A collaborative effort between the Italian and Brazilian aircraft industries, the AMX Ghibli light attack bomber was designed to replace the aging Fiat G-91Y and MB-326. Powered by a single Rolls-Royce engine, it can reach speeds up to 1000 kph and carry a weapons load of up to 3800kg. Entering service in 1989, the Ghibli has been deployed to Afghanistan, Bosnia, and Kosovo.
An all-new tool, the Italeri 1/72 scale AMX Ghibli plastic model kit is the first plastic kit of this plane available in this scale. The parts, molded in medium gray plastic, feature fine, recessed panel lines and other delicate detailing. I encountered no flash or ejector-pin marks, and the fit is excellent. The kit includes beautifully printed Cartograf decals for four different Italian-marked aircraft. The instructions clearly detail construction with good paint callouts referencing both FS numbers and Italeri acrylic paints.
The cockpit tub and instrument panel have nicely molded detail, as does the three-piece ejection seat with seat belt decals. Decals cover only a small portion of the instrument panel, the rest must be detailed by hand, including the side consoles. When painting the cockpit, don’t forget the insides of the fuselage, which is not mentioned in the instructions.
I had to open up the inside diameter of the intake sides (parts 63b and 71b) slightly to get them to fit over the fan without a gap. When painting here, too, you will want to include the inside of the fuselage because some of it will be visible through the intakes.
I assembled the main gear bay but left the landing gear off until the final assembly to minimize the chance of breakage. You will need to add 5 grams of weight to keep the nose down, but there is plenty of room for up front and under the cockpit floor. The fuselage halves mate together perfectly. I just needed a dab of filler on the underside to smooth the join.
Assembling the wings revealed a near-perfect fit. The instructions indicate you need to drill the holes for the pylons, which are molded open. Fitting the wings to the fuselage was painless with a good snug fit. The tailplanes were a bit more troublesome because the attachment points were extremely tight. In my efforts to get everything aligned, I managed to break one of them off. Some of the detail parts are tiny, and their shape makes them difficult to handle. A really good pair of tweezers is essential to prevent them from flying off into oblivion.
I painted the completed airframe and then followed up with decals, which went on beautifully. I added a wash before the final flat coat. The landing gear and ordnance finished the build. And yes, to those eagle-eyed out there, I screwed up and put the upper fins on the drop tanks incorrectly.
I’m terrible at timing how long my builds take, but this one went together pretty quickly. Overall, the Italeri 1/72 scale AMX Ghibli plastic model kit was a relatively trouble-free and enjoyable build, a neat kit that I could recommend to beginner and advanced modelers alike.