Now I have caught up on the replies to the multiple comments. I am very happy that many of you have responded during this build journal.
Thank you.
Here is tonight's installment.
The "Sally" is getting closer to being completed now. Please follow along as I explain...
This shows the camouflage applied carefully around the Hinomaru marking. It almost gives the appearance of a White ring encircling the "Meatball".
This shows how the stencils are still legible, after spraying on the Dark Green squiggles and mottling.
You can also see how I purposefully painted on some diagonal stripes. This was done is several places on the airframe.
Robert Paschall (@beauslx)
These pictures shown above were posted especially for you.
This small container held the bombs, and wheels both of which were previously assembled. They still required finish painting though. At this point, the wheel rims were painted in a metallic color, and the bombs were painted with White, and a thin Yellow stripe was masked off, in preparation for the final painting in overall Black paint.
The back portion of the propellers was sprayed using a Red Brown color.
The spinners were also sprayed randomly, using my custom blend of Dark Green. One is darker in appearance when compared to the other. I did this on purpose. Here again, I was tempted to simply leave the spinners alone in overall #1 Gray Green.
The propellers were not ready to install, once the Red warning stripe decals were applied to the tip of each blade.
This shows how the green house frames were left in the overall #1 Gray Green color. This should look decent once the masking is removed. Time will tell... Fingers crossed for sure.
I added some small scratches on the paint in areas where one would expect some wear patterns to be. I lightly sanded off some of the Dark Green in places like the leading edges of the flying surfaces, and around the cowling where the panels were removable for maintenance. I also chipped the paint on the upper surfaces of the wings, where the oil tank and fuel caps were located. I added a little more scratching along the walk ways. I left the #1 Gray Green intact however.
Here you can see the horizontals received the same treatment. You can also see how the 60th Sentai 3rd Shutai marking (wide Yellow stripe) was sprayed around, as was the White "Combat Stripe" that encircles the rear fuselage.
Going back to the props now. Here you can see they have been installed. The Red Brown is visible here.
Here you can see the highly polished front side of the propeller blades, and the Red warning stripes at the tips of each blade.
The main wheel hubs were carefully masked off, and the tires were painted using RLM 66 color. This is a Dark Gray and looks close to what a tire color should be. It will look even better once I "dirty" it up some... Once they were dry, I simply clicked them in position. I had to carefully air brush the places that were scratched when I spread the main landing gear struts during the installation. The wheels were not permanently glued in place. Instead, they are held in by the friction of the struts. The wheels roll... so now I can practice my taxiing skills on the floor... 😉 or the hobby work table, which ever is readily available at the time.
The tail wheel received the same treatment. This part also snapped in place and it will also roll. So all three tires / rims will move now. It's not necessary to glue the wheels in place they will stay in place without glue.
The bombs were painted the rest of the way. I added Red color on the bomb's nose cap. The overall color is a Semi Gloss Black color. The bombs were then glued in place permanently.
Which leads to the bomb bay doors. I built mine to be displayed open. I wanted the bomb load and the details visible in the bomb bay to be visible. It also shows off the beautiful Aotake Blue Green color.
In all honesty, the bomb bay "could" have been painted at the factory in an aluminum or a semi metallic silver color. I don't think the internal parts of the bomb bays would have been left in a bare metal state, at least during this early part of the War. Maybe late in the War this could have been the case.
Online I have seen one picture of a parked Ki-21, with the bomb bay doors open, and sunlight is shining on the rear bomb bay bulkhead. It looks to be a light color. Naturally, now I can't find the same picture again... 🙁
So I should have listened to those little voices in my head this time... 🙂 😉 😉 and grabbed a screen shot of it when I was there.
This shows how Sally looks right now. She's sitting like this on the table while the glue dries on the bomb bay doors.
I also glued the pitot tube back on again... for the 5th time. Be warned, this part is EXTREMELY fragile. I even broke mine when I was cutting it off the parts tree, even though I was being very careful, and using a Tamiya PE saw blade.
I'm hoping to wrap this one up very soon. I still have a few things left to do, like wire the antennae, and paint the exhaust, take care of the navigation lights and various lenses. It also needs some dirt / dust added, along with some exhaust staining too, but not too much. These planes were still decently cared for at this point in the early part of the War.
As always, thanks for looking, and comments are encouraged.
Good night, and I wish you all and your families / loved ones a Merry Christmas. 🙂
