Hasegawa 1/72 Kawasaki Ki-48-I Type 99 Lily

HASEGAWA 1:72 KAWASAKI KI-48-I TYPE 99 LILY
'INBOX Review'

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)

Kit: Hasegawa 1/72^nd scale Kawasaki Ki-48 Type 99 Lily (Kit N° 51851 / E-12 ). Produced in Japan.

Aircraft: The design of the Kawasaki Ki-48 was motivated by a requirement of the Japanese Imperial Army for a high performance, light twin-engined bomber in 1937. The result was a cantilever wing monoplane with conventional retractable undercarriage, initially propelled by two Nakajima Ha-25 radial engines rated at 950HP. The fuselage could accommodate four crews and had a full enclosed bomb bay. The first prototype flew on July 1939 and, after correcting some shortcomings, it went into series production as the „Army's Light Twin-engined Bomber Type 99 Model 1A“. Used first over China in the autumn 1940, they were immune against Chinese air defence, but once introduced in the pacific theatre (were it was called „Lily“ by the allied) it resulted too slow against the USAAF's fighters. Even the improved version Ki-48-II which featured armored fuel tanks and cockpit and the more powerful Nakajima Ha-115 engines (1150HP) had bad chances to survive when intercepted. By 1944 they were totally surpassed.

Parts: I've got this kit second hand at my local hobby store, packed in a foreign box (from a Hasegawa's F-104S) with scans glued on it, obviously taken from the original box cover. The instructions state „© 1995“, and I presume that this kit has been out of production at least for the last 5 or 6 years ( maybe even longer).

So what's inside? I've got 5 sprues with 78 crisp medium grey parts, one sprue containing 7 thick undamaged transparent parts and a decals sheet, all originally packed in one bag, the instructions laying lose in the box. There's very few flash evident, surface quality is near modern Hasegawa standard, panel lines are finely recessed and ejector pin marks are mostly discreet. Just the usual mold seams to clean up.

The fuselage halves have some detail molded on the inner sides, and you get a lot of parts to build a very busy cockpit. I won't describe it, just take a look at the photo taken from the instructions further below ( a picture tells more than thousand words!). To ease things when gluing the fuselage halves together, I would suggest following the instructions, which tell us to first glue the front inner section and the rear gunner's station on the right halve, later adding the left halve trapping the lower ventral machine gun between them at the same time.

Each wing consists of upper and lower half, and there's a small rectangular part to be glued inside the engine nacelles on the lower wing, this providing the attachment base for the main undercarriage. A circular plate is placed in front of the nacelles, and onto it the engines are glued but-joint (!). This are two-row, and they accommodate a somewhat complicated moveable propeller's shaft. The 3-piece cowling should slide over the engine (so it's better to first finish this subassembly, so that it can be used to place the engine correctly). The vertical fin is molded with the fuselage halves, and each stabilizer is one-piece.

The transparencies unfortunately are a bit thick, and will distort the beautiful interior, but one has to live with it (I can't imagine anybody producing replacement canopies for the Lily). They have crisp raised framings, which will ease the masking a lot. The undercarriage is well detailed, but is not designed for wheels-up use. Finally, a lot of small fittings (filters, antennae and so on) round up the whole thing.

Instructions: Typical fold-out Hasegawa, with brief history / technical data in Japanese and English, general recommendations, symbols explain, sprues layout, color table for Mr. Color and Gunze, 9 easy-to-follow building steps and four-view coloring /decaling diagrams for two versions. Detail coloring is given throughout.

Versions: Two versions can be build:

1.- 3rd Chũtai 8th Hiko Sentai, „Kawasaki dark green“ and a color mixed from 30%H4 + 30%H6 + 40%H7 (must give some kind of gloss ocre) for the upper splinter with „grey-green“ undersides. Also, check references!

2.- 2nd Chũtai 75th Hiko Sentai, overall „grey-green“ (corresponding to Mr. Color N°128; no Gunze equivalent given)

Decals: Rather thick, just covering the basics (few stencilling); color looks O.K. and opaque enough.

Detail: As stated above, detail level is high, especially in the cockpit / interior (not usual in Hasegawa's older kits).

Options: The only option that I can see is the propellers rotating.

Impressions: This kit looks very attractive and promises a trouble-free build; a few dry fit tests confirms this.

Recommendations: I'm always happy to get a Fujimi, Hasegawa or LS-Arii Japanese more-than-one-engine subject, since they are very rare, at least here in Austria. Considering that the Lily is out of production, I'm double-happy. Recommended for each skill level.

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