From a design tradition rooted in the somewhat Lovecraftian Farman Jabiru, this 4-engined monster is another take on how to harness the power of those multiple engines in an efficient way, grouping them together close to the center of gravity and thrust centerline as to minimize the impact that the potential different outputs of even flare-outs could have in the plane’s attitude. As history demonstrated, the more conventional arrangement that dates from much, much earlier (1918), is the one mostly used now:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2015/07/zeppelin-staaken-e420-completed.html
Azur / Air Magazine no doubt put tremendous effort and financial resources in producing the several variants and boxings of the Farman F.220. This is an unusual plane and therefore a sells risk that they did not hesitate to take. For all that they need to be applauded. Still, there are some accuracy and engineering issues that need to be addressed. As an aside, I wish they would have also included the type 224 passenger transport, a gloriously handsome plane that would have made the delight of civil modelers (there is a vacuformed kit of it by Aerovac, OOP and very hard to get). As military planes are not my cuppa, I bought the F-APUZ boxing that allows you to build the Transatlantic flier or the Istres-Damascus-Paris racer (each one with some differences not addressed in the instructions, though).
No kit is perfect, so this Farman NC223.1 by Azur/Air Magazine is a good example of a kit that has a very nice surface, portrays a very appealing subject, has good detail parts, is generally convincing, but it is most definitely not for beginners due to many reasons described below, and yet should give modelers with experience satisfaction, as long as they are willing to work to correct inaccuracies and shortcomings. As explained in the step-by-step building article:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2025/10/farman-223-1-f-apuz-azur-172nd.html
To get out of the way the obvious: the kit instructions prescribe a color I was not happy with. Thus, a greyish shade of aluminium was used in concurrence with the qualified opinion of other modelers and aviation enthusiasts. Photos and references in favor of this choice are posted in the step-by-step building article.
There are things that need to be looked after for the sake of accuracy -this is also noted by other modelers- and the lack of locating devices for the wing and fuselage and other parts (not all, though) calls for some extra work and extra care from the modeler on dealing with those parts, securing and aligning them. The abundance of struts, big and small, long and short, presents challenges, compounded by instructions mishaps. There are locating devices for the interior and the tail group (unfortunately you have to completely redo the tail for this boxing of the Istres race and Transatlantic planes). The struts associated with to engine gondolas (varied and complex) have only butt joints, and this subassembly was challenging to say the very least.
Nonetheless, the fit (in general) is mostly fair, the detail is adequate for the scale (although many details can be added and some in the kit are not accurate), the instructions mostly explanatory (but with errors) and the subject magnificent. I liked this kit so much that I got another.
I would define this as a fair kit, and how I wish Azur and Air Magazine would do one of the Couzinet marvels, as the Heller kit is truly atrocious (I have built one with great effort and many mods).
Summarizing, a kit of a very appealing subject, produced to a fair standard, with a number of things that need addressing -not unlike many other kits. In this case:
-There are issues at the wing roots, which are not equal and do not match properly the airfoil relief detail on the fuselage sides. On my sample the wing skins were neither straight nor had the same camber, and had to be “convinced” to adopt the correct shapes
-The horizontal tail lacks the broad arrow that the leading edge shows in photos (the kit part shows a constant chord affair, which is, sadly, inaccurate). Also the “ears” of the elevator should go all the way to the leading edge, and not to mid-chord as in the kit.
-The vertical tail surfaces are small compared to photos -and the instructions- and lack the trim tabs
-all control surfaces lack horns and linkages, plus counterweights in the case of the ailerons
-Details missing (for the IstresDamascus-Paris racer): Venturi on top of the fuselage after the canopy, directional finder loop, wind driven generator, trailing antenna and three Pitot (two on the strut of the left wing and one on the strut of the right wing).
-The cabin door is placed too far ahead; it was much closer to the wing trailing edge, and one of the small round windows doesn’t need drilling, whist the correct window should change position following the door.
-The corners where the fuselage sides meet the top should be a bit more rounded aft of the wing.
-The instructions and drawings confuse the nose window arrangement of the Transatlantic flier with the Istres-Damascus-Paris racer.
-The flaps have a narrower chord than the ailerons, this was missed in the kit.
-The instructions contain several mistakes. One of them is stating that the aft props have the blade sides that face forward black, which is incorrect. As many photos clearly show the sides of the all blades of all the props facing aft are black.
Other details could be added to the model, but at this point the amount of time, energy and research invested to catch the inaccuracies is over quota, so may may be for the future.
This is a big model, with many parts, and therefore took some time to build. The fact that you have to deal with shortcomings and inaccuracies added to the building time. As I have a second kit of it which I will finish as the Transatlantic flier, I will completely scratchbuild the tail area -as it is sadly way off in the kit- which is a more effective way to deal with the issue than the modification of the kit’s parts as I did here. As you can see, to get an accurate replica some work is involved, and yet it is not outside the scope of experienced modelers. If AZUR/Air Magazine would have taken the time to refine this release adding wing spars, positive locating devices throughout (especially on the struts around the engine gondolas) and doing better research, this would have been no doubt a candidate for “Kit of the Year”. But do not take my perhaps too meticulous review as negative, I am just trying to save fellow modelers potential headaches, AND notice that I bought a second kit of this Beautiful French Beast. But know that you will have to work hard. Still…big reward!
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