Strikingly beautiful, the Mitsubishi Ki-21, known to the Allies as “Sally,” was a workhorse bomber for the Japanese army during World War II. More than 2,000 were built between 1938 and 1944, and it served Japan until the war’s end and after with several air arms in Asia.
The kit parts show terrific detail, including fine recessed panel lines. Unfortunately, some of those lines get a little faint near the top and bottom of the fuselage halves. This is likely a quality control issue, as I have not seen this on other ICM kits.
The logically laid out instructions include color callouts for ICM paints; the company’s website has an excellent cross-reference table for other brands of paint, should you need it. The templates for masks for the numerous clear parts are a nice addition. I have been experimenting with an automatic cutting tool, so I scanned and cut the masks on tape without difficulty.
The instructions for the interior omit color callouts. Based on an August 2009 article on aviationofjapan.com, I used a dark blue-green paint for all crew access areas, with non-crew interior surfaces aluminum over-sprayed with a clear blue-green. The build is straightforward once you pin down the interior colors.
In Step 8, you must decide whether to pose the bomb bay open or closed. The kit provides a one-piece insert to cover the bay for the latter. Everything fits well, including the fuselage halves. The body plastic is thin, so I recommend adding styrene braces inside to reinforce and cover the seams.
The instructions assemble and install the bomb-bay doors in steps 42 to 44, but I deferred this process until after painting. When you assemble them, deviate from the instructions and start by installing the doors that attach to the fuselage (parts C4 and C5) and let the glue set. Then, attach the inner door halves.
I ran into an issue when I installed the gun in the nose. The instructions clearly show the gun in the nose cone installed facing up. However, the box art shows the gun facing down. I looked at photos online, installed it down to match the box art, and concluded I didn’t know which way was right.
The wing spar inserts into the fuselage and adds considerable stiffness to the finished model. The box art proved helpful when installing antennas and bracing wires, indicating the attachment points to the upper fuselage.
Two of the national insignia decals didn’t want to adhere, so I masked and painted them with Mr. Color RLM23 Red (No. C114), a good match for the kit decal color.
The wheels slide into the wheel hubs, and you don’t need to glue them into place, but moving the plane can easily pop them out.
ICM’s 1/48 scale K1-21 Sally is a beautiful plastic model aircraft kit of what might be the most beautiful bomber produced during WWII. This is the only injection-molded plastic Sally in this scale, and it is very welcome. An intermediate modeler with a few kits under their belt should have no trouble adding this stunning aircraft to their collection, and I hope ICM will produce other 1/48 scale Japanese bombers in the future.