Hasegawa 1/72, Mitsubishi Ki-51 Sonia
Ki-51 was a versatile airplane, built in over 2.300 units. Although easy pray for modern American fighters, it had very important role in secondary war theaters. I choose to present a version in controversial dark blue camouflage, which operated in Taiwan.
Assembly went without problems, except that some sanding is needed to fit clear parts. Who wish to enhance the model there is not much of interior details, exhaust pipes and guns could be improved, but on the other hand I choose just to add seat belts made from Tamiya tape and wing machine guns barrels from hypodermic needles.
I used Gunze colors IJA gray for undersides and Blue Angels blue for the top surfaces. Hinomaru are sprayed using Edvard masks, except for tail markings: number seven is generic armor set and symbol was cut on white decal paper. Chipping was done with silver pencil.
Since the model was finished few months ago, antenna wire got loosened probably from humidity, next time I will try with fishing wire,
8 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Tom Cleaver said on April 24, 2014
This is the old mania kit from 40 years ago. Nothing wrong with that, but this kit, the K1.27, the B5N2 and the Babs were the very first of what became “modern” models – compared to what had been to then, they had cockpit detail, engraved paneling, etc. Mania went bust in 1975 after the 1/48 K1.27, and the company was then bought by Hasegawa who took all the designers aboard – which is when Hasegawa kits changed.
Nice work on this.
Editor said on April 24, 2014
Very neat! I like it a lot and your finishing skills demonstrate that monochrome schemes do not need to look “boring”.
Good idea to switch to fishing line for antennae.
Rob Pollock said on April 25, 2014
The Empire of Japan aircraft are all under-rated in my opinion. I think there’s a new large scale Val to be released this year (can’t recal manufacturer), but from the workmanship seen here on the Ki-51, good modelling skills work in any scale.
olivier.rive said on April 25, 2014
Really nice finished ! nice color for this Sonia….
great job.
Milan Vukovic said on April 25, 2014
Thank you all for your kind comments. This blue scheme certainly makes it pop up in my collection.
@Tom Cleaver, thank you for that information, I didn’t know about Mania kits.
@Editor, I agree, monochrome schemes are sometimes more challenging. This one was sprayed over white surface primer, and I only added unevenly thin layers of blue color.
Gregor d said on April 25, 2014
Cool! Nice paint job on a type i’m not familiar with. Good to see more Japanese ‘planes in the headlines.
George Williams said on April 26, 2014
Nice looking model, Milan, and it’s interesting to read how you built and finished it.
Frank Cronin said on May 1, 2014
Milan,
Beautifully done.