Saturday 2 September 2017

David Walker's 1/48 Hayate


David Walker has very kindly shared these images of his splendid 1/48 Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate 'Frank' model, made from the Hasegawa kit with some additional details and modifications.  David wanted to find an unconventional scheme and after searching online chose a subject featured on SuperScale Decal Sheet 48-526 for an aircraft attributed to the HQ Flight of 47 Hiko Sentai at Narimasu airfield, north-east of Tokyo, Japan during early 1945. SuperScale presented an unusual mottled scheme with explicit colour call-outs of dark green blotches over grey-green which David followed directly, changing only the under surface colour to a medium grey.  



David used the basic Hasegawa kit JT 67 (09067) but added 2 colour photo-etch and flap details from Eduard sets and a Fukuya brass pitot tube. He found the Eduard pilot seat a great improvement on the kit part K5 and found that it folded easily into place. He also followed his usual practice of replacing the kit engine - part B1 - with a Vector resin replacement, in this case the Homare Ha 45. This was not a perfect fit and required some minor alterations to the cowling but David felt it well worth it in improving the appearance of the model.  


David also wanted to replace the cannon parts N8 with brass items but was unable to find anything suitable so settled for drilling out the barrels of the kit parts. He also drilled out the kit's stub exhausts and both air scoops in the upper cowling part B6. The upper surface base colour was painted with a mix of FS 34432 and 34082 with an over spray of dark green blotches according to the SuperScale instructions, then some light wear and tear was represented with a silver pencil. After completing the model David displayed it on a landscaped base.  


David highly recommends the Hasegawa model to anyone but advises reinforcing the landing gear during the build as the poly caps are a "menace"! With special thanks to David for sharing the images and description of his model with Aviation of Japan.

Hiko No.47 Sentai

In February 1945 47 Hiko Sentai were in the process of re-equipping with Hayate from Shoki as part of the 10th Air Division at Narimasu  which was staffed by the 43rd Airfield Battalion. Their use of Hayate in the air defence role against the B-29 was brief. After the US carrier attack on the 16th of that month they were immediately exempted from further air defence duties together with 244 Hiko Sentai and re-assigned under direct 6th Air Army command to escort a planned bomber attack against the enemy task force the next day. The bomber attack was cancelled but the urgent re-assignment had the effect of removing two fighter regiments from the 10th Air Division defence capability when USN fighter sweeps came in again on the 17th. In April 1945 the 47th were transferred to become part of the 30th Fighter Group together with 244 Hiko Sentai and 17 Independent Air Squadron. The 30th Fighter Group came directly under the General Defence Command as part of the Mobile Air Defence Forces with responsibility for escorting Special Attack units (18, 19, 25, 45 and 47 Shimbu Tai) tasked with annihilating enemy carrier task forces threatening the Kanto area. The unit was then moved to Sano airfield, south-west of Osaka. At the end of May it was moved further south to Miyakonojo west airfield on Kyushu to participate in the escort role for the Okinawa campaign, suffering such attrition that by mid-July when it was incorporated into the newly formed 12th Air Division it was officially described as "newly organised" and under strength. The unit ended the war at Ozuki under 12th Air Division command with about 23 Hayate on strength. 

The 47th are one of the Army fighter units with 'moving' unit insignia colours with differing assertions of colour sequence and interpretation over the years. In his 1978 Koku Fan series Minoru Akimoto recorded the colour sequence in January 1944 when the unit was re-organised into Hikotai composition as blue for 1st (Asahi), red for 2nd (Fuji) and yellow for 3rd (Sakura), the same sequence recorded in the table in 'The Japanese Army Wings of the Second World War' (Bunrin-Do, 1972) and also as described in the more recent 2005 Gakken book on Hayate. However 'Japanese Army Air Force Fighter Units and their Aces 1931-1945' (Grub Street, 2002) shows a more conventional sequence of white, red and yellow for the three Hayate Chutai. There is the possibility that the colour sequence was changed when the unit re-equipped from the natural metal finish Ki-44 to the camouflaged Ki-84 but with photographs identifying the aircraft of Chutai/Hikotai leaders showing tonally unexpected insignia colours mystery abounds!   


Image credits: All © 2017 David Walker

10 comments:

Dan Salamone said...

That's a nice looking scheme on the Hayate. The blue is always striking on IJA aircraft. Built this kit when brand new in the late 90's and remember it having great detail and fit. Thanks for sharing this, David!

Dan

73north said...

Hi Dan

Thank you for your kind comment - its a real joy to appear here on this fantastic Blog and above all , have the first comment from the great Dan Salamone ! - I remember the lovely 1/48 Fine Molds D4Y2-S Suisei Nightfighter that you made a few years ago ! - a marvellous model , that FRANKly inspired me to improve my technique and try to excel and painting Japanese Fighters ( and I loved the different Japanese Fighters , most of which I had never heard of - when I bought in 1981 , Bill Gunston's Book- Axis Fighters of WW2 by Salamander Books !

Dan Salamone said...

Hi David, thanks for the kind words on my work, but we are all fortunate to belong to a community here where we have such expertise and critical thought on the topic we all love so dearly. I get inspiration from seeing what other people (like yourself) have to offer on a daily basis. Nick has fostered an atmosphere on this blog that is always positive, and it's appreciated.

I recall that book from Bill Gunston, as well as another from him that was on all WWII aircraft. The section on Japanese aircraft was what got me hooked and have never looked back. :-)

Looking forward to seeing more of your work!

Dan

Tetsuya Inoue said...

Great details and awesome finishing.
Thank you for sharing, David !

Mark Smith said...

David,

Wish I could airbrush a model with such results! Nick has written of more than one mottled camouflage scheme that was *not* simply a darker color green or brown on a natural metal or light grey-green base, but one very seldom sees them on a model, except for 85th Sentai Shokis in green over dark earth. Nicely done!

Stefan Sjöberg said...

Very nice build! The Hayate is one of my personal favorites, it has the looks of "sleek muscle car" (in my opinion).Clean & neat finish with a interesting camo.

Allt the best/Stefan
Sweden

73north said...

Hi Guys - thank you VERY MUCH for your kind comments -
the key to the decent result with the painting was the use of the Aztek Airbrush - I was determined to find a unique camo scheme - I can admit , I took 3 days of online searching before I found the SuperScale aftermarket paint scheme - a lot of effort online !
I can't claim too much credit for the paint job ( I use specially made home-made paint masks for some areas - that my secret )
I would say that you MUST fit the Eduard etch to the Hayate to get the best result - and fitting a Russian VECTOR Resin Engine gives it a better end-result - its worth the little extra work and cost -
you only get what you put pay for !
kind regards to all David Walker

Ronnie Olsthoorn said...

Curious scheme, very attractive though! Great modelling work!

73north said...

Thank you !

Ken Glass said...

Very good work, David,

Regards,
Ken Glass