The Mitsubishi Ki-51 Sonia is one of those aircraft that has been consistently neglected by model kit manufacturers. Nichimo produced a kit in 1975 and that was the only option available until 2019 when Wingsy surprised Japanese aircraft model enthusiasts with a new tool kit. Yahu from Poland produces photo-etch instrument panels for a large number of kits including the Ki-51. I do not own any Yahu photo-etch instrument panels so this review allowed me to get a first hand look at their products.

The instrument panels come packaged in a small zip lock bag with a card stock header giving the product name and stock number. The pilots instrument panel is bagged separately from the radio operator/rear gunner’s instruments. The radio operator’s instruments are all attached to a small photo-etch fret while the pilot’s instrument panel is loose and does not need to be removed from a fret. The directions are printed on one side of a small piece of glossy paper and simply show the location of the parts on the Wingsy kit parts.

I do not own a Wingsy Ki-51 and after a search on the internet I found out that they are not easy to obtain and a bit on the pricey side. Not wanting to spend close to $100, I decided to pull my 1/48 Nichimo Ki-51 Sonia kit out of my stash and set out to see how easily this photo-etch set could be adapted to a kit from 1975. I compared the Nichimo directions with the Wingsy kit directions obtained ‘a la Scalemates and compared those to the scale drawings in Mechanism of Military Aircraft Ki-51 & Ki-45. Surprisingly, the Nichimo kit from 1975 is not far off in terms of cockpit detail from the Wingsy kit of 2019. Both kits seem to compare quite well with the cockpit drawings in my Mechanism of Military Aircraft book. There are a few disparities but this isn’t a review of how technically correct a given kit is.

Adapting the Yahu parts to the 1975 Nichimo kit was effortless. The pilot's instrument panel and radio operator's panel need flat sanded as they are quite thick. They are also a bit oversized but centering the Yahu parts on them gives the proper look. The radio stack is simplified in the Nichimo kit. I added another radio to build up the box so the Yahu photo-etch radio face would not look anemic. The other parts in the Yahu set simply attach to the locations that match up on the Nichino kit compared to the Wingsy kit.

Removing the Yahu parts from the fret did pose any problems and the parts stand up well to handling. None of the pre-painted details or markings were damaged or scratched. I held the parts with smooth jaw pliers to file of the nubs from the fret.

The edges of the photo-etch parts will need to be painted black otherwise your instrument panels will have brass trim.

I can’t say how well this photo-etch set works with the Wingsy kit. Based on the directions, it looks like it’s a simple addition. I can say that it works great for the 50 year old Nichimo kit and it will add a new dimension of detail with minimal effort.

Thank you to Yahu for the review sample.