Wednesday 18 October 2023

Brand New Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally" in 1/48!

ICM just announced that their Mitsubishi Ki-21-1b or Model 1 Otsu, in 1/48, is available from today.
Photos from their site.
The kit.
The decal set includes markings for four aircraft:
Ki-21-Ib ‘Sally’, 60th Sentai (60th Air Group), China, 1940
Ki-21-Ib ‘Sally’, 60th Sentai 2nd Chutai (60th Air Group, 2nd Squadron), China, 1940
Ki-21-Ib ‘Sally’, Hamamatsu Army Flying School, Japan, probably 1941
Ki-21-Ib ‘Sally’, 25 Hikodan Shireibu Hikohan (25 Air Brigade HQ Flight), Japan, 1943

Here's a video of the kit assembly.

I asked them to include pillows for the backs of the pilots' seats since their 1/72 kit didn't have any, but I guess they forgot. Another issue is with the dorsal gunner's seat. Although no photos have ever surfaced to show clearly the seat, I explained to them that it was probably a folding seat attached either to the fuselage sides or the rear wall. Instead, they opted for the rather ridiculous configuration of their 1/72 kit. Nothing that can't be easily fixed, though.