INTERMEDIATE BUILD
Editor at Large Chris Clifford satisfies a long-held desire by completing Italeri’s new-tool AMX Ghibli.
Many modellers, myself included, have craved a modern 1/72 AMX for years. While the old Aeroclub limited-run offering sated the desire for a while on its release in 1990, it was a product of its time. Resin kits have been available too, but they were complex and expensive. It’s possible that a lack of perceived glamour surrounding the real aircraft delayed a new styrene tooling in this scale, although Kinetic and Hobby Boss got the 1/48 ball rolling in 2015 and 2016 respectively. The AMX was born from a shared Italian-Brazillian requirement in the 1979s-80s for a light-attack/close air support type. The latter country needed to replace its EMB-326 for various missions, while Italy also had to better its ageing FIAT G.91s. AMX was created via a combined effort by Aermacchi and Aeritalia, which joined forces with Brazil’s Embraer. In Italy it was designated A-11A as a single-seater (there also being a two-seat, combat-capable trainer, the TA-11A), while Brazil dubbed it the A-1A/A-1B. Although the project began in the 1970s, it wasn’t until 1990 that the first operational conversion airframes were delivered.
