Mitsubishi Ki-21 "Sally" in 1/48 by Dan Salamone

This is my completed 1/48 ICM Ki-21I kit. Products used include: Gunze acrylic black surfacer, Tamiya acrylics, including custom mixes for IJA interior blue grey and exterior dark green (ao midori iro), AK paint marker for lighter green undercolor above Tamiya XF-14 base camouflage. Dead Design canopy masks, Kelik 3D decal interior details, oils for weathering and some light use of AK weathering pencils. Kit decals were used, I also added landing lights from MV lenses, and brake lines from fine wire.

This is my third “larger” kit from ICM, and so far the best as far as engineering, fit, and in the box detail. The clear parts are of a very high quality. Be sure to dry fit everything, there are a few steps where parts numbers are transposed on the instructions, dry fitting will reveal these errors. The main thing to be very careful of on this model is when the landing gear need to be attached, which is before the lower cowl parts are attached. This means the long gear legs are exposed to lots of handling, and also being masked during the painting process.

ICM would also have you build the model with the bomb aiming device protruding from the lower nose. The vast majority of Ki-21 images sitting on the ground show this instrument as not being visible, I closed the molded open hole and stowed the device inside the fuselage.

The bomb bay doors are also a bit fiddly, and ICM would have you glue the door halves together, with the front and back actuator arms in between, then attach the assembly for each side once dry. I attached the “outside” doors to the fuselage, then added the actuator arms, and the following day attached the “inner” doors. I'm not fully satisfied with the final look, if the attachment points on the door parts were more pronounced, it would have been a much easier process.

Overall, this model was very enjoyable, and is yet another type that I had though we would never see in 1/48. Kudos to ICM for daring to produce models like this, even more so during a time of war in the Ukraine.

It took me awhile to decide on what camouflage scheme to go with. I had assumed I'd go with one of the later Hamamatsu bomber school schemes, but ultimately decided on the 25th Independent Air Brigade HQ Flight option. 

The few images I was working from showed 2 colors painted on the overall grey green, to replicate the lighter color I went with the AK paint marker for ao midori iro, which is lighter than their color in the bottle. I mixed my own version of this same color to be close to the bottle color, using Tamiya acrylics. Thinning about 40% using Tamiya acrylic thinner and Tamiya acrylic retarder, and using less than 10 psi, I freehanded the dark green color in two separate sessions, totaling about 5 or 6 hours. I've been using an Iwata HP-C for almost 25 years, and as usual it performed very well.

The final clear coat is a new (to me) product, Gunze “Mr. Super Smooth Clear Matt”, in a spray can. This clear coat dries quickly, is matt, yet has a very fine eggshell finish that is very pleasing to the eye. 

References used were Famous Aircraft of the World #153, and Arawasi Eagle Eye #3. For a full build review with many in progress images, please look for my personal model bulding page on Facebook, “The 48th Dimension”. 

- Dan Salamone -