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ICM Bücker Bu 131A & Kokusai Ki-86a/K9W1 "Cypress"


Grunticus

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The modeling room has been renovated, oodles of space and light. Refreshing :D

 

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Thee F-84G has been once again set aside (don’t ask), the He-162 just needs a few more decals. Time for a new project.

 

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Oh look, another one!

 

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I will build both in tandem. I have built one before (below) so I know what I am getting. Great little kit. The Ki-86 looks so badass in this cammo. It was most probably the advert to Anime for Japan, who else would make a cammo scheme out of a bright orange scheme? The German one will also be finished per box art, and will look nice alongside the Arado Ar-196B in a similar scheme.

 

Here’s my first:

 

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Edited by Grunticus
Correction
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Nice!  I did the Ki-86 for the last group build: 

 

You have likely figured out that ICM did not change out the engine for the Japanese version of the kit - it's still the correct engine for the Brucker.  Doesn't matter if you don't open the cowling...

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7 minutes ago, Alex said:

Nice!  I did the Ki-86 for the last group build: 

 

You have likely figured out that ICM did not change out the engine for the Japanese version of the kit - it's still the correct engine for the Brucker.  Doesn't matter if you don't open the cowling...

 

Wow Alex, stunning looking Ki-86! Hope mine will come close. I think a number of Ki-86s used German engine before they switched to Hitachi. Anyway, the engine bay will stay closed on both of mine. On the Dutch one I used Edwards’s set for the engine covers.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have to say I really like the properties of the styrene grade used by ICM:

  • Soft, easy to sand yet even sanding with coarse paper yields no scratches
  • Responds very well to Tamiya Extra Thin (and VMS fast drying thin cement), yields plastic welds that need no putty (see below)
  • More flexible than usual so you can deform by glueing one side first and other after first has dried (did that with the doors)

Not all is good. The seats have an ejector pin where you least want one. The cross-bar was short and I removed it and made a new longer one (not yet in this picture).

 

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I embossed slits for the seatbelts using a precision screwdriver. They could have molded those in.

 

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The instrument panels are stock-kit using stock decals. I only added a throttle lever. Natural fit is not always present, but the properties stated above make it an easy job eventually:

 

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The engine is nicely detailed and you can add bits and plumbing if you leave it exposed (I will not).

 

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The nose came together like this eventually:

 

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I put HGW seatbelts in. Lovely stuff although they take a fair amount of time to assemble. The spine (and bottom) needed no putty at all.

 

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Fit overall has been excellent so far. 

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On 2/14/2021 at 9:48 PM, geedubelyer said:

Fascinating to see these two. It looks like one might be a license built version of the other? 

Also interesting to see similarities to the TigerMoth in layout and construction. 

 

Good job. 

 

Thanks! They are identical except the engine and small details, the Ki-86 was license-built in Japan.

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I started painting details, I want to finish this sub-assembly completely as handling the kit with the upper wing attached would more chance of something breaking. I started with airbrushing the tail and registrations “D-EGSY”. The kit decals were scanned and then traced with Silhouette Studio software.

 

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The leather crash-cushions were airbrushed an Airfix reddish-brown paint (will have o look up number if anyone woud want to know).

 

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The nose came together nicely.

 

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The top wing is also attached now. And now comes the scary part. Rigging. I have stared with the two easier ones, between the outer stubs. I position them, use extra thin cement to immobilize and then fix with CA, They were made from stretched sprue, I airbrushed them black. They look nice and to scale. 

 

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The cockpit colors of the Ki-86 are unknown, I could’t find information. I decided to paint it RLM 82 because it ‘looks’ like a proper Japanese green. I gave the wood flooring a slightly darker and more reddish tint, again because that is how. Imagine Japanese wood to differ from German. Completely fictious, I agree. It looks good though.

 

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The seats have the same (as expected) ejector pin marks as the previous one and need to be filled. On a side note: the cross-bar on the seat was to narrow to span the width of the fuselage on the Bu-131. On this one, it fits perfectly :hmmm:

 

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The German one looks great!

 

On the Cypress, IJA cockpit color standard was a dark blue-gray through sometime in 1942 (the exact date reference is somewhere on the Aviation of Japan blog) and then green after that.  These planes were built both sides of that transition, so either would be correct.

 

I also want to build this kit again.  I'm thinking as a modern civilian-owned plane so I can invent whatever color scheme I like. 

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On 2/24/2021 at 2:11 AM, Alex said:

Nice job with that tricky stretched sprue  rigging.  I used ez-line on mine, which is easier, but I think yours will look better because the stretched sprue  will actually be round, which ez-line is not.

 

I have been scratching my head about the best approach (also on the Dutch one a while back). I think I’ll be using stretched sprue all-round on the Ki-86. I found the spruces from the Italeri TF-104G stretch very very far and very evenly thickness-wise. I will also drill the receiving holes even smaller than this one (test on redundant part first).

 

On 2/24/2021 at 9:21 AM, MARU5137 said:

Looks mighty IMPRESSIVE. 

:goodjob:

 

On 2/24/2021 at 9:43 AM, dodgem37 said:

Good show, Bro'.

 

Sincerely,

Mark

 

Thanks guys!

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