Airfix 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-46 II "Dinah" [FINISHED]

[klr]

Another blast from the past. This kit is from 1965, although when I first built it in 1981, there was a "new" stamp on the cover. "New" meaning reissue of course.

 

 

I am building the 2013 release, with Cartograf decals:

 

 

The parts breakdown is predictably simple. I will be building this "wheels up", so as not to spoil the clean lines. I still have two more kits in the stash, albeit of an older boxing.

 

The trickiest part of this will be painting the transparency framing, as the framing is rendered as very narrow lines.

 

When I built a "Val" a couple of weeks ago, I had the same choice of paint schemes as here. For that, I chose the light grey (hemp) scheme, so it's only fair I go for the dark green/light grey scheme this time around,

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited July 2 by klr

[Torbjorn]

One of my favourite models as a kid, this is a nostalgia rush for me. Happy to see it in the GB. 

[PeterB]

Good looking plane but the Ki 46-III was perhaps even better - I converted one of the Airfix kits (not very well) a few years back using a Falcon canopy.

As you can see the canopy is a bit too wide for the fuselage - I have maybe got a little better at it since then😄 It is not that difficult to do if you have the inclination and a spare kit, though technically the kit comes with the type of exhausts only used on the first few 46-III, the later ones having individual "ejector" stacks. The Tiger on the tail was one of my first DIY decs and I was quite pleased with it at the time.

 

Pete

[klr]

Progress report time. The interior is predictably clunky, but not much will be visible through the thick transparencies anyway.

 

In the actual aircraft, there was a fuel tank between the two crew, located at the centre of gravity. Again, not a problem, as it wouldn't be visible anyway.

 

The assembled interior attaches to the fuselage by the bulkheads. Whether by design or not, the floor essentially "floats" free.

 

I attached the main undercarriage doors before assembling the wing halves, the better to have them aligned flush. These doors are one of the few areas of the kit where some attention is needed, including trimming of parts.

 

[klr]

The airframe completed. The wings have a considerable amount of dihedral, as shown in the paint and decal guides. The wing roots required a small amount of work to get them at the right angle, but not much. There was very little filler required for the upper wing joins.

 

... and none at all for the lower joins, although there was some sanding required to get that smooth and seamless transition between wing and fuselage.

 

The canopies and engines attached. The minor parts I will leave until the end.

 

Next steps: clean up the canopy to fuselage joins, and paint that tricky framing. Very carefully.

[Col.]

That's a lovely subject choice and you're making good progress with it. Good luck getting the framework painted.

[klr]

On 6/8/2023 at 10:19 AM, Col. said:

That's a lovely subject choice and you're making good progress with it. Good luck getting the framework painted.

That's next on the agenda, after a weather-induced hiatus. Hopefully I'll have it done by tomorrow, but Thursday is more realistic.

 

 

[klr]

Haha ... the best-laid plans of mice, men and modellers. The farming was predictably tortuous, and it certainly won't win any prizes, except maybe for sheer bloody-minded perseverance.

 

 

The undersides were more straightforward. I have decided to leave the satin finish of Hu 168 "as is" for now. I may matt varnish it at some point.

 

Next, apply the bulk of the decals. As I had suspected, the decals for the outer visibility lines on the propeller blades were not wide enough, and so would need to be touched up. What I did not anticipate is that the leading edge decals highlighted that the leadings edges outboard of the engines needed cleaning up.

 

Not obvious here, but the leading edges just outboard of the engines were a sorry sight.

 

To fix the leading edge imperfections, I had to remove the outer decals, do the clean-up work, and then hand-paint the panels with Hu 154. I also over-painted the inner leading edges for a consistent finish. I also used Hu 154 to touch up the propeller blade markings.This should have been the end of the problems, but I messed up one of the tail markings. I had spares in my "alternate" stash, which by luck was where I was going this weekend. I carefully packed up the kit for a long train journey. I didn't need to bring anything else, because I also have a good supply of paints and other materials at the destination as well.

 

The kit is now complete, just give me a few minutes to organise the photos for the next post.

[klr]

As promised, now finished. Gallery post with more pics here: