Jeff @ Earl's Hobby Hangar Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Been awhile since I posted my own build, so I thought I should contribute instead of just enjoying the work of others. Anyway, this is Hasegawa's excellent 1/32 Ki-44 Tojo (original boxing). I decided to do one of the aircraft shown in Kagero's "Fighters over Japan Part 1" , but wound up painting most of the markings instead of using the supplied decals (with the exception of the gear door numbers and the lightning bolt on the tail emblem. I used Eduard Big Ed detail set which works quite nicely, especially the "door panels" and seat. This particular aircraft had the old telescopic gunsight. Fortunately, Hasegawa had it and the appropriate windscreen in the "parts not used" for future releases. The gear door numbers are decals from the book, which are worth the cost of the Kagero books themselves. It doesn't show who makes them on this sheet, but other books in this series have sheets from Techmod, and these numbers laid down very nicely over Future with no silvering, and the carrier film between the numbers completely disappeared. The inner gear doors and mechanism aren't actually glued in at the moment and I just noticed they had been knocked out of position. I'll secure them later. The photo-etch cockpit panel went together easy enough, and the seat is a major improvement over the kit part. I didn't add the shoulder harness because many Japanese planes didn't have them initially. This being later in the war, it's omission may be an error on my part.....oh well.... Also, gotta love Rustall for the exhaust stacks. That stuff is almost cheating it's so easy to use. And the other side with a better view of the seat. The photo-etch instrument panel is another nice improvement, but I believe the kit panel with the decal instrument faces would be nice as well. BTW, That's not a big gap in the trailing edge wing. I modded the wing and stowed the butterfly flaps which extend out past the trailing edge. The lighting just makes it look "off". Another shot of starboard. Note the gear position indicators on top of each wing..... I'm patiently waiting for those to disappear. The wing 12.7mm guns are white metal upgrades for the Tony kit that fit better than the kit parts. Look better too. Another shot of the errant inner gear doors. I also used Scale Aircraft Conversion white metal landing gear with some detailing from Eduard (brake lines and oleo struts). The fuel tanks are a weak point, and had I not already drilled the holes, would not have used them. This particular aircraft had rare-to-be-seen bomb racks just out from the gear and thankfully Hasegawa included them (sans bombs). Definitely one of the more unusual-looking Japanese aircraft out there, but oddly beautiful too. Overall, a fantastic kit to build, and I already have another one in the stash. Fit was excellent and any problems I had were self-inflicted Quote Link to post Share on other sites
karl h Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 excellent build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
McCoy Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 What a great BMF job. Wonderful! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
HOLMES Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 GORGEOUSLY SUPERB!! love the Finish.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Shawn M Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 that is gorgeous! Your finish is just superb, so much depth and character to it. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
chuck540z3 Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Very skilled creation and I love the BMF. Excellent! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
guaguachong Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 excellent, outstanding,amazing work. if you do not mind, would you please describe how you paint the siliver body? like how do you smooth the body, and what kind of color you used. i would really like to know how to do siliver planes thank you very much Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Dax Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 I would like to second that... I would be very interested in hearing about your BMF technique. Beautiful build all around, but that finish is spectacular! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Jeff @ Earl's Hobby Hangar Posted January 20, 2011 Author Share Posted January 20, 2011 (edited) excellent, outstanding,amazing work. if you do not mind, would you please describe how you paint the siliver body? like how do you smooth the body, and what kind of color you used. i would really like to know how to do silver planes :) thank you very much Thanks much for the kind words all. I'll describe the process I used for the BMF, but only to serve as a warning to others :) I used only one color : Alclad's Airframe Aluminum. This is my first real use of the color, and I have to say I'm now a convert. The particulates in it are finer than the other Alclad aluminum colors I've used, and has a more "sheeted aluminum" appearance, for lack of a better term. The armament access covers on the wings and forward fuselage are Airframe Aluminum with a couple of drops of Tamiya Smoke added. That's the only tonal variation I used. My big mistake was spraying over bare plastic, but not for the reason most people assume; It didn't craze the plastic, and the effect was a model that looked like it was made out of actual aluminum. You can still see this effect most on the cowling in the head-on shot. Problem 1 is the effect by itself just doesn't look scale. Problem 2 was a surprise in that the Alclad did not bite into the plastic at all. I used cotton gloves for handling the model once the Alclad went on, and the gloves had a more aluminum look than the model after awhile; it just rubbed right off. All the masking for the bandages and anti-glare panels didn't help. The good thing was, it rubbed off and didn't peel off, so all I had to do was mask of the markings, etc after they were dry, and re-shot the Alclad; no re-sanding needed. I "washed" the panel lines and rivets with Mig Pigments 'Black Smoke' and that stuff works great on BMFs. Check out Brian Criner's build in Osprey's "Modelling the Mitsubishi A6M Zero" for a better look at using Mig Pigments like this. (How he got the BMF he did with Model Masters Metallizer paint is beyond me. Guess that's why he has a 'Master' next to his skill level). Normally, wiping off the excess usually poses no problems, but my aforementioned lack of 'bite' meant I had to reapply more Alclad in places. This inadvertently gave me more tonal variations, so it worked out, but I would have rather skipped the do-overs. Most sealing coats I've used in the past dull metallizers, but I used Alclad's new Gloss Clear Kote as an experiment, and one light coat sealed it well enough for handling without affecting the appearance. Of course, I did this after all the heavy handling was finished....figures. Alclad also has a new clear base (which is actually caramel color, so don't use it as an over-coat). I'm going to use that on my next BMF project and see if that give the Airframe Aluminum something to bite into. That would save much cursing and gnashing of teeth. If anyone has any experience with this, let me know please. Any other questions, just holler. I'll be glad to share any other construction Bozo No-No's that I inflicted on this build. Believe me, I just scratched the surface with this post...... BTW, I looked at the pics, and I noticed I re-attached the starboard cockpit hatch upside down after it came off. I'm fixing it now, but enjoy that little 'Easter Egg'. Edited January 20, 2011 by Jeff @ Earl's Hobby Hangar Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Isaac Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 Outstanding build! I need to try aircraft aluminum! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
rom Posted January 20, 2011 Share Posted January 20, 2011 beautiful silver bird!! i really like the metal rendering!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Kopfjaeger Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 wow thats bloody awesome!!! i have the same kit but yours makes mine look like a 6 yr old was set loose with glue and crayons!!! i agree its a nice looking 'plane. i always loved the wing on this... reminds of a dragon fly.... Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Eastern Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 :blink: That is a real jaw-dropper! Absolutely stunning metal finish! Crisp and flawless build! Thanks for sharing, it was pleasure watching your "exciter". :) Cheers and happy modeling! Alexander Quote Link to post Share on other sites
achook-achook Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Excellent Kit, Excellent Build, Excellent Results!!! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
CorsairMan Posted January 21, 2011 Share Posted January 21, 2011 Wow - you have completely inspried me to buy this kit and the PE. It looks fantastic and I love the shape of this plane. Thanks for posting! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
The Mikester Posted January 22, 2011 Share Posted January 22, 2011 Very impressive build! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
shootermpg Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 JUST BEAUTIFUL Quote Link to post Share on other sites
MarkC Posted January 23, 2011 Share Posted January 23, 2011 beautiful metal effects - this one must have pride of place ! its a jaw dropper! Mark Quote Link to post Share on other sites
Diego Quijano Posted January 24, 2011 Share Posted January 24, 2011 Very attractive MF, I like it. Cheers. Q Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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