AZModel Ki-78 Ken - Japanese WW2 Prototype (finished??)

[bigbadbadge]

Good to see you recovered from the Migrane David and great to see the progress on the Ken, looking good fella.

Cracking work as usual.   That lamp looks awesome, you're a lucky guy having such understanding Domestic Authorities 😉.

Chris

[marvinneko]

18 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Good to see you recovered from the Migrane David and great to see the progress on the Ken, looking good fella.

Cracking work as usual.   That lamp looks awesome, you're a lucky guy having such understanding Domestic Authorities 😉.

Chris

 

Thanks Chris. I'm thankful that my migraines are just visual. I am very lucky to have such a supportive wife. She says this is my meditation  

 

Tonight started with painting brown on the back of the prop (antiglare) then fixing red on a damaged hinomaru and putting proper single stripes on the prop's aluminum side.

 

Red is sprayed...

 

Nice!

 

Then I opened up the holes for the gear and glued them in with some extruded sprue struts. Not perfect but not bad.... I like the door opener details  

 

Then I drilled holes for the pitot tubes for the... fourth, fifth time?? And glued them in. Cool  I also glued in the tail wheel which photos show quite recessed.

 

Here's Ken in profile with the twin pitots, deflected control surfaces and elevator balances... that nose stripe is a bit off due to the curve. White migjt be a bit wider in the middle than front and back.

 

i was gonna glue the prop but there were a few issues. The spinner was a bit light, so I sprayed some dark blue grey to tone it down a a bit. More of a pain is that there is lighter blue colour on the fuselage nose right at the edge. With the spinner on, it's a noticeable little blip on the top. It's late so I will deal with it maybe tomorrow with.... you guessed it... masking and painting 😛 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Looks great standing on it's undercarriage.  Be careful with that masking and mind those pitots 😉

Great job David.

Chris

 

[marvinneko]

17 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Looks great standing on it's undercarriage.  Be careful with that masking and mind those pitots 😉

Great job David.

Chris

 

 

Thanks Chris. I masked and airbrushed but it didn't work well on the light edges around the nose area. So I took @Karearea's advice and drybrushed instead. Worked great.

 

Glued on the spinner and prop, drybrushed some aluminum on exposed areas around control surfaces, and touched up some other spots. Drybrushed the upper pitot so it wasn't so uniform.

 

Might address that stripe behind the intake hinomaru to tidy it up.... but looking to be done.

 

Let's take a walk around Ken sitting on his sushi box.

Notes: brown backed prop, painted markings, drilled exhausts, dual pitots, fowler flaps extended, deflected ailerons, rudder and elevators, elevator weights.

 

Aluminum front and single stripes on prop...antiglare panel is subtle as per the photos...

 

Note: landing gear struts, door opening c- brackets

 

I'm thinking to take this to Torcan 2024 in mid-September. The theme (serendipitously) is stripes, and they have an experimental plane category. I don't expect to place but I like participating as a "modeller" rather than just someone buying stuff  and worrying about becoming a hoarder... while increasing the hoard 😛 

 

So I have 3 weeks to tweak within reason. Happy to hear comments and suggestions

 

[Karearea]

5 hours ago, marvinneko said:

I have 3 weeks to tweak within reason. Happy to hear comments and suggestions

Suggestion- put it somewhere that you can’t see it for a few days (a day at work is usually enough for me), and then have a look at it with fresh eyes. You should have shaken off all inclination to make marginal yet risky tweaks, and will most likely be pretty satisfied with it. Maybe more objective about where further fettling lies on the cost/benefit equation. At least this applies to how I work.

 

It looks really great as is! I particularly like the way the Fowler flaps have turned out, and how they enhance the ‘stance’ of the aircraft. I’ve also come around to the blue grey, it’s rather flattering to Ken’s lines.

Edited August 23 by Karearea

[mark.au]

What a fantastically esoteric little airplane, modelled with uncommon dedication to its overall look and finish.

[bigbadbadge]

It looks great to me, I think Karearea'ssuggestion to put aside for a few days so you don't see is a good one.  If you fiddle with it, you might beak something off.

Great work on this.

Chris

[marvinneko]

5 hours ago, Karearea said:

Suggestion- put it somewhere that you can’t see it for a few days (a day at work is usually enough for me), and then have a look at it with fresh eyes. You should have shaken off all inclination to make marginal yet risky tweaks, and will most likely be pretty satisfied with it. Maybe more objective about where further fettling lies on the cost/benefit equation. At least this applies to how I work.

 

It looks really great as is! I particularly like the way the Fowler flaps have turned out, and how they enhance the ‘stance’ of the aircraft. I’ve also come around to the blue grey, it’s rather flattering to Ken’s lines.

 

Thanks Karearea. Good idea about putting it out of sight so I can stop thinking about it  . In retrospect, the flaps could've had more weight to them. I'm quite pleased with the blue grey. I've seen a few renditions and I like how this one turned out. Some other versions are a bit too grey or green and monochromatic for my eyes.

 

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/search?q=ki-78

 

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2018/03/john-haas-148-ki-78-project-part-four.html

 

 

4 hours ago, mark.au said:

What a fantastically esoteric little airplane, modelled with uncommon dedication to its overall look and finish.

 

Thanks Mark, appreciated. Ken was one of a kind and had a sad end. I had fun with this one... and there's still another in the box  

 

https://oldmachinepress.com/2012/11/03/kawasaki-ki-78-ken-iii/

 

 

4 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

It looks great to me, I think Karearea'ssuggestion to put aside for a few days so you don't see is a good one.  If you fiddle with it, you might beak something off.

Great work on this.

Chris

 

Thanks Chris. I have a few ideas but you're right about breakage!

Edited August 23 by marvinneko

[AliGauld]

What a fantastic build.

A beautiful little plane that you have upgraded to something wonderful.

Cracking thread too.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair 

[marvinneko]

37 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

What a fantastic build.

A beautiful little plane that you have upgraded to something wonderful.

Cracking thread too.

 

 

Cheers,

Alistair 

 

Thank you Alistair, very kind! I'm amazed with your output and fit and finish. This is only my fourth completed build 🙃 but at least the time to finish is getting shorter!

[AliGauld]

2 minutes ago, marvinneko said:

 

Thank you Alistair, very kind! I'm amazed with your output and fit and finish. This is only my fourth completed build 🙃 but at least the time to finish is getting shorter!

Ah but I just throw stuff together whereas you make something greater than the original. 

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[opus999]

Really nice work on this one!  The flap additions, the paint.... it really does look terrific.  Plus its a neat looking little plane too.

[marvinneko]

44 minutes ago, opus999 said:

Really nice work on this one!  The flap additions, the paint.... it really does look terrific.  Plus its a neat looking little plane too.

 

Thanks Opus! I've been trying to be more mindful in my paintwork. I think my Goeland transport will be next, another monochromatic paint job to play with   

 

Ken is pretty tiny... dwarfed by my Hurricane.

[CH-53D]

You've done a splendid job with a very basic kit.  I now know what colour mine will be painted when it gets built!

 

As others have said above, right now you are mostly seeing what has not gone according to the plan in your mind.  Leave it for a bit, look into your next project, then come back to Ken.  You might be surprised at just how good it already looks!

 

[marvinneko]

42 minutes ago, CH-53D said:

You've done a splendid job with a very basic kit.  I now know what colour mine will be painted when it gets built!

 

As others have said above, right now you are mostly seeing what has not gone according to the plan in your mind.  Leave it for a bit, look into your next project, then come back to Ken.  You might be surprised at just how good it already looks!

 

 

Thanks Rory, very kind of you. I've put Ken in a box as instructed    It is amazing how much entertainment potential there is in such a basic kit   I look forward to seeing your interpretation of Ken.

[Karearea]

8 hours ago, CH-53D said:

You might be surprised at just how good it already looks!

Best looking Ken since Ryan Gosling.

[ModelingEdmontonian]

I think it's brilliant and as always enjoyed the dedication to the art you demonstrate!

[marvinneko]

9 hours ago, ModelingEdmontonian said:

I think it's brilliant and as always enjoyed the dedication to the art you demonstrate!

 

Thanks, ME, that's very generous. I do appreciate the reference to art... something middle age has allowed to emerge  

[Whofan]

Hi

 

This has turned out very well hasn't it?

 

And following some advice here, I emailed KP and lo and behold two canopies arrived in the post for my pair of Kens!

 

So I'll have no excuse now to sit down with Ken, or both Kens!

 

[marvinneko]

1 hour ago, Whofan said:

Hi

 

This has turned out very well hasn't it?

 

And following some advice here, I emailed KP and lo and behold two canopies arrived in the post for my pair of Kens!

 

So I'll have no excuse now to sit down with Ken, or both Kens!

 

 

Glad it worked out! Hope you share your builds  

[marvinneko]

I let Ken sit for a couple weeks in a bin but kept thinking I wanted to highlight the elevator droop by painting the exposed interior cuts. Masked up both sides, applied some aluminum, then did an oil wash.

 

I spent a bit of time today doing my first base using scissored twine and oil paints on coarse sandpaper.

 

Ken makes a nice colour contrast. dusty though. I think the elevator cuts look better now.

 

 

Edited September 9 by marvinneko

[MilneBay]

Should both ailerons be drooped? One maybe but not both, normally which ever one is drooped is balanced by the other being raised  - this is how they work in practice. 

[marvinneko]

11 hours ago, MilneBay said:

Should both ailerons be drooped? One maybe but not both, normally which ever one is drooped is balanced by the other being raised  - this is how they work in practice. 

 

When its flaps were deployed both ailerons drooped as part of the design to compensate for the stall speed.

Edited September 9 by marvinneko

[bigbadbadge]

Looks fantastic David, great work and the base looks great too.

Interesting info re the ailerons too.

Chris

[Zephyr91]

David, I have somehow missed this build and hence spent an enjoyable couple of hours catching up.   What an excellent result!  You've really enhanced what was "in the box" and your meticulous determination to get details finished to a high standard is inspiring.  You should be very pleased with yourself.

 

Now I need to go and get my Zero finished (to a much lower bodged standard).

 

Just a silly thought.  Maybe the second one in the box could be done as a pink "Barbie" to partner Ken?      🚪

 

Thanks for sharing

 

Rob