Hasegawa

1/32 Kawasaki Ki-61-I Hein (Tony)

Kit Number: 8190

Reviewed by  Robert DeMaio, IPMS# 45186

MSRP: $64.00 Courtesy of Dragon Models USA: Website: www.dragonmodelsusa.com Another fine kit release by Hasegawa is the Kawasaki Ki-61-I Hein in 1/32 scale. Open that box of clean crisp molded parts that has been their trademark for many years and just start building this puppy. This is a very fine engineered kit of a Ki-61-I of the '68th Flight Regiment, yet the same molded kit release as kit 8078 with a decal sheet of the 244th Sentai noted for their ramming missions against the B-29's in the Pacific. More about the paint scheme and markings later. Inspection reveals that the molded parts are beautiful. Hasegawa's injection molds are engineered perfectly as you can see by how the engine exhausts are done in the picture. The one or two injection mold marks I found were on the fuselage parts in the forward cockpit area and won't be seen once the kit is finished. Don't waste time filling. The instructions offer two paint schemes and decal markings for the Ki-61-I Koh and the Hei. Start here and chose which version to build for there are alternate parts to assemble within the instruction steps. Thirty-three cockpit parts will keep you busy for a couple of long nights to assemble and paint. I used a pale green for the Japanese Army cockpit but my pictures produced darker colors. My book references of Japanese color photos helped to determine what colors to paint interior parts and throttle knobs. If you spend money on reference books, spend time using them before you paint. The instrument panel had beautiful raised instrument detail. Painting, dry brushing, and adding Kristal Clear drops on each dial is my thing, though the kit does provide a decal for the easy way out, but unless you have Solvaset or Solvasol to sock that down, you will probably trap air under it. I read another review that stated the interior cockpit was not fitting properly when the fuselage halves were closed. I didn't find that at all. There are two clear pieces to mount for the gun sight. One took flight from my preparing it and never saw it again. I decided to make the two using Squadron Clear Sheet styrene that looked better anyway because they were thinner. I did my usual tape and buckles for seatbelts. Don't forget A13 support for the tail stabilizers before you glue the fuselage halves together. I didn't glue this in, just left it loose until I glued the stabilizers in place. Having it loose gives full ability to glue the stabilizers evenly. I was surprised to find that the top curved fuselage gun access panel fit so well, I just used thin capillary applications of liquid glue to cement in place. There is a callout in step 4 to use the optional G14 gun barrels instead of G10 called for. I painted the engine exhaust fairings flat black, and while drying used diluted rust color wash over it and let stay aside until the model was almost completed. The underbelly and wing support subassembly in step 5 to be assembled to the fuselage made me wary that the wings would not mount correctly later on, but I went with it. I spent time dry fitting this in place several times adjusting the fit and when ready, glued it in place. Take some time to paint the detailed radiator, and paint the inlet louvers before sub-assembling together and mounting onto the fuselage. I used a piece of tape in the front and stuffed a piece of napkin deep in the rear opening during final painting. When you studied the instructions before you began, you saw step 7, right? Well if you want to be accurate in your building version, you'll be filling some rivets on the top wings for the Koh skin. Then test the wings carefully in place on the supports. Mine fit very snug and one top wing root didn't line up properly. I had to shave some plastic off the support mount in a few spots to lower the wing fit. Make sure you get the dihedral right before cementing in place! The main landing gear doors attached to the strut fit very, very close to the tires. Though they actually are close on the real aircraft, these are too close for my liking. Beware, and make sure they don't touch. The rear tail strut is so thin, also accurate but apt to break in transporting your model resting on all tires. A nice thing about building 1/32 scale aircraft is the separate detailed parts. Exterior pull handles for the external canopy release are molded separately to be shown in the closed or open position as per how you display the canopy position. Control rods and clear lights on the tail structure are nice detail touches. Put on your Opti-visors before you remove those tiny clear parts. Canopy rails are separate parts also. I decided to leave off the spare wing fuel tanks. The pilot is really nice comprising of eight very detailed pieces, two heads to choose from, with and without the oxygen mask. My next Ki-61 build will have the pilot in there. I like to do some serious interior and used the open cockpit glass. One piece closed glass is provided as well, both very well done. I wanted to do the overall silver scheme with green patterns for the 68th Flight Regiment New Guinea 1944. To accomplish this, I sprayed the aircraft top and sides green, then coated with Micro Flat Coat. Years ago I used art masking called Friskit Mask that I can't find any longer. It was great because it was thick to apply and didn't shrink too much. I used Micro Mask instead and had to apply heavy following the patterns in the instructions and sources. Tamiya spay can of Silver Leaf was used for the overall silver. It dries even and rock hard to mask on for your yellow leading edge wings and black anti-glare panel. Lifting off the silver paint resting on the Micro Mask on the green patterns wasn't as easy as I thought. I used tape to try lifting off the silver on the green patterns but it rarely worked. It did at times or at least weakened the adhesion. Then I carefully used the point of an Exacto Blade to remove the pieces. Once grabbed on the point it pealed off. The effect was exactly what I wanted for effect and gives the very irregular patterns. I used Warpigs pigments rubbed on the plane, and my airbrush for ground dusting somewhat. I used the kit decals and they were very thin. Be careful if you use any kind of solvent to soften them up. They wrinkle fast. Normally I would paint on the white stripes but decided to go with the kit decals because they aren't pure white and one stripe is sandwiched with red jagged stripes on either edge. After applying them I noticed the paint pattern bleeds thru because the decal is so thin. To the reference books again, I found a picture of these stripes and behold, the pattern does bleed thru! Then I noticed if you look close at the kit instruction picture, it also shows thru slightly. In the nutshell, this is a great kit and sits on my shelf proudly in my 1/32 scale collection. It is very highly recommended. Thanks to Dragon Models USA for the chance to build it References: Arco-Aircam Aviation series No.27 Ki-61/Ki-100 Hien. Japanese Military Aircraft Illustrated. Urban's Colour Reference Charts - Japan. Japanese Army Air Force Camouflage and Markings World War II by Donald Thorpe.