Originally built for SAMI and appeared in the June2005 issue. Scroll down the page to view the Choroszy Modelbud review.
The Kit.
In customary Dujin fashion, the kit is supplied in a clear bag, wrapped in the single A4 instruction sheet. Although the main resin parts are quite cleanly moulded, complete with very restrained engraved panel lines and extremely delicate trailing edges, the smaller detail parts are somewhat poorer in quality. They are moulded on a sheet, so the propellor is somewhat worst for wear as a result. In fact, it is best replaced with a spare. In this case I borrowed one from an Italeri Ca.311 kit. There are two types of canopy (2 or 3 seater) and are duplicated. The decal sheet consists of the black codes only.
Instructions.
The brief instruction sheet has a small amount of French historical text and a list of reference, as well as plans showing markings for three aircraft. No assembly diagrams, but considering the simplicity of the aircraft, it's not necessary.
Assembly.
Before any assembly can start, a fair amount of time was spent cleaning up the parts. There was a fair amount of flash and pour stubs to remove and smooth out. The interior is very basic. There is a choice of two or three seat arrangements and instrument panels. Other details would need to be scratch built. The fuselage halves were lined up and its width checked against the vacform canopy. It was found to be too narrow along the top. The base of the fuselage was glued together and wedges pushed into the top join to get it to the correct width. Both wings and horizontal tail surfaces were then glued in place and finally the tail fin. The was a small gap between the one piece wing an fuselage to be filled. Once the basic airframe was complete, the undercarriage was glued in place, followed by the canopy which had already been dipped in Future to improve its clarity. Tape was used to mask the canopy.
When spraying the model with primer it was clear that the resin catalyst had not worked properly. There were hundreds of miniscule dimples in the surface of the paint on the wings, caused by an aerated resin. This has happened in the past and the only way around it is to sand and spray primer a few times before it can (almost) disappear. It's worst than the effect of mold release agent, which is easily cleaned off, or the larger air pockets of air which are easy to spot and fill. A silver finish also makes it very necessary to get a smooth a finish as possible. Alclad II Aluminium was airbrushed overall. The rudder tricolor was brush painted. The bracing struts were made from the metal strips supplied and painted silver after gluing them in place. This leaves just the propellor to add as well the tail strut.
Accuracy.
The kit measurements are a wing span of 145mm, a length of 107 mm and a height of 34mm. It scales out perfectly, and although there is very little documentation on this aircraft that I could track down, it does capture the rather clean lines of this successful touring/racing aircraft quite well.
Colour Options.
There are 3 schemes, two in silver and one in black. Which only black lettering provided as decals, the best choice was the silver I-ACIE, which had the simplest scheme, requiring a painted tricolor rudder. The silver I-TODE machine needed additional and rather complex insignia and as for the all black I-VICE, this did not have any decals at all which would've required the outlining of all codes in white. Not easy!
Decals.
The decal sheet had an overall varnish and the black print was rather blurry. It was clear to me that it was not screen printed, more likely an inkjet or laser printout. Rating 2/10.
Conclusions/Recommendations.
Dujin's industrious output of obscure aircraft kits is to be applauded, but one can't help but think that if they were to slow it down just a little bit their quality could improve somewhat. They have a rushed, thrown together feel about them. This kit is a case in point. While the main parts are finely produced, its the smaller details that let it down, with indifferent quality decals and unusable detail parts. Saying that, it is an accurate model and with a bit of effort a decent result can be achieved. Recommended to those who are aware of the type of kits Dujin produce.
Many thanks to Dujin for the review sample.
This kit was built for a SAMI review article back in 2006.
Choroszy Modelbud 1/72 Breda Ba39.
The Breda Ba39 sport/tourer was a very successful 1930's design, based on the smaller Ba33. The 'S' was a three-seater development built in 1934. This 1/72 scale kit is nicely cast, without too much evidence of air bubbles and has good detail throughout, especially the cockpit. The seats are extremely delicate and perhaps a bit oversized. There is a large decal sheet, which is the same as supplied in the standard two seater Ba.39 kit produced by Choroszy Modelbud. The only part that disappoints is the canopy. The framework is far too heavy. The instruction sheet is OK, but has no accurate colour information, so guesswork is required during construction.
Assembly is all very straightforward, with no problems to report as such. I decided on an aluminium finish inside the cockpit, but grey is just as likely. The seats had to be trimmed to fit into the cockpit. The rest of the model was built in no time, although all the 'V' struts were left off until painting was complete. The canopy was a difficult item to apply, needing numerous test fits and careful trimming to get a reasonable fit.
After a coat of primer to check for flaws, Verde Mimetico 3 was sprayed on the model for the overall Olive Green finish, not forgetting to spray the 'V' struts at the same time. When dry the struts were fixed to the model, along with other final parts, such as the exhaust, wheels and tail strut.
Decals worked very well, with no silvering, although the white outline around the fuselage codes is very indistinct. The green section of the rudder tricolour matched the WEM colour perfectly, so Humbrol 3 was brush-painted over to tell them apart.
This model is far better than the Dujin kit, having much better detail and more accurate undercarriage parts (and a decal sheet!). Only the canopy lets it down.
