Hasegawa 1/72 Ki-15 Babs

HASEGAWA 1:72 MITSUBISHI KI-15-I BABS

Reviewer: Richard Stracey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 5 November 2003 (#83)

Kit Details:

HASEGAWA #B3:350 1/72 MITSUBISHI Ki- 15-1 BABS

Aircraft History:

Two prototypes of the Ki-15 two seat reconnaissance aircraft were built, one military and one civil. It went into service with the army in 1937 as the Army Type 97 Model 1. The civil prototype J-BAAI made a record breaking flight in April 1937 from Tachikawa Japan to Croydon England and return in just over 51 hours! Named “Kamakaze” it also collected film of the coronation of King George VI for the Asahi newspaper office. The Ki-15 saw action over China and was upgraded with more powerful engines and towards the end of the war they were used in kamikaze attacks. The Navy ordered twenty as the Navy Type 98 Model 1. In all 489 were built, powered by a 640 hp Nakajima HA-8 redial engine and had a span of 12m and length of 8.7m.

The Kit:

This kit consists of forty finely detailed parts in crisp grey plastic. Decals are for two (army?) aircraft and, in this case, the instructions are in Japanese although some kits do come with English translations. For this reason I am not sure of the squadron or location of the aircraft or the colours although the good box art shows standard camouflage. The kit actually started life as a Mania kit # C-3001. The only change in the actual kit is that Hasegawa have engraved their logo on the inside of the lower wing. The difference is in the instructions, decals and box.

The decals are for J-BAAI “Kamakaze” and J-BAAL although no information is given for the latter. Instructions are very good and include an English translation. Box art is very eye catching and the four view colour card must be the best ever! Some other Mania kits were the Mitsubishi C5M1 and Ki-51 and Nakajima B5N2 and Ki-27.

Construction:

Construction is simple. I preferred to leave the engine unit off till all painting had been completed but added the nose (26) to the fuselage. The interior is more than adequate as, I can assure you, that very little can be seen. The only clue to the age of the kit is the spats and wheels being one moulding but, with careful painting, this doesn’t distract from the result. I used Kristal Kleer for the side windows and camera port. I would have liked to include an ariel wire but the mast (21) was simply too delicate to support it.

Painting, Finishing & Conclusion:

As I have said, since the instructions are in Japanese I am not sure of the colours except that the option is brown and green over light grey or all over light grey with a black cowl. The decals are very simple but the “meatballs” look too bright. It didn’t matters I had the Mania kit too and wanted to make J-BAAI which was a much more attractive scheme. The problem was, how do you have your cake an also eat it? The Mania kit is, after all, a collector’s item. Easy. The answer is to make the Hasegawa kit, paint it as the Mania kit and copy the Mania decals! I used Humbrol 25 Matt Blue over sprayed with gloss varnish and, rather than the usual aluminium, I used Testors 1790 Chrome Silver as I am sure that it would have had an extra polish before leaving for England. I also sprayed a bit of clear decal film blue to use for the canopy framing. I was pleased with the result, a very smart, good looking aircraft, surprisingly small, only about the size of a Spitfire.

Reference:

Air International of Nov.’74 reviews the Mania kit and the Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft V11 p.2520 supplies information and V14 p.3254 shows a photo of J-BAAI.

RHS / 83

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