Search the Community

UPDATE - ref. 70051 - Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate/"Frank" Expert Set Sources: http://armahobbynews.pl/en/blog/2022/03/18/new-arma-hobby-model-kit-ki-84-hayate/ https://www.facebook.com/ArmaHobby/posts/5216672161696432 https://www.armahobby.com/70051-nakajima-ki-84-hayate-expert-set.html Arma Hobby new 1/72nd aircraft kit type will be unveiled on Friday 18th, 2022. Source: https://www.facebook.com/ArmaHobby/posts/5205698066127175 V.P.

Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate Kagero TopDrawings The Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate is, in my opinion one of the nicest looking Japanese fighters of WWII. Having built a number of kits, mainly 1:48 I hadn’t realised there were so many differences between the different variants. This, the latest book in their TopDrawing series, shows these differences in clear, well drawn diagrams, all in 1:48 scale, with additional details, such as weapons etc in 1:24 scale. There are 15 pages in total, with four pages in the centre of colour plates with side views of two aircraft per page. To the rear of the book there are two pages dedicated to showing the differences through shading and annotations, from the early Ki-84-013 to the last variant, the Ki-84 Tei. Also included with the book are a set of masks, for 1:72, 1:48 and 1:32 scale kits. There is also an A2 pull out sheet with side a d front views of the Ki-84 Ko and Hei on one side, plus top and bottom views on the other, all in 1:32 scale, plus another pullout sheet, this time in A3 showing top and bottom views of the Ki-84 Ko on one side and the Hei on the other, in 1:48 scale. Conclusion These are great little books for modellers, and while they aren’t exhaustive in their information, they do help show the differences throughout the production run. As with other books in the series, this one should be used along with other reference material to ensure the accuracy of your model. Review sample courtesy of

This is my most recent completion, Sword's Ki-84. I like the Frank a lot, it has clean lines and good looks, a true fighter aircraft. Some years ago I built Hasegawa's excellent but dated kit, and I've been looking for an opportunity to build another one. When I came across Sword's pre-production version (I believe the c variant), I had to have it. Sword's kit is a popular candidate for best short run kit in these great 'What is the best xx-scale kit?' topics. As such I was curious to see how well it built. I found it to be a typical modern short run kit - nice detail, good use of resin parts (engine and wheel bay) but also somewhat spurious fit in areas (gun cover, engine cowling, wing root). All in all it built rather well but due to general hamfistedness it did take me a bit longer to complete than it should have. I drilled through the top of the wing when widening the locating holes for the gear... not my finest hour. None of the kit's issues are difficult to resolve, the only slightly problematic area is the canopy; this seems to be a bit wider than the cockpit area it sits on, resulting in a small step. I filled this with Perfect Plastic Putty but it's still noticeable, especially when compared to Hasegawa's old but perfectly-fitting kit. Sword gives you a choice of two color schemes, an unpainted aluminium plane and a 'Medium brown' with green mottling. I visited Nick Millman's blog 'Aviation of Japan' to get a line on the shade of brown I needed, and using the color swatches I found I created my own using some RAF Dark Earth as a base, mixed with Tamiya Red Brown and Olive Drab. This was applied over a coating of Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium. The mottling was sprayed using Tamiya's IJA Green. I used some IJA Grey for the control surfaces, but I feel the shade is too green when I look at it now - if someone can verify what this shade should look like I'd love to hear it. Sword's decals worked well but the set has one curious omission. It appears that the lines around the front and rear of the wings are red on an unpainted surface and yellow on camouflaged surfaces. Sword provides sufficient red decals to do to the unpainted variant, but for the camouflaged variant the yellow lines around the front of the wing are missing. I stole these from a Hasegawa sheet I have, but this created another problem, a mismatch between the yellow shades of the lines. In the end I therefore used all Hasegawa decals. After decaling I saw that the yellow on the wing leading edge had a decidedly greener tint than the rather orangey yellow of the lines. Oh well. I was going to weather the plane quite severely, to try out some new techniques, then realized it was in use with a test squadron, and thought better of it - I suppose these guys must have taken some care of their mounts and/or wouldn't have used it for long. I picked some W&N water colors to apply a wash, a toothpick to scratch the paint around some of the panels in order to allow the bare metal to show through, and a combination of pastels and washes to create some staining. I used a couple of minor after-market items on this build; canopy mask by Eduard, tubing for the pitot and gun barrels from Albion Alloys, a lens for the landing light from Little Cars and EZ-line type thread from some eBay seller. In summary, a satisfying result from what is undoubtedly a very good kit of this important and beautiful aircraft. It joins its nemesis, the F6F, in my growing collection of 'Hellcats over the Pacific' - inspired builds.

This is one of my latest models. This is a kit I avoided during a long time because it looked too similar to the Tojo, George, etc. But finally, and as I am running out of different models to build, I ended up buying it. I got the old "super-rivetted" Revell version, which makes it look something american, with so many rivets. I decided for this bronze-brown camouflage, as it escapes from the usual japo green that bores me so much. The kanjis on the fuselage have been hand-painted. What I like from this model is the sensation of sturdyness it has, and the door to show the motor is very welcome too. You can see more pics here; http://toysoldierchest.blogspot.com/2013/06/nakajima-ki-84-1a-hayate-frank-revell.html