http://www.kotfsc.com/aircraft/main.htm, for the above history, cause I'm a model builder not a writer.

The Kit

What a nice surprise to see this kit in a more modern presentation, compared to Falcons' attempt a number of years back. Flying Machines is an Italian company, with the parts made in the Czech Republic by MPM. You no doubt have seen numerous reviews and even a few builds of this kit, but here's a review where I bought the kit and have no one to answer to but myself.

Do we have a better Re-2005 kit here? Yes and yes, kinda. Great engraving of the panel lines even though a few have what looks like a crack in the mold and are raised lines, one large crack marrs the lower wing surface between leading edge and the gear bay. Pretty strange for such a new kit. And still the moving surfaces aren't engraved a bit more pronounced as like on a real aircraft. The kit measures exactly to the 4 view plans in Ali Dí Italia #16, that is to say if these can be seen as the gospel truth, got to be careful about the word definitive. It's this reference material that I used to build the kit and added details to it. But rather than go into a step-by-boring-step article, here are a few things I noticed while building the kit.

Everything resin was wonderful, the cockpit is to die for, as are the wheel wells. But don't go sanding the wheel wells to nothing; instead remove a thin layer from the upper surface of the two top wing pieces, the underside of course. Not much is needed to get a good fit.

The cockpit location is a bit vague, but the floor should actually slope downwards as it moves to the rear of the airframe, it's not level. Mind the rudder pedals supplied in the kit, dump them. All Re-2005s had a rudder bar, as did Mc-200,Mc-202, etc. Don't know how the master maker could have botched that one.

The wing unit needs dry fitting to the fuselage, a little sanding of the fuselage was all it took. As with the entire main frame, no putty or filler was needed.

The resin gear covers are a hopeless joke when compared to the rest of the kit, if you want a more realistic appearance, some serious work will be needed. Not something you'd expect to see on a state of the art 1/48th scale kit, oh and you need to fashion the tail wheel gear covers from, whatever.

The tail wheel assembly is a serious matter in this kit; too bad no one will ever see it.

Is it me or are the main wheels a bit small? They are a bit wide to fit in the main gear stirrups; some thinning of the inside of the gear forks will be necessary.

A bit fiddly is the radiator on the underside, careful sanding is required here.

A few bumps are missing from the cowling area, luckily there are extras on the resin sprues, or did the instructions just forget to have you place them?

Lovely resin pitot tubes, youíll only need one, as the prototype was the only airframe to have two. Better fill the right wing mounting hole in before painting. And according to sources, making a prototype would be devilishly difficult.

The engraving is superb, as is the fabric representation on the moving surfaces, granted a thick coating of Mr. Surfacer will not be welcome. Contrary to what everyone else will be decaling their Re-2005 with, I opted for the German issue. According to some scanned magazine photos of the airframe, it appears the yellow wing tips did not extend to the undersurface of the wing as was common with foreign aircraft in Luftwaffe service. Another deviation was the use of Model Master Semi-Gloss clear coat over the entire aircraft, sans the fabric surfaces, which remain dull. When new, these airframes almost looked polished, so with your permission, here I present my new Re-2005 in Luftwaffe livery.

Decals are also very good, almost perfect as a matter of fact. No one should have any problems dealing with these, color density and registration are spot on, and they won't break up in water.

Conclusion

Despite my constructive criticisms, this Re-2005 far out-paces the Vacuform Falcon kit, which is in itself a stellar kit. Everyone interested in Italian aircraft and hard luck stories should buy one or two of these beauties. The Cool Factor for this kit is an 8 out of 10, Difficulty rating a 7 because of the resin bits, and the Fun-O-Meter rated this as an 8. Bravo Flying Machines!