Supermodel 1/72 Reggianne Re.2001
Kit Number: 003
Price: $5.00
Media: Injected plastic
Decals : Three versions; two Italian, one German
Comments: The Reggianne aircraft company is a small company that built relatively few aircraft during WWII. As with most Italian aircraft of the time, it was beautifully built, but hampered by underpowered Italian engines. Those of you who have owned Fiats will know what I mean. The Re.2000 was a case in point. A delight to fly, but outclassed by contemporary fighters, it was exported to Sweden who used a couple of squadrons to protect Swedish airspace during the earlier part of the war. It was a fighter quite reminiscent of the P-36 in both general form and flying qualities. The Re.2001, replaced the underpowered Italian radial with an inline DB601 engine and saw a great improvement in performance. Finally entering service during late 1942, it was relegated to the fighter-bomber role. Like most Italian aircraft, it saw little operational service due to poor serviceability and low production rates.
Supermodel's representation of the Re.2001 is molded in light grey plastic with finely raised detail. Not bad for a kit well over 20 years of age. The interior is minimal and there is no wheel well detail. The kit goes together quite well with basically no problem areas. Even the wing/fuselage join was trouble free. The one area to be careful is the main landing gear. This area is a bit fussy and requires careful attention to get a good fit. Especially tricky was the placement of the landing gear doors which looked kind of tacked on, but a look through my references showed this to be the way it was.
The aircraft was painted in late war colors of dark green upper and light grey undersurfaces. Again, I just matched what I had with my reference books and it looks like the right colors. The trickiest part of the painting was getting the upper surface color properly wrapped under the wings, but a bit of masking solved that. The kit decals were used as there are, to my knowledge, no aftermarket ones available. The white was not quite as opaque as I would have liked and the decals are somewhat resistant to setting solutions. Even repeated applications of Solvaset were not enough to get the decals to snuggle down completely.
Overall the little Re.2001 is a nice addition to the collection, and while availability is sporadic, if you can find a Supermodel kit, I would recommend building one.
30 November, 1996
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