WildEagles: Mitsubishi Ki-51 "Sonia" by Danilo Renzulli

Here's a review of my 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-51 by Clear Prop.

When I opened the box at first I had a very good impression - a lot of pieces, very sharp, very well executed surface details and the impression of a model with no assembly problems - the kit includes a p/e fret and a vinyl set of masks. Impressive is the amount of microscopic and very sharp small pieces, as small as a photoetched parts.

The problems arose once the stubb and all the interior details were fixed and assembled, the stubb couldn't be squeezed in the two fuselage halves! So begun a long filing, sanding , milling and dry-fitting session. Once fixed this not welcome problem I could proceed to cement the two fuselage halves, wings and all the other components- the fitting of all this parts revealed to be perfect.

I decided to paint this model in a typical tropical camouflage scheme from a few well known pictures, although unknown is the unit this subject belonged to. For the the overall hairyokushoku I used a mixture of colours by Mr.Color paints as well as for the green "worms". Painting the "worms" has been a bit difficult since I was supposed to have more practice with my new Harder & Steenbeck airbrush- considering my ability level I can almost be satisfied...

The unit emblem on the tail is from Kora Models decal sheet, while the hinomaru have been airbrushed with Maketar masks. I made the small masks to airbrush the red rhombus around the wing guns. A few p/e details have been added from the provided sheet while I rebuilt the typical pitot tube on the wing with micro brass pipes .

In the end this kit turned into a nice model with very fine surface details.

- Danilo Renzulli -