This is one of Tamiya's latest offerings so the expectations are very high. Hopefully, the quality of the kit will reduce the construction time. Fingers crossed! Let's take a closer look at what's inside the box.
Tamiya includes a full 1/48 scale painting guide for both offered schemes. This can be very helpful, especially for those that want to faithfully recreate the complex mottling scheme.
Besides the instructions and the painting guide, Tamiya also includes some historical and technical information about the Ki-61.
The decals are split into two sheets. I can't vouch for the quality of these decals but from my limited experience, Tamiya decals can be a bit thick and non-responsive to the normal Microset/Microsol treatment. Tamiya also includes a set of masks for the clear parts, which is nice EXCEPT that you have to cut them out yourself.
The scheme that I am considering is based on a striking profile by aviation artist, Ronnie Olsthoorn. He prepared this artwork for Osprey's Aircraft of the Aces #114. Although the mottle patterns are interesting (and still an outside possibility for me to try), I've always thought a standard two-color scheme best highlights the Hien's graceful lines.
To that end, I've picked up a set of Lifelike Decals so I can depict #5262.
Another interesting inclusion in this kit is a clear version of the port fuselage. Not my thing but it could make for some interesting builds.
The clear parts include two versions of the canopy (open and closed), a wing light cover and the gun sight.
The Ha-40 engine, based on the Daimler-Benz DB601 powerplant, is provided although it looks a bit bare to me.
There are two major sprues, the first of which holds the two fuselage halves. This Tamiya kit encompasses a respectable 109 parts. Comparatively speaking, that is much less than the 186 parts for the recent Eduard retool of the 1/48 Bf109G-6 but that may speak more to the variations of the G-6 rather than the complexity of the kits themselves.
Molding looks precise and clean. Maybe falling a hair short of the detail that you would see on an Eduard kit.
The ends of the exhausts are not hollow. Furthermore, the exhausts are molded integral with the surrounding fuselage shrouds, which makes it extremely difficult to hollow out the exhausts manually. I am going to replace these with some Quickboost resin exhausts.
Same deal with the gun barrels. Since the Hien's cowl guns are staggered and reveal more of the barrel of one of the guns, I've opted to replace these with a pair of Quickboost resin barrels that have the cooling jacket holes.
The instrument panel features plain bezels with no raised instrument details. A decal representing the dial details are provided. I'm leery of this approach given my past difficulties with Tamiya decals but we'll have to see.
The other major sprue holds the wing parts.
Very fine and very detailed but no rivets. Hmmmm.... should I?
I think I will!