Dan Salamone's 1/48 Hasegawa Hien

Dan Salamone has very kindly shared these images and write-up of his long term 1/48 Hasegawa Ki-61 Hei project. In Dan's own words:-

"This is my just finished 1/48 Hasegawa Ki-61 Hei. I originally started this kit when brand new in 2005, and it came off the "shelf of doom" in 2010 and again in 2016/17. The Hasegawa kits are still very nice, and in fact are the only game in town for the short nosed Ko/Otsu/Hei variants. Three areas of weakness are the lack of wing dihedral, the poor shape and detail of the supercharger intake, and the lack of a multi-piece canopy. I improved on all three areas of this kit.

"The natural metal finish is airbrushed Floquil old silver and platinum mist. After curing the paint was progressively wet sanded with automotive grade sandpaper to get a smooth and shiny surface. All other colors are Gunze Mr. Color lacquers, except the drop tanks and camouflage mottle which are custom mixed Vallejo acrylics. Weathering was applied with artist oils for panel washes, and Vallejo acrylics for the dust/dirt and paint chips. The final clear coat is Gunze Mr. Super Clear matt applied from a spray can.Eduard photoetched lap belts were added, as well as minor items like brake lines from copper wire and landing gear indicators from brass wire.

"Careful study of close up images show the subtle yet apparent scuffing and dirt/grime from ground crew on the wingroot areas. 

"Decals are from the Lifelike Decals 244th Sentai collection. When originally started, this model was planned to represent an aircraft of the 68th Sentai based in New Guinea, but finding a black and white image of this particular aircraft made me change my mind. The early build Hiens had a dark blue/grey color in the cockpit and landing gear bays, which is replicated on this model. If I had started this project knowing how it would finish, I would have opted for the sand brown color seen in later build aircraft!"

With special thanks to Dan for sharing these images of his superb and convincing model with Aviation of Japan and providing the write-up.

Image credits: All © 2017 Dan Salamone

Back Online

Unfortunately the blog has been down and was not restricted to "invitation only". It is and will hopefully remain publicly accessible. Personal circumstances have prevented sorting it and a response to emails until now, but I hope to be able to catch up soon. Thanks very much for your patience and to those who have sent messages of concern.

IJN Dark Greens

Aeroscale have reviewed the Aviation of Japan PDF guide to The Dark Green Paints of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force:-

Japanese Navy Dark Greens

With thanks to Fred Boucher of Aeroscale for providing the link.

Armed Forces Day

Today, Saturday, 24 June is British Armed Forces Day. It is easy to forget, immersed in the routine minutiae of daily life, that good men and women are in harm's way 24/7 on our behalf. Today, especially,  they are remembered and saluted for their service and sacrifices. Thank you.  

 ABF - The Soldiers Charity

SSAFA - The Armed Forces Charity 

 Help For Heroes - Support For Our Wounded

The Invicta Foundation - Helping the Wounded 

The RAF Benevolent Fund 

The Royal Navy & Royal Marines Charity 

Image credits: All via web

AVI Models Inline A5M3 in 1/72

Hat tip to Iskender Mailibayev for posting a comment alerting me to this future release shown at the Hannants website.  AVI Models is a new one to me but there appears to be a Rising Decals connection. This experimental version of 'Claude', with two prototypes completed, had a Hispano-Suiza inline engine, three-bladed propeller and a 20mm cannon firing through the prop hub, similar in configuration to the Dewoitine 501/510 which may have influenced it. The kit will presumably provide markings for one of the prototypes and three imaginary "What-if" schemes. It will make an interesting shelf display comparison to a Dewoitine in Japanese markings or an essential inclusion for any A5M series line-up. The kit is listed at £14.99 (approx. US$19).

There was (is?) a previous 1/72 resin kit of this type from Choroszy Modelbud and I also have an obscure and undated Japanese 'SLB Parts' resin conversion set, courtesy of the kindness of Tom Hall, intended to modify the neat Fujimi A5M2a kit. That set consists of a finely moulded resin replacement nose,  one piece prop/spinner and radiator with comprehensive looking instructions all in Japanese. 

 Choroszy Modelbud Resin Kit

SLB Parts (Japan) Resin Conversion Set

Image credits: © 2017 AVI Models via Hannants; © Choroszy Modelblud and SLB Parts (Japan)

Tetsuya Inoue's New Blog - 'Tets Research Institute'

Back in October 2013 I was very pleased to be able to link to a build of a 1/48 Ki-51 kit by Tetsuya Inoue in a blog celebrating Nichimo kits. Then in April the following year I was also pleased to be able to provide a link to Tetsuya's advanced project kit-bash build of a Ki-61-II 'bubbletop' in the same scale.  Since then Tetsuya has continued to work on the project and now has a new blog 'Tets Research Institute' with a modelling section where his very impressive progress on the Ki-61-II is reported (his Ki-51 build is also included and well worth re-visiting). The blog features exceptional and really fine step by step modelling which is impressive, inspiring and useful. And yes, Tetsuya's Ki-61 model is to 1/48 scale - not 1/32!

With special thanks to Tetsuya for alerting me to his new blog and the treasures therein. 

Image credits: All © 2017 Tetsuya Inoue and Tets Research Institute