Kawasaki Hien - Home Islands Air Defense - Tamiya 60789

[Dennis_C]

The second project in the GB is going to be Ki-61, another important Japanese fighter - now an Army aircraft - flown by Teruhiko Kobayashi during 1945 to protect Tokyo from American bombings. 

For this one I grabbed quite a stash of aftermarket goodies - Techmod decals, Brengun p/e, canopy masking set like for Reisen. But here I also got external fuel tanks which are missing in the kit but were typically carried, Eduard exhaust pipes, also Tamiya decal for camouflage spots and a set of small masks for access doors and other small elements that are made of different metal. 

[Dennis_C]

Now the contents of Tamiya box:

Sheet with tips too

Some close up details. No rows of rivets on this natural metal aircraft that has tons of rivets. But I do not think Ki-61 model loses anything.

 

[Dennis_C]

And some photos of extras. Canopy masks

Brengun photoetch

This more actively replaces plastic parts compared to the set for A6M. Again I will see how much I will use the photoetch not to overcomplicate the project. 

Techmod decals sheet. Also very inexpensive but give several options for the aircraft of Teruhiko Kobayashi

 

Now something interesting - Tamiya decal to represent camouflaged spots.

Spots are very fluffy and resolution is quite high so that I can barely see any dots. Only on a macro photo. 

As with other Tamiya decals the film looks a bit thick. Covering the whole airframe with the decals is going to be something I've not done before... and my airbrush will not let me spray that little spots. 

 

Eduard exhausts. Not much different to kit besides tender imitations of openings on the pipe tips. 

 

Resin fuel tanks that are not included in the kit. 

 

[Dennis_C]

Last item was a bit of disappointment. That's Dead Design masks set for small hinges and other small elements. Here is what I found in the package:

Two similar sheets. But in fact it should be two different pieces.

Fortunately those elements are not really critical - thin stripes and larger rectangular bits so I do not plan to write claims to big H or Dead Design.

[Col.]

Another fine list of ingredients Dennis. It's a pity Tamiya does not give an open canopy option in this kit to show the cockpit detail.

[Dennis_C]

I started this one yesterday. Started as always with cockpit - cutting sprues, attaching what should be best painted all together, adding photoetch where reasonable. 

 

A large pip inside a fuselage is an excellent idea! That prevents fuselage sides from hopping against each other. I frequently insert a piece of plastic sprue to make sure fuselage maintains correct width in similar cases. 

 

After cutting most parts the remaining sprues are able to get into just a small bag now

 

 

 

[Dennis_C]

Now a major question comes - what should be the colour of cockpit and undercarriage bays of Ki-61? 

I knew nothing about Japanese WWII fighters until this weekend. I was under impression that a jar of Tamiya XF-71 is all I need. Now I know that each Japanese aircraft maaker had its own paint. And that was also changing over time. For Kawasaki Ki-61 seems there are two schools - one telling you to use yellowish XF-59 colour (Tamiya instruction belongs to this school - but very strange colour for cockpit I should say), another being that colour evolved from dark blue grey to green-grey (XF-71?) and then to some yellow-green #7 very much reminding olive drab. 

Should the Kobayashi's Hien Ki-61-I-Tei be mid or late production one? I guess late one, but maybe the truly late ones were Ki-61-II? Another question is whether it is a strict rule to use same paint both for cockpit and undercarriage or there are could be options?

 

Any thought or advice is highly appreciated

Edited September 8 by Dennis_C

[Col.]

Nice start Dennis and another example of Tamiya's fine quality.

While I cannot help with the cockpit colour I will say that any information you find from Nick Millman's Aviation of Japan blog can be taken as an exemplary source. Perhaps it's worth a search there?

 

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/ 

[Dennis_C]

59 minutes ago, Col. said:

Nice start Dennis and another example of Tamiya's fine quality.

While I cannot help with the cockpit colour I will say that any information you find from Nick Millman's Aviation of Japan blog can be taken as an exemplary source. Perhaps it's worth a search there?

 

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/ 

Yeah, that is the great blog and actually what I was reading there makes me think the yellow green #7 (that is almost olive drab) is the paint to go. As I undestand that is actually the paint that after deterioration looked like that sand yellow suggested in Tamiya instruction and widely used for cockpit and undercarriage in many Ki-61 models.

[zegeye]

I think, this almost OD colour will fit to late models, like Ki-100 and after....(this will be the same colour as for top sides of the all airplane)  The sandy yellow suggested by Tamiya is proper for earlier models. (Ko, Otsu, Tei). Although I'm not an expert of course 8-)

[2996 Victor]

Just to muddy the waters slightly, several years ago I conversed via email with Nick Millman about the subject of Ki-61 interiors.

 

Nick mentioned that eminent Japanese researcher Sunao Katabuchi, who writes articles on colours in the Gakken series of books, maintains that the yellowish-brown interior colour was the result of colour shift in the paint and suggests the colour sequence of dark/blue grey for early production Hien, followed by grey-green for mid production, and finally the # 7 olive drab colour for late production aircraft. Nick attached several photographs to his emails showing a mid-grey colour in a Ki-61 wheel bay and also on the inside of a cowling panel.

 

Nick added, quote, "The Tei spanned the introduction of factory painting, so all Tei in post-production mottle schemes were likely to have had the grey green/grey interiors and all the factory painted olive drab Tei the matching olive drab interior. What complicates things slightly is that IJAAF Depots began applying the solid OD colour to aircraft delivered in natural metal finish before it was introduced as factory painting."

 

Hope that's of interest.

 

Cheers,

Mark

[Dennis_C]

20 hours ago, 2996 Victor said:

Just to muddy the waters slightly, several years ago I conversed via email with Nick Millman about the subject of Ki-61 interiors.

 

Nick mentioned that eminent Japanese researcher Sunao Katabuchi, who writes articles on colours in the Gakken series of books, maintains that the yellowish-brown interior colour was the result of colour shift in the paint and suggests the colour sequence of dark/blue grey for early production Hien, followed by grey-green for mid production, and finally the # 7 olive drab colour for late production aircraft. Nick attached several photographs to his emails showing a mid-grey colour in a Ki-61 wheel bay and also on the inside of a cowling panel.

 

Nick added, quote, "The Tei spanned the introduction of factory painting, so all Tei in post-production mottle schemes were likely to have had the grey green/grey interiors and all the factory painted olive drab Tei the matching olive drab interior. What complicates things slightly is that IJAAF Depots began applying the solid OD colour to aircraft delivered in natural metal finish before it was introduced as factory painting."

 

Hope that's of interest.

 

Cheers,

Mark

Thank you Mark. I pretty much concluded the same sequence based on reading materials on Nick Millman's site. So based on Nick's site grey/green interior with grey undercarriage seems most appropriate because I'll be likely making a popular Kobayashi 'blue 24' Tei that as I understand was produced around late 1944 and obviously belongs to the group of natural metal Hiens. 

 

What still confuses me and makes me think more is that I was reading from about mid 1944 Army fighters manufacturers were ordered to start using yellow green paint and seems Kawasaki started with Ki Midori Iro #29 that is more Khaki version and then switched to Ohryoku Nana Go Shoku #7 in the late 1944. Ki Midori Iro is the paint that I can easily imagine to shift to yellow after deterioration. #7 probably too can shift to yellowed brown.

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2011/03/more-about-jaaf-7-ohryoku-nana-go-shoku.html?m=1

Also very late Hiens that were factory painted in olive green seem to adopt olive green colour for interiors similar to Ki-100 - in line with Nick's sequence.

 

One more question - what is the grey green colour? If we are speaking about Tamiya XF-71 that is somewhat similar to RAF cockpit colour - that is what is believed to be typical Nakajima cockpit color for IJN aircraft. How could it get to Kawasaki IJA fighters?

 

So for me the sequence of Ki-61 colours seems to be: dark blue grey for early Hiens until 1943, then Ki Midori Iro #29, then yellow green #7 from late 1944 and finally olive green for very late Ki-61-II (any Ki-61-I ?) that were olive green from factory. Regarding undercarriage - grey colour for Ki Midori Iro interiors then? What about those with Ohryoku Nana Go Shoku #7 interiors?

 

Anyway so far I'm inclining towards Ohryoku Nana Go Shoku #7 for both interior and undercarriage, but maybe switch my mind to Ki Midori Iro #29 + maybe grey for undercarriage (which grey then?). I'm grabbing a batch of Vallejo IJA/IJN paints later today so probably will make a palette with the samples of those paints tonight to think further. 

Edited September 10 by Dennis_C

[Dennis_C]

Some progress with photoetch and various subassemblies.

I gave a little twist to undercarriage doors to match leading edge convex. The bits on sprues will be painted before being detached. Undercarriage struts are yet to get some more decoration such as oleo links and brake piping. I/p will get film+p/e sandwiches upon painting. I also plan to fully assemble radiator grill after painting as it will be easier to paint subassemblies. Hope to finish every preps with Ki-61 today and move on to Zero.

Edited September 10 by Dennis_C

[Col.]

The photo=etched parts look to be good quality and a great improvement over the already decent kit parts. Tidy work Dennis.

[Dennis_C]

37 minutes ago, Col. said:

The photo=etched parts look to be good quality and a great improvement over the already decent kit parts

I like Brengun photoetch probably most of any others. Eduard photoetch differs. The older of steel colour was okay quite similar to Brengun. Newer Eduard photoetch of the yellow variety is a bit too weak and easily becomes broken. Same about yellow CMK photoetch. Photoetch in Ukrainian kits is another extreme being thicker and does not bend nicely. Some times even hard to cut from the fret. 

Also this particular Brengun set is accurate. Especially good for undercarriage doors as Tamiya parts are just flat inside. 

[Dennis_C]

I'm finally done with digesting all that Brengun photoetch and sort of ready for painting. After I digest photoetch set with Zero. 

Here is what remains on the fret

Most of this will still be used after painting. The only thing I decided to ignore is that shape for opened air cooler exhaust #37 (what is the better term?). Was lazy so far to cut the plastic. But maybe I still change my mind as Ki-61 is frequently seen on the ground with this flap down. 

 

Now some more things - super tiny gun sight and cannon barrels. Had to add some plastic as metal sides were sitting a bit higher than Tamiya original plastic.

 

Sealed and sanded holes for plastic radiator grills insert. 

 

Finished all the undercarriage bits.

 

For the undercarriage doors Brengun wants you to attach these tiny parts imitating attachment hinges.

One immediately got eaten by carpet monster and Brengun gives you no extras. Also they are so tiny that I just could not keep them with tweezers! Moreover these hinges should keep undercarriage doors attached to the legs. And as they are so small, I was not sure if they would effectively play the role. So I decided to make my own imitations from some thin spare plastic. Looks much cruder at macro photo but that would be much more reliable to keep the undercarriage doors at place.

[Col.]

That's incredibly fine work Dennis. Well done.

 

41 minutes ago, Dennis_C said:

The only thing I decided to ignore is that shape for opened air cooler exhaust #37 (what is the better term?).

The radiator exhaust flap?

[81-er]

Some really excellent work going on here, Dennis  Regarding the yellower photo etch, that sounds like brass which you can anneal to make it more malleable (assuming it’s not pre-painted, or course). Just hold it in something non-conductive and run a lighter flame or similar underneath it. It doesn’t have to be for long, as soon as the metal starts changing colour it’s enough.

 

James

[jean]

You are building a very intricate kit with tons of PE.

But the end result will be stunning And it is a beautiful aircraft.

 

JR.

 

[Dennis_C]

8 hours ago, jean said:

You are building a very intricate kit with tons of PE.

But the end result will be stunning And it is a beautiful aircraft.

 

JR.

 

Thank you! Most of the photoetch goes into cockpit and undercarriage. So yes it partially improves the final look. But it is mostly excellent Tamiya plastic that would be seen externally. And it also depends on how well the painting and decal job goes. So fingers crossed

The aircraft is nicely looking one indeed. Zero I build in parallel looks good too. I somewhat underestimated the Japanese WWII airplanes but I should say they are interesting and have their charm. 

[Dennis_C]

Painting interiors went smoothly over the last couple weekends. And now I quickly started to assemble the kit further. When the kit jumps together easily - you can't stop building the model. (And you can't switch to other projects!) Some in progress photoes in chronological order from the several last days

 

The paint I used for interior is Vallejo 71.287 IJA Khaki Brown that I found most similar to Ohryoku Nana Go Shoku #7 paint which was yellow green paint used by Kawasaki at mid-life stage of Ki-61 production. I diluted the pure paint with a little but of grey primer to get it a bit lighter and duller hue. The last photoes are made under daylight and the colour is like it looks in real life. 

 

To choose a paint I made a palette of different Vallejo paints for IJA/IJN

and then tried to match this to samples published in various articles on Aviation of Japan site like this one

http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2011/03/more-about-jaaf-7-ohryoku-nana-go-shoku.html?m=1

And here is an attempt to match colours. Top left is Ohryoku Nana Go Shoku #7 per Aviation of Japan and top right is pure Vallejo 71.287. Mixed with a bit of grey primer it is even closer to the sample. 

BTW bottom left is Mitsubishi built A6M2 from Aviation of Japan and bottom right is 71.010 that I picked for my Zero. 

 

Hope today I will be able to close fuselage and attach wing which shall be a milestone!

Edited September 30 by Dennis_C

[hakkikt]

Cockpit looks fantastic!🏆

[Dennis_C]

1 hour ago, hakkikt said:

Cockpit looks fantastic!🏆

Thank you. The cabin could be very good OOB, but I think photoetch really raises it to the next level. I'm very satisfied with how the instrument panel turned out with the film for instruments. That is my favourite type of photoetched instrument panels as you get very realistically looking dials. Seat belts, gun sight and those levers left of the seat make me quite happy too  

Tamiya canopy is crystal clear, thin and not distorting so I hope all the beauty would stay well seen. 

Edited September 30 by Dennis_C

[Nick McV]

That cockpit looks magnificent. Great work, sir.

[Col.]

Delicious work Dennis so I'm glad to learn that the clarity of the canopy will allow it to remain visible