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1/32 Hasegawa Ki-61 Tei Hien


Thunnus

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Thanks guys!

 

The big black box on the starboard side panel gave me a bit of pause.  It has very shallow raised details which are hard to pick out with detail painting.  I looked at the kit-supplied decal and it simply outlined the raised detail in white, which I didn't think would be very convincing and also would not match the rest of the cockpit.  So I decided to use some dry-brushing. I like to use dry-brushing to show wear but I'm not really a fan of using it as a primary method of highlighting detail.  I'd rather pick out details carefully by brush painting and then highlight them later with a wash.  But there are situations like this where dry-brushing can come in handy.  First using Testor Silver on a very dry brush, I try to pick up as much edge detail as I can.  This will put the silver in places where you don't want but that is ok.
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After the silver, I go back with black and using both dry-brush and wet-brush techniques, I carefully remove the silver from the non-edge areas. It is an iterative technique, going from silver to black to silver again, reducing the errant silver marks and getting a cleaner presentation.  White and red details are added to the buttons.
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After the black box is finished, the starboard panel is given a gloss coat and a dark brown pastel wash.  A flat coat seals the completely painted panel.
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The painting of the port side wall is finished too.
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The two side walls will be weathered before I start assembling the cockpit components.  The front bulkhead also serves as the gun deck and I've chipped the deck using hairspray.
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The floor is the furthest along and weathering has been completed by applying a brown pastel wash on the flat coat.
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I have started gluing together the cockpit components.  Here is the front bulkhead with the gun bodies, instrument panel and foot pedals attached.
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The seat can attach directly and securely to the rear bulkhead so I sawed off the raised block on the bottom of seat so that it wouldn't interfere with the seat position.
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Thanks guys! 

 

Let's cobble together the cockpit components and see what the assembled cockpit looks like.
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Things get a bit claustrophobic once all four walls are put into place.
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Checking to see how the resin cockpit fits into the fuselage sides.  Let's keep in mind that I have not introduced the resin nose yet so that might affect things later.
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Gunsight clearance seems ok with the canopy in place.
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Cockpit is not quite finished.  Looking at these photos has raised some small flags that I want to explore before I call it done.

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Outstanding work. You have a talent to turn every cockpit into a piece of art.

 

I can't remember, but maybe you have already shared a mini-tutorial in one of your other WIPs about how you achieve this convincing looking chipping effect. Is it commercial hair-spray and a toothpick? I guess in the end it is down to practicing to figure out how to create the most realistic looking effect. I recently wanted to test this method for my Me 262 cockpit. I used AK interactive chipping fluid, but it did not stick to the surface at all and behaved like water. I had to remove it and am not sure if I should have a go with commercial hair spray instead or another brand. 

 

Roger

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I like your clear and precise way of building and painting John!  Everything really fits.  Great work and great photos!

I'm wondering if the Aires cockpit for the Ki-61 might also fit the Alley Cat Modells Ki-100 conversion kit!?

 

Lutz

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2 hours ago, CZPetrP said:

Beautiful work.:clap2:

Thank you sir!

 

 

2 hours ago, VintageEagle said:

Outstanding work. You have a talent to turn every cockpit into a piece of art.

 

I can't remember, but maybe you have already shared a mini-tutorial in one of your other WIPs about how you achieve this convincing looking chipping effect. Is it commercial hair-spray and a toothpick? I guess in the end it is down to practicing to figure out how to create the most realistic looking effect. I recently wanted to test this method for my Me 262 cockpit. I used AK interactive chipping fluid, but it did not stick to the surface at all and behaved like water. I had to remove it and am not sure if I should have a go with commercial hair spray instead or another brand. 

 

Roger

Thanks Roger!  I use actual hairspray for my chipping.

 

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I've used AK chipping solution before but didn't see any noticeable difference so I've reverted back to the hairspray.  I find it to be a very frustrating and inconsistent effect to achieve. The stuff tends to pool as it dries so it concentrates in certain areas making chipping easy and leaves other areas making chipping very hard.  To activate the chipping, I use a paint brush with stiff bristles dipped in water and rub the brush repeatedly until the chips start to appear.  I get the best results when I can go quickly from hairspray application to the chipping (within hours).

 

 

28 minutes ago, Sturmbock said:

I like your clear and precise way of building and painting John!  Everything really fits.  Great work and great photos!

I'm wondering if the Aires cockpit for the Ki-61 might also fit the Alley Cat Modells Ki-100 conversion kit!?

 

Lutz

Thank you Lutz!  Not sure about the compatibility of the Aires K-61 cockpit with Alley Cat. If the Alley Cat conversion utilizes the kit cockpit tub seamlessly, I think there is a good chance that the Aires would fit.

 

Like I said, I didn't like a few things that were apparent upon looking at the latest pics of the cockpit.  For one, with the canopy in place, it looked like the back of the instrument panel would be visible so I thought some attempt at putting some wiring there would be appropriate.  I also didn't like the color of the central box located right below the main instrument panel.  The four main components of the cockpit have not been glued together yet so here they are in their separated state.
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I couldn't get the instrument panel off of the front bulkhead so I worked around it.  First, I drilled a big hole through the gun deck. I then drilled holes in the instrument casings behind the instrument panel and routed some copper wiring from the back of the instruments to the hole in the deck.  
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Here is a look at the revised panel.  The center box has been painted to match the instrument panel.  I re-did the reflector glass on the gun sight.  The corners of the reflector glass are now rounded instead of sharp.  And for good measure, I added some wiring from the gun bodies.
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Small details that will probably go unnoticed individually but I am a strong believer in the sum of the added details making for a better model.
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