tamiya 1/48 KI61 55th fighter regiment

[oz rb fan]

i have just finished the new Tamiya kit and it is superb,one of the most enjoyable builds i have done..the decals are from a LTD Hasegawa kit i have played around with weathering and washes on it,and i am pretty happy with the result.

91753570_1229834913878545_5001466047274942464_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

91751243_1229834797211890_2046692203060789248_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

91560990_1229834767211893_988109573506203648_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

91422979_1229834830545220_1826025119923830784_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

91402580_1229834750545228_6444950387333005312_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

 

it trully is a beautiful kit to build the only thing has been added are Eduard seatbelts. 

[RMCS]

Superb 

[Bigglesof266]

I have Hasegawa's 1/48 and 1/35 Ki-61 kits and thought they were good! Tamiya's recent mould Ki-61 certainly is the bee's knees.

 

With no disrespect intended to him, it's nice to see an alternative to one of the ubiquitous 244th Sentai Kobayashi schemes, colourful as they are and with an opportunity to express national pride through him as the Japanese model making companies understandably are. 

 

Do you have any more reference info you can provide on the insignia from the decal sheet  you used, or your research of it please?

 

I'm still learning all the time about the unit roles, structures, designations and particularly unit symbolism used by the IJA and IJN. 

 

AFAIK IJA Hikōtai (4/1944 restructure, formerly Hikō Sentai?) were ordinarily designated by their white, red or yellow tail insignia colour indicating the respective Chutai within their Sentai , so I'm taking a stab in the dark that blue tail insignia here indicates a HQ shōtai aircraft, and the additional diagonal dorsal fuselage blue "V" represents a commander from the HQ staff within the Hikōtai?

 

Not trying to be clever, just trying to learn, so if that's seemingly all "WTF is he talking about?!" babble to you don't worry, I'm just as confused. 🥺 🙃

 

Also do you know what's that symbol in yellow under the blue 55th Sentai tail insignia is? Is it supposed to represent another different Sentai insignia hastily overpainted with the new or ? 

Any additional info you have which might be known appreciated.

[Tokyo Raider]

Looks GREAT!  I like it in the green...  that is a nice scheme!  I also did the Tamiya Ki61 1/48 and it really was a very enjoyable build!

[oz rb fan]

2 hours ago, Bigglesof266 said:

I have Hasegawa's 1/48 and 1/35 Ki-61 kits and thought they were good! Tamiya's recent mould Ki-61 certainly is the bee's knees.

 

With no disrespect intended to him, it's nice to see an alternative to one of the ubiquitous 244th Sentai Kobayashi schemes, colourful as they are and with an opportunity to express national pride through him as the Japanese model making companies understandably are. 

 

Do you have any more reference info you can provide on the insignia from the decal sheet  you used, or your research of it please?

 

I'm still learning all the time about the unit roles, structures, designations and particularly unit symbolism used by the IJA and IJN. 

 

AFAIK IJA Hikōtai (4/1944 restructure, formerly Hikō Sentai?) were ordinarily designated by their white, red or yellow tail insignia colour indicating the respective Chutai within their Sentai , so I'm taking a stab in the dark that blue tail insignia here indicates a HQ shōtai aircraft, and the additional diagonal dorsal fuselage blue "V" represents a commander from the HQ staff within the Hikōtai?

 

Not trying to be clever, just trying to learn, so if that's seemingly all "WTF is he talking about?!" babble to you don't worry, I'm just as confused. 🥺 🙃

 

Also do you know what's that symbol in yellow under the blue 55th Sentai tail insignia is? Is it supposed to represent another different Sentai insignia hastily overpainted with the new or ? 

Any additional info you have which might be known appreciated.

the plane is quite well known it was photographed in both B&W and colour....but Hasegawa got the colour of the tail art wrong.....it should be red,as to why there are two tail arts i am not completely sure but i suspect that it was with another unit before as you say.

 91022279_10157795773686273_379385563746140160_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

91305604_10157795776761273_3999665780181434368_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

91189741_10157795805446273_7112979034933297152_n by paul sabin, on Flickr

i hope these help

[Bigglesof266]

Thanks. Even my old eyes can clearly see the painted over former tail insignia. I wouldn't take a colourised b&w as gospel those unit markings were red without supporting evidence. I have reasonable doubt Hasegawa's tech writers/researchers would have produced them in blue for any reason other than fidelity. If I come across anything in my travels, I'll give you a heads up on it. Cheers.

Edited April 10, 2020 by Bigglesof266