Hasegawa 1:48 Kawasaki Ki.45Kai Hei/Tei Toryu (Nick) "Mainland Defence" Kit #09909

A night-fighter from the 5th Fighter Regiment, Maj. Yoshiaki Yamashita, Kiyosu Air Base, June 1945. What can I say, it's Hasegawa. Minor filler needed but that was possibly due to over zealous sanding. Two issues with the build. The first was the decals. I'm always leery about aircraft with one-off markings so I placed the bottom Hinomarus on first as I have plenty of spares. These proved to be typical Hasegawa bullet proof. All three of my solutions wouldn't settle the decals into the panel lines. I even slathered Walther's Solvaset on a spare and let it sit for an hour...nada. Inspired, I promptly set about placing the tail squadron emblem and it promptly came apart in three pieces. I managed to get it all together and then coated the remaining decals with Microscale Decal Film, no other drama. The second issue is the colour guide. Hasegawa would have one paint the fuselage, upper wings and stabilizers/elevators in NMF. Looking at the one clear photo I have shows that the upper wings and stabilizer/elevators still show camo so I paint the upper fuselage and sides with Vallejo Metallic Semi Matte Aluminum. Hasegawa would now have one paint the lower surfaces in black or one of their three colour combos. All the night fighters I've seen are green with or without another colour. I chose to use Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green because it was within reach. The yellow ID leading edge markings come as decals but I chose to paint them. For some reason I have 2¾ bottles of Tamiya X-8 Lemon Yellow. I added red to the lessor bottle to mix up a bunch of paint to match the decals. This will now be used for all my yellow leading edge markings, which I hate. For weathering I used Tamiya Panel Liner Brown and then a flat coat of Microscale Flat, my favourite flat. I was really surprised at how small this aircraft was for a twin engine. Highly recommend this kit

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