68th Sentai Hien

Started by Pedro L. Rocha · 58 · 2 years ago
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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 4 months ago:

    OK... That didn't take me as long as I expected. Here are the various color call outs used on IJAAF drop tanks.

    http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2009/02/ki-43-iii-ko-colours-part-3.html

    Hope this helps my friend.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 4 months ago:

    Looking great, Pedro @holzhamer!
    I love all these details!

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    Pedro L. Rocha said 3 years, 4 months ago:

    @lgardner - thanks for the info via link. That page is new to me but I believe it was also in that website that I read about the non yellow drop tanks colours. It was a statement from veterans from one of the units based in New Guinea if memory serves me right. The colours listed were grey (perhaps that “neutral grey” listed on the link page) and the yellow green Ki Midori Iro. Perhaps the trainer yellow or even red could be used in other units later in the war, given the lack of aluminium by then.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 4 months ago:

    Pedro, @holzhamer
    You very well could be correct about this. The link I posted was for the earlier Ki-43 "Oscar". I presumed it would be proper for all IJAAF aircraft...You know how that goes. 😉

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    Pedro L. Rocha said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Some oil wash over those brown(ish) areas to pop up details. All that remains is to paint those same details all over the cockpit structure. For the IP I’ll be using Airscale instrument dials.

    Now you might remember me talking about reshaping the main air intake filter of the DB engine that powered the Ki-61... here’s how it turned out


    Carved the plastic “wall” inside, thinned its shape from the inside and finally added some tiny plastic sheet pieces to simulate the filter. It’s not perfect but it’s far better (and in scale) than its original shape.

    Finally just as a teaser, I’ve been working seriously to finish this shelf queen


    A plane that probably was not a usual foe of the Hien pilots.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    I love this intake, Pedro, as well as your oil wash.
    That is a nice looking Jug! Pity to remain on the shelves...
    Looking forward to your progress!

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Great change to the intake Pedro (@holzhamer)!

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    Greg Kittinger said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Those little details really add up to a great finish!

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    Colin Gomez said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Great detail work , Pedro. That intake filter detailing will look fantastic in the competed build. Some tiny details look so convincing and realistic on a model simply because they look too small to have been reproduced at that scale. Well worth the effort. I like the oil wash on the cockpit and well details too. I will have to try that some time. Looking forward to seeing more of your Tony and the P-47 as well.

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    Pedro L. Rocha said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Thank you for your previous comments, I truly appreciate them.
    Work has been slow but steady on this one. I finished the Instrument Panel à la brush, painting details and dry brushing the dials. I planned on using Airscale dials but they were too big for raised dials Hasegawa made in the IP. Funny thing is that the same happened when I first tried using them, at my last year GB entry, the Tamiya Seiran, so I wonder who is either over or under scale here.


    This is what you get OOB, which considering the canopy is one solid piece so no open parts, is just fine.
    I will however add a few cables here and there before coming the fuselage.
    One area that caught my attention was the rudder, which looks too thick, so I decided to thin it a bit and one thing lead to another and presto! I cut the rudder
    Now I’m thinking also about riveting the surface... it’s a syndrome I tell you

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    George Henderson said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Good stuff Pedro. Love the innards

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    George Schembri said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Great work on the cockpit Pedro, looks amazing.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    This is a great cockpit, Pedro @holzhamer.
    About the rudder cut and the following wishes, you are talking to homeopaths!
    I love all these improvements: they make a model stand out!

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    Erik Gjørup said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Splendid office Pedro (@holzhamer). You did a great job on the IP without decals! Looking forward to the improvement squad getting into action.

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    Louis Gardner said 3 years, 3 months ago:

    Pedro, @holzhamer
    I like what you have done here with your Ki-61 Hien build. It looks very good, especially the pilot's office. It looks very good, especially the IP. Too bad the canopy is one piece on this kit. It would look better if the sliding portion was open so you could see all of the work you have put into it.

    The little teaser with the P-47 caught my eye too ! It is such a huge plane when compared to the smaller Hien. It's a big plane when compared to most of the single seat fighters of the era... I would really like to see more of this one too. 😉

    I think that we all suffer from this plastic model building /collecting / obsession / syndrome... Those who are afflicted the worst often make the best models. You fall into this category.