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1/32 scale Ki 44 Shoki


alaninaustria

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Hej guys! I have finally found heaven on earth... the Shoki is one of my all time favorite aircraft and it has now finally arrived in 32nd scale thanks to the good fellas at Hasegawa!

 

I started on the cockpit as per normal SOP....

I really like to have flat faced glass instrument panels so I made my own... not 100% authentic, but close enough for the girls I date...

:speak_cool:

I got the idea to make these instrument faces from LSP Rato... many moons ago when he demonstrated his Me 262 cockpit build... thanks Rato!

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The faces were made using kit sprue, cut to length and then heated over a flame, then stretched. Once I have uniform thickness in the stretched sprue, I wrap it around the same punch I will use to punch out the decals from the sheet (www.mikegrantdecals.com) that I use....

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Once I have the wrapping removed from the punch, I make ONE slice with the knife and presto.... you have got rings... and most of them will be the same size, which is what you need....

I like to use future to glue them down, that makes for a nice uniform smooth surface when painted.

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After the instrument panel was done, I tackled the engine... this was a very easy part of the kit... this little kit practically falls together... painted in Enamels from Modelmaster (burnt metal) I used stretched sprue (of a different color - from an armour kit) to make the wiring harness for the ignition... nothing worse than painting a scratch made wiring harness only to have it break off.... so make it from a different color of plastic, that way you don't have to paint it after! :doh: :speak_cool: :coolio:

Normally radial engines of the period had dual magnetos, that means two ignition lines per cylinder... however, I didn't want to over due it and destroy what I had, so this little power egg got one harness per cylinder :BANGHEAD2:

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Just a quick tip.... the less mess you make while you build means less work when it comes to finishing the kit :BANGHEAD2: so I have started using these shears to get nice clean cuts when removing parts from the sprues... not a flog, just a good tip from me to you :speak_cool:

These are the newest tool from Xuron.... they are not the normal cutters, but the shears... and YES, they do leave a really nice clean flush cut

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The cockpit starts to get busy.... as you can see, fwd of the cockpit area are small panels that need to be glued into place... best performed using a glue applicator from the rear side to hide any glue marks.... let cappiliary action due its thing... again, I have used self made instrument rings with punched Mike Grant decals to simulate the instrument faces... finished off with a drop of future to represent the glass... :speak_cool:

 

The trick to getting a good glue seam that has no mess, streaks or bubbled out material is to use the touch in flow applicator (I get mine at Spruebrothers) and to apply the glue from the side that you don't want to be seen.... gluing part together requires strategy and a plan... so don't miss this part of the build... nothing farks up a great finish faster than a poorly executed gluing task

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