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Kyle Koppos
31 articles

Fat Tony

April 6, 2025 · in Aviation · · 9 · 260

Our dear Simpsons mafioso may have the key to our ‘how many models is too many' conundrum:

“Who's ta say? Does a peacock need all dose feathers?”

Anyways, possessions come to us in a multitude of ways, sometimes in the form of waifs and the unwanted. In this case, my freshly completed Planet Models 1/48 Kawasaki Ki-60 comes from the shelf-of-doom of my father, who had seen it reach the ‘paint-on' phase. He has since moved to the glamour scale of 1/32, and has little desire to play with vacuform canopies, so he passed it off to me to complete.

The model was done up in what I think was Alclad metals, but some resin imperfections had shown through. I went back to fill and sand these, then only repainted parts of the finish that needed touch-up. This was two-fold, as the paneling helped add more of that ‘natural metal patchwork' effect. I used sticky notes for masking individual panels, as the soft adhesive was delicate enough not to pull up paint.

I added break lines and door actuators from wire, and some spare PE tail surface actuators. The smooth spinner needed some panel lines, and this was achieved by chocking it in a dremel and carefully holding a mechanical pencil to it as it spun. For any other quality of the kit, I have no idea, as I didn't assemble it. You'd have to ask Pops.

Other than that, and some modest amount of touch-ups, most of the work had been done for me. The vacuform canopy was rather rough in this kit, unfortunately, and it detracts from the final product. I don't mind the medium, but badly done vacuform can ruin any project.

This is my first model I have finished in a while. If you are wondering where I have been, I have in fact been trying to become a writer. Recently, I published my first book, a comedic science fiction story about an American-style diner at an alien truck stop. If you are interested in sci-fi and want to look, you can check it out here:

https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/jim-roy-howards-kd-koppos/1146655550?ean=2940184545141

Thanks for looking (at the model or the book).

Reader reactions:
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13 additional images. Click to enlarge.


9 responses

  1. I dig it! Thanks for sharing.

    Rod

  2. That's a neat kit Kyle. Well done for finishing 👍 and as to your book it maybe a good companion to Hitchhiker's 🤪

  3. Very nice - well done!

  4. Certainly does look like a Ki-61 that had a few too many chocolate almonds in its daily diet.
    Very Sharp, especially with the panel line highlights.
    I have the RS kit in 1/72nd scale on my 'To be done soon' pile.
    Congrats on getting the book completed and published.

  5. Excellent result, Kyle! Congratulations on publishing your book, will definitely have a look at it!

  6. Yeah that looks like a fat Tony. Anyway it came out really good, nice rescue. Good to see it done.
    Oh and Mr. writer, it's "brake" lines.

  7. Amazing result, Kyle @kopperhed
    Congratulations on the publishment of your book.

  8. Excellent looking model !

  9. Great looking Tony. It's really beautiful. NM finishes take a lot of prep work and this looks amazing, great touch up work.

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