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Revell Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien, 1/72


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I was gifted the dual set long ago, and took another look lately at the second half....

 

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This is the intended subject....

 

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Profile and photo both from the old Aircam on the type, from Boxart Den. Obviously the glare panel isn't blue, but otherwise the thing seems reasonable enough, the ornate 'cherry blossom' unit badge did not make it to New Guinea. Mottle will be applied over aluminum foil.

 

I don't mean to do much detailing on this, and haven't the heart to match the old thing against any drawings. It meets 'looks like one at a glance to me' standard, and I am more interested in the ;field camouflage' finish. However, the landing gear gape needed tending....

 

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Opening was outlined in styrene rod, most 1.0mm square, some 1.0mm x 0.5mm strip, then capped with a bit of 10 thou card. Here it is from the outside, still with just one closed off.

 

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Both are now closed off, and wings assembled.

 

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This is just to illustrate the good fit of major elements. The fuselage is press-fit, and so is the canopy. I found it like that when I took down the box, and was surprised to find it wasn't glued. Assembled wings are press-fit only, and it doesn't look like filler will be needed. I mean to put in a pilot figure. Surface will have to be smoothed and scribed for the foil.

Edited by Old Man
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  • Old Man changed the title to Revell Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien, 1/72

Moving along, major assembly complete.

 

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Fit was excellent. I've been doing vintage kits lately, and have been surprised by the practically fall together fit of the basic assembly.

 

This got a spot-coat of rattle-can silver, then was hit with fine-grit salon board for rivets, after a couple very small bits were tended to. Scribing has gone fairly well, but I expect will get some last minute touchings up before I start putting on the foil. I think I won't mind a few 'ghost rivets', but if I do, they're easy to fix.

 

I've entered this in the Going Japanese GB as well, and as that closes on seventh August, this build will be taking precedence when I've bench time soon.

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On 7/28/2022 at 4:42 AM, stevehnz said:

I shall look forward to seeing the mottling on this, I predict a fine result. :)

Steve.

 

Thanks, Steve. Appreciate the vote of confidence. I managed something similar once before, with a Hasegawa Type 1:

 

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Here's the Hien under finished foil, ready for markings and mottle:

 

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I filled and re-cut the gun troughs, those on the kit were way oversize.

 

The Turning Japanese build I've also entered this in closes Sunday at Greenwich midnight, but there's really not that much left to do.

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When I built one of these in the 1960's I was not quite sure which version this was meant to be. The oversized gun troughs suggest they may have been thinking of a late version with cannon replacing the MG. In your instructions I see they say it was a IIa which would fit, the wing guns then being 12.7mm mg.

 

Pete

Edited by PeterB
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On 05/08/2022 at 14:28, PeterB said:

The oversized gun troughs suggest they may have been thinking of a late version with cannon replacing the MG. In your instructions I see they say it was a IIa which would fit, the wing guns then being 12.7mm mg.

 

There is no difference in size (depth) of gun troughs between Ki-61 versions. The Ki-61-Id (Tei) was the one with 20 mm guns and the fuselage extension. The Revell kit is most likely meant to represent a Ki-61-Ic (Hei) of the 244th Sentai. The 1960s box art, however, depicts it with retracted tail wheel which was found on the Ki-61-Ia (Ko) only. More here.

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The most outstanding feature I remember of the kit - having seen photos of it comparatively recently - is that the undercarriage legs were far too long, and correcting this would be the most important place to start.

 

To answer one other point raised in this thread, MG.151 20mm cannon, and its ammunition, are much bigger than 12.7mm machine guns, and so could not possibly have been fitted in the nose of the Hien.

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@Graham Boak

 

The 20 mm gun in the nose of the Ki-61-I Tei was the Japanese Ho-5, a larger version of the 12.7 mm machine gun based on the Browning design. It required an elongation of the nose by 20 cm.

 

Ironically, the Ho-5 was too large to be installed in the wings which led to the import of 800 MG 151/20 for the interim Ki-61-I Hei.

 

Michael

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I got this done with a bit over an hour to spare....

 

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I appreciate the information about the type, and possible matches with the kit. When this thing was made, I doubt much was in circulation about it. The kit's fuselage is the 'late' length, which is about 2mm extra for the early type with retracting tail wheel. The tailwheel catches the eye more than a modest stretch, so I figure this can pass for early. I think the guns were just clumsy, but someone might have heard of 30mm cannon?

 

On Mr. Boak's tip I went and shortened the gear a bit, probably by about a millimeter and a little extra.

 

Looking back I left off two things I meant to do. I left off a pitot tube or something outboard on the port wing, and I left off making a couple of rolling 'V' pieces for the legs. The canopy is still just press-fit, and I may later install a pilot figure.

Edited by Old Man
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Yes, 

The JAAF did indeed have a 30mm cannon, the Ho-105 but I don't think it was used much, being fitted to the very late planes most of which did not see squadron service. There was also the Ho-301 40mm cannon which was mounted in the wing of some Ki-44-IIc. This was a strange beast - no cartridge case as such with the propellant at the back of the shell. It had low velocity and therefore very short range, but the gun was light and relatively short so could be wing mounted. I think it is just overscale moulding in this case.

 

Pete

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