Kit Review- Special Hobby 1/48 IMAM (Romeo) Ro-37bis

[Dave W]

Special Hobby IMAM (Romeo) Ro-37bis



REVIEWED BY Zac Yates

Scale: 1/48
Kit #: SH48185
Price: €39.40 direct from Special Hobby.
Stockist: Review sample provided by and available through Special Hobby at: https://www.specialhobby.eu/ Also available from quality model retailers worldwide. 

Contents: six plastic sprues (five grey and one clear); 23 resin parts; one decal sheet with four markings options; photoetch fret with 24 parts; acetate instrument panel backing; colour instructions booklet.

Background:
The Industrie Meccaniche Aeronautiche Meridionali (IMAM) Ro.37 “Lince” (Lynx), also known as the Romeo, was a two-seat observation aircraft developed for the Regia Aeronautica. Powered by a 560 hp Fiat A.30 R.A. V-12 engine it had a top speed of 300kmh (186mph), could reach 3000m (9843ft) in 11min and had a range of 1200km (750mi); was fitted with three machineguns and could carry twelve 15kg (33lb) bombs. Comparable in size to the Supermarine Spitfire, the type’s performance was improved with the addition of either the Piaggio P.IX R.C.40 (supercharged and geared to 600hp) or Piaggio P.X R (640hp) radial engines and entered production as the Ro.37bis, the subject of this kit. 332 of this variant were produced.
In addition to its native Italy the type was used by the air arms of Austria, Ecuador, Hungary, Spain, Uruguay and the Kingdom of Afghanistan, seeing service in the Spanish Civil War, Second Italo-Ethiopian War, and the Second World War despite its increasing obsolescence.
After the cessation of hostilities in 1945 the type was largely forgotten and believed to be extinct, with not a single example preserved for posterity. However, in 2010 soldiers of the United States Army discovered the remains of an Ro.37bis (along with several other pre-WW2 aircraft types) in a scrapyard outside of Kabul. In recognition of the fact this represented the sole extant Romeo worldwide the Afghan government allowed the Italian Air Force to recover the hulk, and it has since been restored and placed on display at the Italian Air Force Museum at Vigna di Valle.

Special Hobby’s model:


This kit was originally released by Classic Airframes in 2004, itself a rebox with new parts to replace those of the initial inline-engined Ro.37 kit. The kit comes on five grey plastic sprues with fine engraved and raised detail and particularly delicate representation of the fabric-covered areas. Despite the age of the tooling there is very little flash to be found. As is standard with Classic Airframes and Special Hobby kits there are no locating pins so care must be taken during assembly to ensure correct alignment.





The clear sprue with five parts is also of excellent detail – very clear parts with distinct framing to aid in painting. Although no masks are included with this kit these raised frames should make painting these parts relatively easy.



In two separate zip-lock bags there 23 resin parts covering the various areas including the cockpit (seats and radio), observer’s position (Scarff-style ring and Breda-SAFAT 7.7mm machinegun), and exhaust system. These are beautifully cast with exquisite detail. Although some parts had broken loose during shipping there was no damage in this copy that can’t be easily fixed.


A photoetch fret provides 24 parts including seatbelts, control horns, instrument panels and – a first for this reviewer – wheel hubs. Like many of its contemporaries the Ro.37bis had wire spoke wheels which are delicately reproduced, but are covered by spats for all but one of the markings options.
Finally, a small acetate sheet provides instrument panel backing parts, two of which are not for use with this kit.



Instructions:
The instruction booklet is in full colour and helpfully points out 12 injected parts and two acetate instrument panels not intended for use in this build. Colours are called out from the Gunze range. Twenty-one steps guide the modeller through building their Romeo, the last being a rigging diagram – given there are a comparatively low 26 pieces of individual rigging this could be a good introduction to this art for those inexperienced in this area.




Decals and Colour Schemes:
The decal sheet, printed by AVIPRINT.CZ, covers four aircraft:
1.   12-15, Grupo 4-G-12, Aviación Nacional (Spanish Nationalists), Logroño, 1938. This is a Spanish Civil War machine in Sandy Yellow with Green swirls and Blue-grey unders and wears the dedication “Alf F. Suarez Presente” on the cowling to honour a soldier killed during the battle of Ebro.
2.   120-12, MM.10821, 120a Squadriglia, 72° Gruppo OA, Regia Aeronautica, Valona, occupied Albania, late 1940. The camouflage on this aircraft is the more familiar Italian WW2 scheme of Sandy Yellow with Brown and Green splotches and Blue-grey unders.
3.   MM.10889, Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana (Italian Co-belligerent Air Force), October 1943. This aircraft wears a straightforward Dark Olive Green over Light Blue Grey scheme and wears simple markings of roundels in six positions and the name “Cocco Bello” on the cowling.
4.   B1-102, Escuadrilla de Informacion, Uruguayan Air Force, Base Aeronautique No.1, Boiso Lanza, late 1941. This aircraft is painted all Green with eye-catching roundels on the wings and a full-rudder “fin flash” in the same style.
The sheet has crisp detail but the white areas appear translucent and much less solid than the other colours. The builder may need to paint a backing or apply spare white decals to ensure the underlying colour doesn’t come through.







Summary:
Upon opening the box this reviewer was excited at the prospect of building this largely unknown aircraft from a lovely kit – as an avid follower of warbird news I remember well the discovery, recovery and restoration of the Afghan machine but I was unaware of the type’s “foreign” use and service history. The aircraft has a certain charisma with the large spats and fetching range of colour schemes (my wife took one look at the Spanish Civil War box art and decided that’s how this one should be built!) and will make a delightful addition to your display shelf.
Verdict:
Highly recommended to those with short-run and biplane experience.
Review sample kindly supplied by Special Hobby.
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[gbrivio]

Thank you for the review and SH for the sample kit. Please note that these planes were rigged with broad streamlined wires. Here is a link to official site of Italian Ministry of Defence (Italian text only) featuring several images of the aeroplane recovery and restoration.

https://www.difesa.it/Primo_Piano/Pagine/RestauratoilRo37.aspx


Ciao
Giuseppe

[Rookie]

This looks like a beautiful kit Dave. I wasn't familiar with this type, but I like the looks of it.

Thanks voor sharing this link Giuseppe. What a great restoration project is this!

Willem

[KiwiZac]

Thank you for the review and SH for the sample kit. Please note that these planes were rigged with broad streamlined wires. Here is a link to official site of Italian Ministry of Defence (Italian text only) featuring several images of the aeroplane recovery and restoration.

https://www.difesa.it/Primo_Piano/Pagine/RestauratoilRo37.aspx


Ciao
Giuseppe

Thank you very much for the information Giuseppe, this will come in very handy when I build this kit.