Hi Everyone,
It is really nice to see some builds hitting it right out of the gates! Hopefully, this year we can get some more over the line. I can hope!
So, I didn’t finish my last build in Hangar Queen XIV, which was the Otaki 1/48 scale Ki-44 (allied code name Tojo). I did manage to get the base primer coat of black onto it.
For this build I decided to see if I could replicate an old technique that I felt pretty good about in regards to chipping the paint on Japanese aircraft. This technique is to paint the bird silver, which is more of a natural metal finish, so the plane really needs to be near flawless. For things to work, I used Future floor wax to seal the silver in this case Mr. Color (MC) 218 Aluminum, which is their buffable paint line. Then using Acrylic paint in this example Tamiya XF-70 Dark Green 2 (IJN) thinned with 70% IPA to a dilution of 1:4. And then use some tape and a toothbrush to chip the paint. Let’s see how it went! First the orange yellow, for the IFF identifcation on the leading edge of the wing was painted and taped off, followed by the NMF coat.
Next, the anti-glare panels were taped for painting, using black.
Once on, after a minimal amount of drying, the area was masked off.
The upper coat of green was applied (missed the opportunity to take a pic, sorry), and after about 15 minutes of dry time I hit the bird with some looped tape, and the foot worn areas were lightly brushed with the toothbrush to get the desired result. Unfortunately the paint lifted off the left wing in a way I didn’t want, so that would have to be redone.
Once the left wing was redone, The decals were applied. Which came from an old set I had called “Defenders of the Empire”. I think they were made by Rising Decals, not sure, and I’m not going to dig them out now. They went down without any issues, and really gave the Ki-44 a nice look.
Up next was to attach the fiddly bits, mainly the landing gear, antennae, and pitot tube. This is wear I ran into another issue with this kit. The landing gear did not want to sit right. The starboard gear refused to straighten up and fly right!
To rectify this, I used liquid glue to soften things up, and wound up breaking the gear strut clean off. Undeterred, I drilled out a hole in the strut and in the broken strut in the wing, inserting some wire and then used epoxy to secure the strut in the correct position. With the gear situation resolved, the gun barrels were added and the antennae was attached. Using fine EZ-line (charcoal) the antennae wire was added.
With that, I called this one done!
When this kit hit the hobby shops in 1974/75, it was the rage! It also had an outrageous price tag, as I recall the cheapest it was where I lived was around 15 USD. Way out of my league. As time passed it seemed to keep it’s MRSP and I picked it up for 20 USD delivered. With the addition of a squadron canopy and some seat belts, it turned out ok. I will admit, despite its heritage, it didn’t live up to my expectations. In fact, I’ll go so far as to say that anyone that can complete this kit and keep everything aligned and make it look like the real thing should consider themselves an above average modeler! I hope you all enjoyed it.
Till next time, stay safe, wash your hands with soap and water and have fun!