MPM 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-21 Sally "revised"

MPM 1:72 MITSUBISHI KI-21 SALLY
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Jesús Alcocer (www.j-models.org)

Kit Details:

MPM Kit No.: 72511
Parts: 76 including injection, resin (26) and clear parts.
Decals: Two sheets with marking options for up to 11 Sentai units.

A Short Aircraft History:

Following some incidents with the Russians on the Mongolian frontier at the beginning of 1936, the Japanese Air Headquarters issued the specifications for a twin-engined monoplane heavy bomber to replace the Army Type 92 Heavy Bomber Ki-20. The new bomber would feature either a Nakajima Ha-5 or a Mitsubishi Ha-6 powerplant. In anticipation to its use in the Manchukuo-Siberia area, it had to be able to operate in extreme cold weather.

In answer to this specification, Nakajima submitted its Ki-19, Kawasaki the Ki-22 and Mitsubishi the Ki-21. The Air Headquarters selected both Nakajima and Mitsubishi proposals and ordered competitive projects from both manufacturers. The Mitsubishi project was led by engineers Nakata and Ozawa who completed the first prototype in only nine months after the Headquarters specifications. In November 1937 the Army signed a contract with Mitsubishi to build the officially known as Army Type 97 Heavy Bomber Model I, although Nakajima also received a share of the production aircraft. Once the field units received the first Ki-21s, they started operations in Manchuria. It soon became evident that protection was not enough and the Sentais suffered heavy losses against Russian fighter aircraft fielded by the Chinese. Mitsubishi began to produce the Ki-21-Ib or Army Type 97 Heavy Bomber Model 1B, correcting some major drawbacks detected in early combats. Model Ib was soon followed by Ic with increased armament and fuel load.

From November 1939 Mitsubishi started the building of a new model with air-cooled fourteen-cylinder Mitsubishi Ha-101 engines that featured longer propellers. Tests began in March 1940, and the aircraft was ordered into production as Army Type 97 Heavy Bomber Model IIa. The Ki-21 (codenamed Sally by the Allies) was due to be replaced by Nakajima Ki-49 Donryu new bomber which did not meet the Army expectations and consequently further changes from field experience were made in order to keep Ki-21s updated. The lack of adequate defensive armament and its limited range of fire made Mitsubishi to eliminate the long dorsal 'greenhouse' and replace it by a conical turret housing a flexible 12.7 mm machine-gun. The new version was called Model IIb. Although small equipment changes and improved petrol protection were also introduced, the new aircraft was basically identical to previous versions. The last Ki-21-IIb was delivered in September 1944.

The Kit

There hadn’t been a 1/72 Ki-21 kit in the market since the old Revell –Takara one back in the 1970s, until MPM released this some years ago. The Czech manufacturer revised this kit some time later as a part of their commercial policy of reboxing old toolings with extra parts and decals to make them multimedia models. The revision, as far as I know, included a new decal sheet and the Eduard paint masks. You will not find the version of the Sally you are building in the instructions, but it is a IIa model with glazed dorsal 'greenhouse' and shorter, rounder engine cowlings. MPM also has a Model IIb with dorsal turret which must be the same mould because you can also build that version with this kit (a turret and a plastic part to cover the dorsal gap are included).

You will have to discard the transparent turret if you do not wish to build the model IIb, for which there are not any painting references in the instructions. The plastic parts are quite well moulded, without any flash although there are several ejector pins that must be sanded on the inner side of the fuselage halves, wings and stabilizers. The panel lines are finely engraved and I think they represent the real referent accurately. The plastic is soft enough to sand (I have checked it in some parts) and it seems that fitting will not cause especial troubles, although you will probably have to use putty in some points. The fitting of wings and stabilizers to the fuselage is rather weak, particularly the wings, which are hollow and fit by means of a protuberance on both sides of the fuselage. Maybe they need a different solution to make them stronger, but be careful with the fuselage interior that will be seen through the glazed dorsal canopy.

The resin parts are very thoroughly detailed and have little flash. The interior cockpit comes in just one part including the floor, the cabin door and the instruments on the right side. There are also other resin instruments for the left side too. The cockpit includes an optional seat behind the co-pilot position which I suppose it is for the trainer version of the Hamamatsu Flight School in the instructions or simply perhaps for another gunner. The resin set also includes two excellent engines, the machine-guns (with the remote-controlled one in the tail tip), control sticks, exhausts, instrument panel and the additional fuel tank placed just below the dorsal canopy. All the crew seats have moulded belts.

Instructions and Colour Schemes

The instructions come in a leaflet with the usual historical summary and they are easy to follow. The painting options shown on the last page represent 11 units with three basic colour schemes: dark green over grey green, overall grey green or a variant of this latter with spotted dark green upper surfaces.

Decals and Painting Masks

The addition of the Eduard paint masks has been a wise decision since you will avoid the tiresome task of masking so many windows all over the model. As I said above there are two decal sheets, the smaller one, printed by Propagtem, seems to be for the older edition of the Ki-21 with only two Sentai markings, and the larger must have been added for the new reboxing. This has unit markings for up to 9 different Sentais. All the decals are finely printed.

Accuracy

I can’t risk a comment about the accuracy of the kit dimensions. The best reference I have about the Sally are a couple of really fine pictures of the interior cockpit from Maru Mechanic. If they show an approximate look of the real cockpit (and the pictures of the Japanese magazine usually do), MPM has achieved a realistic scale version of it. I have also compared the pilot’s injected canopy to pictures of real Ki-21 and it seems the front glazed panels don’t have the correct angle in the kit.

Overall Recommendation

Unquestionably this MPM Ki-21 is a good kit, but not recommendable for beginners unless you have some experience with resin and clear parts. Overall it is a model which gives you at least so much as the (expensive) price you pay for it.

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