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1/48 Hasegawa Ki-44 -II Ko

Started by Woody Kubacki · 5 ≡ · ↻ 3 years ago

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Woody Kubacki said 3 years, 2 months ago:

Next up is the tiny Ki-44-II Ko. I purchased the Osprey Ki-44 Aces book written by Nick Millman and illustrated by Ronnie Olsthoorn. I choose to build an 85th Sentai plan flown by ace Captain Yukiyoshi Wakamatsu. Ronnie was a tremendous help with this build, specifically how to paint the camouflage.

The cockpit was built OOB except for thinning down and drilling holes in the seat and adding straps to the rudder pedals. As this is an early Ki-44, I chose to paint the cockpit IJA#3 Hairanshoku (AK RC329). The engine was detailed, scissors opened up, and the retraction linkage cleaned up. the fuselage was closed up, cockpit installed and wings glued on. Everything fit very well except for a slight shim that was required at the front wing to fuselage join.

The plane was primed with Mr Surfacer 1500 and all imperfections sorted out and then the control surfaces were painted IJA grey green (AK RC329).
9 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 3 years, 2 months ago:

I sprayed Mr Color C76 metallic blue (Aotake) in the gear bays, but I really wasn't too jazzed about how it looked. To me, the metallic flakes were too large and did not look to scale. So I experimented with the other Ki-44 I was working on at the time ( a -I) and instead sprayed an aluminum base and then a mixture of clear blue and green (varying opacity). I liked this much better and is the method I now use on all my builds. The first picture shows C 76 on the left, my own mixture on the right, both sprayed with a flat coat to knock down the shine.

After sanding down the entire plane with 3000 grit sanding cloth, I sprayed Mr Color GX2 Ueno Black as a gloss base for the aluminum. Then I sprayed Mr Color SM206 Super Chrome Silver 2 (I moved away from AK Xtreme Metal to this lacquer based paint due to the increased durability ofSM206).

Masks were cut with my Olfa CMP-1 and hinomaru sprayed, first with off white and then with MR Color C327. the antiglare and IFF bands were painted with C125 and C58, respectively.
10 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 3 years, 2 months ago:

Since this (and seemingly most) Ki-44 were painted in the field, the paint didn't cover the plane in one solid layer. Instead it was applied in horizontal sweeping patterns in section the width of a man's arm's reach (presumably). So I started painting this base layer with IJA #21 Midori Iro (AK RC331). When this was done I applied splotches of Cha Kasshoku (Tea Color, AK RC335).
9 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Woody Kubacki said 3 years, 2 months ago:

Next the paint was sanded lightly with 2000 grit sponge to reflect the paint flaking and wearing off. Finally I weathered the plan with Tamiya panel liner and oils, and glued on all the small bits. This was an enjoyable and quick, for me, build (about 5 weeks).

Thanks for looking
16 attached images. Click to enlarge.
Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 2 months ago:

This is an amazing Ki-44, Woody. I particularly like your painting and weathering: simply amazing. I agree about the Aotake rendition: the second approach looks better (and looks totally convincing).
Well done!

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