Introduction

The Ki-46 Dinah III was a WWII Japanese recon plane, In 1937 Japanese army ordered a new "scout" plane from Mitsubishi. The First prototype (Ki-46I) was equipped with 780hp engines, in it's test flight it reached speed of 540 km/h. The Ki-46II was completed in march 1941 with the range of 2000 kilometers. It was flown in the Sino-Japanese war and early Pacific war, until Japanese army ordered the Ki-46III requiring better speed and range. Total of 611 units were produced and used on all fronts until the war ended.

What's In the box

Now about the model itself, it's a recent release from Aoshima in 1/144 and includes two kits in the box.

The box itself is in very glossy white, the box art is really nice and shows the airplane flying over cloudy skies. Unfortunately there is no signature of the artist who made it.

After opening the box you see the instructions and two clear bags, one for each kit. The decals and canopy are packed together with the other sprues with no additional protection (Luckily they weren't damaged in transport). Apart from the decals and clear parts you receive two sprues molded in green.

The Kits

Each model is built out of 24 parts (Two in clear plastic). There are 5 other parts that are used and not explained or described in the instructions, I assume 4 of them are barrels, but I'm not sure what the big part on the sprue A is. (Ed: Looks like a revetment for a small diorama. The other four parts look like fuel drums for same.)

The plastic looks good with minimal mold residue on all parts, however there is some flash on a couple of parts. The panel lines are recessed and consistent (They look just fine for this scale, just use some thinner coats of paint when painting it).

There are some parts that could be done better in my opinion, the wheels have minimal detail and there is no cockpit included which is a common practice in 1/144 kits from variety of manufacturers.

Some decals

The decals are thin and in register but a little bit basic (Only including the national insignia and tail art).

Instructions..

The instructions are like a little booklet with 4 pages, they are printed in black and white with only one sheet covering the assembly.

After all this being said I think this is a nice little kit but it needs some detailing and care.

This kit is for anyone who is looking for a nice quick build or a die hard 1/144 scale fanatic.

Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products
highlighted here - on AEROSCALE..