ICM Ki-27a “Nate” in 1/72nd Scale
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Background
 According
to the kit’s instructions, the first serial monoplane fighter aircraft
of the Japanese Imperial Army Air Force became the Ki-27. The first of
two prototypes built by Nakajima flew in October 1936. Series production
was ordered in December 1937 as the Type 97 Fighter Model Ko (Ki-27a).
The Ki-27 possessed excellent maneuverability and was a serious opponent
of the Soviet-built I-15bis and I-16 fighters in battles over China and
Mongolia between 1938 and 1939.
The Kit
 The
box contains two sprues of well-molded grey plastic, a crisp sprue of
clear parts, decals for four schemes and a set of instructions. The schemes
in the box are 1) 1st Sentai, Commander Toshio Kato, June 1939; 2) 84th
Dokuritsu Tutai, China, 1939; 3) 10th Tutai, China, April 1940; and 4)
59th Sentai, 2nd Tutai, Nomonhan, June 1939.
The parts on the sprue are crisp with a small amount of flash. There
is a tremendous amount of panel line and rivet detail that is fine but
not soft. However, some of this detail will inevitably be lost during
the sanding and seam removal process, requiring replacement, which will
be fairly tricky. The large amount of detail and the highly engineered
design means this kit will require considerable patience to assemble and
I would not recommend it for a beginner. On the other hand, it has considerable
potential to produce an excellent replica and the level of detail beats
the other kits of this aircraft such as the RS Models kit. The decals
look nice on the sheet and have no apparent flaws or problems. The instructions
are presented in a novel manner. They appear to be computer generated
images of how the kit should appear as the modeler progresses through
the assembly process. The kit is also reasonably priced: I bought mine
from KPL Systems for $13.95.
 Conclusion
Conditionally recommended for the slightly more experienced modeler;
this will not be an easy model to build because of the panel line issues
but it has potential and there is a lot of detail in the box.
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