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Showing results for tags 'Nakajima Ki 44'.
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Continuing on with my Hasegawa Japanese planes, but this time a newer kit. My previous two builds were from the mid-70s but this (and the next one to come) is from 2008, one of the rare models I bought brand new. The quality of the plastic and fit were exactly as I had expected and this was a joy to build. I completed this in March of 2023. Painting the Shoki was also quite easy. At this time I had been painting many of my models with a silver primer (I no longer do this) and I just left the primer without a coat of paint. I would likely opt for silver lacquer now, but at the time this was quick and looked the part. The aotake wheel wells were painted in Vallejo Aotake; the anti-glare on the nose is AK Real Colors' SCC 14 Blue Black. The white and yellow parts are also using AK Real Colors, and the red on the tail is Tamiya. The spinner and propellers are AK's 3rd Generation Acrylic Mahogany Brown. I think at the time of making this, this was one of the best finished products I had made up to that point. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The Ki-44 Shoki, codenamed 'Tojo' by the Allies after the Japanese Prime Minister Hideki Tojo, was created as a high-speed interceptor aircraft. It was somewhat of a departure from earlier Japanese planes that favoured manoeuverability over all other aspects in that the Shoki stressed speed and rate of climb, as well as having heavier armaments. The Shoki took a mostly air defense role, defending their occupied territories and home islands from Allied bombing runs. Production on the aircraft didn't last long; the Japanese stopped making the Shoki in 1944 in favour of the Ki-84 "Frank". However, captured Shokis continued to be used by the Chinese in their Civil War, as well as the by the Indonesians during the Indonesian National Revolution. No Ki-44s survive today except for a single wing section at a museum in China.
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Hi aviation modellers, as I haven't been able to start a project in a while I thought I would share a build from a couple of years ago. This model is built from the Hasegawa 2002 boxing of the Ki-44-II, or Army Type 2 Fighter, and represents an aircraft of the 3rd Chutai, 47th Hiko Sentai based on Narimasu airfield northwest of Tokyo in 1944-45, the same unit that @Toryu depicted in his superlative 1/48 scale build, found here: This unit was put into action against the B-29s that wreaked havoc against Tokyo and other Japanese cities on firebombing raids late in the war. Do correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that aircraft assigned to Home Defense can be identified based on the white painted wing and fuselage background for the Hinomaru (meatball) national markings. Interestingly, according to pacificwrecks.com, the airfield was converted post-war into the "Grant Heights Family Housing Annex" for American military personnel and their dependents, with the airstrip serving as the main street. The build presented very few problems and I would recommend the kit to beginners and vets alike. Happy days, Nick.
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Hi, Today was a sunny spring day in Krakow - good to make some removing of dust and do photos of archive models from shelvs. Especially because the "current production" slowed down a bit... This is Nakajima Ki 44 II Shoki (Tojo) - kit from Hasegawa, almost OOB except painting scheme which presents machine from 85 Sentai JAAF, China 1944 - with rare blue patches. I made it in 1993 Comments welcome Regards Jerzy-Wojtek