Prudenzio Contest Breda BA 65

[cjwalas]

Leaving town Wednesday, so I need to squeeze in another ZP model if I can. This is the last of the Italian Air Force planes for me to build and, of course, I chose a North Africa scheme.
Hope I can get some time in on it today.
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Chris

[Don Boose]

Glad to see you building this one, Chris. Perhaps you can solve my fuselage to wing connection problem in time for me to complete mine before the contest ends.

Don

[cjwalas]

Actually, Don, I've just developed a good case of ulnar tunnel syndrome (mouse elbow) and I'm not sure I'll be able to get this one done before the end of the contest. Plus I'm leaving town for ten days on Thurs., so unless I carry this one along with me the chances are it'll have to wait till I get back. But I will get this one done!
Chris

[cjwalas]

Back from my exhausting trip yesterday and right back to this one. After adding the canopy and fuselage glazing, I made an earnest and near fatal attempt at attaching the wings. I am now convinced that there is no practical way to get a good fit here. :mad: I squeezed and tweaked as best I could and came away with a fit that seems to get the wings in roughly the right position without too much dihedral, but it isn't pretty;
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I've started on all the fiddly cowling bulges. They are the smallest of all the Zio ones I've done and are doubly difficult because, well, they are doubles. And each piece is two bulges;
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But my patience is thin and I had to move on to the landing gear at the same time;
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Still have lots of bulging covers to add as well as the props. This is certainly the oddest looking of the Italian airplanes in Zio's collection.
Chris

[Don Boose]

Definitely a challenging kit. I haven't tried to do any further work on mine, but will attempt to finish it up eventually. Not too sanguine, if you can't get a good fit on the wings - and the little double rocker arm covers are intimidating.

I have always liked this airplane, however, since I first saw it in a WWII-era children's book on airplanes.

Glad you built it.

Don

[cjwalas]

Finished this one up... except for these parts;
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Not quite sure where they go?!?
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The model does look nice, despite my problems with the wing attachment.
Chris

[Don Boose]

Better than nice - it looks terrific! You have worked wonders with this kit.

No idea where those parts go. I have looked at the photos and references I have for the Ba. 65 and I can't see anything missing from your model.

This is indeed an inspiration to me to try to finish mine (although i am still not sure how you worked the magic on the wing-fuselage match up, especially at the front.

Don

[cjwalas]

Here's a couple of shots of the whole Italian squadron from Zio;
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I had a lot of fun with these.
Chris

[Don Boose]

An impressive squadriglia (keep building and you will have a stormo and then a gruppo).

Don

[Texman]

Very cool Chris! Good on you for getting them all together.

[Texman]

Look to possible be tire mudguards?

[cjwalas]

Look to possible be tire mudguards?
Sounds plausible to me. As there are two of them, I assumed they had something to do with the landing gear. Do you have any visual reference for such a thing? I just did a quick check of all the Breda pics on Google and I couldn't find any evidence of these pieces anywhere on the plane. The mystery deepens!
Chris

[gomidefilho]

Finished this one up... except for these parts;
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Not quite sure where they go?!?
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The model does look nice, despite my problems with the wing attachment.
Chris

Is a part of undercarriage, is a rear door I believe...

[cjwalas]

Is a part of undercarriage, is a rear door I believe...
That's what I thought at first, but I cannot find any reference to it anywhere. When in the up position, the wheeltips are exposed without any doors covering them, at least that's what I've seen in all the photos I could find.

[Paper Kosmonaut]

Chiming in on an old thread to enlighten you all.


The confusing parts are meant to be mud guards. Here (https://plane-encyclopedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Breda-Ba-65-25.jpg) you can see some versions of the plane had mud guards.


Here's a couple of pictures of how I did the parts.

[Don Boose]

I'm glad to see this build thread revived and to see your work on the undercarriage, including the mudguards.

It makes me want to dig out the box with my incomplete Ba65 and complete the model using your images and commentary and Péricles's excellent build thread: Zio Prudenzio Contest Breda 65 Spanish Civil War in 1/100 scale - PaperModelers.com (http://www.papermodelers.com/forum/zio-prudenzio-contest/16231-zio-prudenzio-contest-breda-65-spanish-civil-war-1-100-scale.html?highlight=Prudenzio+Contest+Breda+Spani sh+Civil+1%2F100+scale)

I last worked on my Ba65 in 2011, when Tora-chan the cat was still alive. I was stymied by the cranked wing dihedral. Péricles solved the problem, but I have yet to get back to the build.

Don

[Paper Kosmonaut]

I was stymied by the cranked wing dihedral.
I didn't have any trouble with the wings. I did the wings themselves first and added them to the fuselage but tried to make the dihedral not too big. Because of the lack of formers it is a little difficult to get it in place the first time.
What was more disturbing to me were the cuts in the chine section of the fuselage which came out very notable. I decided to take the uncut part out of the spare print I always make and glue it over the original one. I sanded the edges to become more flush with the original surface. It might still be a little crude, but to me it looked better than without.
The chine on Zio's Spitfire is working like a charm and is one of the best transitions from fuselage to wing I have ever seen in a simple one-page model. This one doesn't work so good.


But well, in the end, the Breda BA65 was a butt-ugly plane and it seems Breda has a trade mark on that. Just look at the train they designed (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fyra)some years ago for the Netherlands (which was subsequently rejected because a plethora of design faults):

[SungKhongGiat 82]

I've printed out one of the Ba.65s in a Royal Iraqi livery some months ago, but there is only a small problem, that is there aren't any instructions for it.

I wonder if anyone has a clue where they are...?

[Vermin_King]

I don't believe there ever were any

[Royaloakmin]

No instructions, Zio never did any.

[Texman]

No instructions, Zio never did any.
Incorrect. He did do instructions, but not for all aircraft. Breda is one that did not.