Pavla’s 1/72 Reggiane
Re.2005 Sagittario

History

In 1941, the Italian Ministry of Aviation put out a specification for a fighter aircraft powered by the Daimler Benz DB 605A engine, and Fiat, Macchi and Reggiane all stepped up with designs. The result of this was the Fiat G.55, the Macchi MC.205, and the Reggiane Re.2005, all of which shared a similar design. The Re.2005 first flew on May 9, 1942 and although the G.55 won the contest, an order of 34 Re.2005s was placed. This later was expanded to over 600, but the actual number completed is not certain. The Re.2005 shot down its first plane, a B-24, on April 10, 1943, and by the end of the war, the plane flew in both Italian and German units.

The Kit

The Pavla kit of this interesting Italian fighter comes with a handful of resin parts, a single tree of injection plastic parts, and two vacuformed canopies. The panel lines are all recessed and are finely done, while the resin is the usual crisp tan stuff we have come to expect from the Czech Republic. The decal sheet offers a trio of options covering all of the operators of the type.

Starting with the interior, the cockpit is a combination of resin and plastic parts, with nicely detailed sidewalls, a resin instrument panel and seat, and separate control stick and rudder bar. A plastic rear bulkhead and cockpit floor finish off the interior, which should be more than adequate considering how small the cockpit opening is in the fuselage. The fuselage is split into right and left halves, and has all of the tail surfaces molded separately. The vertical fin is provided in resin, as the plastic piece is mis-molded. Exhaust stacks are provided separately, although they are not quite right for the type. Luckily, Moskit has a set of exhaust stacks for the Re.2005, so replacing these will not be too tough.

The wings are in three pieces, with two resin wheelwell inserts fitting into the one-piece lower wing. The wing radiator scoops are made up of three pieces and outlines on the lower wing shows their position. The landing gear is very nicely done, with the main gear comprising no less than eight pieces. The wheels are resin, as are the oleo scissors. The gear doors are molded as one piece and need to be cut into three pieces to display the gear down.

The decal sheet provides markings for one Regia Aeronautica, one ANR, and one Luftwaffe Re.2005. All three are finished in the same camouflage of Verde Oliva Scuro 2 over Grigio Azzurro Chiaro 1. The Regia Aeronautica plane is coded 362-5 and is from the 362 Squadriglia, 22 Gruppo in June of 1943. The ANR option is Red 4 seen on Bresso airfield in March of 1944. Finally, the Luftwaffe example features a white 7 on the rudder and was seen on the Maniago airfield in March 1944. The decals are well printed and should present no problems.

Conclusion

This is probably the best injection-molded kit available for the Re.2005 and if you are into Italian aircraft this would be a great addition to a collection.