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My proposal for this groupbuild is no 'High Wing' aeroplane, strictly speaking. Kawasaki's Ki-10 (Allied nickname 'Perry') can be categorised as 'sesquiplane' with the lower wing being considerably smaller than the mainplane. As such, I believe, it may well fit into the realm of this groupbuild, and it's a captivating project because I plan to do something special with it. Here is a first view of my motif - This attractive little fighter was based on the Kawasaki KDA series designed by Dornier's Dr. Richard Vogt (of later fame as Chief Engineer at Blohm & Voss). Vogt mentored Takeo Doi who was responsible for the development of the Ki-10 and later of the Ki-61 Hien ('Tony'). The Ki-10 used a Kawasaki Ha-9 upright 12 cylindre V-engine, a derivative of the BMW VI, delivering 850 hp for take-off, and was armed with two 7.7 mm Type 89 machine guns. The photos of my subject - the one above (from autumn 1937?) and the following pictures which were taken during a press shooting in March 1938 - don't seem to show the same plane. Obvious differences include stripes that appear paler, wheels with spats, no antenna mast and a scoreboard. My analysis, based on comparative measurement and the input of informed supporters, indicates however, that this may well be one aircraft. The pilot was Lt Kosuke Kawahara of the 1st Chutai (squadron) 2nd Hiko Daitai (air battalion), who was credited with nine victories during the invasion of China. On 25 March 1938, outnumbered in a fierce engagement with Chinese fighters, this cheerful young flyer was shot down in return and killed after only eight months at the frontline. REFERENCES KAWASAKI TYPE 95 FIGHTER, YASUHO IZAWA, AIREVIEW 4/1968 JAPANESE AIRCRAFT OF THE PACIFIC WAR, RENE J. FRANCILLON, LONDON, 1970 JAPANESE ARMY AIR FORCE FIGHTER UNITS AND THEIR ACES 1931-1945, I. HATA / Y. IZAWA / C. SHORES, LONDON, 2002 JAPANESE ARMY FIGHTERS, MATSUBA MINORU, DESIGN WITH PRECISION 10, TOKYO, 2006 KAWASAKI KI-10 PERRY, T. JANUSZEWSKI / Z. SZEREMETA, TENZAN 2.1, WISNIOWA, 2007 ON CLOSER INSPECTION: KAWASAKI KI-10 "PERRY", MIKE GOODWIN, ARAWASI INTERNATIONAL EXTRA 1, TOKYO, 2010 CORRESPONDENCE WITH KEN GLASS AND NICK MILLMAN, AVIATION OF JAPAN, APRIL/MAY 2021 第 1章 ‒ Mise en place The only 1/48 'Perry' on the market is the excellent FineMolds product. This kit, representing a Ki-10-II, has been reissued a few times with different marking options. I received the 2009 edition as first prize in a modelling contest for my Toryu (here). I hope that it will turn out as successful as its bigger sibling. First, as usual, a look into the box - five sprues with 85 nicely molded parts and a couple of elastic prop shaft stoppers. The windscreen is excellent, and three wheel options are offered including those with spats. There is also a seated pilot figure with two heads (no, it's not a case of bicephaly - one of the heads got goggles on). I ordered the separate FineMolds Accessories AC-87 set with several PE parts, most meant for rigging, which I don't need because I rig my planes with wire. Let's see later if there is anything I can use. The box's decal sheet suggests three Ki-10-II with markings of the 2nd Daitai's 2nd Chutai. My philosophy of 'no me-too models' lets me consider a different approach. Would it be possible to convert it to a Ki-10-I? 🤔 第 2章 ‒ A conversion challenge With the groupbuild waiting in the wings I debated with myself (and my wife...) whether to make my life difficult and convert the kit or to just go ahead with an OOB build. My ambition won! I fell in love with the appealing markings portrayed above, and I like the stubbiness of the Ki-10-I in combination with the racy wheel spats. This early version is shorter, has a reduced wingspan (top and bottom) and a different rudder and elevator hinge line. The black outline shows the shape of the Ki-10-II, the red one the Ki-10-I. The blue overlay is the black tail section moved forward. The good news is that the front half is identical. Same from above. The yellow sections need to be eliminated - one frame from each half of the top wing at the aileron (which is shorter), and three frames of each bottom wing at the root (the angled trailing edge near the fuselage shows where Kawasaki's engineers inserted the original extension), plus one section right behind the cockpit. Now, let's pluck up courage and get going! I started the session with cutting the fuselage as described above. No issue, but keep an eye on right angles and don't remove too much! Then I trimmed the port rudder hinge line to the Ki-10-I profile. It will serve as template for the starboard part when both sides have been joined. The rudder will be adapted later. 第 3章 ‒ The driver's cabin The cockpit ingredients provided by FineMolds are reasonably detailed and comparable in number and quality with other high-end kits. Annoyingly the PE accessories don't offer anything meaningful to enhance this area except a couple of superfluous micro-pieces for nooks that nobody will see after assembly. An absurd addition is a PE toolbox with several tools, nice to have for a diorama, but I would have preferred a proper instrument panel. The pictures show the side walls before and after I enhanced them with pieces from the scrap box. My cockpit is painted with Hai-ai-iro (JAAF # 3), a greyish blue colour applied to crew areas according to Japanese Army practice between 1936 and 1943 (cf. photo below). Other internal areas received an Aotake coating which, however, may be Hai-ai-iro as well. As a final touch I scratch-built a new instrument panel, which differed from the later Ki-10-II, mainly in the compass installation. The dials were taken from the excellent Airscale decal sheet. Positioning the finished sub-assemblies was fiddly but finally everything got locked in properly. As usual not half of the details will remain visible after closing the fuselage. 第 4章 ‒ Fusembly The fuselage assembly is a good opportunity for applying all modelling skills that I have practised on one or another kit in the past 40 years. It's also the most critical step if my conversion is to be successful. A commentary by numbers - 1 - FineMolds surprises again with an unconventional parts layout. They tend to cut the structure in places where other model versions require different parts, but there is no Ki-10 with a different bonnet. Maybe it was meant to increase the parts count. Anyway, the open front deck made it easier to align the instrument panel, and the top covers don't have a seam to deal with. 2 - The fuselage joint is supported by home-made PE rails which I had attached to the inside of the cockpit wall before. They will help to spread and centre the tail section which is still open at the bottom. 3 - This is the new rudder profile cut out of the original part. It was easier than I thought thanks to the advantageous shape of the Ki-10-II rudder. 4 - I inserted a wedge of balsa wood to spread the rear fuselage as it is very easy to carve and sand. 5 - There will be a step in the lower contour after attaching the tail section (see picture below). I will deal with this in the next session. 6 - A small hole is drilled into the rigging fairings to lead in the wire. Rigging worries are for later, too. After mating the fuselage halves I puttied the joint and all non-access panels. FineMolds endowed the kit with their acclaimed fine panel lines but in this case the effort was wasted. In order to achieve a super-sleek surface Kawasaki sealed all gaps on the Ki-10's body, applied several layers of primer and covered the camouflage with a coat of varnish. Wing trimming interlude To get the correct pitch angle for the insert at the bottom I need to attach the lower wing first - i.e. the wing centre section to be precise, because the wing is shortened (see chapter 1). Approximately one centimetre (1.05 cm 😉) had to be cut off at each wing root. This done, I prepared a short metal spar that re-links the outer wing panels to the centre section. Both ends of the spar are angled upwards in order to achieve a 4° wing dihedral. 第 5章 ‒ Continuage Continuing with the fuselage I used another strip of balsa wood to bridge the gap at the bottom (left picture) and, after the putty had dried, gave it a rounded contour with the sanding pad (right picture). The next photo shows the fuselage with additional parts and some more details - 7 - A grille was inserted into the air intake (b); and the static tube (a), the machine gun ports (c) and the fume vents (d) were drilled out. 8 - FineMolds designed a very smart and efficient method for attaching the interplane and cabane struts at the right angle. The struts are, however, very soft and flexible, and I'm not sure they will support my way of structural rigging. Therefore I reinforced/replaced the aileron push rods with hard metal strips hoping that they will eventually bear some of the upper wing rigging strain (and won't break during the next sessions). 9 - Rigging wire pulled through and stowed in the fuselage. The first coat of black Mr Finishing Surfacer 1500 revealed a few spots that needed more filling and smoothing but in the end the conversion surgery went pretty well. I masked the fuselage where the stripes should be. For placement and width of the stripes I referred to the photo (measurements for 1/48 in cm). The area was pre-painted with flat white (see note below) before applying JAAF # 14 orange yellow which is described by Millman as a touch brighter than RAL 2000 'Sonnengelb' *. * Searching the internet for RAL 2000, which I didn't find at one of the established hobby paint manufacturers, I came across Life Colours from Elita (not Lifecolor!) who offer nearly all RAL shades here. I mixed RAL 2000 with 20% RAL 1037 to brighten it up. (Note: The solvent inherent in these colours wrinkles an underlying enamel or acrylic coat - Tamiya white primer worked well, though). 第 6章 ‒ Bottom wing metamorphosis This chapter pursues the treatment of the lower wing. A few more things needed to be done before I could mate it with the fuselage - 10 - The fairings at the bottom of the interplane struts were removed because 11 - The strut attachment is one rib further outboard on the Ki-10-I so that I had to drill new anchor points which will eventually connect with short metall pins in both strut stumps. 12 - I still mistrust the rigidity of the struts. A length of metal serves as an extra precaution to prevent the wings from bending upwards when rigged, thus reducing the pressure on the struts. The holes for the double landing wires have been drilled, too. 13 - Old strut attachment pits puttied and rigging wires stowed away in the wings. The wings are now attached to the centre section; wing roots are blended in; fuselage stripes covered with masking tape. I also installed the windscreen with the telescopic gun sight and the cabane struts. A few other details are pointed out in the picture. The windscreen was, unexpectedly, a bit of a gremlin. FineMolds afforded another example of their freakish parts cut as they molded the machine gun breech covers integral with the transparency. When I fixed it on the cockpit rim a gap was left between the breech covers and the fuselage. I hate these painful late adjustments of delicate parts! Another slight irritation is the gap between the two wing planes which, when dry-fitted, is about 2 mm too wide if the cabane struts are taken as they are, but FineMolds' well-contrued attachment points in the upper wing connect to the shortened struts with ease. 第 7章 ‒ The cutting goes on... The upper wing is now on the operating table. As discussed earlier (Chapter 2) one rib section needs to be eliminated at the inboard end of each aileron. The left picture shows the bottom wing half on my drawing board (after segmentation). With a triangle ruler held against the metal rail I scribed a perpendicular line into the plastic which was then sliced through with a scalpel. The straight leading edge proved very convenient - also for rejoining the wing segments later. On the right I checked the result (upper wing half) against the Ki-10-I drawing. Looks good! The next iteration shows the cut panels re-united and sealed at the joints. The trailing edge of the centre section needed some trimming to align with the outer sections. 14 - I restored the wing ribs along the seams by pouring primer between two strips of masking tape. 15 - A few upper wing details added (tank filler, hoist rings, access caps). 16 - The antenna mast hole and two sink marks (shame on FineMolds!) were puttied and sanded flush. 17 - The lower main wing also received a metal spar to keep it level and stiff. 18 - Finally, I drilled the remaining rigging holes near the strut attachment pits. 第 8章 ‒ Colouration & decoration It should be easy to paint the model - just grey-green overall. But which colour exactly? There is no one-stop paint on the market for JAAF # 1 Hai-ryoku-shoku (ash-green), which was the factory-applied camouflage for fighters until late 1941. (It continued in use on multi-engine aircraft through 1944). Referring to Millman's description here of observed colour variations I mixed what seemed the best representation of a Ki-10's camouflage: Mr Color H325 grey with 15-20% H461 oxidgrün and a small measure of dark earth. Through different mix ratios alternative Hai-ryoku-shoku shades can be achieved. Digital copies of the Katakana glyph and victory marks were re-scaled and printed on clear decal film. Stencils are provided by FineMolds. Eventually everything was sealed with semi-gloss acrylic lacquer. You will note that a few more parts have been added, namely the exhausts, the radiator shutter, a position light on the fuselage spine and the rudder actuators. With this long session past me I begin to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But there are still a few challenges to master. The next one is rigging. 第 9章 ‒ Struts and strings At this critical point I'd like to recapitulate for my inclined followership: In chapter 6 the cabane struts were shortened by a fraction, and the bulbous bottom fairings of the interplane struts were cut and replaced by small metal pins to connect with the new attachment holes further outboard (10). As an additional precaution I stiffened the wings with metal spars (17). Now let's see if all this leads to a proper sit of the upper wing - Besides mounting the undercarriage, I fixed the pitot tube (19) and deleted the position lights from the interplane struts as a last-minute modification (20). Ki-10 specialist Ken Glass implied that the battery-driven lamps were (re-)movable. Kawahara's plane doesn't seem to have any installed. I rig interwar biplanes with Griffin jewelry wire. This material (steel wire coated with nylon) has several advantages: It won't yield, bend or rip, it reacts easily with CA glue, and the gunmetal shimmer looks the part. After studying plenty of Ki-10 pictures I decided to take two different grades - .012" for the single flying wires and .010" for the double landing wires which would roughly translate to ½" and ⅜" wires as used by US biplanes of the same era. Of course I can't be sure that the Ki-10 had two different sizes but it seems possible. Before fixing the wires, fairings need to be laid - and there are many of them here... How to make cable fairings I use paper strips formed into a cone and cut to the required shape and size as per pictures below. This technique is very flexible, allowing for different sizes and shapes, flat or round, with large or small openings. Covered with several layers of plastic and/or super glue the tiny pieces become reasonably hard and can even be sanded. The rigging has now been completed with fairings blended in at the strut joints (21) and home-made stays added (22). No major issues except for watching out that the wires are equally taut all around. The structural rigging gives the whole airframe a strong cohesion. Closing the lid This session ends with uniting the main wing. I sealed a few gaps on the leading edge with Mr Surfacer and touched up the colour. After applying hinomaru decals the wing surfaces were treated with semi-gloss acrylic lacquer. Only a few more things to do now, namely 第 10章 ‒ Nose, tail, feet ... and finish Like the rudder, the elevators of the Ki-10-I are deeper and have a different shape. What I at first considered difficult turned out to be a fairly easy modification. After filling the old hinge line I drew up the new profile and engraved it with the scriber. Likewise the movable trim tabs had to go and be replaced with fixed ones. Done! FineMolds' wheel spats gave me a little more trouble. The insides of the protruding wheel sections are molded integral with the spats while the outer wheel halves are separate parts. Since I like weighted wheels it's thus impossible to guess where the flattened base will end up on the finished model, particularly as the gear is slightly angled inwards. Fortunately there is an extra set of half wheels. I removed the fixed sections and scraped the inside of the spats to accommodate full wheels, which I could now turn to the proper (flattened) position after mounting the spats to the undercarriage. The nose section, finally, was painless. For the propeller, Japanese colour standards of the period called for a polished metal front with red warning stripes and a reddish brown rear. I sand-blasted part of the rear face, the only meaningful 'aging' for this well-kept plane. With everything on board, we are now ready to lift off... Thank you for coming by to watch! More pictures in the gallery here. ハッピーモデル構築 - Michael Conclusions 1) This FineMolds kit is an excellent product, both in overall shape and in detail, which I can fully recommend. I was not happy with the parts fit of my last FineMolds model, the D4Y 'Judy' here, but this little biplane left a very positive impression. Of particular notion are a smart front deck segmentation, a nice radiator rendition, a painless prop installation, and brilliant strut attachment points. On the downside, as discussed in the WIP, I would mention the floppy struts, the integral molding of windscreen and gun breach covers, and the spats cum wheel halves - all manageable but an unnecessary extra effort. The separate FineMolds PE set makes sense only if you wish to use the PE rigging strands. 2) The conversion was not difficult. In my view it can be performed by modellers with only moderate experience in styrene surgery. The biggest challenge is bridging the lower fuselage contour (see chapter 5). In preparation for the groupbuild I spent considerable time on comparing drawings, measuring, and planning every operation until I was satisfied that all adjustments would work. I hope my tutorial encourages other Ki-10 aficionados to try it, too.

The Kugisho D4Y (or Carrier Dive Bomber 'Suisei'), developed by the Naval Air Arsenal at Yokosuka, was the last scout bomber of the crumbling Imperial Japanese Navy. The design is amazingly compact when compared to its precursor, the Aichi D3A. There is a strong contrast in philosophy to US Navy dive bomber development which advanced from the fragile Vought SB2U to the monstrous SB2C Helldiver. Even with an internal bomb bay the Suisei is no larger than the SB2U! Folding wings were not needed for handling this little aircraft on carrier elevators. My model represents the D4Y3 variant with a Mitsubishi Kinsei 14-cylinder radial in place of the earlier Daimler-Benz in-line derivative. リ-266 belonged to the Hyakuri Kokutai, an operational training unit. It was involved in at least one combat mission in November 1944 flown by Lt(jg) Kiyoshi Arasu. I bought the FineMolds box in the mid-nineties and found the price unreasonable. All the more so as the kit proved less satisfactory than I had expected. A number of adjustments were necessary and I used available after-market parts to upgrade the model. I hope you enjoy this unconventional subject. A Japanese airplane enthusiast for many years I admire the elegant lines of their designs, and it's a pleasure to share the pictures. ハッピーモデル構築 - Michael References Japanese Navy Air Force Camouflage and Markings WWII, Donald W. Thorpe, Fallbrook, 1977 Navy Carrier Dive Bomber "Suisei", Famous Airplanes of the World No.69, Tokyo, 1998 Kugisho Carrier Dive Bomber "Suisei", Mechanism of Military Aircraft No.11, Japan, 2011 The IJN Carrier Bomber Suisei - D4Y Series Photo & Illustrated, Model Graphix 23079, Tokyo, 2012 Imperial Japanese Army & Navy Airplanes Illustrated - Book 2, Model Art, Tokyo, 2016 The Dark Green Paints of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force, Nicholas Millman, 2016 The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force had fine airplanes, too. Click here