Museum Models 1/72 I.M.A.M. Ro 57

MUSEUM 1:72 IMAM RO-57

Reviewer: Chris Busbridge (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 12 April 2002

Manufacturer: Museum
Aircraft: IMAM Ro.57
Scale: 1/72
Medium: Resin, with vacform canopy (no spares)
Decals: None Included
Pros: Nicely cast resin parts.
Cons. Por undercarriage details and a few minor outline errors

Aircraft:
This is Italy's equivalent of the Westland Whirlwind. First developed in 1939, it showed plenty of promise and performed as well as the single engined fighters of the day, such as the Macchi C.200. However, it remained in the doldrums for nearly four years, undergoing lengthy design and development as a dive bomber and a few tested with cannons. It's performance suffered greatly as a result. Order numbers were gradually reduced and in the end only 50 or so were made. The first (and only) unit to be equipped with this aircraft suffered heavy losses during a bombing raid on the the airfield and therefore the Ro57 saw virtually no military action.

The Kit & Accuracy:
The resin parts for this kit came in a stout box, protected with plenty of bubble wrap. There was a bit of cleaning up to do on some of the parts. The fuselage and wings had slightly rough surfaces that needed a little smoothing down with wet and dry. The fit of parts were on the whole pretty good, especially when you bear in mind that all the control surfaces were moulded as separate pieces. All the small detail pieces were held together on a thin sheet, so careful separation of parts is necessary. Measurements show that dimensions are essentially quite accurate but small errors are evident. Fortunately they are easy to correct.

Construction:
Cockpit detail is speculative, as reference material is hard to come by. The cockpit fairing needs to have a groove sanded into each side, which is a common feature on most Italian fighters and the rearward section needs to be re-profiled slightly so that the rudder fillet is smooth, not sharp. The vacform canopy and the cockpit opening are oversized. Reduce the aperture with strips of plasticard and trim the vacform canopy incrementally until a good fit is achieved. The horizontal tailplanes need to be moved forward by about 2.5mm. If necessary, scratchbuild new pieces as the kit parts look a bit too small, but only if you really want to.

The wing to fuselage assembly is fairly straightforward. The mid wing section needs a bit of test fitting before attaching it to the fuselage to avoid lots of filler (some will be needed however to reshape the viewing window through the cockpit floor). The wings fit quite well and the wheel well fairings need some test fitting as well. The moulded dive brake detail on both wings are not aligned properly, so sand them off and replace with thin plasticard.

The highly detailed engines fitted neatly into their cowlings, whose prominent bulges were well moulded. However, they were a bit tricky to fit onto the wings. The propellers need re-shaping as they are too thick and paddle shaped. The starboard propeller also needs to have its rotation reversed. The spinners are far too small. I used the front sections of the Occidental G.91 drop tanks as suitable replacements and drilled holes for each blade to fit into. It is recommended that the the small resin exhaust stubs are replaced with sections of brass or plasticing tubing.

The biggest headache on this kit is the strange undercarriage system, which needs to be completely scratchbuilt. There is a drawing in the instructions, but it failed to fully describe the assembly. After an e-mail enquiry, an Aerofan magazine (no.74) was sent to me which had a very useful plans and diagrams. I used lengths of brass/plastic rod and superglue, using blu-tack to keep things in place as they set. The tyres were replaced with re-profiled spare Hasegawa 1/48 C.202 tyres (yes, they really are that big, believe me!). The undercarriage doors themselves were a little on the thick side, so the edges were thinned to scale. The tail wheel is normally shown with a fairing, but the kit only had a standard unfaired version. I used a spare from the AML G.50 kit to get round this problem.

Versions & Painting:
The camouflage was in the standard late WWII Regia Aeronautica camoflage. I used Xtracolor X109 for the green and Xtracolor X263 for the light grey. No decals were supplied with this kit, so a raid in the decal spares box is necessary.

Fortunately markings were a standard size, so this wasn't too difficult a task. Tauro Models have printed sheets with a mass of accurately depicted Fasces, Savoy Crosses etc. that can be used for all types of RA kits. The white fuselage band and ruder cross were airbrushed.

The above digital image shows the kit built out of the box, before the kit was revised after receiving the Aerofan magazine

Overall:
Apart from the undercarriage, which was a minor source of frustration, I really enjoyed building this kit and makes for an unusual and attractive addition to any RA collection. Those of you who cannot track down the Museum model can get the Vintage kit instead as it is basically a re-issue of it. I do not know if they have provided better parts for the undercarriage assembly or corrected the cockpit & propeller features.

Other Comments - prototype kit:
Museum also released a pre-serie (prototype) version (see boxart image). The same corrections will apply this kit, with the following exceptions.

The cockpit canopy is even smaller and the framing simplified. It is also placed further back on the fuselage (almost centrally) with the fairing reduced in height accordingly (but with no grooves). The spinners are smaller and do not cover the propeller boss. The tail wheel is of the retractable type. The good thing about this aircraft is that it had the mottled sand/green and brown camouflage, so it makes for a more arresting colour scheme. Anyone interested in this version will find useful photos in the aforementioned Aerofan magazine.

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