Hasegawa 1/32 Ki-84 Hayate

Thunnus · May 9

I'm going to start a new project. I realize that I have some unfinished projects that need attention but I feel the need to start something new to get the enthusiasm going again. I've been really wanting to do a Focke Wulf Fw190D-11 conversion and started on modifying the gun cowl myself but when I learned that Mathieu at Laminar Flow Design was working on a D-11/D-13 conversion, I thought that his CAD-based work would result in a more accurate rendition and have decided to wait on the conversion until his work is completed. Looking through my stash, I selected this one...

I bought this kit used and it included a whole raft of aftermarket stuff. As you probably noticed on my past builds, I love playing with aftermarket stuff. Not just incorporating it into a build but the evaluatiion process and picking and choosing the stuff that I want to use. I like to see where the state of the hobby is at and the aftermarket scene is a great indicator of that. Since most of this AM is not of my own choosing, I can choose what I want to use without any obligation.

Before we start work, let's take a quick look at the kit itself and what we have to work with. This kit was release in 2004 and is representative of not only the quality of Hasegawa's rendition of this Japanese fighter but also the design philosophy of the company when it comes to producing aircraft models.

Molding is excellent with a mixture of find recessed and raised details. Hasegawa focuses its effort on accuracy and restrained detail, eschewing the hyper detail that characterizes other manufacturers such as Tamiya and Zoukei-Mura. Hasegawa and Kotare seem to share similar approaches. You won't find options for open panels or other internal details but what is visible on the final model is rendered very nicely. Panel lines and major fasteners are present but Hasegawa does not include rivets on its aircraft kits.

Typically, you won't find an engine in a Hasegawa kit unless it is powered by a radial. The Homare Ha-45 engine seems to adequately represented here with two complete banks of 9-cylinders each.

The instrument panel is finely molded with the instrument faces represented with raised detail. I personally don't like this approach since the end result is usually compromised by the limitations of trying to brush paint such fine details or getting a decal aligned correctly.

Landing gear legs look basic... not sexy but adequate. Luckily, my AM stash has a nice alternative.

The three-part wing assembly is also very basic.

The wheel wells are molded integrally into the wing bottoms. There is some nice detail there but the integral approach makes the addition of detail more difficult.

Cockpit detail is very nice with well detailed floorboard and separately molded sidewalls.

The engine cowling is, thankfully, molded in a single piece.

Two drop tanks for the wings are provided as well as an option for open or closed engine cowling flaps.

The clear parts look the part and give you the ability to pose the canopy open or closed.

The major AM component of this build is the Aires resin cockpit. This is probably the first thing I'll look at, seeing what is required to make it fit.

I also have a full component of Eduard photoetch: Flaps, Exterior and Interior. There will be some overlap between the Eduard Interior, the Aires cockpit set and the kit parts so I'll take a closer look at all of them, compare and then pick and choose what I'm going to use.

More choices... RB Productions seat harness, MasterCasters exhausts, weighted wheels and another resin seat.

Finally we have a couple of LSP-sourced goodies... the Synthetic Ordnance Works landing gear legs and Kopecky Scale Models gun bays.

LSP_Kevin · May 9

Fantastic! Another magical Thunnus build.

Kev

Thunnus · May 10

1 hour ago, LSP_Kevin said:

Fantastic! Another magical Thunnus build.

Kev

Thanks Kevin!

Jumping straight into this one... let's break the major cockpit components from their casting blocks and check fit. I'm always more optimistic about fit if the kit cockpit includes separate sidewalls. Why? Because resin parts are usually thinner than plastic parts and that means getting a resin replacement to fit in the same space as a plastic part is theoretically much easier. Another hopeful clue lies in the resin parts. Note the four round pegs in the corners of the resin floor.

The fuselage interior has four holes for these pegs to fit. At first, I was wondering about these and whether they needed to be removed to make room for the resin cockpit. Nope!

A quick check reveals that the resin floor clicks into place without even removing the thin casting block along the bottom of the part.

The five components of the resin cockpit are temporarily taped together.

As far as I can tell, the Aires resin cockpit is a drop-in fit without the need for modification of the kit parts!

Wayne Bull · May 10

I always thought the box art scheme was just what a Ki 84 looked the best in .It will be very intresting to see how this one comes out .

zaxos345 · May 10

Very nice start John!!!! I also have this kit and i will follow closely!!!! ^_^ :rolleyes:

John

scvrobeson · May 10

Great start! Truly never one to let the grass grow under your feet after a project ends. Looking forward to following along on another informative and enjoyable build.

Matt

dennismcc · May 10

Great kit, I thoroughly enjoyed building mine and I still like to look at it in the display cabinet, it is one of my favoutite builds, so it will be great to see you work your magic on it.

Cheers

Dennis

FW190A-5 · May 10

Good to see that the Aires cockpit tub fits easily. As always with Mr. Kim's builds; I will be following along.

Biggles87 · May 10

8 hours ago, zaxos345 said:

Very nice start John!!!! I also have this kit and i will follow closely!!!!

John

Me too.

John

Shoggz · May 10

Me three!

Thunnus · Sunday at 07:27 AM

On 5/9/2025 at 7:10 PM, Wayne Bull said:

I always thought the box art scheme was just what a Ki 84 looked the best in .It will be very intresting to see how this one comes out .

Thanks Wayne! The box art is very nice scheme but I've not yet decided on a specific aircraft yet. Stay tuned!

On 5/9/2025 at 9:37 PM, zaxos345 said:

Very nice start John!!!! I also have this kit and i will follow closely!!!!

John

Thanks John! I'm assuming the Ki-84 is like the other Hasegawa 1/32 Japanese subjects... very well done with no major issues.

On 5/9/2025 at 11:44 PM, scvrobeson said:

Great start! Truly never one to let the grass grow under your feet after a project ends. Looking forward to following along on another informative and enjoyable build.

Matt

Thanks Matt! Starting a new build is always fun so I'm trying to use this to gain some momentum that can be applied to my unfinished builds eventually.

20 hours ago, dennismcc said:

Great kit, I thoroughly enjoyed building mine and I still like to look at it in the display cabinet, it is one of my favoutite builds, so it will be great to see you work your magic on it.

Cheers

Dennis

Thanks Dennis! I have bookmarked your build for reference!

18 hours ago, FW190A-5 said:

Good to see that the Aires cockpit tub fits easily. As always with Mr. Kim's builds; I will be following along.

Thank you sir! Contrary to popular opinion, the majority of my experiences with Aires products have been good fit-wise. Lucky!

18 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Me too.

John

12 hours ago, Shoggz said:

Me three!

Thanks guys!

A little more cockpit work done this weekend as I've been hobbled a bit with cold symptoms after my international trip. I was a bit too aggressive with the razor and took out part of the bottom of the Aires resin seat.

Won't be a problem if I use the included seat cushion. Although I've got a few more seat options including an Eduard PE seat and another resin seat by MasterCasters, I will probably use the Aires seat since it is designed to be used with the other Aires components.

Speaking of options, I've taken a closer look at two of the instrument panels. One is the super OG unpainted PE and printed acetate version supplied with the Aires cockpit set. You spray the back of the printed acetate with white, which fills in the instrument dials.

The other option is the slightly more contemporary painted PE from the Eduard Interior set. I'll typically put the Eduard pre-painted stuff at the end of the queue. There are some things that I personally don't like about this approach including that weird purple/blue that Eduard uses to color EVERY instrument panel face and the noticeable texture of the printed color itself.

Both approaches use a sandwich approach to stack two (or more) layers to produce the final instrument panel. For this comparison, I chose to repaint the Eduard panel the same color as the Aires panel (Tamiya Nato Black XF-69).

To add missing color to the Aires panel, I punched one instrument from the Hasegawa decal sheet. Both options are pretty good but I'm going with the Aires.

JayW · Sunday at 01:19 PM

I always enjoy watching your projects John - this one too. Great subject. It surprises me that the Aires cockpit components fit as well as they do. They must have come a long way. In the distant past, I found resin cockpit replacements by outfits like Aires to have been painful experiences.

monthebiff · Sunday at 03:24 PM

Interesting project John and that Aires cockpit looks very good especially as it just clicks in to place with no fit issues!

Regards. Andy

Thunnus · Tuesday at 04:34 AM

On 5/11/2025 at 6:19 AM, JayW said:

I always enjoy watching your projects John - this one too. Great subject. It surprises me that the Aires cockpit components fit as well as they do. They must have come a long way. In the distant past, I found resin cockpit replacements by outfits like Aires to have been painful experiences.

Thanks Jay! I'm pretty sure this is a relatively old Aires set since the Hasegawa Ki-84 kit was released in 2004.

On 5/11/2025 at 8:24 AM, monthebiff said:

Interesting project John and that Aires cockpit looks very good especially as it just clicks in to place with no fit issues!

Regards. Andy

Thanks Andy!

I've added a few things to the Aires cockpit set via the Eduard Interior set and some copper wiring. The components have been kept separate but are ready for a primer coat.