- iModeler

1/32 Hasegawa Ki-44 Shoki ”Tojo”

Started by Louis Gardner · 159 ≡ · ↻ 3 years ago

Viewing 16 - 30 of 159 posts

Jump to latest post

Pedro L. Rocha said 4 years ago:

That’s an excellent engine! Better than some AM resin around. Which version are you planning to build Louis?
Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years ago:

Hi Louis @lgardner. Your engine' s perfect. Looking sharper than ZZ Top's Sharp Dressed Man! Cannot wait to see your build coming together.
All the best!
Paul Barber said 4 years ago:

Great engine mods, Louis. This is going to be an epic build!

I am just getting a chance to look through the builds in the group for the first time. All looking brilliant - you must be very pleased with the response - and undoubtedly more to come! A huge variety too! Well done, my friend!
Louis Gardner said 4 years ago:

Hello Pedro, @holzhamer

Thanks for the compliments on the engine. I am very pleased with how it looks. It's a little kit of it's own, and looks even better with the plug wires added in my opinion. As far as which version ? I'm still not 100 % sure. I was thinking about doing an all metal finish, then going from there. But part of me wants to add some green camouflage sprayed on randomly like I did with the recent Tamiya Ki-61 Tony. Then I found these two illustrations from Nick MIllman's book. I have the decals in the kit that will allow me to build it as one of these two shown on the top, should I decide to. The very top one is very enticing with both green and brown colors on top, and a bare metal underside is possible with this one... so that's a plus.

Then there's this one on the back cover... It's tempting too. I can ask you for some airbrushing lessons if I decide to build this one... See the little squiggly lines ?

But I'm not entirely sure as of now. Thanks for stopping by !
Louis Gardner said 4 years ago:

Hi Spiros, @fiveten
Ha ha ! Now that's a good song ! They had a very cool looking bright red 34 Ford Coupe on the "Eliminator" album too... Thanks for the compliments on the engine. I am very pleased with how it turned out.
Take care and stay safe.
Louis Gardner said 4 years ago:

Paul, @yellow10
Thank you very much for stopping by, and for making the compliments on the engine work. I am very excited to see how this kit will turn out. So far, so good... and I have been working on detailing the cockpit today...

As far as the overall participation we have received so far in the group, you are absolutely correct. I couldn't be more pleased. It has already exceeded my wildest expectations. It has been very well received, and most of the choices so far are not subjects that you would normally see built. Indeed we do have a wide variety of models. If things go as planned, I have a few more that I have been wanting to finish. I have the two Tamiya G4M "Betty's" along with the 5 A6M-3 Zero kits that need to get done...all are part of the 1/48 scale Yamamoto / Operation Vengeance build. They might just end up over here too, and possibly a few more lesser known subjects if time is willing. You just never know, we might have to extend the group a little longer if needed... : )

I am looking forward to seeing more of your work showing up here too. Thanks for joining in on the "Madness".

May you and your family stay safe. Please let them know that Sandy and I said hello.
Louis Gardner said 4 years ago:

As I just mentioned above, today I made some progress on the cockpit. It's not completed yet, as more detail painting has yet to be done, and some weathering and dust needs to be applied. The Instrument Panel decals have been added, and they snuggled down nicely with some Solvaset. I still have to go back and add a drop of clear over each glass face on the gauges.

The cowling mounted MG's also need some more work. I'll drill out the muzzles, and give them a little shine with some carbon from a lead pencil. The basic ground work has been laid, but more detail has to be added... including a homemade seat harness, and painting of the various knobs and switches. For now they are still unpainted gray plastic.

The exception to this is the grip handle on the pilot's joystick. It was painted white. I thought it was a little odd, but after looking at a WW2 photo of a captured Ki-44 cockpit, it shows up very light in a black and white photo. The real ones very well could have been this color. That's what the instructions called out for and I followed Hasegawa's recommendation.

There's more work done, but I'll make a separate posting for that... So please stay tuned.
Louis Gardner said 4 years ago:

I decided that I would drill out the holes in the wing for the combat "Butterfly" flaps. I wanted to build mine with them "Open" even though I have yet to find a picture of them this way when parked on the ground... The details provided in the kit look too nice to cover up. So I started drilling... While I was at it, I drilled a few holes in the landing gear well too.

I assembled the exhaust. The parts fit was good.

The I placed it on the engine as a test fit. These exhaust pipes are not permanently glued in yet...

I also test fit them on the fuselage. I tweaked the angle of the dangle just a little.

I am very happy with how it looks at this point. Here you can see the engine test fit along with the exhaust system.

It looks even better with the cowling temporarily in place...

There's a very nice pilot figure included with the kit. I glued the parts together, and chose the face without the oxygen mask.

There's a separate head included that has the pilot wearing his O2 mask. I will keep this for the spares box... I'm holding it with tweezers in this next photo. Sorry it's a tad blurry, but that's the best I could do with two hands...

The pilot figure looks good, but I will most likely keep it for another future build. I could place it in my older Hasegawa Ki-43 "Oscar", and it would look right at home there.

It's getting late so I'll call it a night.

Be safe and stay home !

As always, comments are encouraged.
Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years ago:

Coming along together perfectly, Louis. Your attention to detail can only be totally praised. The whole engine-cowling "assy" is a jewel by itself.
All the best!
Erik Gjørup said 4 years ago:

Incredible amount of detail that becomes available by upgrading to 1/32. Stunning!
Robert Royes said 4 years ago:

It's always a treat to follow your work my friend. Looking good!
Chuck A. Villanueva said 4 years ago:

That engine looks great and the good thing you still get a good view of it when tucked into the cowling. In this scale usually need to enhance the engine a bit. Very nice. The cockpit is coming along as well, though the blue honestly is quite unusual and a rare interior scheme that is not often seen. Then again there are not that many Ki-44's built. Looking forward to the next step.
Louis Gardner said 4 years ago:

Thanks gents for the kind words. Over the past few days I managed to get a little more done on the Shoki. Please follow along and I'll explain.

Here is the pilot's office with more detail work painted, and some light gray pastel chalks added on top of the German RLM 24 Dark Blue. I also used some graphite to give the MG's a little more visible detail

The instrument panel looks a little better now that I have added a drop of clear over each individual gauge. I still might go back and add more. I want the glass to appear smooth. By adding more clear, it might just float out evenly and look more like glass.

I temporarily placed the cockpit into the fuselage to see how it was fitting. So far so good. The gray chalk gave the exact illusion I wanted and now it looks like the IJAAF color I was striving for.

The seat will get a home made harness and I still have to paint and install the throttle quadrant and a few other small parts. Then I'll be closing the fuselage up. Meanwhile, here's how the fuselage sidewalls look.

Then I decided to build the propeller assembly. This will get painted before I install the spinner. I still have to pick a color scheme before the spinner is added.

The next step will involve painting on some Blue / Green "Aotake"... so buckle up, here we go. The "Iron Werks" is getting ready to start a mini production run, and as a hint, it just might include painting some parts on the A5M prototype. So please stay tuned ! You just never know what will happen next.

As always, comments are encouraged.
George Henderson said 4 years ago:

Looks really nice Louis especially the engine. I you using the kit decals, Hasegawa made the same mistake as with my 1:48 version; the under wing hinomarus are too small, they should sit on part of the ailerons as well. The cover of your book and pics on Pg 18, 47 and the profiles agree with this as do your profiles posted above. I can't find any instructions for for the 1:32 version but when you join the wing parts together there may be a step showing at the trailing edge. Others complained about this and filled it in. I almost fell in with them until I went digging and found out that it is there to represent the "fighting flaps".
2 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Spiros Pendedekas said 4 years ago:

Looks fantastic @lgardner! cannot wait to see you progress, my friend!

Hase makes some small mistakes with their decals sometimes, @blackadder57. I noticed a couple with my Nate also. Interestingly, at some cases you may see the right decal drawn, but with the wrong number appointed; or you may see different (them should be the same) "symmetrical" decals DRAWN on port and starboard sides...but with the same numberung...go figure...

Viewing 16 - 30 of 159 posts

The Empire of Japan 1919-1946

1/32 Hasegawa Ki-44 Shoki ”Tojo”