Excellent progress and really awesome looks, my friend @coling! The results are very realistic so far!

I just thought I would share a bit of detail work that I am quite proud of. I wanted to reproduce the Japanese character "oni" which means "demon" or "ogre" and appears on the rudder of Kawamoto's Ki.84. Since I didn't have a decal available, I decided to make one. I consulted various references to make sure my interpretation of the character was accurate and also studied the stroke order.

I then cut tiny strips of decal to make each brushstroke element. This took about three hours to perfect. I knew it was acceptable when I showed it to my wife, who confirmed its accuracy (she reads Chinese and the character is the same in both languages).

Thanks, George. Being able to create details like this is one of the reasons I like 1/32. That and being able to see good results without magnification.This is actually the first time I have worked with such tiny bits of decal and I wasn't sure it would work as I got underway. Surprisingly, though, careful handling with tweezers, a toothpick and a magnifying visor did the trick without a lot of stress. I like working with decals because mistakes are reversible. Just a bit of tape to lift off boo boos and you can start again.

Fantastic job, my friend @coling!

Nice result with the tail decal Colin (@coling). I had to do something similar to correct the nose decal on my FJ Fury a few months ago. It was quite tedious for me, but I managed to get through it.

I would love to be able to take advantage of the increased size of 32nd scale models and would do so if the cost and storage were not problems for me. I've been having more and more difficulties with 48 scale in the detail regard. I am trying to fit in more less stressful simpler builds to compensate.

Have spent a few days finishing up the Hayate. Final matt coat was applied and masking removed, gear painted , weathered and attached. I decided to flatten the tires but had a challenge because the wheels fit into a slot and do not rotate. The part of the tire I needed to flatten had to be exactly marked. I did this by gluing on the gear and dry fitting the wheels. I then rested the wheels in puddles of paint on my desk surface to mark where they contacted the desk surface. After removing the wheels, I sanded the discoloured part flat and refitted them a couple of times until the desired effect was achieved.

I also added brake lines to the gear legs. These were made from wire painted black. I "clamped" the brake line to each gear leg with a piece of aluminum foil super glued at the tip then, wrapped twice and glued. It looks like a metalic hose clamp, which follows reference photos I saw of Ki. 84 undercarriage up close.

I did a lot more detailing of this kind, including touch-ups in the cockpit and detailing of the gun sight with Eduard photo-etch and acetate plastic for the reflector glass. The sight is basically a Japanese copy of a late war German Revi model, so built it accordingly. It was a bit tricky to install under the attached windscreen, but all went well in the end. I decided to put on the drop tank clamps minus the tanks themselves so more flipping the model upside down to do so, kind of nervously with everything that could break off. I had built up the complex antenna wires using EZ line and stretched sprue and painted the wingtip nav lights (all delicate final details) when I suddenly noticed that a small chunk was missing from the starboard wingtip. I was very upset about this and still don't know how it happened. Anyway, I had to carefully fill the gap with stretched sprue and sand it without damaging the surrounding paint. That was successful and I managed to avoid breaking anything else off while doing the repair.
I will be posting the final article soon. Just waiting for some sunshine for decent photography. Pretty dreary winter weather here.

Thanks, John. That damage to the wingtip nearly led me to shelve the thing in frustration. Fortunately, it only took a few hours to fix, along with needing to let it set overnight before sanding and painting. The sun is coming out, so I might get an article posted soon.