**** DONE: GB-54 1:48 Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien - Pacific Theatre

[Crimea_River]

Well, that could be confusing!

You know, it's amazing how often one finds that Google searches for info on a subject turn up answers within our own hallowed pages. I spent a lot of time yesterday reading this thread of Totalize 's build where there was so much great info on the Hien. The discussion about the oxygen system was particularly interesting.

 

[Totalize]

Andy, glad you found it. On Page 18 you will notice I painted on the fuselage Hinamaru in just red. I was told afterward by another JAAF expert that these aircraft actually had the white border on them and my aircraft should have it. The camo had overpainted the white border in some spots.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Dave. Yeah there are pretty good pics of 4424 showing the white border and overspray onto the blue strip is some cases. What I've not been able to confirm is if the below picture of Kobayashi is in front of 4424 or a different aircraft. (Source not provided as this pic is all over the internet but with no meaningful caption).

The mottles in this camo pattern are much more dense than on all of the other pics of the port side leading me to think that it's not 4424. However, this is a good example of the overspray of the white Hinamaru border.

 

[Wayne Little]

Will check acouple of my Japanese books to see if there is an answer to that Pic Andy.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks Wayne.

A little more progress to report. To start on the landing gear, I wanted to first be sure that I flatten the tires. This is because Tamiya's detail locks the wheels in position once glued so one needs to be sure the flat spot is in the right place. To do this, I dry-fitted the wheels to the struts and the struts into the wings along with the tail wheel and set the model down. I must say there was still a little slop in the joints which may come in handy to tweak things on final assembly. Once standing on the gear. I put a blob of black paint on a piece of paper , lifted one wheel slightly, slid the paper in place and then lowered the wheel into the blob of paint. This was repeated on the other side and then the model was turned over to get the below shot. As you can see, the black paint marks the location for the flat spot which can now be filed down.

With that set aside to dry, I decided to tackle the rather intriguing radiator splitter vanes. Eight parts make up this assembly:

Assembly is a little fiddly but, once glued, everything locks into place nicely, revealing the complex curvatures of the vanes. Yes there are some ejector pin marks seen in these brutal closeups but I didn't want to thin these parts and they won't be seen once this all goes into the tub - I hope.

This is what it looks like when placed into the tub. Nice fit, as expected.

I'll need to paint this part silver before fitting it and then the bottom section of the tub will be installed. Unfortunately Tamiya molded this part with the exit flap shut and I'll probably cut that out and create one that has the flap open. I think that would be a more realistic position for an aircraft parked on the ground.

That's it for today. Once again thanks for following along and for your helpful inputs.

 

[Wurger]

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far Andy!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Certainly a complex piece of machinery that vane and well defined by the modellers.

 

[rochie]

nice work Andy

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks again friends.

Just a short session yesterday in which I flattened the tires, like this:

Also managed to drill lightening holes on one of the torque links:

Short and sweet!

 

[Wurger]

 

[Totalize]

Thanks Dave. Yeah there are pretty good pics of 4424 showing the white border and overspray onto the blue strip is some cases. What I've not been able to confirm is if the below picture of Kobayashi is in front of 4424 or a different aircraft. (Source not provided as this pic is all over the internet but with no meaningful caption).

View attachment 672815

The mottles in this camo pattern are much more dense than on all of the other pics of the port side leading me to think that it's not 4424. However, this is a good example of the overspray of the white Hinamaru border.

Andy, I have a book on the 244th Sentai and will see if this photo is in there. The profile on your intro page clearly shows a white border on the hinamaru. With 3295 it was hard to see if there was a white border as the photos are not very good. But they are suppose to be there.

 

[Totalize]

Andy, this should help. I referenced my book on the 244th Sentai that I purchased from a publisher in Japan. According to this book. "A pictorial history of the 244th the 244th Sentai" That is indeed Kobayashi beside 4424. The picture is in my book and has the following caption.

 

[Totalize]

Also, there was a number of paint schemes applied to 4424. Not sure if you have these. Source: "A pictorial history of the 244th Sentai".

A profile of 4424 per your original profile and probably based on your photo as it has a tight camo pattern December 1944.

 

[Totalize]

And these 3 other one. The one in question appears to be the first application of camo in Dec 1944, the bare metal one here at the top the second (Feb45) followed by the third on (March 45) and the last one May 45. Hope this helps.

 

[Wayne Little]

Ha..! Nice David, that was the confirmation I was looking for for Andy, have the same book and found it today....

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Nice bit of detail work on the torque links, I would never thought of trying that.

 

[Crimea_River]

Thanks very much for the comments and for that info Dave. Yes I'm aware that 4424 went through several paint schemes and gun configurations. I'm a bit surprised that the photo above is 4424 in Spring 45 as the mottles look much tighter than on the port side pics of that period. I will check how Tamiya have depicted the right side on their camo paint sheet as their scheme for the left side matches photos very closely.

 

[Gnomey]

Nice work so far Andy!

 

[Shinpachi]

No one can deceive your accurate eyes, Andy, even Tamiya.
Kobayashi flew 3 airframes and the third one's detail is still in mystery.