Hmmmm some folks actually WANT to hear my whining and rants? Oh boy you're in for it now!
Thanks for the comments guys.

Airbrush pain... Part of the game, eh? "It's always something"... Roseann Rosanadana

Looks like you'r working through the pain though... Looking great master of masking.

3 ft? They look 1/1 scale! They are prefect @billkoppos!

Some progress. Received my care package from Sprue Bros, in it was Mr. Color "propeller color" so let's do the prop. Well, it seems in their 1970's wisdom, Hasegawa just gave us a spinner and no backing plate. It looked pretty poor with those gaps in the back so I grabbed some sheet styrene and had some fun doing a backer plate. The "propeller color" is called "Tea color" in some Japanese refs, it looks like dark tea to me, I would say one could use Hull Red with no problem. I like the way the Gunze sprayed, nice and even. Might as well do the Shiden prop too. That's thinkin', Huh?

Less successful was the Alclad Aqua clear on Alclad Aluminum test. I did not like the way the end result looked on the paint mule. It definitely darkened it, and pebbled a bit. Alclad really has no sealer, I really wanted something to spray over the overall camo job. By itself it needs no sealer, as they say. I also tried Alclad's Lacquer-based glosscoat, it seems better but still takes away the metallic look a bit. Maybe over the mottles, it won't make a difference. More testing to come. It has promise as a fast drying clearcoat for regular pre-decaling applications.

Anyway I sucked it in and masked for the stripes, good old Tamiya tape and Testor's flat white. Tape comes off-yay, no peeling. This time. Praise be, all is well. Now just need the 64th Sentai tail arrows, and we be good.

This thing might get finished. 15 years later. Ya never know.

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Looks perfect Bill!

This afternoon, a brief update. Keeping with accepted JAAF practice, the 64th Sentai used an identifying rudder insignia, in this case an arrow motif. 1st chutai was white, 2nd red, 3rd yellow, red and yellow getting snazzy white outlines. Trying to interpret the movie still, it looks as if the arrow is a slightly darker shade than the stripes, I'm going 3rd chutai. It makes for more masking work, but hell it's worth it. Because when this is done, NO decals at all will be harmed in the creation of this model. Atsa way I likes it. At any rate, except for the usual needed touch ups, it came out nicely.

Tomorrow , it's canopy time, then to figure out how to finish it off.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

OK the last Girl from Nakajima is complete, the 15 year journey from Atlanta, the shelf of doom to shelf of display (yet to be located) is over.

Clearcoat, weathering (mild), flatcoat, canopy, antenna, etc. NO decals were harmed in the making of this kit, every marking was sprayed on.A word about Alcad II (Lacquer based) clear-coat-it was still tacky after a week. Went on nice, very clear, BUT...won't be using it again. I want the clear coats to cure quick. I hate fingerprints.

Anyway, a couple of extras. I saw in a couple of films, the pilots using a rope , cable, of some sort hanging out of the cockpit, to get up on the wing and board the plane. Guessed where it went and made one out of some thin macramé rope painted black. It may be a tad too thick, may replace it.

Then, in the Kato movie is a shot of some Burmese and their Water Buffaloes, for local color. Always had this in the back of my head (what a dungeon that is) so years ago I picked up an appropriate looking beastie at a figure show. Also got a Verlinden set of Vietnamese folks, one of which is my lil' girl here. The Buff got a hoof repair and a repaint based on research and his driver got a colorful shirt to replace her VC pajamas. Also made her a nice straw hat. Again, please don't look at the face. She was somebody's baby once. I cannot paint faces or any exposed human flesh very well.

BTW Hayabusa fans, you're welcome. Now that I'm done with this, Zoukie-Mura will be releasing a brand new 1/32 Ki-43-II any day now. Hoping for a Ki-43-I actually.

More to come to finish this thread , I have to bring the Nakajima's sisters down and clean them up for the family portrait.

12 attached images. Click to enlarge.

That's a great finish of a great build, Bill. Those figures really caught me by surprise! Superb!