Originally built for SAMI and appeared in the October 2004 issue. Scroll down the page to view the second kit released by Special Hobby.

Kit name.

Special Hobby 1.48 Nardi FN.305.

The Kit.

Special Hobby packaging is always good quality. The illustrations too are first rate and this one is no exception. Having just built Azurs 1/72 FN.305, there is a sense of deja vu when removing the contents from the end opening box, due in no doubt to the common MPM parentage. The sprues show many similarities, even down to the parts breakdown. As with the Azur kit, the seats and front nose section are cast in resin. The etch set is very similar and there are 2 vacform canopies  supplied as well. The only difference is the decal sheet, which gives a choice of 4 schemes instead of 3 (1 French and 3 Italian). Being a bigger scale does bring benefits, the engraved panel detail is even better than the Azur kit and although its still a relatively small kit for 1/48, it's much easier to work on.

Instructions.

The MPM connection is carried through to the instruction sheet, being virtually identical to Azur's 8 sided folded A4 sheets, the only difference being the extra colour scheme and the appearance of Humbrol colour references.

Construction.

As with the Azur kit, I assembled the two fuselage halves first. The rear bulkhead, cockpit floor and front instrument panel are installed from below. The wheel well is glued to the one piece lower wing and which was then fixed to the fuselage. The upper wings are then added. Unfortunately, there is a gap between the upper wing and the fuselage on both sides. The temptation is to used tape to pull them together. Don't! To keep the upper wings surfaces level, I used plasticard to fill the gap. There is sufficient space to clean up the join without damaging the fuselage sides.

On to the cockpit, the interior is grey overall, with black instrument panels and silver seats. However, as a result of the over scale thickness of the fuselage side walls, both the front and back etched instrument panels are too wide. They will have to be trimmed to fit. The vacform canopy is carefully cut out and white glue is used to fix it in place. The windows are then masked ready for painting.  All the undercarriage and tail surfaces are fixed in place, leaving just the etch details, such actuators, pitot and mudscrapers to be installed at the very end.

Accuracy.

Published dimensions are as follows: span; 8.46 metres, length 6.95m and a height of 2.1m. In 1/48 these measurements work out to 176.2mm, 144.7mm and 43.7mm respectively. Comparing the model with these measurements show that Special Hobby have again made a very accurate model, being spot on in every department. When made up, it captures the lines of this aircraft very well.

Colour Options.

Four options are given. One for an aircraft of overall silver with French markings, plus 3 Italian schemes, one in overall ivory and two trainer schemes with mottled camouflage. I decided on a trainer from the Scuola Caccia di Castiglione del Lago (1940/41). The areas for the white wing & fuselage bands and rudder cross were sprayed first with Humbrol Satin white. They were masked. The grey lower surfaces were applied next. Then it was time to tackle the mottled scheme. First the overall sand colour was airbrushed, followed by the dark green and brown mottling. As soon I was happy with it, I removed the masking for the white and prepared the surfaces for the decals using a few coats of Future. They went on without a fuss, with no silvering at all. A coat of Humbrol Satin White was applied and the canopy masks removed. The final painting job was to brush paint the undercarriage, the red parts painted with a 50/50 mix of Humbrol 19 & 20, the rest in silver.

Decals.

A nicely executed decal sheet, only the incorrect colour for the green on the rudder tricolor giving it a 9/10 rating instead of a perfect 10.

Conclusion/ Recommendation.

This is a very satisfying model to build. It all goes together very well, only the gap between the wing and fuselage causing any problems. The size of the model is just right for the distinctive mottled scheme (and something of a challenge on the smaller Azur kit!). This model get a very high recommendation for all modellers interested in this type of aircraft.

Many thanks to Special Hobby for the review sample.

Special Hobby Nardi FN.305

The kit

This is a re-boxing of Special Hobby's original 1/48 release. The only difference this time around is the decal sheet, which provides 2 non-Italian schemes, namely a Luftwaffe & Hungarian Air Force aircraft. It would have been opportune perhaps to provide even more, as other countries known to have had this aircraft include France, Chile and Russia.

Construction

With the original release having been previously reviewed for this magazine, it only seemed necessary to point out the slightly different approach taken to build this model. As before, I glued the fuselage halves together first, as there is plenty of room to add the detail for the rather minimalist cockpit at a later stage. Only the floor, bulkheads and front instrument panel needed to be installed at this point. This time around, the top wing halves were glued to the fuselage first, not to the lower wing. The lower wing was taped to the fuselage to aid the alignment whilst the glue set. After making sure the joining surfaces were even, the lowerå wing was finally fixed in place, making sure the wheel well was installed before doing so.

The rest of the assembly is simplicity itself, reflecting the basic airframe. The undercarriage linkages are a little overscale and are best replaced with smaller diameter rod and the etched mud scraper detail is very delicate and easily lost.

One interesting adaptation for more experienced modellers to try, is to lower the flaps, although it will require a bit of work. With two vac-form canopies, there is also the opportunity to display it open. One other fix is to add exhaust stub detail, as the model only has engraved detail for these. They protude at a slight angle, in scale terms about 1mm or so.

Colour options.

Both schemes have the dark olive green/grey Continental scheme. The Hungarian was chosen for being the more colourful of the two. The red, white and green bars and yellow bands were all airbrushed, as was the rest of the scheme. I followed the instruction sheet diagram for judging the width of the yellow band. When it came to the decalling though, the diagrams had conflicting information. The ID codes are larger than indicated, which meant that the red outline fell short of the yellow band. Increasing the width of the yellow band would have helped a little, but then it would have been too wide (not all Hungarian FN.305's had this yellow band). Unfortunately, the red outline of the ID codes did not have a good white base, so they appear very dark over the green. The upper wing markings appear to be the right size on the decal sheet, but are marked in the wrong position (and at the wrong size) on the instructions. I applied them in the correct position.

Conclusions.

The model is absolutely fine, being very accurate, reasonably detailed and quite an unusual choice for a 1/48th model. However, this release can be considered a bit of a missed opportunity to be honest, as options for other countries could have been included on the decal sheet, especially in view of the Hungarian ID codes being a bit of a let-down, leaving you with the rather drab Luftwaffe choice instead. Provided spares could be found, I would probably try a scheme from another country.

Many thanks to Special Hobby for the review sample.