1/32 Nakajima Ki-27 - 77th Sentai - Burma 1942

[Alex]

13 hours ago, dennismcc said:

I also forgot that window, I always meant to use a small piece of black decal to represent it

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

It looks like there is a molded-in feature that outlines the small window, apparently within a larger hatch (looks like it would be opened to swap out the magazine).  I might just mask and paint the small window with gloss black once the rest of the exterior paint is done.  Or I could spend some extra time and drill/file it out and make a Krystal Kleer window.  That would be the OCD way to do it, so that's probably what I'll end up doing...

[Troy Molitor]

I have this same kit with all the photo etch inside the sidewalls added but had no clue whatsoever there was a small witness window.  I would have been gutted knowing I didn’t drill out the windows and put in some crystal clear.   Alex, you need to drill them out and fill in those window my man. This is an epic build of yours coming to light.   Show us mortals the way forward.   Loving this build.   

[Alex]

16 hours ago, Troy Molitor said:

I have this same kit with all the photo etch inside the sidewalls added but had no clue whatsoever there was a small witness window.  I would have been gutted knowing I didn’t drill out the windows and put in some crystal clear.   Alex, you need to drill them out and fill in those window my man. This is an epic build of yours coming to light.   Show us mortals the way forward.   Loving this build.   

Well now I guess I have to ;-)

[Alex]

So here's the "magazine check window" opened up.  On the interior it intersects with one of the structural ribs molded into the inside of the cockpit, indicating that Special Hobby has the interior details a bit out of register from the exterior (or a bit invented, given the paucity of references on this plane).  I had to relieve the inside of the cutout to thin the fuselage wall so the eventual Krystal Klear window won't meniscus in and look odd (the plastic of the fuselage is quite thick.

 

 

 

Here are both halves with the carved-out area repainted

 

 

There were certainly plenty of control cables, conduits, etc in the real thing that aren't represented here, but lacking any reference photos of the cockpit interior, I'm not in the mood to make them up.  So it will probably stay about like this.

[Alex]

Been working slowly on the engine as well.  Here are the two parts of the oil cooler, painted with Testors MM Brass Metalizer.  Before and after a black acrylic wash.

 

 

And the whole engine assembled.  I hope it hangs together through the rest of the process - there's not a lot holding that oil cooler on there.

 

 

Probably need to give the whole thing a coat of clear flat before it goes into the fuselage.

[Alex]

I have little or nothing left to do now before closing the fuselage.  I assembled the instrument panel, flat-coated it, then made shiny gauge lenses with, of course, Krystal Klear:

 

 

And I decided to put the tailplanes on before joining the fuselage halves.  I'm glad I did as they both required some sustained pressure to get them fused solid with minimal gap and in the right orientation.   Would have been harder to do without having the fuselage halves setting flat on the bench.

 

Edited May 25, 2020 by Alex

[MikeMaben]

Lookin' very nice Alex 

[dennismcc]

You're doing a great job, keep it up.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Alex]

Managed to get the fuselage closed with the cockpit centered.  Despite considerable test-fitting with each side of the fuselage separately, the whole was definitely trickier than the sum of the parts.  The engine ended up slightly off center, but the prop-to-cranckcase interface is loose enough that it should be possible to attach it so it sits in plane and looks right.

 

I am still having (type 2) fun with this model, but for the next one I'm pulling a Tamiya kit out of the stack, for sure.  Working on this Special Hobby model has given me a new appreciation for the work that the engineers at Tamiya, Hasegawa, etc have to do to create a kit that "falls together". 

[Iain]

Looking great Alex!

 

Iain

[Troy Molitor]

X 2! 

[Alex]

This is the best look anyone is ever going to get at the cockpit of this thing - it's truly a small dark view once it is closed up.

 

 

Working on fine tuning the fuselage seams with Mr Surfacer.  I managed to get it together without any meaningful gaps, although some of the molded panel lines are subtly off between the two halves (in the molding - I got the halves lined up perfectly based on their shape).  I will have to fill and rescribe a bit on those. 

 

 

I also got the main gear spats glued up around the wheels.  The seams were difficult to close at the bottom front, and needed some CA to fill.  Along with Krystal Klear, I'd be lost without CA accelerator.  I'll post photos of them once I'm done replacing the lost rivet detail.

[shadowmare]

Very nice. Older SH kits aren't as sharp as they should be, you're making fine work with corrections.

 

[Alex]

3 hours ago, shadowmare said:

Very nice. Older SH kits aren't as sharp as they should be, you're making fine work with corrections.

 

I would recommend this kit to anyone looking to build their modeling skills 

[Alex]

A process thought for anyone thinking of building this kit.  If you cut down the sides of the forward cockpit bulkhead (which you will never see once the fuselage is closed, you could make it so that you could close the fuselage around just the engine, and then add the instrument panel and cockpit from below after the fact.  This would have saved me quite a bit of trouble...  You would still need to test-fit the cockpit against both fuselage sides, and trim the fuselage ribs accordingly, first.