Hello George, @chinesegeorge
I am very humbled that my Ki-44 build was the deciding factor for you to start building aircraft again. It goes against all of your former choices. It's military, an aircraft, and a 1/32 scale model on top of all that. This is the most sincere compliment about one of my model builds I have ever received.
Thank you VERY much ... 🙂 I am truly honored.
I only had one problem during my build, and that was for the insert plug that goes on each side of the fuselage, just ahead of the cockpit. I ended up using filler there, and this was my first ever attempt at using liquefied styrene. At first I used putty, but it chipped off as I tried to re-scribe the lines. This picture shows the putty. I had to dig all of it back out before I used the liquefied styrene.
The liquefied styrene was the perfect choice here, as it doesn't chip or flake off. It sands down nicely, just as the surrounding plastic does, plus you can rivet it or scribe new lines on it and not worry.
The engine in this kit is a real gem ! As is the cockpit. I wish I had left the side entry doors closed on mine. They were never really opened up from what I discovered after it was too late... But by then I had already cut them open from the fuselage halves. One thing I did to enhance the looks of the seat, besides the harness as you already have done, was I drilled out the holes.
One thing I did deviate from the plans was how I cut off the tabs of the "Butterfly" combat flaps and posed them closed. This is how the plane was most often seen. I only found one picture of the flaps opened, and this was when the plane was in flight. I'm not telling you to close yours, since there is a lot of nice details there, I'm only expressing my choice when I built mine up.
When the flaps are closed, the inside portion will be slightly visible. On the trailing edge, part will be extended slightly past the trailing edge of the upper wing. This is more pronounced closer towards the fuselage, and it tapers into the wing, the farther it goes out towards the tip.
It is you plane and build it to suit your thoughts. Do what makes you happy. That's what this hobby is about, is having fun.
I tried to make the build journal as complete as possible, just in case someone wanted to follow in my foot steps. I hope it is of good use to you. But to be quite honest, if you follow the instructions, this kit will almost fall together. It's a beautifully engineered model and looks fantastic once completed.
Speaking of fantastic... the aircraft #3 you mentioned is one of the ones I originally wanted to build. It was my favorite one out of all the Shoki aircraft I had seen.
By the looks of things, you are well on your way with this build. It looks very good too. I used a blue to begin with, and then toned it down just a little with some gray chalks... The RAF gray you used in conjunction with the blue looks very good.
I am anxiously awaiting the next installment.
and I sincerely appreciate you deciding to build this kit, and for posting it here. 🙂
Thank you my friend.
