Dave J

Wow! A busy day for sure... Got the Hinomaru's painted on and the unit markings Landing gears are glued on... The Hinomaru's and unit markings are supplied on the decal sheet, but I used masks made from Revell Airbrushing film/Fiskit Film.. Whatever you want to call it. But there are a few things still to be done to make my New Years Deadline... I still need to paint and glue on all the landing gear covers/panels, paint and attach Flaps... A few small touch ups and apply the B-29 kill markers. Oh!! don't forget the panel wash and weathering! I don't think I'm going to make my New Years deadline... But hey, I am going to be damn close to it

back from a couple of days camping with the family... So I got back on the painting side of things! The way things are going I should be able to get this done by New Years...

Thanks! Its is very nice kit indeed! The fit is great... I just ordered the 40mm Cannon version the other day

Cheers guys! Thanks Brad... Yes Aclad who... I have never touched the stuff in my live... Yes, I do prime before, I normally use Mr Surfacer 1000 airbrushed on

It's the Mr Hobby Super Metallic range

Well the paint I ordered from Hong Kong finally arrived... And I have put aside my Tamiya Spitfire to complete the Shoki as I'm so close to finishing it... I got 4 different shades of Metallic Silver and have been busy over the last week masking and spraying all the different panels for different shades... I hoping and trying to get this completed before New Years... we will see! I still have to fix up a couple of small areas... and then I will make a start on masking all the unit markings and Hinomaru's. The only decals I hoping to use are the B-29 kill markings on the side of the fuselage.

I have been working on the pit during the weekend... I will try to get a some progress shots up tonight. I had one problem so far and it was the supercharger bit with the magnet...

I will be doing Johnnie Houlton's mount, ML407 OU-V of the 485 Sqdn (RNZAF). He was credited the first kill of D-Day, shooting down a Junkers 88. His bird is still flying today with Carolyn Grace. I'm also interested to see what comes out... I do have another one sitting there for a future build!

Wow... I'm surprised that no one has started a build online yet for these beautiful kits... Well, I couldn't hold off any longer had to crack the box on her! Which is fine as I'm still waiting for paints to arrive for my 32nd Hasegawaw Shoki... I had to skip to the stage to build the Merlin... It goes together really nicely. I love the PE intake manifold gaskets... I have to clean up a couple of seams here and there and it should get a coat of paint on the engine block tonight hopefully.

Looking good! It is sure a great kit, everything fits so well! Hoping to have my done in the couple of weeks!

Sprue G1 with the cockpit floor, Seat and engine bulk heads

Drop HLJ a email... I was missing a sprue in my kit... Its all sorted

While waiting for the paint to arrive, I have been working on some of the smaller assembly's. The Prop is painted with Tamiya Red Brown, drop tanks have been sprayed with Mr Surfacer... a couple of spots to fix up. Landing Gears are painted and I added brake hoses to them using copper wire and metal foil of a wine bottle for the clips/bands/ I have have drilled out the tail wheel fork also... (sorry for the bad pix!!)

I love it Hasegawa did Geoff Fisken's "Wairarapa Wildcat" in 48th last year and now in 32nd! I ordered 2 of them on Wednesday from HLJ... Just waiting from them to make the journey over! I got to meet Masato Hasegawa last month at the Tokyo Hobby Show, I told him that it was great to see Fisken's markings in 32nd and now they need to do some RNZAF Corsairs in 32nd!!

Sat up last night and add the extra leads to the back of each cylinder. Looks better now!

Looking at the engine, there is something that didn't seem right... I couldn't figure it what it is, till.... Reading a modeling magazine at work yesterday, I saw that Eduard has release a exterior PE for the Ki-44. I jumped onto Eduard website to what parts were included and then it hit me what the engine is missing.... The lead going to the back of each engine cylinder... time to pull the copper wire....

Still awaiting my order of paint... So I am still carrying on with small assemblies. I just finished the engine off, added copper wire for the ignition leads, the tabs are very small to mount the leads off them. So I drilled holes at the back of the tabs, as one the engine is installed you can't see it. Also, gave the engine flat coat to tone things down abit... Exhaust pipes were painted with Tamiya's Hull Red and the weather back with black and white pigments. Just about to start the two drop tanks and landing gears...

do you have a full res of that?

Yum.... Lucy Pinder!

My screens at work... The Vintage Aviators Fe.2b... Only flying Fe.2b in the world... and ....

Just order the paint this morning, so its going to be a couple of weeks waiting for it to arrive.... I started on the engine assembly over the last few nights cleaned up the mold lines and drilled out the holes in the cylinders for the ignition wiring etc... I had a Google for pictures Japanese engines and Ha-109 engine, but really didn't come up with much. So I wasn't 100% sure on the colours to use. Hasegawa's instructions call out silver and steel as the two colours, which didn't look to lively, So I did the engine in 4 different shades of silver and black for the push rods... and a black oil wash to make the details pop!

Cheers! It does drop together!

Thanks for the comments guys! I got a second coat on her yesterday.. but I ran out of paint! its going to take a 10+ days to get some more out of Hong Kong as I can't find this stuff in New Zealand.... Oh well... Time to start on the engine and maybe a Wingnut SE.5a while I'm waiting...

Cheers Keith! Its easy thanks to a great kit!

did a light sand with 2000 grit sandpaper and given her her a bit of colour now...