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1/48 Ki61-I Hei (Tony)


rowmk9

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Thanks guys.

I've made a bit more progess. The fuslage is closed up, and the wings are together as well. one thing I've discovered is there is a gap between at the wing root that is even on both sides. Now normally I woulf fudge this bit my stuffing in some filler, but I'm thinking maybe of plastic strip cut to size and sanded down would be better. What do you guys think?

Hi Rowan, anyway to spread out the lower fuse halves with lengths of sprue? Make sure your dihedral is OK, it may well need some of those gaps. Good luck

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've finally made some more progress on the Ki-61 :)

Thanks for the advice Abacus, it does actually seem that the wings needed to be brought up a fraction to increase the dihedral. Either way I've put the wings on and moved on!

I've buttoned up the cockpit and added the necessary masking tape to cover the clear parts. Then on with the interior colour and some prep before the gloss black went on.

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And here she is, all glossy and awaiting a coat of alclad II. I'm a little wary of spraying on the alclad to be honest, as I've had trouble in the past with it. For me at least I've found that the metal finish gets a milky white misting and does not leave a pristine metal finish. Maybe my PSI is set too high, maybe I am too impatient and don't wait for the gloss black to cure, or maybe I've gotten cellulose thinners mixed in with the alclad, either way I've been left rather crest fallen after viewing my results with the product thus far. This time it WILL be different (famous last words)!

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The spinner and horozontal tail surfaces are just popped in place so i could get a feel for the lines of the aircraft. Very nice is what I'm thinking. :)

So I sprayed this gloss on today, I'm assuming I should wait 24hrs to allow for the gloss coat to fully cure before going at it with the Alclad?

Any alcladdy advice would be welcome....

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I'm a little wary of spraying on the alclad to be honest, as I've had trouble in the past with it. For me at least I've found that the metal finish gets a milky white misting and does not leave a pristine metal finish. Maybe my PSI is set too high, maybe I am too impatient and don't wait for the gloss black to cure, or maybe I've gotten cellulose thinners mixed in with the alclad, I'm assuming I should wait 24hrs to allow for the gloss coat to fully cure before going at it with the Alclad?

Any alcladdy advice would be welcome....

In my experience overnight will be enough drying time for the black coat. Alclad's a lacquer which reacts chemically with the enamel and fuses with it rather than just sitting on the top like a paint. A soft undercoat won't bother it. That depends on how thick you put the black on, of course!

The rough milky effect may be reduced/avoided by allowing the alclad to wet the surface properly. You might be moving the spray along too fast. You may be spraying at too high a pressure or maybe holding the gun too far away. Perhaps all three at once? They all add up to the same problem. What I think is happening is the solvent in the alclad is drying out of the mix before the stuff hits the surface so it goes on dry and can't level itself out.

Spray at a lower pressure, closer, and take your time moving from panel to panel and you will be ok.

Incidentally alclad is made with cellulose solvent so contamination with it is not a worry.

Those are the guiding principles I used on this one. Not perfect but not so bad.

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Good luck!

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  • 2 weeks later...

Ok so the Alclad didn't go so well, with my cheap airbrush unable to hold a constant pressure making it very difficult to achieve a good finish with the product. So I've gone for my back up, Zero Paints Mica Silver, which gives a good finish and is me proof.

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And Tamiya J.A. Green camo applied. This wont be strictly true to the actual aircraft, as this was applied after the Hinomaru markings and other things, so a small gap would normally be around these. I suppose I could have applied them first, or made masks to cover these areas, but I wanted to get the plane finished so I could get on with another project :)

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Masking on for the nose, leading edge and tail colours - it is a colourful aircraft!

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Masking off - nice :D Light chipping on the anti-glare panel is achieved with a modelling knife.

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Most of the decals on, it really is colourful!!

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I spent a lot of pocket money a long time ago on a kit of this very attractive plane - which I somehow managed to ruin ( I think it went up with some mini rockets one bonfire night Kamikaze style).

So good to see something done properly - Looking forward to the finished article.

BTW - skilfully masked cockpit - any tips? Or is down to good old hard work, patience and experience?

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BTW - skilfully masked cockpit - any tips? Or is down to good old hard work, patience and experience?

Thanks! Hmmm tips? Well make sure your blade is super sharp, I nearly always make sure the blade is 'new' (i.e. break off a section of the blade) to make sure the tip is as sharp as possible. This canopy also has some nice easy to follow raised edges so that always helps. I still think I've made a mistake on one of the rear windows but I wont fine out until I remove the masking.

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That's very nice work Rowan. Was fortunate enough to add a 72nd scale kit of this machine to the stash at a recent club night and seeing your work is tempting me to get it started for this GB.

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A bit more progress this weekend, I'm getting closer to finishing it.

I've painted the nose gun troughs red as per the instructions and I've also completed the prop.

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Frustratingly the instructions colour call out for the drop tanks was missing so I went online and saw that a few other modelers had painted the drop tanks yellow. I decided to go with what they had done and hope it was right...

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Thanks guys, to answer smuts, I'm going to go with a flat finish. My way of thinking is the camo would be flat and I'm not going to be able to get that flat whilst the metal stays shiny. bare metal does lose its sheen fairly quickly if it is not cleaned and polished so I'm going to go with that look.

Hehe and yes Don, I really don't think they knew what to do with the camo on this aircraft. I mean, why bother with the disruptive camo when it is painted with large sections of red, and flashes of bright blue and yellow. Still I don't care, it looks cool! :)

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  • 4 weeks later...

Hi guys, Thanks for all the comments, I've been struggling to get a decent amount of time to myself the last few weeks so I should have updated this thread a week or so ago, because the model is finished! YAY! big cheers and hugs.

Ok here are a few pictures of the Ki61 in it's final state, I'll upload some pics in the finished gallery soon as well (I promise!)

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Thanks for looking :)

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