MPM 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-83

MPM 1:72 MITSUBISHI KI-83
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Paul Wherran (rec.models.scale)

Kit Details: MPM No.72088 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-83

Aircraft History: The Ki-83 was essentially built as a long range interceptor or escort fighter and was a twin engined version of the failed single engined Ki-73 attempt. The Ki-83 was produced in only a short handful of prototype forms and first took to the sky in late 1944. Armed with four nose cannons and a great deal of performance the aircraft performed very well but was introduced too late in the war to be produced beyond prototype form, plus there was a need to churn out existing designs to keep the war effort up. There were also problems with vibrations in the tail and engine which slowed any further development and by the time things were looking promising the war had come to an end. The USAAF captured one Ki-83 and used it for its own flight tests and comparisons were made with the F7F Tigercat.

Kit Parts: Three sprues of limited run parts molded in light grey greet you plus an injection molded canopy. The kit looks much better than a lot of early MPM offerings showing that they have come a long way since their early days. There is virtually no flash on the parts and the sprue lugs are not as thick as they have been in other kits. Panel lines are finely engraved onto the kit and there are a few ejector pin marks to remove on the insides of some of the larger pieces, but they certainly are not as pronounced as they have been in past kits, especially on the smaller parts. There are five clear parts on a separate sprue which are reasonably thin for a limited run kit although the canopy is only in one-piece. Overall, it certainly doesn't have all the vices of a short run kit in the box.

Instructions: Very much standard for what MPM produce with a brief history, sprue diagram, nine assembly steps followed by markings and decals guide for the two examples of the same aircraft that this kit produces. Colour codes come from the Humbrol range with some generic names.

Colour Options: The kit provides for one aircraft being the prototype, which is in two schemes. Firstly in its Japanese guise and then secondly in its USAAF guise after it was captured. Both schemes are upper dark green over light grey undersides as depicted on the boxart.

Decals: Produced by Propagteam with excellent register and no doubt will apply well to the model. The amount of decals is very minimal and simply consists of Japanese or USAAF roundels, with a white "1" for the Japanese scheme..

Cockpit/Wheel Bay Detail: There are no resin or etched parts supplied in this kit so cockpit detail is what most would class as "adequate" but nothing more. The inside of the fuselage lacks any sidewall detail and the basics of instrument panel, seat and stick are provided for in both cockpit sections for the crew of two. Wheel well detail has very small amount of plumbing so nothing to write home about here either.

Optional components: There are no optional components other than wheels up and wheels down.

On the Sprue Impressions: Some things haven't changed even though this limited run kit appears more mainstream than others I have seen from MPM in the past and that is that some clean up of the parts and careful removing from the sprue will be required. There are also no locating pins so most parts need to be placed carefully and butt joined. Test fitting of the parts will be a must and probably some sanding of the mating surfaces will be required to aid the adhesion process. The absence of etched parts and resin means that the kit is not as detailed as a lot of other limited run kits so this will largely depend on your point of view whether you need to look for some aftermarket stuff to spruce up the kit.

The breakdown of the parts is pretty standard although the tail fin is a separate piece to put onto the completed fuselage. Wings are split into respective upper and lower halves and along with tailplanes are butt joined as mentioned above. It will mean making sure that these parts are affixed at the correct angle, which is pretty horizontal according to the instructions, and left to dry.

The engine is fairly basic and because the cowlings have a streamlined look about them it means that the engine itself will be almost invisible inside. The prop blades are separate parts so have to be added one by one, I am still a modeller who prefers all the blades provided in a kit on a hub rather than them being separate. Probably because I have a few problems getting them to affix correctly.

Other than that the kit looks pretty straighforward although the landing gear is very simplistic and the wheels are not weighted.

Conclusion: From the looks of things this kit promises to be a fairly straightforward build if there is any such thing with a limited run kit. It is an attractive looking aircraft and it is a pity it did not see any full scale production. In spite of it being a reasonable sized aircraft there is not a lot of parts to complicate the build. Certainly have no hesitations about recommending this kit to those who have a built a few kits in the past.

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