Here are some pictures along with a description of what is going on with the Ki-21 Sally. I have secured most of the clear parts now.
Please follow along as I explain what's going on... 🙂
To begin with, I want to clarify one thing that I talked about in a previous post about the size of this aircraft versus a G4M "Betty". I checked online, to see exactly what the difference would be. They are similar in size, but the Betty was a little bit bigger than the Sally was.
The Ki-21 Sally had
a wingspan of 73 feet 10 inches or 22.5 M
It was 52 feet 6 inches long or 16 M
and it was 15 feet 11 inches tall.
The Mitsubishi G4M Betty was slightly bigger...
it had a wingspan of 81 feet 8 inches or 24.89 M
was 65 feet 6 inches long or 19.97 M
and was 16 feet 1 inch tall, or 4.9 M
I knew it looked to be similar in size when compared to my Tamiya 1/48 scale G4M.
Tom Cleaver (
@tcinla)
This picture is for you. It shows one of the painting schemes that I was talking to you about in one of my previous posts about how some of the planes from the 60th Sentai were camouflaged. This one looks to be wearing night time camouflage since the undersides of the aircraft are painted in a Black or dark color of sorts. This also happens to be one of the decal choices for one the the 1/72 scale ICM kits that was recently released.
I thought you might find it interesting. I remember watching an episode of "Dogfights" on the History Channel a while back, when they interviewed a former AVG pilot named John R. Allison who was a Major at the time of this event I'm about to describe. He flew a nighttime mission and downed two or three twin engine bombers, which were most likely Ki-21's. He in turn was shot down and crash landed his P-40 in a river, and survived. Later he became a Major General in the US Air Force.
Today I wanted to get the dorsal gunner's position finished.
So I cleaned up the rear fuselage deck insert, and also the spinners, since both would be getting painted soon. I also prepped the tail wheel strut for painting, since it will also be the same color. I press fit the tail wheel strut in place, and it fits like a glove. I don't even think it will be necessary to use glue on this part.
The twin dorsal MG's were assembled, painted and installed on the gun ring mount. Later this part was permanently glued in place on the dorsal fairing.
The "opened" bomb bay doors were also assembled. These are a bit fragile / finicky, so take your time here.
Once these assemblies were completed, it was time to bring out the air brush.
I sprayed both spinners...
The tail wheel strut...
The dorsal insert...
and the bomb bay doors. I was very careful not to get any paint on the interior of these doors. I wanted to preserve the Aotake finish as best as I could.
Once the paint dried enough, I glued the completed dorsal insert in place.
It was then covered with the plexi-glass canopy part, (which is remarkably clear).
This photo shows the completed bomb bay doors. You can really see how the Aotake color pops. This is a really cool effect I think.
This shows a close up of the biggest clear parts. There are a lot of windows to mask ahead !
This last picture shows how the Sally looks at the moment.
Once I get the clear parts masked off, this one will be heading to the paint shop...
Thanks for stopping by, and as always, comments are encouraged.
Good night.
