Montex 1/32 Ki-27b Nate Super Mask
By Chris Banyai-Riepl
Overview
The Special Hobby Ki-27 kit offered large scale modelers a nice subject for 1930s Japanese fighter aircraft. These early war aircraft had some interesting markings throughout their lifespan, which went from the late 1930s to the end of the war in 1945. This Montex mask set covers the gamut with two schemes from either end of the Ki-27 history.
The Masks
Like most of the Montex Super Mask sets, this one comes with two distinct schemes for the subject aircraft. The first one is a Ki-27b from the 76th Shimbu-tai, based at Chiran, Kagoshima in April 1945. As this is a late-war aircraft, it is finished in a simple scheme of Nakajima Dark Green over IJA Grey-Green. For markings, there is a white emblem on the tail, and a white stripe around the rear fuselage. The hinomarus for the fuselage and upper wings are outlined in white, while the underside ones are just solid red. All of these markings are covered in the mask set, although masking the fuselage stripe might be easier with more flexible masking tape.
The second choice is a Ki-27b flown by Soho Hiroshi Sekiguchi of 1 Chutai, 64 Sentai, in Nomonhan during the summer of 1939. This option has a bit more challenging camouflage scheme, which should be fun to apply. The base color is IJA Grey-Green, with Nakajima Dark Green painted in blotches over the sides and top. The fuselage hinomarus are carefully painted around, giving a very interesting appearance. For the individual markings, this plane features a red diving eagle on the tail, along with an individual aircraft number.
For both schemes, the set includes two styles of canopy masks and wheel masks. The vinyl masks are durable and with some care could be reused, so if you want to build both Ki-27s, you would be able to reuse the hinomarus and canopy masks.
Conclusion
This is a nice set of interesting markings for the Ki-27, and if you have the Special Hobby kit sitting on the shelf, this might be just the ticket to get it down and on the workbench. With all the markings painted on, the results will look quite impressive, and these Montex masks will make that easy. My thanks to Victory Models for the review sample.