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Hasegawa 1/48 ki-44 ii Otsu 40mm


Mike Esposito

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This kit is I think 20 years old. Yet I can't get it anywhere. This particular limited edition has parts for the 40mm HO 301 "rocket" cannon.

 

Evil bay has one for $144 usd!🤬😡

Is there something I'm missing? Does it include resin or PE? Can't even see any sprue shots of this...🤔🤨

 

Thanks 

Edited by Mike Esposito
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For what it’s worth at this point in the discussion, the original Hasegawa 1/72 Ki-44 dates from 1983. Quite nice for its age, crisply molded and builds effortlessly, but has some accuracy issues and lacks internal detail. The more recent Sword 1/72 “Tojo” kits (whose shape IMHO may have been inspired by Hasegawa’s very nice 1/32 kit) are better on both counts.

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On 9/25/2019 at 7:39 AM, MDriskill said:

For what it’s worth at this point in the discussion, the original Hasegawa 1/72 Ki-44 dates from 1983. Quite nice for its age, crisply molded and builds effortlessly, but has some accuracy issues and lacks internal detail. The more recent Sword 1/72 “Tojo” kits (whose shape IMHO may have been inspired by Hasegawa’s very nice 1/32 kit) are better on both counts.

Could you tell me what accuracy issues your talking about?  With the exception of just a cockpit tub with no detail I guess I missed these issues over the last 36 years since the kit was issued. Do you have a reference to a magazine or online article about this alleged inaccuracy?

 

As I have this kit which  I am working on, this would be helpful before I do the final painting

 

Thank You, Steve

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I don’t mean to dismiss the classic Hasegawa 1/72 Tojo out of hand. It has beautiful thin-section moldings with very petite surface detail and looks great built up. One that I did years ago fared even rather well on the local model contest circuit! But in light of more recent research it does have some outline issues.

 

The most notable one is incorrect wing geometry. The wing taper is off considerably, the chord being slightly too narrow at the tip, but a very obvious 8+ scale inches too wide at the root fairing. In addition the rear fuselage is slightly short, the fin/rudder slightly undersized, and the tailplane span a bit long.

 

The best comparison reference may actually be the more recent Sword 1/72 Ki-44 kits (which again, I suspect were influenced by Hasegawa’s newer 1/32 kit). Good drawings can be found in several Japanese-language publications (Koku-Fan “Famous Aircraft of the World” series, Maru Mechanic, and others) or the excellent recent Osprey book in the “Aircraft of the Aces” series.

 

All that being said...if I were working on a Hasegawa kit, I’d leave it alone! The corrections are difficult, would destroy the kit’s crisp look, and are arguably pointless when you can just go buy the Sword kit. The Hasey Tojo is what it is, and makes a very pretty model.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by MDriskill
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