SP: yeah, I haven't gotten down panel washes on raised panel lines yet.

Len: good, I'm glad to hear your family is ok.

Trey: I'm hanging out in St. Augustine. Drank from the 'Fountain of Youth' today, hope it's the real one. I need the extra years to get all my stash built!

This kit has to have some of the finest raised panel lines that I have seen...barely there. They certainly made doing the washes a bit more challenging than usual.

so here are my latest update photos...

all the last fiddly bits painted and ready for installation

a close up of the wing cannon barrels. I bored out the muzzles awhile back and used Humbrol Metalcote Gun Metal on the barrels. For this photo I buffed one barrel and left the other in the original finish just to show the contrast, but both are now buffed and installed. 

And my main task for today, airbrushing on a top coat of Humbrol Satin

once that was on and dry to the touch I removed the masking from the anti glare panel and cockpit and installed the pilot's seat

just a little more to do today here... but this Halloween thing is about to get in the way

Well I am too frickin pissed to continue working on this now... I was about to install the gun sight into the cockpit when my tweeze rlaunched it to God knows where... trying to find such a tiny bit of back & clear plastic is not likely successful task and 10 mintues of searching was fruitless... so I am gonna put everything down and step away from the work area...

SP: I know what you mean. Stepping away seems to work the best for me. Gooduck finding it. My best ways to find parts tend to be either step on and break them or fabricate a new one at which the old one always shows up.

Good luck, what you've got now looks great.

Yeah I made one more search attempt, but considering that I did not even see which way my tweezers launched the sight, I figure it will turn up when Jimmy Hoffa does. So I did some quick online research, found a type of gun sight used on some Ki-84s, and set about scratch building one. Here is what I found on the real sight.

and this is what I came up using some PE stuff, and various bits of strip & rod styrene

I will add the clear parts once I have it painted...

Late last night I painted on a base coat of Flat Black.and then I painted teh cushion pad and adjustment knob in Satin Black

and with my sausage fingers to give some perspective of how dang small this little scratch built sight is..

Then earlier today I glued the sight in place

Now I just need to add the reflector glass portions here shortly and I will be where I was before my kit part decided to take flying lessons...

Sight glass installed

SP: your scratchbuilt sight looks better than ones that come in kits! So I have to ask, now that have built another and installed it has the original showed up again?

Building is moving right along.  Painting has begun with both the upper and lower colors applied.  Tonight after the gloss coat, the decals will be applied and then tomorrow the final dull coat.

I hope by the end of the weekend to have it done, and all the details added.

Here's the pictures:

She's looking good Freddie, nice work!

Clean looking paint job Freddie

Amazing gun sight SP !

Cliff you've got to try and make it to the Sebastion Winery while you're there its worth the visit!

Trey: thanks for the tip. I drove past it a few times but I'm not much of a drinker. I did however drop over fifty bucks at Whetstone Chocolates...

Headed home now, am planning on hitting The Mighty Eighth Air Force Museum in Pooler, Ga on the way home.

Gamera

SP: your scratchbuilt sight looks better than ones that come in kits! So I have to ask, now that have built another and installed it has the original showed up again?

Thanks, I am glad you guys like it. The orginal has still not shown up yet. But after this little bit of work, I am kinda glad it took flight.

All fiddly bits now glued on. But I still need to stretch some sprue and attach a wire antenna. That will be tomorrow most likely. (need more fluid for my Zippo ) And maybe add some pigments to the wheels. Anybody know what the soil looks like in the Phillipines and/or Formosa?

anyways here are a few sneak peeks of the fiddly bits before the final overall shots in the next few days.

pitot tube and left navigation light

landing gear doors and exhaust stains

cannon barrel and right side main landing gear

canopy and antenna mast...

SP: the soot and oil stains look very convincing. Looking forward to big finale.

I'm liking big time Stik!

Not pristine anymore

What did you use on the fuselage by the cockpit for the "well worn" look, a Prima silver pencil?

Testors square bottle Flat Aluminum dry brushed on with an old red sable brush.

Stick a fork in it, she is done!  I present Tamiya's 1/48 Ki-84 Hayate (Gale), Allied code name "Frank".

Most excellent Frank SP very nicely done Sir!!!

nice updates fjs3!!!

What frank you builded Stick  excellent and equilibrated build!

Yay! She looks great SP!!!

Just got back home guys, will get ya'll posted soonish!

I got a little more done on the "Dinah", and hope to finish in a couple days.  I got the decals on which, I must say, were terrible and very thick.  But, they are on none the less.   The ID bands on the wing leading edges were just awful so I painted them and I have to say they look much better.  Anyway, here are the pictures so far....

Thanks for looking and hope to have her done soon!

Regards,

Freddie from LI

Nice Job Stik, love the weathering!  now you'll need to do another Japanese aircraft.  

My favorite kit is the Nichimo Ki-43 I.  Your weathering technique would go a long way on that kit since many the finish on many Ki-43's were pretty beaten up by the elements.

Beautiful job on your "Frank"

Regards,

Freddie from LI

Hey Gamera

After I finish this Ki-46, is it okay to get on with a third?  I have a 1:48 scale Nichimo Ki-51, type 99 "Sonja" ?  This group build has gotten me back to the workbench and now I have been clearing a few off the "Shelf of Doom".  I want to take a whack at some scratch build with this kit as the interior cockpit detail on the side walls leave a bit to be desired.  

fjs3

Nice Job Stik, love the weathering!  now you'll need to do another Japanese aircraft.  

Gamera, BSY, and Trey, thank you for the kind words. I am really happy to have built this kit and participated here.

Freddie, thanks to you also! Your Dinah is looking pretty sharp there too!  Yes I do need to build another Japanese aircraft real soon. But I have a change of residence looming in the near future so I am holding off on any new kit starts until that is resolved. I will only be finishing up kits in progress until then. And I have more than enough of those to last me quite awhile. But my next Japanese aircraft build for here is tentatively a Nichimo Kate. 

Freddie, SP: you guys are more than welcome to build as many as you want. If you don't get finished by the deadline you're fine with rolling them over into Japanese GB II starting January 1 , 2013.

Freddie: nice work, the decals give her the spark to bring her to life!

I'm going to try and commit at least an hour a day to my zero.

It's been sitting on my desk waiting to be finished and gathering dust for long enough.

RRB: Looking forward to seeing how she's coming along.

Btw: I'm finished my P-40 for your GB as soon as I get the stripe on the spinner painted- I can not get the rotten thing straight!!!