Originally built for SAMI and appeared in the November 2004 issue.

Kit name.

Azur's 1/72 Nardi FN.305

The Kit.

This injection moulded kit is supplied in Azur's cloud-covered, end-opening box with an attractive illustration on the front. All the injection moulded parts come on one sprue, with smaller details provided on a small etch set together with nicely cast resin seats and front nose section. Overall quality of the parts are good, showing nice accurately engraved panel line details. Only the thickness of the trailing edges of each wing part spoil the show. There are two vacform canopies provided. The clear and concise instruction booklet is well presented and the decal sheet provides options for 3 colour schemes.

Instructions.

The instruction is spread over 8 pages, using two A4 folded sheets. The assembly sequence is well laid out and easy to follow and the 3 colour schemes are nicely done, although there are no accurate colour matches given. Decal placement is helped with numbered references.

Construction.

Using a fairly conventional assembly sequence, the model can be quickly put together. Although the instructions suggest otherwise, the cockpit floor, front instrument panel and rear bulkhead can be glued in place once the two fuselage halves have been joined together. The rest of the detail parts, including the resin seats can dropped in from above later. The thickness of the injection moulded fuselage makes for a rather cramped looking cockpit and some trimming of the etched rear instrument panel will be necessary to allow a proper fit for the vacform canopy. The wheel well is glued onto the one piece lower wing, which in turn is glued to the fuselage before the top wing halves are glued in place. There is no dihedral as such, the top wing surfaces should be level. Unfortunately, the trailing edges of the wings are very thick and spoils the appearance of the model. A lot of material will have to be removed to get a sharper edge. The resin nose, which is beautifully cast, is just a bit too small, so the only filler needed on this model was used to fair it into the fuselage. The simple undercarriage is quite sturdy, but the linkages need to be trimmed to fit. Their diameter is slightly overscale, so thinner plastic rod could be used instead. The vacform canopy is an easy shape to cut and is a good fit, but only after a fair amount to careful trimming with a sharp blade.

Accuracy.

Published dimensions are as follows: span; 8.46 metres, length 6.95m and a height of 2.1m. In 1/72 these measurements work out to 117.4mm, 96.5mm and 29.1mm respectively. Comparing the model with these measurements show that Azur have made a very accurate model indeed, being very nearly spot on in every department.

Colour Options.

There are three options. One for a French export aircraft of overall silver, the other two are for Italian aircraft, one in overall cream and the other sporting a three colour mottled scheme. I chose the cream (ivory) scheme, feeling that the diminutive model may not be a good canvas for the rather intricate mottle scheme. Humbrol 41 seemed a resonably good match for the ivory colour, in absence of any accurate references on the instruction sheet.

Decals.

The decal scheme is very well printed and there were no problems applying them to the glossy finish and no silvering occurred at all. The only criticism would be the rather bright green used on the rudder decal and a slightly oversized "1" number. Rating 9/10.

Conclusion/ Recommendation.

As far as I am aware, this is the first appearance of the FN305 in injection-moulded form and is a very welcome one. Along with Special Hobby's 1/48 kit, this aircraft should now get the recognition it deserves, being a popular and successful aircraft which appeared in many different guises, thus giving plenty of scope for various conversion projects. It was exported to quite a few countries and was well liked by all its pilots. Apart from France, other countries to use this aircraft included Hungary, Romania and Chile and even it saw postwar service in Russia. Its easy construction and simple colour scheme (apart form the mottled one, of course!) make this a very highly recommended kit indeed. Well done Azur.

Many thanks to Azur for the review sample.