A Falcon over Burma

[Andwil]

With my Hien nearly finished I have time for a second entry:

 

 

Hasegawa 1/72 Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa (Peregrine Falcon).

 

Sprue shot:

 

 

I’ll be using Berna Decals for Major Yasuhiko Kuroe when acting as CO of the 64th Sentai in Burma, with the blue arrow on the tail:

 

 

Made a start today assembling the cockpit and adding a little detail to the side walls even though very little will be seen through the tiny opening:

 

 

 

Assembled the wings and tanks as well:

 

 

This promises to be a very quick build!

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Cockpit airbrushed with Mig AMMO’s Nakajima Interior Green and given a wash of umber.  I have used the Yahu instrument panel and side console, although I doubt that any of it will be seen:

 

 

The engine was airbrushed steel, given a black wash and a dry brush of silver.  Again not a lot will be seen once its in the cowling and the prop in place:

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

In the blink of an eye:

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Canopy masked using the Dead Design masks and attached.  The canopy was given a shot of the interior green before the model was primed:

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

I did a pre-shade today:

 

 

Thinned black applied by brush.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Got the proper colouring underway today, first the leading edges were given a coat of white followed by yellow.  Then some aluminium was airbrushed onto the areas that will receive the most chipping, the wing roots and fuselage sides beneath the cockpit.  I intend to use the hairspray technique on these areas.

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Undersides got their coat of IJAAF light grey today:

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Topsides painted today.  First the aluminium painted ares of the wing roots and fuselage sides were sprayed with hairspray.  Whin this was dry Nakajima Green was airbrushed on:

 

 

When the paint had dried I lightly scrubbed at the areas where the most paint was worn away from with a stiff short bristled brush I got from my daughter (I think its a mascara brush) which was slightly dampened.

 

 

 

I have gone a bit too hard in places and got down to bare plastic so some retouching will be required.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Glossed and ready for decals.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Decals on.  I used a Berna Decals set and I have to say I am not impressed.  Firstly I had to use the Hasegawa two part Himomarus as the Berna ones were out of register, the arrow markings just don’t  seem right somehow, I think maybe the instruction sheets has them transposed.  They took a very long time to come off the backing sheet even using quite warm water and then wanted to stick fast wherever they touched first.  The only one that gave no trouble was the rear white band, that fell into place and wrapped around the fuselage perfectly.  The forward one however was a right pain, I just could not get it lined up straight and it would not move without buckling.  Eventually after a prolonged fight and some cutting I have it more or less where it should be.  Fortunately some judicious chipping will hide any remaining flaws.  And of course while wrestling with the decal I knocked off the aerial mast, which I had been so careful with during the painting process .

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

A matt coat was applied today and once dry the undercarriage, exhausts, tanks and prop were attached and the canopy unmasked.  Of course during this process I knocked the aerial mast off again.  Just the nav lights and some weathering to do now.

 

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

[Andwil]

Final touches done today so its finished.  I’ll take some pics for the gallery tomorrow.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

AW

 

[Grandboof]

Looking tired and worn , Well done 

Martin H

[trickyrich]

welcome along AW..... and I pretty much missed the build....well I had looked in a couple of times but wasn't able to comment.

 

It's a really nice looking model and once you had some paint on it started to look like a 1/48th beastie. 

 

Nicely built and the paint job and finish is great well done! 

 

I hope you enjoyed the build, am glad you could join in.

[Andwil]

8 hours ago, trickyrich said:

welcome along AW..... and I pretty much missed the build....well I had looked in a couple of times but wasn't able to comment.

 

It's a really nice looking model and once you had some paint on it started to look like a 1/48th beastie. 

 

Nicely built and the paint job and finish is great well done! 

 

I hope you enjoyed the build, am glad you could join in.

Arigato Rich.  It was a fun group build and a good opportunity to reduce the stash a bit!

 

AW

[ArnoldAmbrose]

Gidday @Andwil, she certainly looks like she's been worked hard and could use a bit of TLC. It's a nice looking aircraft. Regards, Jeff.

[John Masters]

Superb build AW.  Sorry about the Berna Decals.  I've had issues with them as well.

[Andwil]

20 hours ago, John Masters said:

Superb build AW.  Sorry about the Berna Decals.  I've had issues with them as well.

Thanks John.  Fortunately the Sentai marking was in register as I had no replacement for it and really wanted to do this particular plane.

 

Looking at the photos I realise I haven’t added the radio aerial wire, I’ll have to dig out the Uschi stretchy rigging thread and put it on.

 

AW