Modelraynz Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 Hey Folks! This GB came around at just the right time! been fascinated with captured equipment and the immediate aftermath of WW2: I just had to enter a Ki-43 pressed back into service by the french in Indochina I will use a Hasegawa Ki-43 as my starting point, with printscale decals: I think i will go for a Bare metal example - probably 'A' behind the aircraft pictured above - The french received a mix of Ki-43-II and Ki-43-III: i have yet to decide if I will convert the hasegawa kit! first up, separating the canopy - fist time using the Tamiya PE saws, and so far im really impressed! minimal sanding was required to even out the windscreen, and it was bagged up for later. The oscar has a tiny cockpit, but i decided to busy it up with some spare bits in pieces - the ribbing is WAY over scale, and simplified, but looks better than smooth walls - the instrument panel was converted from a spitfire! The Nakajima Sakae in the kit is fairly basic, so i flipped the kit part around to form the rear firewall, and sanded down an leftover airfix example, which i think looks much better! Well thats all for day 1 so far - really want to finish something this year! 😅 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
VG 33 Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 Hello What an interesting subject ! Patrick 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
almac Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 Nice start. Good to see something from the earlier Vietnam period. That is a nice little kit I built one in 2014 and don’t remember any issues or problems. Cheers Allan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 A great choice, very interesting. The use of captured equipment has always fascinated me so this is right up my street. Your extra work on the cockpit is very good and certainly adds interest to the area and is much better than bare walls. The replacement Airfix engine looks very nice and will look great when painted up. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SoftScience Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 Well this is cool and unexpected! Great scratch-built cockpit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted August 30, 2020 Share Posted August 30, 2020 welcome along and what an interesting choice as well. This was something I didn't expect to see, so it's so nice to see one being built. We seem to forget there were a lot of leftover Japanese equipment that was pressed into service with these early airforces. Nice too see you're off to a great start, I do like the detailing work you've done. Good luck with the build, I look forward to following its progress. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted August 31, 2020 Author Share Posted August 31, 2020 (edited) Hey guys! Thanks for the kind words of encouragement! Is really interesting peroid, enjoying reading about surrenced japanese forces and their role in the emerging cold war...for example: "A soviet advisor to the viet minh was captured by japanese soldiers, working for the british, to help the french in reclaiming vietnam from an interim viet minh government, which itself was also assisted by japanese forces, withwhom the viet minh had previously been in conflict, with intel provided by the OSS, who later as the CIA, used some japanese personal as assets against the soviets, while arming the french"....argh, my brain! 😅 Edited August 31, 2020 by Modelraynz 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted August 31, 2020 Share Posted August 31, 2020 Nice! I have two of these on my list for this GB as well! I'm looking forward to your build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted September 6, 2020 Author Share Posted September 6, 2020 (edited) Thanks for the encouragement guys! so....slight change of plans! - i was having a go at modifying the cowl to a Ki-43-iii ( on an OOOLLLLLD aoshima kit) and wasn't happy with the results! So bit the bullet and ordered a special hobby Ki-43-III!! 🥳 I'll amend the title when it arrives from Australia, but in the meantime - a really nice pic from a Facebook user: As for the work i've done on the Haseagawa kit.........Indonesia just happened to use some Ki-43-ii's....😎 Edited September 6, 2020 by Modelraynz 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted October 2, 2020 Author Share Posted October 2, 2020 Look what arrived today 😎 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 2, 2020 Share Posted October 2, 2020 Excellent news! Its fantastic that we have two of these in the GB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted October 3, 2020 Author Share Posted October 3, 2020 (edited) So started looking at the kit today and ran into an issue - this is an earlier special hobby kit, therefore a bit more...."special" but this wing warping will be a test!! My plan b if reshaping with hot water doesn't work out; will be to graft the type iii nose onto the 2 body and use other parts where appropriate .... hoping it doesn't come to that though! Edited October 3, 2020 by Modelraynz Spelling 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 that's not nice at all!!!! Hot water may help, or you could try just glueing it and make up a jig to clamp it together in the right position. Once dry is should retain it's proper shape. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 3, 2020 Share Posted October 3, 2020 That is not good at all, I hope that you are able to get the wing back into the correct shape. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 (edited) Well the special hobby kit was...schite! Wing was messy, the cowl sides wouldent align with a 2 mm gap at the bottom!!..soft misaligned detail...really hope the spit 22 in the stash is better! (So much for it solving all my problems!) So went with plan b: sawed off the nose on the hasegawa kit, cut out the new exhaust panels?, backed with plasticard and begun adding the new exhausts from evergreen! Also had to add a spacer to the main fuselsuge to offset the shortening of the length due to cutting! So much for an ams build lol! I got a little carried away and did a 2-3-1 pattern for the exhausts (late variant) but neglected widening the cowl intake...i can live with out widening it i think!! Anyhoo, this is how it looks currently - if you compare to the pic at the top these exhausts look far longer - what i might do is mask off the appropiate length then fill the rest with putty! Edited October 4, 2020 by Modelraynz 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Really sorry to see the issues you are having with this kit but I like the work you have done on the exhausts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted October 5, 2020 Share Posted October 5, 2020 mmm it's a shame the wings didn't work out. But good to see that didn't stop you, really interested to see how you stitch this all together. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Masters Posted October 20, 2020 Share Posted October 20, 2020 On 10/4/2020 at 11:22 AM, Modelraynz said: Wing was messy, the cowl sides wouldent align with a 2 mm gap at the bottom!!..soft misaligned detail...really hope the spit 22 in the stash is better! (So much for it solving all my problems!) If I can solve my issues, so can you! This is looking just fine, by the way. Some bumps along the road, but the end result will look superb I am sure. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 20, 2020 Share Posted October 20, 2020 A beggar that something that started so promisingly had so many stumbling blocks along the way. The pity is, I've one of those SH Ki-43 kits too. It might stay in the stash for a loooong time. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted October 23, 2020 Author Share Posted October 23, 2020 On 21/10/2020 at 11:52, stevehnz said: A beggar that something that started so promisingly had so many stumbling blocks along the way. The pity is, I've one of those SH Ki-43 kits too. It might stay in the stash for a loooong time. Steve. hey mate, it might just have been a bad run! so...short story that attemt diddnt work out so well .....but being stubborn, started again with an older version of the kit in stash! Id built the cockput when my order of Evergreen had arrived - I was happy with the ribbing, but i think the '100' strips will be a game-changer fo scratchbuilding cockipts! (making this effort look very clunky!) ohwell, cockpits tiny and wont be seen much It came to me how to do the exhausts in a MUCH simpler manner! first fill in the gap for the earlier exhausts: then using '210' pipe i can simply add on the exhausts - this is an example i jsut cut up and positioned in just 1 min! with proper shaping under a magnifier etc, the exhausts will be no problem talk about live-and-learn! LOL I do have the different radiator of the type III from the SH kit though! so adding in the engine i added a spacer ring to help align centrally inside the fuselauge: Obligatary cockpit shot: Long weekend here so hoping to make a lot of progress 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 That is looking a lot more promising. There is hope yet. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Modelraynz Posted October 24, 2020 Author Share Posted October 24, 2020 Cheers steve, Spent the day filling ,sanding,priming and scribing...but i think its ready for the exhausts (which ill add later) with a demo piece in place: Looks a lil scruffy ...just like the real thing lol 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted October 24, 2020 Share Posted October 24, 2020 Some good work going on here to remedy the situation. Your scratch cockpit looks good, and as you say with the fuselage closed up next to nothing will be visible anyway. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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