spitfire Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 (edited) Well it's been a while, in 2016 I built three US operated Spitfires, my theme for 2017 was Japanese as I realised that I only had 2 Japanese subjects in my display cabinet. The kits that I chose were all Hasegawa I really like these kits as they are usually very well engineered and are a pleasure to build. The first one up was the Hayate, I remember building a 1/72 one in my youth, probably Revell and liked the look of it. I know very little about Japanese aircraft so I started this project by reading my Thorpe’s Japanese Army Air Force camouflage and markings book from end to end. Then I started reading through my meagre collection of books on the Ki 84, including the Aero Detail 24 book. Then onto the internet and the J Aircraft website, copying and reading everything that I could find concerning the Ki 84 and Japanese WW2 paintwork. Then I went through Nick Millman’s Aviation of Japan blog searching for more information. A lot of the data that I collected was contradictory, so as usual I read it and then make my own mind up. I was most surprised to read that only one Ki 84 has survived, mind you having a copy of Broken Wings of the Samurai I should have realised that Japanese WW2 aircraft would be a bit thin on the ground but as it was one of the most effective of their fighters it’s surprising that others were not saved. Nick Millman very kindly helped me with information when I built my Special Hobby Ki 27 Nate so I contacted him again requesting his help once more, Nick was extremely helpful and with his input I put together a plan of action. After discussions with Nick I devised the following plan using Nick's advise and what paint that I had or could get so any mistakes are down to me and not Nick: Upper surface colour Sovereign Colourcoats ARJ01 this is the nearest to FS33070 that I could find though there is a new Colourcoats paint that is a dedicated aircraft colour ACJ22 - IJAAF #7 Ohryoku nana go shoku, which I picked up at Telford. Under surface colour I compared Humbrol 168 Hemp, Sovereign Colourcoats ACJ016 and Xtracolor X16 Hemp, they all look very similar but I like working with Xtracolor so will go with X16 Cockpit Humbrol 78 Matt Cockpit Green mixed with Humbrol 28 Camouflage Grey, a 2:1 mix of 78 and 28 roughly matches FS34226 which Nick recommends, though it could have been painted with the exterior colour, in the end using a new tinlet I made a 78 and 28 mix. Area Under the windscreen and canopy Revell 9 Anthracite Anti Glare Panel The kit instructions do not show an anti glare panel but on Nick's advice I will go with one using Revell 9 Anthracite Wheel wells Humbrol 78 Prop Blades FS 34082 is quoted for these but Humbrol 78 is recommended by Nick so I will go with 78. ID Bands Xtracolor X106 Insignia Yellow or ACJ19 Hinomaru Humbrol 19 or Sovereign Colourcoats ACJ20, I will probably use the latter. Inside Engine Cowling Upper surface colour , Sovereign Colourcoats ARJ01or ACJ22 More in a moment Cheers Dennis Edited November 15, 2018 by spitfire Spelling 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neil5208 Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 Interesting aircraft, will follow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 As you can imagine the build is pretty advanced now so I will be posting it in installments, next up. As well as sourcing the paints I also sent away for an Aires cockpit, some Maketar paint masks and some paint that I did not have in stock. I also ordered some RB seatbelts for IJA aircraft, these surprisingly are only lap belts. The usual box photo And references Back to 2017: As usual first up was the cockpit, the Aires resin parts were washed in warm soapy water and left to dry. Then came the dry fitting, all went reasonably well until I tried to fit the floor into the cockpit and found that it was too short. So I decided to use the kit floor with the resin front bulkhead, the kit rear bulkhead and the resin side walls. The latter will be glued to the fuselage sides rather than making up a “tub” as I was concerned with having gaps between the resin wall and the fuselage sides. And of course the resin seat will be used rather than the clunky kit seat. All the cockpit parts and the fuselage halves were airbrushed with the H78/H28 mixture and left to dry. Life then came into the mix and the builders arrived to build a two storey extension to the house, the lower part will be a new garage for my motorbikes as the existing garage is too small. Above the garage will be my newer bigger study, the building of this extension lasted from May to September so modelling was suspended, then to go with the new parts of the house the rest of the house had to be decorated and refitted. This was completed just before Christmas and I got back to this build having forgotten all the things that I had learned about the Hayate and Japanese aircraft. A re appraisal of the cockpit saw me revert to the kit cockpit parts apart from the seat as I wanted this to be a fast track build rather than waste time messing about with resin. In hindsight which is really useless I wish that I had used the resin parts but that was the decision I made at the time. The kit cockpit parts were dug out, cleaned up, and painted as per the Hasegawa instructions, though the kit control column had vanished so the resin one was used. For the main cockpit colour I still used the H78/H28 mixture, then added all the detail painting. The control panel was painted semi gloss black using Humbrol 85, I very nearly sanded down the raised detail and used the instrument decal but this tends to leave a very flat looking IP. Instead I used Mr Surfacer 500 to fill in the instrument dials to give a flat surface to place the instrument decals on (MDC and Airscale). This was not a good idea and did not work terribly well. It’s a shame YAHU haven’t got around to making an IP for this kit. The side consol was painted black (H85) and the details picked out with a brush, this was less than successful, so the raised detail was sanded back and the kit decal used. This looked ever so much neater. Some weathering was carried out using Pro Modeller mud and dark washes. I had not used these for years and only small amounts were used. The various knobs and levers were painted as per the instructions and put to one side as I continued to plough through the sprues. Next up was the lap belt using the RB productions version which was a pleasure to put together, I then drilled some holes in the side of the seat, inserted some fine fuse wire and attached the belts. With the seat ready to go I continued with the cockpit and assembled the “tub” which went together beautifully. For the cowl on top of the instrument panel I used Revell 9 Anthracite which looks good The tub was then glued in place in a fuselage half and the fuselage was closed this fitted really well so hopefully I’ll have the minimum amount of filling/sanding to do. This did work out well as the filling/sanding was minimal, once done the panel line detail was re done, attention turned to the wings. Next up the engine Cheers Dennis 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
72modeler Posted November 15, 2018 Share Posted November 15, 2018 Wow....is all I can say at the moment. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 All the engine parts were removed from their sprues, cleaned up and painted, the cylinders were painted Humbrol Matt Aluminium and given a wash with very thinned matt black. The crankcase was painted with a light grey colour (H128 US Compass Grey). The pushrod ring was painted Polished Aluminium, after this was dried the individual push rods were painted grey (H128). The ends of the exhausts were opened out a little, this was very fiddly as they are not round so the results were non too neat, they were then painted with Humbrol 113 prior to getting the pencil lead treatment Motivated by some other peoples builds I decided to wire up the HT leads on the engine, so some 5 amp fuse wire was painted with Humbrol 85 satin black. The spark plug holes were then drilled out leaving the tricky question of where to attach the leads to on the ring, in the end I decide to drill the ring itself, looking at period photos I decided that black for the HT leads was probably wrong so they were repainted with a tan colour. With the engine ready to go it was time to look at other areas, the drop tank halves were glued together and the seams sanded down, the main wheel halves were glued together and sanded, after which they were painted with my version of tyre colour, Humbrol 67Matt Tank Grey, the tail wheel tyre was also painted at this time. The tail wheel cover was painted with H85 satin black, though it may have been canvas, will check some other Japanese aircraft reference books to see what they have. I had seen a build on HS were the builder had raised the flaps, I thought this was a great idea and followed his lead and the photos in the build thread. http://hsfeatures.com/features04/ki8432ir_1.htm So out with the modelling knife and away we went. The landing light and surround were painted, the wing spar inserted and the wing halves glued together. The seams were then filled, sanded and polished. I had some problems with the seam splitting in various places as I handled the wings, it would seem that my CA had gone off. So I opened a new bottle of CA (Zap a Gap Medium CA) and the difference was astonishing, it looks like the long layoff did not suit it. With the wings sorted they were offered up to the fuselage and the fit was really nice so out with my new CA and the wings and fuselage were joined. The wing to fuselage joint on both sides had a very small gap which I filled with Mr Surfacer 500 using a cocktail stick (toothpick), the excess was then wiped off using a cotton bud dipped in Mr Colour thinner. I like this method as it fills the gap but leaves a panel line in place. Cheers Dennis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 4 minutes ago, 72modeler said: Wow....is all I can say at the moment. Mike Thank you very much Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 59 minutes ago, neil5208 said: Interesting aircraft, will follow You are very welcome, the Hayate was one of the best Japanese fighters of WW2. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 Next installment The tail planes were attached, this needed some masking tape to hold them in place while the CA went off as one was low and one was high despite the interlocking tabs. The resultant small gap was treated in the same way as the wing to fuselage joint. Frustratingly the tail planes were not even so in the end I had to break off the offending item and start again, this was successfully re attached and the end result was even. Then more real life intruded and the Hayate was again sat back on the shelf as my wife’s new garden project took more of my attention and it was also time to sort out my new and old garages ready for fettling my motorbikes ready for the summer. Then September arrived and the weather had turned, I had completed all my summer jobs so it was back to the bench and the Hayate. Though it was not easy trying to remember what I was going to do next but I did catch up again. The first job was to check over the airframe for CA and scratch marks and buff them out, then trying to decide on the sequence of painting for the white wing and fuselage stripes (bandages) and yellow stripes and walkways etc. But I could not do the white parts until I sorted out the canopy as the white band overlaps it, so the clear parts were been dipped in Klear and left to dry. Painted the area under the aft canopy and the windscreen using Revell #9 anthracite ready for the clear parts to be attached. I then applied the paint masks from the Maketar Hayate masking set. The front and rear clear parts were then glued to the fuselage using CA, the sliding centre section was masked inside and then mounted on a cocktail stick ready for painting. Next up painting the bandages Cheers Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 15, 2018 Author Share Posted November 15, 2018 Using Xtracolor X141 white I airbrushed the “bandage” markings on the wings and fuselage, taking the measurements from the kit decals, these were left for a couple of days and then masked off. Then using Xtracolor X106 I airbrushed the yellow sections of the airframe, fuselage stripes, the leading edges of the wings, the tail, the propeller blades which have already been painted with Humbrol H78 and masked off and the spinner. Masked off the wings and the fuselage stripes, for the latter I used the curvy Tamiya tape. Removed the masking tape on the prop blades and touched up the green where the yellow had snuck under the tape. Collected all the bits that need to be painted with the underside colour and attached them to either plastic label with blue tack or in the case of the drop tanks with cocktail sticks after drilling a hole in them. Fitted the cooling flaps section and the engine cowl using Blu Tac so I could paint the undersides. Airbrushed the undersides with Xtracolor 016 Hemp, I was going to use Sovereign Colourcoats Hemp but I had an opened tin of Xtracolor Hemp. I then made up a lightened version of the Hemp using a 50:50 mix of Hemp and white diluted with Xtracolor thinner at 50 paint 50 thinner and used in in patches to break up the solid underside colour. Then I airbrushed the anti glare panel using Sovereign Colourcoats ACJ08 and added some more yellow to the wings for some walkway markings that I had missed, I will leave it now for a couple of days before masking it and applying the top coat. And there we are bang up to date Cheers Dennis 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 17, 2018 Author Share Posted November 17, 2018 I thought that I would get some paint on the top side today but I underestimated how much masking I had to do and the daughter and grandson came visiting to escape the builders at their house but I'm all set for tomorrow. Cheers Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 21, 2018 Author Share Posted November 21, 2018 Well I finally got some time to put some paint on the Hayate, for this I used Sovereign Colourcoats ARJ01 Imperial Japanese Army Khaki which is the same as ACJ22 IJAAF #7 Ohryoku nana go shoku, no I do not understand it either but if I could pronounce it it would sound most impressive. It has been known as Homeland Defence Khaki to me it is a greeny brown colour. The paint was thinned 50:50 with Xtracolor thinner and airbrushed beautifully, though I do not like airbrushing matt paint I find it easier to airbrush gloss paint. Here is the result. Not forgetting this bit I had to redo some bits that were a bit thin, then I could wait no longer and ripped off all the masking to reveal this Amazingly I did not pull off any paint when removing the masking, but I did notice that the wing bandages were a tad too wide, about 3-4 mm but I can live with that. Cheers Dennis 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 23, 2018 Author Share Posted November 23, 2018 Well I could not leave well alone, knowing the "bandages" were too wide I had to do something about them, so out with the Tamiya tape and paper, a quick sand down to remove the slight lip and out with the airbrush, I'll let the undersides dry before doing the topside. Masked off and sanded down Undersides airbrushed Cheers Dennis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted November 30, 2018 Author Share Posted November 30, 2018 And here is the result, it may only look marginally different but once I had noticed that it was wrong I had to fix it, now I can get on with the markings. I did try to detail the undercarriage legs, I got some fuse wire, painted it and shaped it as per the reference books but when it came to fixing it in position I failed miserably, I tried bare metal foil, Tamiya tape, scrap etched brass, my sausage like fingers could not manage any of them. The someone on another web site suggested lead foil, so a quick visit to eBay and some fly fishing self adhesive lead foil found it's way to me, and pleased to say that it worked, not an expert job but I'm very pleased with it. The start And the finished result, the photo has shown me that I need to tidy up the paint and pinch the foil straps in a bit to fit snuggly to the hydraulic pipe, but I'm still pleased with them. Cheers Dennis 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted December 3, 2018 Author Share Posted December 3, 2018 Now to the markings, I bought the Maketar set for the Ki84 as I dislike decals and am rubbish at applying them so I normally use masks. However the masks I ordered are Kabuki tape and I could not see what was on the sheet as the cuts are very fine and the instructions are non existant. So I could not see the masks and did not know what half of them did, I'm sure that there were some that would have been very handy and they were well made. The canopy masks were very good and the instructions for them were very clear. though. So I could make out the Hinomaru's but did not know which applied to my subject so I had to measure the kit decals to find the ones to use on the sheet. These were then cut out. The problem that I had with the "Bandages" was to ensure that I got the markings central and in the right position on the wing, so I measured the mask and the "bandage" and put some Tamiya tape across the wing to get the marking central, some pen marks were then made on the mask lining up on panel lines to ensure that the position on the wing was correct. The masks were then prepared with some transfer Tamiya tape to hold the circle in the mask, this would ensure that the mask stayed round and I was not left with egg shaped markings. All ready to go with the mask circles removed. Everything else masked off just in case. The the airbrush was loaded up with Sovereign Colourcoats ACJ20 Hinomaru Red and way I went. The finished article And a small repair was needed where I had polished the matt paint a bit too much, a small decal goes here so rather that use a gloss coat I just buff up the area with a nail buffer, so out with the Sovereign Colourcoats ARJ01 Khaki and it was like new.. It wasn't all a success story as I failed trying to line up the mask on the tail, I just could not get it to fit where it transitions from the fin to the fuselage so i will reluctantly have to use the kit decal. Cheers Dennis 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted December 3, 2018 Share Posted December 3, 2018 That looks terrific! Proper job 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Frank083 Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Very Nice progress so far!👍👍👍 Frank 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies Posted December 4, 2018 Share Posted December 4, 2018 Beautiful work Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted December 4, 2018 Author Share Posted December 4, 2018 17 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: That looks terrific! Proper job Than you very much for those kind words, hopefully now I am at this stage things can speed up a bit. 12 hours ago, Frank083 said: Very Nice progress so far!👍👍👍 Frank Fingers crossed that I don't snatch defeat from the jaws of victory, it has happened in the past. 6 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said: Beautiful work Dennis Thank you Jamie and thank you for the splendid paint range. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 Well I have not been neglecting this one too much, the tail marking was still bugging me so I decided to revert to my original plan, initially I painted the tail yellow to reverse mask the marking but I decided to mask it off as normal, my sausage like fingers were not up to this so I gave up and half decided to use a decal. But rather that use a decal, which I don't like and would not match the other yellows that I had airbrushed I went as follows: Tail airbrushed yellow. Spare Kabuki mask supplied in the Matetar set, with "transfer tape" applied to hold it together while I placed it on the model. Mask surround removed, ready to apply to model. Mask applied to model And the result, I just need to do the red "shadow" lines now, so it is left on the shelve to dry for a while before masking. Cheers Dennis 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brandy Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 This is really looking good. I'll have to get some off that Kabuki tape, it's been recommended elsewhere too. A tip for spotting the edges of the masks. Scrape a pencil with a sharp blade, then gently rub the mask with the powder. You should be able to pick out the edges. We used to do that in the bank I worked in back in the early '80's to pick out the account number on cheques that had been missed by the printing stamp. Ian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sleepwalker Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Amazing paint job. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clive_t Posted December 13, 2018 Share Posted December 13, 2018 Nice work, I do enjoy Japanese subjects, especially when they are as well executed as this. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted December 13, 2018 Author Share Posted December 13, 2018 2 hours ago, limeypilot said: This is really looking good. I'll have to get some off that Kabuki tape, it's been recommended elsewhere too. A tip for spotting the edges of the masks. Scrape a pencil with a sharp blade, then gently rub the mask with the powder. You should be able to pick out the edges. We used to do that in the bank I worked in back in the early '80's to pick out the account number on cheques that had been missed by the printing stamp. Ian That's one tip that could save me a lot of grief, thank you 1 hour ago, Sleepwalker said: Amazing paint job. Thank you, I'm really enjoying it at the moment that could change if it goes pear shaped.. 1 hour ago, clive_t said: Nice work, I do enjoy Japanese subjects, especially when they are as well executed as this. That's very nice of you to say, I haven't built many Japanese subjects but once this one is finished I have 2 more in the build "queue" in fact I have already started one to fill in time while I'm waiting for paint to dry on this one. Cheers Dennis Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted December 18, 2018 Author Share Posted December 18, 2018 A small update but to me an important one, I have at last finished the tail markings, rather than spending a lot of time masking off for the red sections of the tail markings I used the red walkway lines from the kit decals, not perfect but saved me a lot of time and stress. I also completed the exhausts, initially painted with Humbrol H113, I then rubbed on lead that I had sanded from a pencil, it looks effective to my eye. I haven't had time to do much for the past couple of weeks because I have been decorating at the daughters house, that is now finished so I can crack on with this. Cheers Dennis 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted January 16, 2019 Author Share Posted January 16, 2019 Well I haven't given up, despite Christmas and some illness it is still taking shape, did some paint fading and general dirtying up (not finished yet) and applied some decals. The decals were as usual for me a disaster the three yellow covers you can see were initially decals but they looked awful so I masked and painted them. The "45" on the tail looked a completely different yellow but I left then alone, but I may change that. The other three stencils silvered despite putting them on a gloss background so they got the Tamiya tape treatment and were removed. Before I fitted the engine and cowling I did some exhaust staining so there wouldn't be any clean bits behind the exhaust then a coat of Xtracolor Satin was applied to the whole airframe which looked good. It's a shame that I could not keep or replicate the pre varnish finish of the topside matt paint with satin and gloss patches that resulted from me handling the model. Looking at the photos I still need to dirty it up a bit more as the wheel wells look very pristine. Cheers Dennis 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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