Unfortunately, the accuracy of this Ki-48 kit seems extraordinarily poor... A few issues, probably not an exhaustive list by any stretch... -Rear fuselage too deep or too short by a massive amount. -Fin leading edge angle far too sloped, but trimmable considering excessive chord. -The nose deck profile angle ahead of the windshield is enormously too steep... -As a consequence of the previous, the nose glass is extremely pointy in profile and not deep and rounded enough at the front... The amount involved is likely gigantic, unless I am badly mistaken... -Windshield side quaterlights are near triangles: They should be trapeze-shaped... -Cowlings far too square at the front. -Cowling top intakes far too deep. -Spinner shape so different from pictures one can only assume they are a variant. It is likely they are just terrible... Here are a few relevant pictures from which the observations were made: Fuselage profile: LINK LINK LINK LINK LINK Nose slope/ clear parts/ cowl issues: LINK LINK If this was a mainstream injected model, I would say it is one of the worst major new mainstream releases I have seen since the Accurate Miniatures B-25 of nine years ago, and in fact it shares some of the same problems, such as the clear nose, the canopy and the cowlings... Even Eduard's FW-190A series or Tamiya's Fi-156 Storch are not quite in the same league of awfulness, which to me is saying something... It is really sad to see such an important subject treated with such apparent contempt. With the exception of Dragon's Ju-188E variant and Tamiya's G4M1 Betty, one only has to look at Monogram's excellent B-17G or B-26B to see how far down 1/48th multi-engine WWII bombers have regressed since the 1970's... Gaston P.S. Trumpeteer's Wellington is a decent effort, but is really marred by the crushed cockpit canopy and its super-thick window frames. AMT's A-20 has something really wrong with the excessive diameter of its cowling/nacelles, but it is truly an excellent effort otherwise, and the cowl problem is not really that noticeable, except for the thin "lips"... G.

Gaston is back! I've missed you dude, always good for a laugh. You should post the above over on Hyperscale as well...stir them right up again! Andrew

I'm not seeing the fin slope issue, but for the cowl, spinner, and especially NOSE remarks... compared to the photos provided and others...I agree, it looks wrong. That's saying something, because I'm not the sort to see many of the defects that others complain about (I like my AM B-25...after opening the cowls.). Compared to the photos of the real A/C, the fuselage area under the tail is very shallow as well. But it's the nose that really looks wrong (and can't imagine how it could be fixed). I'd love to say, "It's great to have a 1/48 Ki-84 and we'll never have another one in the next 50 years so I'll build it anyway." But I just won't. Maybe it's just that I'm seeing these photos on the same day as those of the Hobby Boss Hellcat (ugh), but I'm getting kind of tired of poor products being rushed out the door. I'll have to pass...and I was really looking forward to this one.

Here is some more money to spend for that kit (found at Hannants, I've seen nothing on the Legato site) AZ PE for Ki48 AZ Masks for Ki48 both by Eduard .. pushes your kit near 100GBP... all the best Steffen

Hi Steffen, Thanks for the heads up. I am currently writing the review of the kit and wanted to say it was a bit overpriced since there was no PE fret included. Ok, now I see why... Jean-Luc

Man... AZ has started to sell their PE and masks separately? Major bummer. Not that I'm that much interested in this particular kit, but I hope they don't follow that trend.

Hi Guys I also find that pretty bad move. You will have to buy the masks (except you are kind of a masochist) and the PE dash and belts surely add a lot. So why not throw it in the kit .. just to gain some extra money. I find the Modelimex price rather high already (55Euro; it is even more at Hannants). BTW I found the part of the site where thes AM stuff is: left side menu under AZ Accessories. Also AZ has updated the model kit section (I only look under 48 scale): Vultee Vengeance, Spitfire PR.Mk.XI (new tool), Lily variants, T-28 Trojan variants, Lorna, PC-9, Widgeon .. not sure this is suitable for a news entry as there are no pictures yet ... all the best Steffen

Hi again, After having looked at the PE fret picture more closely I can say that most of the parts will replace existing ones. So the set will not add details but only make the build easier and faster. But maybe AZ Model will do another PE set with extra details... and for extra money! Jean-Luc

Hi there It seems a very strange decision - and certainly not likely to be popular with their customers. All the best Rowan