Alpha Flight 1/48 Fiat BR.20 Cicogna Kit First Look

By Fotios Rouch

First Look

For a short background history on the Cicogna click on the review link for the Italeri 1/72nd scale kit.

This is a brand new release from Alpha Flight. The first and only release of the Br.20 in 1/48th scale. This a full resin kit molded in light gray polyurethane resin with vacuformed clear parts, photoetch details and white metal landing gear and machine guns. The panel lines are fine and engraved. The ribbing effect is subtle and it is very nicely done a slightly different technique from what I am used to seeing in resin kits.

The fuselage halves are very thin, they line up perfectly and are full of interior detail. The wings come in an upper and lower portion with separate wheel wells, separate control surfaces everywhere and with a nice ribbing effect. It is very nice to see resin wings coming in two halves. When the wings are thick and are done in halves the modeler ends with a light cantilever wing structure that will never droop. Thick wings done as monolithic castings are very heavy, usually warped out of the molds and more prone to drooping. Good job on that Alpha Flight.

The cockpit and crew stations are complete with good resin detail complemented by well done clean and shiny photoetch parts. The crew seats are very nicely done and the photoetch instrumentation is complemented by a photofilm set of instrument faces.

The engines come in bunch of small parts like separate cylinders, propeller blades and prop hubs. Nice job on the exhausts and the cowling details. I foresee some laborious effort to get the engines painted and detailed but the end result will be worth it.

The vacuform parts are very nicely done very clear end clean (it is such a turn off when I find debris, scratches and sometimes even human hair in my vac canopies from other companies...).

The landing gear looks good with separate hubs for the wheels (helps a lot with painting) and slightly bulged wheels that give a nice effect of weight to the finished model. The landing gear struts are done in white metal to better support the weight of the model.

The kit includes nice color instructions with color references to the proper Italian color call outs. Three decal options are provided.

• Br.20M MM21815 - 1st Squadriglia 11 Gruppo, 13 Stormo - 1942
• Br.20M MM22243 - 276st Squadriglia 116 Gruppo, 37 Stormo - April 1941
• Br.20M MM22253 - 4th Squadriglia S. Damiano - May 1941

This is going to be an easy kit to build as far as resin kits go. The maker obviously spent time designing and perfecting his creation. Obviously he cared to test fit and make sure that his parts fit before throwing them over to the other side of the fence for the modelers to figure out!

This model is very highly recommended as a work of art. Way to go Simo!