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RS Models 1/72 A.V.I.A. FL.3 Trainer by Richard Mendes |
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The Azionaria Vercellese Industrie Aeronautiche (AVIA) FL.3 was a two-seat open or enclosed cabin single-engine low wing monoplane jointly designed by Cesare Mosso, Ugo Graneri and Pieraldo Mortara being amongst the few Italian aircraft in production prior to, during and after WWII. The FL.3’s origins lay in January 1928 when Italian Aviation Secretary Italo Balbo launched an industry-wide competition for a light aircraft for tourism, basic training, communications, aerial observation and reconnaissance for the Reale Unione Nazionale Aeronautica (Royal National Aeronautical Union - RUNA) and Regia Aeronautica Italiana (RAI) several designs being submitted including the Fiat-Ansaldo AS.1, Breda Ba.15, CAB C.4, CANT 26, Caproni Ca.100, IMAM Ro.5, Macchi M.70, Magni PM.2 Vittoria and Piaggio P.9. A decade later AVIA’s Carlo Francis Lombardi (1897-1983) submitted the FL.3 for RUNA and RAI consideration presumably as a modern replacement the prototype first flying on April 19, 1939 supposedly powered by a 60hp Zlin (Walter) Persy II engine taken from a Czechoslovakian Ziln Z-XII light low-wing monoplane owned by Lombardi though production FL.3s would be powered by 60hp Compagnia Nazionale Aeronautica (CNA) D-4s. At the outbreak of WWI the RAI ordered 250 open and enclosed cabin FL.3s as side-by-side seat pilot trainers though many would be used as communications, aerial observation and reconnaissance aircraft. Immediately following the September 8, 1943 Italian Armistice the Germans seized 145 aircraft as Luftwaffe pilot trainers with reequipped cockpit instruments and throttles still others seeing service with the Aeronautica Nazionale Repubblicana and presumably with the Aviazione Cobelligerante Italiana. After the fall of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941 the Croatian Zrakoplovstvo Nezavisne Države Hrvatske ordered 20 FL.3s as pilot trainers, a handful of which survived WWII as civilian transports. Following WWII AVIA resumed FL.3 production till 1947 when Lombardi acquired AVIA continuing its production as the Lombardi FL.3 into 1948, 700-plus aircraft having been built since 1939. In 1953 Lombardi sold FL.3 production rights to Meteor S.p.A Costruzioni Aeronautiche they subsequently produced the following: • The two-seat 65hp Continental engine-powered FL.53 (8 built), 90hp Continental-powered FL.53BM (4 built) • The three-seat 90hp Continental C90-12F-powered FL.54 (10 built) • The four-seat 135hp Lycoming engine-powered FL.55 (4 built), 150hp Lycoming-powered FL.55BM (10 built), 180hp Lycoming-powered FL.55CM (1 built) • The four-seat 220hp Meteor Alfa 4 engine-powered “Meteor Super” (FL.55 with enlarged vertical tail - 1 built) and two-seat 110hp Meteor Alfa 2 engine-powered “Meteor Bis” variant (production unknown) |
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The 1/72 scale RS Models AVIA FL.3 dates from 2001, separate open and closed cockpit kit versions with different upper crew cabin fuselage and windshield/canopy parts plastic being offered each with 42 injected plastic plus clear vacuformed plastic windshield/canopy parts. For reasons not readily clear RS Models chose not to market the FL.3 as a single kit with optional windscreen/canopy parts, very odd considering open and closed cockpit upper crew cabin fuselage injected parts are included in with each kit version. As “limited-run” kits they’re hard coming across me taking several years just to get an open canopy issue most fortunately with Regia Aeronautica Italia (RAI) dual-pilot trainer kit decals. The open-cockpit FL.3 kit was a near-joy build, CNA D.4 opposed-cylinder "pancake" engine parts neatly keying in the engine cowling well as the cockpit parts though been nice if etched-brass seat straps et. al. interior detailing parts had been provided, clear vacuform windscreen easy to trim and sand neatly fitting on the fuselage. Greatly impressed with Phillipe Martin's RAI FL.3 pilot trainer build of several years ago in 2016 I'd chose to replicate it though alas not as thorough given time constraints well as lack of proper research documentation with sprayed on and hand painted Humbrol and Testors enamel paint colors and "spot" mixes well as kit decals. I also fully painted the optional kit-provided closed cockpit upper crew cabin fuselage part with open cargo space to compare with that of the open cockpit one. |
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Aircraft: AVIA FL.3 Manufacturer: Azionaria Vercellese Industrie Aeronautiche (AVIA) Type: Trainer Year: 1939 Engine: Continental C-85 flat-four piston, 85 hp Wingspan: 32 ft 3 25/32 in (9.85 m) Length: 20 ft 10 in (6.35 m) Height: 5 ft 6 15/16 in (1.70 m) Weight: 1257 lb (570 kg) (loaded) Maximum Speed: 121 mph (195 km/h) Ceiling: 19,685 ft (6000 m) Range: 342 miles (555 km) Crew: 2 |
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