You have such a great and understanding wife! She made the order online, right? I'll look forward to your WIP images in a couple of weeks, you'll love this kit for sure. Not so many kits come with interiors and transparent fuselage to show them. My pleasure!

Mrs. Toshi went ahead and purchased a Tamiya 1/48 Ki-61.  I should get it in a couple of weeks.  When it arrives, I’ll start a WIP on it.  Thank you for the inspiration!

Your friend, Toshi

You're welcome, Toshi. Trumpeter has F4F-3 and F4F-4 1:32. I have both of them built and shown earlier. I just checked ebay and found that the price is quite affordable - about $40 each w/ worldwide free shipping from China.

Model Maniac

 

 

Toshi

 

So the Ki-61 above is partial visible fueselage by Tamiya?  I did not know that, that is very cool.  I might just have to get that kit.  As for the Hellcat decal for the wing, now that you pointed it out, it is a bit oversized.  The masking Art Instructor did on the side of the fueselage is fantastic.  I have yet to acquire that skill.

 

Toshi

 

 

 

 

According to Hobby Search Japan where I got my kit, Tamiya released it in Dec 2016. I knew that it has some interior details because I saw an ad in FSM magazine. If you can't find one in local hobby shop, you may order it from Hobby Link Japan for Y2400 + shipping (HSJ sells for Y2700 + shipping but at the time of my order HLJ had no stock. Now it's in stock):

https://hlj.com/product/TAM61115 

 

Toshi

Mach2

All are stunning builds, wonderful modeling. Looking at the raised rivet heads on the Hellcat fuselage, wings, horizontals and vertical tail I can only imagine the drag the rivets made on the performance of that A/C.

 

Thanks so much for your kind compliments, Mach2. I think the drag from the rivets is minimal, not affecting the performance of the plane because they are so tiny. 

Gamera

Oh wow, I don't think I saw that Ki-61 when you posted it before MM. Thanks for the head's up, looks like a really nice model!

 

You might have seen it before because I posted in June this year - just 4-5 months ago. Thanks so much for your kind words!

cnq

Superb models. I love it.

My most favorite is the Ki64 Hien. The camo is excellent. Ive built one in 1/32 from Hasegawa.

 

Thanks so much for your kind comments, cnq. 1/32 scale is also nice to have if display space is not a problem.

Toshi

 

So the Ki-61 above is partial visible fueselage by Tamiya?  I did not know that, that is very cool.  I might just have to get that kit.  As for the Hellcat decal for the wing, now that you pointed it out, it is a bit oversized.  The masking Art Instructor did on the side of the fueselage is fantastic.  I have yet to acquire that skill.

 

Toshi

 

According to Hobby Search Japan where I got my kit, Tamiya released it in Dec 2016. I knew that it has some interior details because I saw an ad in FSM magazine. If you can't find one in local hobby shop, you may order it from Hobby Link Japan for Y2400 + shipping (HSJ sells for Y2700 + shipping but at the time of my order HLJ had no stock. Now it's in stock):

https://hlj.com/product/TAM61115 

All are stunning builds, wonderful modeling. Looking at the raised rivet heads on the Hellcat fuselage, wings, horizontals and vertical tail I can only imagine the drag the rivets made on the performance of that A/C.

Oh wow, I don't think I saw that Ki-61 when you posted it before MM. Thanks for the head's up, looks like a really nice model!

Superb models. I love it.

My most favorite is the Ki64 Hien. The camo is excellent. Ive built one in 1/32 from Hasegawa.

Model Maniac

Greatmaker - I tried to quote your reply but it did not work this time. I don't know why. Thanks so much for your kind comments.

 

Gamera - Thanks so much for your kind words. If you want to try painting the camo on the Ki-61, I'd suggest you try Tamiya's new 1:48 because it comes with some 

interior details. I showed one earlier this year, it was built by another artist named "PJ":

 

Toshi - Thanks so much for your kind compliments. I knew you'd like the Hellcat more. The original decals are of no use. Art Instructor used decals left over from other kits on the Hellcat's wing (you can see that it's quite too big), and he used masked painting for the markings on the fuselage.

 

Toshi

Greatmaker - I tried to quote your reply but it did not work this time. I don't know why. Thanks so much for your kind comments.

Gamera - Thanks so much for your kind words. If you want to try painting the camo on the Ki-61, I'd suggest you try Tamiya's new 1:48 because it comes with some 

interior details. I showed one earlier this year, it was built by another artist named "PJ":

Toshi - Thanks so much for your kind compliments. I knew you'd like the Hellcat more. The original decals are of no use. Art Instructor used decals left over from other kits on the Hellcat's wing (you can see that it's quite too big), and he used masked painting for the markings on the fuselage.

The camouflage motif on the Ki-61 is excellent!  But the Hellcat is superb.  Another fantastic commissioned works of aircraft‘s by Art Instructor!  You should be very proud of his expertise.  How was the decals on the Hellcat handled?

Your friend, Toshi

A couple of nice additions to your collection. I too really like the camo on the Ki-61.

Very Nice I especially like Tony's "spots" Looks like a lot of fine airbrushing!