Bertie McBoatface Posted November 7, 2011 Share Posted November 7, 2011 Excellent work. Especially so considering the kit you started with! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 7, 2011 Author Share Posted November 7, 2011 Cheers Don but this is a bit tame next to you building an entire island full of fighters! Got the basic profile of the u/c bays sorted and the lower wing glued to the fuselage last night. Now trying to get the upper wing panels fitted but the slight misshapen parts are putting up a fight. Some shims and packing pieces are being brought in to force the buggers to fit in an effort to reduce the need for umpteen repeats of filler and sanding then rescribing the resulting lost panel lines. Promise I'll try to take a photo tomorrow morning if there's any daylight going about and I haven't made such an bottom of it the poor thing is lying smashed in the bottom of the bin. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted November 8, 2011 Share Posted November 8, 2011 This has been coming on really nicely. The work on the cockpit is superb. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 9, 2011 Author Share Posted November 9, 2011 Thank you Rowan. Have to say I found your Ki-61 highly inspiring and a great motivation to get going with this one. Right, wings are on and sitting well, only a little filler needed on the upper fuselage seams then the gun troughs were given more depth. The underside seams, on the other hand, were a mess and this is the second round of filler trying to blend everything together. As you can see the radiator flap has also been hacked off and will be replaced by a thin plasticard item in a slightly drooped position. Thinking about removing the wing stores pylons as well. To me they slightly spoil the machine's clean lines. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris FFZ Posted November 12, 2011 Share Posted November 12, 2011 Magnificent work on that Tony Col. I'm making a 1/48 Ki 61 for WW2aircraft.com and my forum and I didn't do anywhere near the great interior work you have there! If you'd like to see it, its here: Link to my 'Tony' in progress Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Cheers Chris and thanks for the link to your Ki-61, she looks really tidy in that green splash camouflage, was considering that style of scheme for a while but now leaning more toward an overall natural metal finish. So here's what little progress has occurred since the last update; Got the radiator cowling flap replaced. This is the second attempt at this as I'd dropped the first one slightly but then realised every photo I can find has it either fully up or fully extended. Went with fully retracted to keep the clean lines of this machine. Cut off the moulded on underwing pylons for the same reason... Also checked all the seams and did a final tidy-up of those before cutting out the solid part of the left wing leading edge where the landing light should be and replacing it with a piece of the clear parts runner that was filed then sanded to shape and polished. This photo hopefully shows that landing light a little better along with the larger upper wing bulges I've added to represent a cannon-armed aircraft. The internal frame of the canopy was also painted the same colour as the cockpit interior although this still needs a little more work to tidy some of the edges. Found a couple photos of the aircraft I want to model and one shows it with the venturi moved from between the u/c bays to slightly above and behind the carburetor intake so next task is to make and fit that after the canopy is on and masked. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Nicely done min! Love the attention to detail so far. Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Taking shape Col. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Cheers cheel, have to admit I'm really enjoying the time I get to work on this one, seem to have been bitten by some form of Japanese aviation bug lately as the stash has gone from containing no subjects to 5 of the wee buggers in short order! Not only that but the ORANGE! Ki-55 is vying with a couple Airfix A6M2s for position as next progect to reach the bench. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Thanks Mish. Have to say I do like the lines of the Ki-61. Seems the Japanese designers of the period had an eye for creating some very pleasant shapes. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bertie McBoatface Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Keep it coming Col. Are the cannon bulges made of sprue? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris FFZ Posted November 16, 2011 Share Posted November 16, 2011 Cheers Chris and thanks for the link to your Ki-61, she looks really tidy in that green splash camouflage, was considering that style of scheme for a while but now leaning more toward an overall natural metal finish. It looks great in natural metal, i considered leaving mine like that after i saw it! You are making wonderful progress with your hein, really great detail work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 16, 2011 Author Share Posted November 16, 2011 Yes they are Don. Did most of the shaping before they were glued on then tided them up once in place. A thick coat of Revel enamel paint taken from the lid after I'd painted the last bits of the cockpit acted as a final filler. Was able to do a little more this afternoon so worked on the prop as I had a plan to fit it after painting and still allow it to spin. Hasegawa design the kit to have the propeller fitted during main assembly. By reaming out a short section of Evergreen tube to fit over the shaft then cutting a short end off to glue at the bottom of the shaft while the other part stays free to turn I'll then glue the free section to the fuselage after both are painted and, if all goes to plan and I don't get glue in the wrong place, the prop will still turn without falling out. Take a look at the photo and see if you understand what I'm wittering on about Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Minor update to prove I'm still poking this one around the workbench occasionally. After fitting a small cutting of clear plastic to represent the gunsight glass I glued the canopy on. There followed an abortive attempt to mask the canopy but the engraved frame lines are so fine it's almost impossible to use them as a guide to cutting the tape so I've painted them with the interior colour and hope I'll be able to see that better. Find out soon enough. The fabric covered control surfaces are variously described in some references I've seen as either light gray, Dove Gray, blue-gray or blue-green gray, so I took a stab at a shade not too far removed from the natural alloy of the skin and mixed a little Humbrol 145 into some 129 until it looked like what I wanted then brushed the results on. It's dried now and still looks like I planned so next stage is to mask the canopy and the areas requiring some white paint for the home defence bands on wings and rear fuselage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rowmk9 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Still looking good col., I'm glad you used my Ki-61 as inspiration! The canopy framing looks very neat, I hope it goes well getting the silver over the top. I have a feeling she's going to look stunning when she's got some paint and decals on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Aye aye min, coming along nicely. Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted December 7, 2011 Author Share Posted December 7, 2011 Sorry gang but it seems this one is fated to miss the deadline. My little girl had the chickenpox all last week so mind and energy has been on her well-being to the detriment of all else At the moment the white bands are on, the pitot probe has been replaced by one turned from an old stainless steel bicycle spoke, undercarriage doors replaced by thin plasticard parts, all masked up ready for the yellow wing leading edges to be sprayed. Would post a photo but the camera has died to add on the list of woes Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris FFZ Posted December 13, 2011 Share Posted December 13, 2011 Sorry to hear that col, but no worries. Your Tony is a fine project, it hardly matters if it didn't get finished in time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gene K Posted March 26, 2014 Share Posted March 26, 2014 Sorry gang but it seems this one is fated to miss the deadline Did you ever finish his beauty? Gene K Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted August 17, 2015 Author Share Posted August 17, 2015 After a long lay-off I finally got some primer on this one; Wonder how many years it'll take me to spray the silver... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted September 1, 2015 Author Share Posted September 1, 2015 Alclad Aluminium and all the masking off; Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted October 8, 2015 Author Share Posted October 8, 2015 Calling this one done. At long last. After painting on the white Home Defence bands the undercarriage components were added then the Lifelike decals applied. This sheet seems highly researched and contains sufficient decals to cover all 8 subjects. Alas the printing isn't perfect with a thin white boarder on one side of the red markings and they proved brittle to apply. Final act was to fit the exhausts and wing guns then lightly weather. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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