Introduction

The following introduction is taken from the ICM website:

The Ki-21 bomber, also known as the Sully during World War II, was developed by Mitsubishi designers in accordance with the requirements set by the General Aviation Directorate. The first prototype of the aircraft took off on December 18, 1936, and flight tests of prototypes took place over the next year. Serial production began in the spring of 1938. The bomber was produced by two factories, Nakajima and Mitsubishi, and the aircraft of these two different manufacturers had slight differences in the design of the nose of the fuselage. A modification of the aircraft designated Ki-21-Ib (the second production version of the Ki-21 bomber line) was produced with the experience of air combat in the skies of China and had enhanced small arms. The main visual difference between the bombers of this modification was the tail machine gun emplacement. The aircraft took an active part in combat operations during the Sino-Japanese War and the early stages of World War II. Subsequently, they were transferred to training units, and some of them were converted into transport aircraft.

Review

This offering from ICM arrives in theusual flip top cardboard tray, with an additional card lid. The contents arepackaged within a resealable plastic bag, with the decals secured inside theinstruction booklet. Part access is good and gates minimal, and are also of areasonable size. The Packaging process does open the parts up to warping, but inthis case nothing is overly concerning me.

As a video has been released of theconstruction of this kit by ICM, I am going to restrict this review to commentson the moulding, and heavy on pictures. There are some flow lines present, butthese do not appear to have damaged the finish. The panel lines themselves arevery fine, which is nice but does leave the risk of flooding when painting. Iwas concerned initially that the model would be an up-scaled version of the1/72nd kit, but that happily does not appear to be the case. The instruction booklet covers the varioussteps clearly, and even provides a template for cutting your own masks. I willsay that on a model with the amount of glazing this has, I would buy a maskingset rather than trying to make my own. ICM has provided 4 finishing options forthe kit, which are:

KI-21-LB “Sally”, 60th AirGroup, China, 1940

KI-21-LB “Sally”, 60th AirGroup, 2nd Squadron, China, 1940

KI-21-IB “Sally”, Hamamatsu Army FlyingSchool, Japan, Probably 1941

KI-21-LB “Sally”, 25th AirBrigade, HQ Flight, Japan, 1943