Land of the rising sun

Cockpit all painted, as well as the engine. Weathered the engine with a black grime wash. Plan to weather the cockpit tomorrow with a simple brown wash and light dry brush








And dry fit in the fuselage



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I did some more work on the Kaiten II over the weekend. It is in primer now and the seams look pretty good but my scribing errors will need some attention. The new plastic card “sail” or fairing came out well and looks better than if I had been able to build the kit PE parts.

I am currently reading an account of Kaiten operations written in the late 1950s by a surviving Kaiten pilot named Yutaka Kokota. He states that the upper hatch was added by Imperial Navy brass who were having a hard time with the idea of a suicide weapon. The hatch and the fairing were intended to give at least a nominal chance of escape for the pilot. Kokota mentions that neither he nor any Kaiten pilots he knew had any intention of trying to use it. Considering that it could only be used on the surface and the attack was to be made under the surface it really does look pretty useless.


Next will be a bit more putty and some color. Speaking of color, the kit instructions show black as do both preserved Kaitens I could find pictures of on the interweb. Any idea why they would be painted black? Most subs are grey to help hide them. My intention is to use a dark grey and weather it as it would have been found by occupying forces.

Paul

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Howdy gang! Thanks to your support I managed to recover from a nasty thinner/varnish issue. I’m might’ve overdone with chipping, especially on ailerons and other elements that usually weren’t … metal, but… here it is, a finished Arma Hobby Ki-84 Hayate:

As this is kind of sci-fi model already and I had some old crude Airfix figures, I made a small vignette - a postwar post flight inspection of Hayate by US crew.
Let’s call it a Taming the Storm .

Thanks guys for great campaign, I wish you all who are yet to finish good luck and see you in next one :slight_smile:

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Excellent result. Your Hayate looks amazing and the vignette just makes it so much better!

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What a great looking aircraft. I’m also amazed by the speed you got her done by, quality work too. It reminds me of the old MG slogan, “Safety Fast!”

Paul

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@RadekZ, looks great. Love the vignette.

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Thank you Paul.
Well… I was generally quite focused to get it finished because it was close to end up on the pile of Hangar queen subject for future years after all these issues I had with painting and so on… I kind of loose interest soon when faced with issues…

@JPTRR @McRunty Fred, Rory, thank you for your kind words.

Radek, Great Hayate! Congrats on finishing!

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Thank you Jesper :vulcan_salute:

Got the Ki-84 cockpit done. Just gotta glue it all together








Also the modeling gods have smiled on me! sprue Bros has a 20% off hasegawa kit sale so I might buy the Jill for the parts I damaged

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Did you ever get an answer to this question? I am pondering the same. Blue prints seem to suggest yes.

If so, anyone know a good way to do this? I glued the fueslage halves together and there is a slight seam. Is it best to fill and sand as normal, then scribe the center line seam, or use the existing seam as a guide?

hello,

After a lot of research, i’ve opted for a “mint” green for my type 2 ka-mi. i’m happy with the result.

and i finished the assembly of the type 95

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Did you know there was a version converted to a mobile “Comfort Station” - the Ka-Mi Khazi…

Sorry

M

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Sweet! Type 95 from Fine Molds??

Japanese re-enacting the scene from Fury

Glued the wings and fueslage halves together on the Ki-84, cleaned up the seams on the wing halves and near the cowl. Gonna have to work the fueslage seams as I think they are supposed to be there. Also tested the wing root fit, no major issues, nice!


Got the first pencil marks down for rivets. Haven’t committed to riveting yet, a bit concerned my lines aren’t correct

Finally, I bit the bullet and ordered a Jill on the hasegawa sale from sprue bros, $20 to fix up the one I am half done!

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no, from dragon.

The Kaiten II got some dark grey paint then decals. Reading the book by the Kaiten pilot gave me an idea for the finish of this vessel. He mentioned that after 3 weeks at sea his formerly gleaming black Kaiten had turned a rusty red. This one would also have started as black, a finish that would have rapidly chalked into a grey in the marine environment. It was an experimental vessel that would have been launched, recovered, disassembled & reassembled and so on many times before it was abandoned. All of this would have added streaking rust and other scars. I have seen no pictures of the actual Kaiten II so it can only be imagined. It might almost be fun to add a rusty pigment to the overall finish.

I made the plastic stand and bored holes in the bottom of the torpedo for it. Now I’m thinking it might be fun to make some sort of wooden cradle such as the Japanese might have actually used for this thing. It would be fun to find some 1/35 scale seagulls to perch on it and add their editorial comments to the finish . . .



Paul

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That looks great Paul. A little weathering will really bring it to life. For a subject that has such a sinister purpose, you’ve turned that kit into a real beauty!

I love it! :rofl::wave: