The Breda 27 was not a particularly successful airplane, and after being rejected by the Reggia Aeronautica, 18 were ordered by the Chinese, of which 11 were delivered. Obviously influenced by the American Boeing P-26, the aircraft entered service in 1936, and served in Canton with the 29^th Pursuit Squadron. Some were used against the Japanese after their 1937 invasion, and at least one victory over a Navy Mitsubishi A5M2 was recorded. The first prototype was acquired by the Reggia Aeronautica, and it served with the 86^th Squadriglia, 5^th Stormo Assalto, until December, 1937.

The kit instructions are very basic, consisting of four half-pages, which include a very brief history in English and Czech, a very useful parts diagram, two pages of assembly instruction drawings, and one page showing the two different aircraft for which decals are provided. Other than the reference to the overall color scheme of “olive green”, no color information is provided. 

Assembly of this resin kit is rather straightforward, and the kit is a very basic one. The resin casting is well done, with good detail, and although there are some cockpit parts provided ( floor, seat, control stick, instrument panel and rear cockpit bulkhead) some additional trimming and sanding will be needed to achieve acceptable standards. The fuselage halves go together without mounting tabs, and all wing and tail units butt fit onto the fuselage. Some struts are provided for the wings and tail unit, and the landing gear units are cast in one piece. The prop consists of a hub and three individual blades. The engine is in one piece, and the cowling fits over it. A vacuform windshield is also included. The directions call for a wing with no dihedral, although other references show a slight dihedral angle.

After trimming the excess resin, the model should be superglued together. I would advise drilling small holes for mounting pegs, especially for the wings. I had to use quite a bit of filler for the fuselage assembly, and the wings went on easily. I decided against trying to trim the very delicate strut assemblies, using scratchbuilt units instead. I used a prop from the spares box, similar to one I had from a Frog Fokker D.XXI. Remember that the prop rotates British style. After basic assembly, I added the wing struts, tail braces, and the landing gear, which required a bit of trimming and smoothing out.

The plane was painted in one basic color, with only the engine crankcase colored medium grey, the cylinders and prop silver, and the cowl front in a bronze color. After a coat of glosscote, I applied the decals, and then gave it another coat of gloss. The airplane has wire rigging, and I used electronic wire for this. The decals went on smoothly, and a very nice little model resulted.

For a resin kit, this was a fairly easy model to build, and its rarity means that there will probably not be an injection molded kit of this aircraft in our lifetimes, so this appears to be the only show in town. It is certainly worth getting one, as it fills a gap in the 1/72 scale fighter display. I suspect that this kit is long out of production, but it was listed in Burns’ Model Guide, 2004 Issue, and it is probably still available at swap meets. I don’t know how long I’ve had the kit in my stash. It was produced by Modelmex, in the Czech Republic. Highly recommended. Get one if you can find one.

Brian Baker

16 March 2017