¹⁄32

Nakajima Ki-44

Some notes about the model

On my trip to Japan for the Tokyo Hobby show last year, one of the many kits that followed me home in my luggage was Hasegawa's 1:32 scale Ki-44II Hei Shoki (Tojo).

My build was going to be out of the box, as there was no aftermarket items available for it at that time, but Scale Aviation magazine that is published in Japan had a small bonus Photo Etch for the Shoki in Novembers issue which I added to my build. It contained a small amount of etch for the cockpit and a seat harness. Some of the photo etch parts were painted over and weathered as per the cockpit, as I am not a huge fan of the colour PE range from Eduard. I also added a small amount scratch detail in the ways of control cables in the cockpit, brake lines on the landing gears, wiring the ignition on the engine and drilling out the tail wheel fork.

Interior was painted using a custom mix of Tamiya acrylics and the bare metal finish was done using Mr Color Super Metallic range. The engine cowl was masked off with 1.0mm and 1.5mm wide tape and painted with a darker colour to get the effect as per reference/period photos that I had. All the unit markings and Hinomaru's are painted on with Tamiya acrylics by using a set of custom mask made from Revell's airbrushing film/Frisket Film. The only decals used were the B-29 kill markers and the Japanese stencil text. Chipping on the airframe was with a pin and on the propeller was done using a silver pencil.

My chosen scheme is for WO Makota Ogawa, of 3rd Squadron, 70th Flight Regiment, Kashiwa Air Field, 1945.