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The Editor builds the Wingsy Kits 1/48 Ki-51

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The Build

The Wingsy Kits kit is deeply impressive in the box. The panel lines are finely recessed and rivet detail is complete. The outlines and shapes are spot on, according to my references*. Given the kit was already very accurate and detailed, I opted for an out of the box build.

I started with the cockpit, of course, don’t we always? In the Wingsy kit, this is a capsule constructed of the sidewalls, bulkheads, floor and all interior details. I must make a confession here; I tried to build this kit once before and had very considerable difficulty in placing this capsule inside the fuselage. This time I tacked the major components together to check the fit first. You must eliminate every trace of a seam on the part and avoid paint on mating surfaces on the tub if you want this capsule to fit. Having checked that I could make it work, I proceeded with the build. The test fit did reveal that the grooves for locating the bulkheads are not as deep as they need to be, so either sand down the bulkhead frames or carve out the grooves. I opted for a little from column A, and a little from column B!