Mitsubishi Ki-15 Asakaze J-BAAL - 1/72nd scale Mania (later Hasegawa)

Here is J-BAAL, Azakaze (morning breeze), twin plane of the better publicized J-BAAI Kamikaze (spirit wind).

The step-by-step building article is here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2018/02/mania-later-hasegawa-mitsubishi-ki-15.html 

 And a comparison article of the Mania (Hasegawa) and ARII (LS) kits can be visited here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2016/11/mitsubishi-ki-15-civil-arii-and.html

Mitsubishi Ki-15 Karigane II J-BACL (the model above on the left) newspaper courier can be seen here:
 https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2018/02/civil-mitsubishi-ki-15-karigane-ii.html

I went for it given that the registration most frequently represented is the latter (flew to London from Japan in a much reported feat).

Photos show changes in time on the paint scheme of J-BAAL. One is the same in general as J-BAAI, nose, top and part of the wheel pants blue (with of course different lettering), but there is another where the blue painted area is restricted to the fuselage nose, has hinomaru, and also the characters are different (and two instead of four)

This Mania model as I mentioned during construction is using the decals from the ARII kit (which cover the two versions -but do not have two complete set of decals).

The quality is this "old" Mania/Hasegawa kit is remarkable (Scalemates states that the kit is from 1974!) , its finesse commendable, and certainly puts to shame a lot of much more recent kit releases.

Pity that the standards of this kit were not more widely imitated or achieved. The pattern makers and other people involved in the creation of this kit should be very proud.

This old kit (44 years old as I write this!) is a real pleasure to build; it has a more sophisticated interior than the ARII kit, but I like better ARII's canopy and main landing gear legs, with separate wheels, and detailed landing light (blank in the Mania kit).

Between the Ki-15 I and II (both released by Mania/Hasegawa and LS/ARII) there are a number of civil versions to build. I still have three more boxes!

A nice kit, for a convenient price, for which the passing of time is nothing.