**** DONE: GB-58 1/48 Kawasaki Ki.45 Hei - Night Fighters all Eras

[Wurger]

Username: fubar57
First name: George
Category: Advanced
Manufacturer: Hasegawa
Model: Kawasaki Ki45Kai Hei/Tei Toryu (Nick) "Mainland Defence" Kit #09909
Scale: 1:48
Add-on: Dead Design Models canopy masks

My entry into this GB is the Toryu, Dragonslayer. Instructions say, "5th Fighter Regiment, Maj. Yoshiaki Yamashita, Kiyosu Air Base, June 1945. According to the never wrong Wiki, this is the "Hei" version or Mark C, used against naval objectives, one 37 mm (1.46 in) Ho-203 automatic cannon in the nose, one 7.92 mm (.312 in) machine gun in the back position. It looks like the rear gunners glass area was faired over on this aircraft. Not sure when or where I got the photo from as an image search shows no matches.

View attachment 720015​

and an another one of the 5th Sentai in 1945

the source: the net.

 

[Ralph Haus]

Very nice looking kit. Looks like someone was paying attention to modelers needs with the spru connections, at least it appears that way in the photos?

Camo? The ones illustrated in #19 or #21. If 19 I'll buy some extra beer and popcorn for watching that.

 

[CATCH 22]

View attachment 720143

View attachment 720144
the source: the net.

and an another one of the 5th Sentai in 1945
View attachment 720145
the source: the net.

IMHO the top 2 photos show an unarmed Tai-Atari (as mentioned earlier).
The bottom one is a Ki.45 KAI TEI with oblique cannons, nose cannon and rear machine gun. This is the variant I mentioned as a standard night fighter. There are a few photos of the same type from this unit (5th Sentai).
BTW in FAOTW on page 91, top there is a drawing of an a/c with a very short radio mast and covered rear gunner's station. I can recognize it's written Ki.45 KAI, without further designation. The title on the top says (as per DeepL translation from picture):
Ki-45 Kai, special attack aircraft

Good luck with your model!

 

[Viking1066]

Great choice!! I love Japanese planes in general. I can't wait to see the finished product !!

 

[fubar57]

Great choice!! I love Japanese planes in general. I can't wait to see the finished product !!

Roger that. I'm going with Hasegawa's call and Google Translate or I'll be here for the rest of the GB

 

[fubar57]

Sprayed all the pertinent items marked "A"....I hope. The Tamiya Khaki Drab was too dark and green to match the photo I posted and the Khaki was too yellow. I mixed them 50-50 and got almost bang on. The flash dulled up the colour but in real life, I'm happy with it. You can just make out the photo I mixed the paint to

​

 

[Wurger]

Humm .. the kit instruction says the cockpit colour should be the mix of Mr. Color 55 Khaki and Mr. Color 41 Red Brown. The ratio is suggested being 9/1. The colour seems to be the 7 Ohryoku nana go shoku used for cockpits from the mid of 1943.. So the mix should have been a kind of a brownish green close to the olive brown/khaki drab. That would corresponde to the colour chip you posted earlier. Before the no. 7was introduced the no.3 Hairanshoku Grey-Indigo ( Ash-Indigo colour) colourwas used.

The useful links ... More about JAAF # 7 Ohryoku nana go shoku 黄緑七号色 - yellow green no.7 colour

Ki-46 Colours

On 18th July 1943 the Mitsubishi Ki-46-II "Dinah", s/n 2414, of Dokuritsu 70th Hiko Chutai was shot down by Sqn Ldr Ken James, CO of 457...

www.aviationofjapan.com

 

[fubar57]

As I said, the flash washed out the colour a lot. With Future on, my colour is close to the MRP chip, actually in between both chips

 

[Wurger]

Grasped. In the pic it really looks different. The colour should be FS 33070 approximately. The Vallejo Model Air 286 IJA Olive Green, Life Color UA219 Olive Drab, Tamiya Color Acrylic Paint 81362 XF-62 Olive Drab.

 

[CATCH 22]

Before the no. 7was introduced the no.3 Hairanshoku Grey-Indigo ( Ash-Indigo colour) colour was used.

Wojtek, in fact before No.7 and after No.3, the lighter olive green No.29 has been used as well- see here.
BTW AK Interactive has No.7 ready-mixed under as AK2263 and No.29 as AK2266:

 

[Wurger]

That's true. I have forgotten about that ~ FS 34151 colour. But I'm not sure if it was used by the Kawasaki factory. But I have to admit the sample posted by Geo is closer to the no.29 than to the no. 7.

 

[fubar57]

This was taken in sunlight after gloss coating and Wojtek's chips superimposed on it. Close enough for the paint on hand

 

[CATCH 22]

That's true. I have forgotten about that ~ FS 34151 colour. But I'm not sure if it was used by the Kawasaki factory. But I have to admit the sample posted by Geo is closer to the no.29 than to the no. 7.

Wojtek, I was comparing the interior colours with the production time of Ki.45 Kai Hei (c): the latter was placed in production in March 1944 and the first completed a/c came out in the following month (April 1944). Checking the article I mentioned about the colours of Japanese Army Interiors (all types), the timing was:
1. Blue-grey # 3 until mid 1943
2. Light olive yellow-green # 29 between mid 1943 and 14.June 1944
3. Dark olive green # 7 from 14.June 1944
It is not impossible to have a Kai Hei with the lighter green, but IMHO all Kai Tei should have dark green interiors (I did my research mostly focusing on the latter variant).
The preserved Ki.45 in NASM is labeled as Kai Hei but is in fact Kai Tei. The interior is dark olive green.
Cheers!

 

[Crimea_River]

I vote blurple.

 

[destrozas]

As far as I understand and as Terry says, the medium-late models were painted as n3, according to AK in their Real Color line it is the IJN M3, for gunze mr color it is the C384

 

[CATCH 22]

As far as I understand and as Terry says, the medium-late models were painted as n3, according to AK in their Real Color line it is the IJN M3, for gunze mr color it is the C384

Sergio, the medium-late interiors were painted (in theory) in #29 (you wrote n3 - maybe it's a typo, maybe it's No.3?)
Kawanishi Green by Mr. Hobby you show above is very near to #29. Not so vibrant maybe.
AK has 2 M3-colours: AK 2067(M) is Mitsubishi green and AK 2068(N) is Nakajima Green. The first one is pretty much in the variable range of #29 as per these samples. The second one is more near to #7 (the darker interior colour) or somewhere in the middle.
It happened so that a week ago I visited my local hobby store an they had a big sale of older AK paints - $2 per bottle. I have never used these paints before but the price was "hot" and this forced me to buy several rare (for my understanding) paints/colours. Among them were the above discussed greens + the darker #7. Was it some kind of coincidence? Maybe....
Cheers!

 

[fubar57]

A bit of detail work, packing day so not much more. Some minor touch-ups I can now see

 

[Wurger]

 

[fubar57]

Started on the IP. A bit blurry but the best one to show detail. Colours added when I get home

 

[Wurger]