Hasgegawa Ki44-II Shoki

[dennismcc]

After a steady diet of Pacific Coast Models Kits, I decided to treat myself and build a Hasegawa kit which from my previous experience are well engineered and build up nicely.

From the stash I picked out a Nakajima Ki44, and looking in the box at the contents and reading other peoples builds I was not disappointed.

The Nakajima Ki 44 was one of the not so well-known Japanese WW2 fighter aircraft, most modellers will know about Japanese aircraft such as the “Zero” and “Oscar” but the Shoki (or Tojo) is not as well known.

Just to make matters more difficult there are no surviving airframes and the photographic evidence is not that extensive, I did not find much and what I did find was not of very good quality.

A bit of history copied from Wikipedia

The design and development of the Ki-44 differed greatly from that of other Japanese fighters of the time, incorporating speed and rate-of-climb in preference to manoeuvrability

This was a result of a need for a heavy fighter aircraft that followed a more offensive doctrine and the Ki-44 is often classified as an Air Defence Fighter.

Its development ran almost in parallel to its predecessor, the lighter and nimbler Nakajima Ki-43.

The Ki-44 had a higher landing speed and was less manoeuvrable.

These were concerns for pilots who would compare it to the Ki-43 or Ki-27 which were far more agile and responsive.

As a result, the Ki-44 was first restricted to pilots with at least 1000 hours of flying time due to its tricky handling characteristics. However, it was later found that younger pilots who had not been instilled with the extensive aerobatic training of earlier cadres could manage the aircraft perfectly well, so the restriction was removed.

Nonetheless, the Ki-44 was the fastest climbing Japanese fighter at the time. It was the Imperial Japanese Army's only interceptor type when the USAAF's B-29 Superfortresses began bombing the Japanese mainland in June 1944.

 While there were performance restrictions at high altitude, it was superior to the Ki-43 in that it was capable of matching Allied aircraft in climbs and dives, giving pilots more flexibility in combat and greater pilot confidence than the Ki-43,

The basic armament of four 12.7mm machine guns or two 12.7mm guns and two 20 mm cannons (or, in a few aircraft, two Ho-301 40mm cannons of limited range) was far more powerful than the older Ki-43's two 12.7mm machine guns

Production of the Ki-44 was terminated in late 1944 in favour of the more advanced Nakajima Ki-84, and when the war ended, only three sentai units were still equipped with them.

 

The subject of my build is a Ki 44 flown by Makoto Ogawa, who was a Japanese Army aviator known for achieving ace status flying against Boeing B-29 Superfortresses during World War II.

In carrying out his duties, he downed the highest number of B-29s among the pilots in his air group (seven confirmed) and also two North American P-51 Mustangs.

 He was awarded the Bukosho, the highest award given by the Imperial Japanese Army to living soldiers who demonstrated exceptionally valorous action in combat.

 

And so I needed a plan for the build, 

I do not know that much about Japanese subjects, just enough to be dangerous, luckily, I know of a man who does, so I did a search over on Nick Millman’s Aviation of Japan site  I got a great deal of really useful information on the subject.

I also did a search on modelling sites for builds of the same kit to point me in the right direction, again I found lots of useful information especially from Britmodeller and LSP build threads.

So, I had the information and from it I devised a build plan.

But my build plan went out the window after mailing Nick and asking his advice on my plan, he very kindly sent me more information on my subject aircraft and what colours to use, a really helpfull gentleman.

 

This is part of Nick’s reply.

Ogawa's Shoki was a Hei so manufactured after January 1944. Unlikely to still have a blue grey interior and too early for # 7. Possibly the yellowish green 'Nakajima interior colour' but some Japanese researchers now suggest a grey green colour (not the early exterior grey green).

 In early 1943 Koku Hombu began preparations for the final battle against US Forces the following year and the required number of fighter aircraft was calculated. To secure such a vast number a drastic increase in production was required.

To increase production of Hayabusa, for example, the time-consuming application of 'transparent light blue colour' (aotake) on interior surface was abandoned, and all interior surfaces were to be left unpainted except for the cockpit interior which continued to be painted, but the exact hue is unknown.  

Recent research on the existing wreck of a Toryu (Kawasaki) and the cockpit of Hayate suggests the paint used for Army cockpits around this time was gray green (similar to the Hayate prop colour but the exact name of the colour is unknown). It is possible therefore that the Shoki cockpit colour was similar, but a health warning is that the type was in limited production so might not have followed the norm of others.

Regardless of the change of interior colour, instrument panels of all types were uniformly painted black.

Cowling interiors had a heat- resistant matt black paint.

The fabric control surfaces were doped either the early light grey green or silver and it's impossible to tell which from b/w photos.

 I've attached a chip of the interior grey green colour with comparisons. It is very similar to RAF aircraft grey green (perhaps it was that as large stocks of RAF paints were captured in Malaya and Burma). FS 24172 is similar but darker and slightly more blueish.

Hope this helps but please don't hesitate to ask. 

 

The new Plan

So, my revised build plan based on the information that Nick Millman kindly sent me is as follows.

Cockpit interior: RAF Grey Green, Humbrol 78 or Xtracolor X10

Cockpit switches and boxes Humbrol H85 a satin black.

Seat joystick and rudder pedals Humbrol Matt aluminium.

Fuselage machine guns, X502 Natural steel, redone with Humbrol Metallic Black H201.

Airframe Xtracolor X38 High speed silver.

Prop blades: Humbrol 160 German camo red brown or Sovereign Colourcoats ACJ023 Propellor Brown.

Hinomaru ACJ 20 Hinomaru Red or Humbrol 19.

Fabric covered flying surfaces: silver or grey.

Wing leading edges: ACJ 19 ID Yellow

White Xtracolor X141

Inside the cowling Humbrol 33 Matt Black

Anti- glare panel: Revell 9, Anthracite

Wheel wells and Undercarriage: Humbrol Metalcote Polished Aluminium, Tyres Humbrol 67 Matt Tank Grey.

 

More soon

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

Edited Wednesday at 06:26 PM by dennismcc

[dennismcc]

So on with the plastic bashing, 

Aftermarket for the kit was very limited but I managed to find the following:

Nakajima Ki44 Exhaust, Quickboost

Nakajima Ki 44 Gun Barrels, Quickboost

Montex Mini Mask for Ki 44 Shoki, just for the canopy was the only mask set I could find, so I will use the kit decals for the small markings but for the rest it will be Tamiya tape and masking by yours truly.

Metallic Details, Japan Seat belts type 3.

Yahu, Instrument panel YMA 3230.

So what is in the box.

And away I went

I started the build as usual by colour coding the parts in the instructions using different colours for different sprues so that I could easily identify parts.

Then I started cutting the parts from the sprues but leaving a "tail" on them with the part number where possible, this saves a lot of hassle for me.

Then I mounted the various parts by the "tail" using clips or in some cases using Blu Tac to mount them on plastic cards ready for paint.

Starting as usual with the cockpit, I roughly followed the Hasegawa painting guide but used grey green as advised by Nick Millman.

I did not have any Humbrol 78 (RAF Grey Green) as my tins had gone off so used H120 instead.

But I was not happy with the results, then I remembered I had some Xtracolor RAF Grey Green (X10) so I used this to repaint the Cockpit parts

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[LSP_Kevin]

Nice start, Dennis.

 

Kev

[Troy Molitor]

I always follow your builds Dennis.  Good start and I'm sure it will be another stunner when finished.  

[Kendzior]

I sit in the front row, popcorn in hand.

Larger photos would be lovely.

 

Best,

Hubert

[dennismcc]

2 hours ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Nice start, Dennis.

 

Kev

 

1 hour ago, Troy Molitor said:

I always follow your builds Dennis.  Good start and I'm sure it will be another stunner when finished.  

 

1 hour ago, Kendzior said:

I sit in the front row, popcorn in hand.

Larger photos would be lovely.

 

Best,

Hubert

Thank you guys, hopefully this build will be straightforward and a breeze, this will be a nice change and could lead to a lot more similar Hasegawa type builds.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[MikeMaben]

Have fun Denis 

[dennismcc]

34 minutes ago, MikeMaben said:

Have fun Denis 

Thanks Mike, so far so good, it seems too easy.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Biggles87]

First page, yippee!

When we moved to France I realised after about 3 months that I had left a box of 1/32 stuff behind and in it was my Ki44 and an Echelon Hunter amongst other things. I contacted our buyer who told me that he had given the contents away ( he said ).  

Looking forward to watching yours.

 

John

[dennismcc]

5 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

First page, yippee!

When we moved to France I realised after about 3 months that I had left a box of 1/32 stuff behind and in it was my Ki44 and an Echelon Hunter amongst other things. I contacted our buyer who told me that he had given the contents away ( he said ).  

Looking forward to watching yours.

 

John

What a horrible thing to happen John, we have lost stuff moving but not any kits luckily.

I will make this extra special for you then, however it might mean that you have to go out and buy another one.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Biggles87]

Thanks Dennis, I’ll look forward to it.

It seems to be a straight scale-up of the 1/48 version which I built some time ago and remember as being a very nice kit.

 

John

PS: yes you’re right, I may have to buy another one. 

Edited Friday at 05:25 PM by Biggles87

[Thunnus]

Great to see a Shoki build, Dennis!  I'll be building another Nakajima fighter alongside yours!

[dennismcc]

10 hours ago, Thunnus said:

Great to see a Shoki build, Dennis!  I'll be building another Nakajima fighter alongside yours!

Thank you John, I will be watching your build of the Hayate with interest as it was one of my favourite builds.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[dennismcc]

The build was interupted for a while as we were planning a "bucket list cruise" which went really well, lots of gorgeous views for both of us and this very historical place for both of us to explore, it rained but who cares.

What an astonishing cruise.

.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

[monthebiff]

Superb build Dennis but more importantly looks like an amazing trip away! 

 

Regards. Andy