Civil Mitsubishi Ki-15 II newspaper courier

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

After the excesses and debauchery of scratchbuilding, conversions, modifying or detailing models, it´s good to take a break and build something simpler and with a tranquil color scheme (hey, just one color!).

Some time ago I bought some kits from the ARII brand of the Mitsubishi Ki-15 (I and II) in order to build the civil versions used as couriers by Japanese newspapers.

Now I just started work on the Ki-15 II kit, in order to render one of the newspaper couriers: J-BACL (Domei Press), J-BACK (Osaka Mainichi Shimbun), J-BACR (also Domei Press), or J-BAAO (Asahi Shimbun). All had variations on the side windows, antennas and small marks.

Here a Wikipedia photo of J-BACL:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/Mitsubishi_Karigane_II_J-BACL_owned_by_Domei_Press_%28burnt_1938%29.jpg

Rising Decals issued some time ago the J-BIRDS II sheet which has the J-BACL registration (and other civil planes) but is now OOP and unavailable. So if you have to make your own decals anyway, you can go for either of the above.

The "new" (not) ARII kit (that seems to be a re-pop of older brands) is very pleasant, with features you wish much modern kits would have. The engraved panel lines are restrained, the surface detail is nice, the breakdown practical. The parts are thin, and not the heavy duty chunks you get even today from certain manufacturers. The transparencies are ok, and the instructions clear enough. The interior is there, although it isn't outstanding, but as usual not much will be seen of it anyway.

One issue: an unrealistic "flattened" engine (although in two rows).

And two nit-picks: so-so wheels (not much will be seen of them anyway inside the wheel pants), and a not very good rendition of the fabric on the rudder (very easily corrected with just a few passes of fine sanding sponge).

The fit seems good, but we'll be checking that as the build progresses.

 The parts:

 

Nice surface detail:

 

Some detail, just a tad chunky for the Pitot:

 

Again nice surface detail and very good thin parts:

 

ok transparencies:

 

 

ok instructions:

 

Engine pancake (why did they do that?) and a tad too simple wheels:

 

Fabric detail could be lightly treated to some passes with fine grain sanding sponge:

 

The two additional windows on the fuselage side are slightly blanked, to cater for multiple versions:

 

 For this version, one more window, ahead and up, needs to be opened:

 

The idea is to keep this build nice and simple, contrary to what I always do.
Some parts glued together. In general good fit, but I removed the locating pins for the nose parts:

 

The interior color is applied:

 

Inst. panel and engine painted:

 

 Third window opened:

 

Once the interior is painted, the parts are glued to the fuselage sides:

 

Then the halves are glued together and one of the nose parts is also attached to keep a better grip on the whole. I will also recommend to remove the locating pins here. They are tiny, and don't produce major misalignments, but may be a hair off:

 

Once the fuselage glue had set, wing and horizontal tail were added. Good fit overall with minimal cleanup:

 

 

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

I decided to replace the Pitot arrangement (a bit too chunky in the kit) and the tail wheel (not really the accurate angle). 

It is of note that, in spite of the drawing on the Rising Decals instructions sheet, no photo I have of J-BACL shows either a spinner of a mast antenna (almost all other regs. do).

So I will do away with the spinner. Pity, because it enhances the lines of the plane. But again, only photos of J-BACL show no spinner, the other registrations of the civil versions do.

The small bits still in the sprue that are located on the cockpit coaming areas in the kit, are not visible in photos, perhaps deleted from the civil version), so I won't be using them:

 

[StephenCJ]

Nice to see something different being built.

 

Stephen

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Thanks Stephen, I think it's the inscrutable charm of wheel pants ;-)

[RidgeRunner]

Looking good

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Does anyone among this distinguished membership know if any of the mask companies (Eduard, Montex and such) makes canopy masks for the Mitsubishi Ki-15 II (aka Babs)?

I couldn't find any on the Net.

Thanks in advance for any information on this point.

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Thanks, Martin.

OK, I gave in to temptation. I replaced the plastic exhausts which lacked depth (although you could just drill them) with alu tube cut in angle and thinned:

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

First coat of primer. The prop was painted with a base of gloss black:

 

[Dazey]

Hi Moa,

 

An interesting project. I have an old Hasegawa 1/72 Ki-15 I, as well as a Fujimi 1/72 Tachikawa Ki-36 kit, the latter will also be done as a Japanese newspaper version (Fujimi kitted a release specifically for this civil/newspaper version). If it's OK, I may hitch a ride on this WIP.

 

FWYW, I seem to remember someone reasonably recently posted a civilian version of Ki-15 I (the "Kamikaze" one that flew from Japan to Germany/UK on a goodwill mission before WWII), but I don't know about the masking option. The Babs was a bit of a greenhouse.  

 

Just found the RFI, but no more pics (photo bucket issue):

 

Maybe shoot Kiwikitbasher a PM for details?

 

Good luck with the build – I'm looking forward to instalments.

 

Regards,

David

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Hi David

Thanks for the added information. I know Kiwikitbasher, we correspond frequently, nice chap!

I am also beginning to build the two existing kit versions of the Ki-15 I (Hasegawa and Arii), as J-BAAI and J-BAAI. Posted on a different place, though, and can't post the link here (goes to a blog).

All these are fun, and look smart.

No canopy masks exist for these models, which is strange. Not terribly difficult to mask those greenhouses, but aftermarket masks always are a great help.

Cheers

P/S: what is FWYW and RFI?

Hey, speak Spanish ;-)

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Decals printed today. The Hinomaru will be stock decals :

 

[Dazey]

17 hours ago, Moa said:

Hi David

Thanks for the added information. I know Kiwikitbasher, we correspond frequently, nice chap!

I am also beginning to build the two existing kit versions of the Ki-15 I (Hasegawa and Arii), as J-BAAI and J-BAAI. Posted on a different place, though, and can't post the link here (goes to a blog).

All these are fun, and look smart.

No canopy masks exist for these models, which is strange. Not terribly difficult to mask those greenhouses, but aftermarket masks always are a great help.

Cheers

P/S: what is FWYW and RFI?

Hey, speak Spanish ;-)

 

Hi Moa,

 

Apologies, one of those was a typo. It was meant to be FWIW (for what it's worth). The other, RFI, is Ready for Inspection (the page on Britmodeller people can post photos of their finished model).

 

Hopefully you'll be able to post a link to the finished items on BM when they're done.

 

Regards,

David

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Hum. I messed up big time trying to get the photos I post on Flickr to appear here but not in my photostream.

I apparently managed to brake all links to my photos posted here in all the builds I shared (so now blank squares show).

I can't manage to restore the photos since reverting them to public setting did not restore the links, making me think that Flickr generates new links every time you change the status of a photo.

Long story. Never mind, Flickr annoys me once again.

I will try something here, to see if it works:

https://farm5.staticflickr.com/4701/28211620009_1e9e59aac0_b.jpg

 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Moa
typo

[John Masters]

I see that.  Looking very cool!

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Thanks for the confirmation, John.

Here a couple more images previous to the one above.

 

 

 

I managed to find how to post Flickr images without them appearing on my photostream (that has its own thematic line)

 

 

Edited January 31, 2018 by Moa
fix tech glitch with images

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

An aftermarket product you can use with this (and other Ki-15) kits, Yahu models instrument panels, a very nice product with an attractive price:

 

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The model is given a second, lighter color coat of paint. The prop is given the white/red tip bands:

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

Landing gear legs on, masks off, half engine inside cowl (to put prop on and lock it on), small window openings filled with window maker:

 

 And the "Oh, I am about to finish the model" syndrome strikes again.
I printed the decals at the wrong size, a fact of course I realized only after cutting the individual subjects of and start to apply them to the model:

[fjaweijfopi4j48]

The replacement exhaust tubes are given a wash while inserted into a toothpick to facilitate handling:

 

 Decals still wet:

 

 Taking shape:

 

Too late for a good photo, but:

 

Now waiting for everything to set and pick up some details: