Mojo restorer build - Tamiya 1/72 Ki-61 Tony OOB

[billn53]

After finishing a multi-month project (Ford Tri-motor diorama at the "Mountains of Madness") I needed something quick and relatively brainless to get my juices flowing again. Looking through my stash, I selected Tamiya's 1/72 Ki-61 Hien (Tony): 

 

 

Right off, I'll say the engineering in this kit is top-notch! Everything falls together with almost no fretting or putty needed. And the detail Tamiya includes in this little bird leaves little room for aftermarket. It turned out to be an excellent choice for my mojo-restorer.

 

Stew Dapple has already posted a definitive WIP on this subject -- I couldn't improve on Stew's thread so I decided not to post a WIP of my own. For anyone who is interested, Stew's double-build WIP can be found here:

 

 

I also decided to do this completely Out-Of-the-Box, with an eye to entering my Tony in this summer's local modeling contest.

 

Tamiya's Tony includes three camo options. Stew chose the all-metal and overall green schemes for his two builds. That left me to do the version with overall-metal and mottled-green upper surfaces. This particular aircraft was flown by Major Tembico Kobayashi, with 14 kills to his credit (one being a ramming attack!)

 

    

 

For the most part, I followed the instructions "to the letter", including paint call-outs. I deviated from the painting info in a couple of places. Stew used Colourcoats paints for his gray-green interior and the reddish-brown prop. I couldn't find Colourcoats here in the U.S., so I substituted with the paints shown below:

 

 

 

I also used AK Interactive Xtreme Metal enamels to create the natural metal finish:

 

 

 

Finally, for the mottled green upper surfaces, I cheated and bought a set of decals from Tamiya's Detail-Up Parts Series:

 

 

 

That's enough jawing for now, let's get to the pics! First, some "beauty shots" taken in natural sunlight:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And now a few under more controlled lighting conditions:

 

 

 

 

Next, some detail pics:

 

Beautifully-detailed interior:

 

Yes, I used the kit's decals for my seatbelts:

 

 

Gauges on the IP are also a kit decal:

 

 

The canopy is extraordinarily clear, so my time spent on the interior paid off:

 

Note the "ramming attack" kill marking!

 

Gun barrels are molded in, but you can't tell by looking!

b

 

The landing light looks great, but I did have to sand and polish the clear part to fair it in to the wing leading edge.

 

 

Landing gear bay. I wanted this to be a "clean" bird so I kept weathering to a minimum.

 

Antenna wire was made using Uschi's "Rig That Thing" rigging line"

   

 

And now, the bad news :-((  I used generous amounts of DioSol on the mottling decals. It really wasn't needed (except for a couple of small places), but I've never before applied large decals like these and I wanted to be sure they would go down properly. Well, as I'm sure you know, DioSol causes decals to wrinkle before finally settling in place. Apparently, when the decals wrinkled they took some of the Xtreme Metal paint with them, afterward leaving a fossil record in the metallic surface. Looking closely, one sees this:

 

 

 

The camera makes it look worse than it appears to the eyeball, but it's extremely irritating nonetheless. Arrrgggghhhhh!!!

 

So, there we are. Mojo successfully restored and I'm now looking for my next "big project".

 

Thanks for viewing!

 

 

P.S.  If you didn't catch my Tri-motor diorama, you can check it out here:

https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235052025-at-the-mountains-of-madness/&page=1

 

 

[Kitchen Modeller]

Nice work Bill - it came out quite nicely and I would say that this is a difficult scheme to pull off - even using decals which bring their own challenges. It's a pity about the defects but like you say - they are hardly noticeable - would never have known they were there without the close up you provided... so kudos for your honesty  Great work on the cockpit and managing to keep the shine on the nmf even under those massive decals. Well done

[ArmouredSprue]

Very nice work mate. Well done

[Alan P]

That's how to present a build! Like a mini magazine feature.

 

Shame about the paint cracks but it's certainly not apparent from the other photos, so I hope you've got a local winner on your hands in that little beauty!

 

Alan

[mahavelona]

It looks wonderful!

[Vinnie]

Superb, Bill. Amazing work with the decals. 

[Mig88]

Very nicely done indeed!

 

Miguel

[stevej60]

Superb! great work on the scheme, from a normal viewing distance the issue's are not noticeable.

[jagmkx]

Great presentation and beautiful build. More than mojo restore.

 

 

[kapam]

Very nice build!

The decal/paint issue would have gone unnoticed by me, if not for the photos.

In every other way your close-up pics show a neatness and precision that I would struggle to achieve.

👍

[Stew Dapple]

Bill she turned out a little beauty

 

If I had done that scheme I would have used the Tamiya decals for the camo too, I don't think the effect could easily be duplicated otherwise. As others have noted above, the decal/metal paint issue is not noticeable except in the close-up so it really doesn't detract from a lovely model. Superb work mate, you should be fully mojo'd up now.

 

Cheers,

 

Stew

[billn53]

Thanks, Stew (and everyone else) for your generous comments. Yes, my mojo is roaring and I've decided on my next project. The Tony was my second experience with a metallic finish (the Ford Tri-motor was my first, but it doesn't really count as I was trying to achieve a dull, oxidized aluminum effect). Other than the cracking observed in my Tony build (most certainly my fault), I've been very impressed with the Xtreme Metal paints. So... I'll fearlessly (some may say, foolishly) attempt a bare-metal on finish on this classic aircraft from the 1960s:

 

 

 

Fasten your seatbelts, there may be some rough air ahead!

[Sky Keg]

Very nice Bill!!!!!  Building excellent models is like riding a bike for you.........once you learn, you never forget how to do it.

I look forward to the upcoming B-58 Hustler.

 

Kudos on the Ki-61 my friend!!!! 👍

[billn53]

Mojo is overflowing, and my B-58 Hustler build is underway! If interested, follow it here:

 

 

[glatisant]

Great build. Super finish.

[Nanond]

Really good work there. I think many of the 'imperfections' cannot be seen by naked eyes, even when closely look. In this scale, it will be a real challenge to paint this camouflage and have it look that nice like in the last pic.

 

[Winenut]

What a brilliant and colourful and interesting aircraft

 

Very impressive indeed

 

Congratulations

[giemme]

Impressive result! I'm currently building the 1/48 version of this same aircraft, and yours looks definitely bigger than 1/72!

 

Like the others said, cracks in the paint aren't noticeable from normal viewing distance.

 

Ciao