A new month, a new week, and a new project. I’m starting my long planned Otaki/Arii Ki-43 II, with a set of Aeromaster Decals, Yahu instrument Panel, and possibly some PE bits from this generic Japanese PE detailing set.
this is what comes in the box
Externally, as a typical Otaki/Arii kit, the detailing and shape is nice, but the cockpit needs help, and the wheel wells are barely there
So I started by drilling, grinding, and removing the too shallow wheel well ceilings… I’ll build new ones of a more appropriate depth
Then I addressed the pilot seat which has a block looking like a stack of phone books in the seat pan. Since the kit pilot figure is terrible, I won’t be using him, and I began cleaning up the seat, removing the block and drill8ng some lightening holes in the seat back.
I’ll address the hole in the seat bottom, then add a bit more detailing to the seat. There is a resin replacement seat available, but it’s’ cost and shipping is more than I paid for this kit, so no thanks…
Last night I finished up the seat, sanding off the seat pan bottom and replacing that with some sheet styrene, plus adding a low back support beam
then I glued that in place on the cockpit floor
and this morning I’ve been working on adding the tops of the now depend wheel wells
My next step is modifying fuselage areas at the forward portion of the wing roots affected by the deepened wheel wells. And I’ll be able to start painting the cockpit soon too.
Well I finally have some updates worth posting… painting has begun… at least for the interior
Basic parts ready for paint…
then last night I laid down a base of Tamiya Lacquer Flat Aluminum on all the interior areas, plus Tamiya Lacquer Light Gun Metal on the engine
I let that dry overnight, then this morning I airbrushed on a coat of Gunze Aqueous Aotake over the Aluminum areas
after I let that dry I masked off the cockpit areas for the next color, and also added a PE seat belt
Then a short while ago I airbrushed a coat of Tamiya Cockpit Green in the cockpit area. I also painted the engine crankcase in Vallejo Game Color Cool Gray, and painted up a pair of machine guns from my spare bin that I will be adding, as their butts should be visible to the sides of the instrument panel top, like on a P-40B/C, or Zero.
@JPTRR, thank you Fred. I do enjoy these old Otaki kits, even of they have been superseded by newer & better kits. They are a great canvas for improving modeling skills with.
Well, yesterday after my last update, I had a little free time left in the afternoon, so I glued the wings on to the fuselage
Not too bad a fit, but on the bottom there is a pronounced step and gap
I will have to deal with the step & gap next week when I resume work on this next week…
