Mitsubishi Ki-21-IA ‘Sally’ bomber
60th Sentai, 2nd Chutai, spring 1939
Various AB's in occupied China
(ICM 72205, 1/72)
60th Sentai, 2nd Chutai, spring 1939
Various AB's in occupied China
(ICM 72205, 1/72)
I finally completed my Mitsubishi Ki-21-Ia 'Sally' bomber. The kit is well detailed both on the inside and outsides. The building itself went well, but the plastic is a bit brittle which caused some problems when cutting the parts from their sprues and with the assembly of the landing gear and the engines. There were some minor other problems, like getting the tiny windows in place on the fuselage, which I could solve with some effort. A real problem I had with the incorrect color scheme as prescribed by ICM and it took me a lot of research and consulting experts on Japanese WWII planes (esp. “Arawasi George”) before I could pick and apply the right paints and shades. I prefer Tamiya paints for my Japanese aircraft and in this case I used XF-49 Khaki, XF-13 J.A. Green and X-2 Flat White for the upper side and XF-27 Black Green Flat for the undersides (NOT black!). Applying the challenging camouflage scheme was in itself quite an ordeal for me, being a brush painter. For the masking of the 129 tiny windows I used the Eduard CX638 masking set. I sprayed the kit with a layer of Mr. Hobby Top Coat Flat to finish it off. Well, here she is:
7 comments:
Awesome built and painting, Jan!
Good job.
I'm just wondering which photo ICM based on for this painting? Why the black bottom? Anyone know?
@Jerzy: Eagle Eye #3, p.46-47. NOT black bottom.
Thank you very much for the information.
By the way, I would like to ask: the photo shows the dark undersides of the wings, probably the lower part of the front of the fuselage and perhaps also the horizontal tail. If it's not black, what color was used? 21 Midori iro from upper surfaces or similar?
@Jerzy: According to newly discovered (after our release of EE#3) crystal clear official Mitsubishi photos, the particular aircraft ORIGINALLY had it's undersurfaces in the same green as the top colour. But according to our caption on EE#3, p.47, "The top right and middle photos confirm that the underside colour is a lot darker than the green and mustard brown of the top camouflage." and therefore it seems the green got overpainted with a darker paint. Things to consider: 1. The camouflage of these pre-production aircraft were test patterns by Mitsubishi, not official IJAAF patterns as first suggested by Don Thorpe. After these 3-4 pre-production aircraft ALL other Mitsubishi and Nakajima Ki-21 Model1s were delivered in overall IJAAF "hairyokushoku" (gray). So, it's difficult to know exactly which paints/colours were tested on these few pre-production bombers. 2. Black was not an official IJAAF camouflage colour. There was a "deep blue black" and a "very dark green". In my opinion the colour Jan used, XF-27 Black Green Flat, is very possible and looks great. HTH.
Thank you for your comprehensive answer. My mistake: I didn't read that Jan used the XF-27. Sorry for the confusion.
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