Designed as a two-seat, single-engine fighter-bomber after World War I, the Potez 25 saw service with many nations, but primarily France and Poland. Initially conceived as a biplane, the 25 was later refined as a sesquiplane with a lower wing much smaller than its upper. Potez outfitted the 25 with many engines, including those from Salmson, Farman, and Hispano-Suiza, but this new Azur-FRROM 1/72 Potez 25 Renault 12Kg plastic model kit features an engine from the manufacturer more famous for cars.
The box art has good full-color drawings and clearly shows the kit’s three marking options. Inside, you’ll find six blue-gray sprues with 115 parts, one photo-etched metal (PE) fret with 62 parts, and a decal sheet with the mentioned markings. More than half of the parts are for other versions of the aircraft that Azur-FRROM will release with the appropriate engine.
You’ll start by assembling the interior and cockpit. Paint and decal as you go. Be forewarned, the decals do not match well with the molded cockpit details. However, they will look all right after a dose or two of decal setting solution. Realistically, the cockpit is small, but it would have been nice have seat belts or other details to spruce it up a bit.
The three fuselage parts do not fit together well, but you can get them to look good with putty and sanding. I completed the whole fuselage with wings and then painted them before attaching the engine assembly and landing gear (without the wheels). The PE parts 1 and 2 were so small that I omitted them because of my eyesight. I recommend magnification to help you.
The decals went down well over a coat of clear gloss. They were a bit thick but settled and didn’t shatter or tear.
I found an error in the instructions, and it’s actually pointed out on the Azur-FRROM website: The landing gear for the 2285 plane is shown with Messier landing gear in the profile (parts C57 and C58), but it should be Potez landing gear (parts C44 and C45), which is different from the other two Renault 12Kg-powered options.
The new Azur-FRROM 1/72 scale Potez 25 Renault 12Kg plastic model kit has a few sticking points, but I still found it enjoyable to build. For biplane modelers, it’s a different aircraft and looks good when built. I can’t wait for more versions! If you’re a beginning builder, don’t be fooled by this model’s small size. It requires experience with small parts, a steady hand, and either magnification or eagle-sharp eyes to turn out.