Kevin: Gee, it's certainly not a problem if you're that busy! Love to see the Kate when you get her done.

Good luck with the AIRFIX kit and the 1/32nd canopy.

SP: hmmm, ok thinking of just extending the GB till next Sept. then. Does that work for everyone?

Well that works for me for building something else... I have so much Japanese stuff in my stash... Aircraft, Ships, Armor, Figures...

Sp: Know what you mean, big pile of Japanese subjects in my stash, weirdly I have a bunch of Japanese tanks, mostly the FineScale ones.

Guys- I think I'll just let things run till December and if ya'll want to keep going I'll consider just making this a two-year GB... 

Lots of paint slung today, among other things. First up I did some final bits of gap filling with Squadron White Putty on a slight gap in the left wing root and behind the cowl gun deck that I could not quite get right with the shims I made. That small amount of putty dried very quickly so I was able to sand it and have it ready for painting in not much time.

This kit has a gear up build option and comes with a second set of gear doors that make excellent masks for the wheel wells. I tacked those into place yesterday in anticipation of painting today.

Then it was time to begin painting. First up I airbrushed on Tamiya JA Light Gray on the lower surface of the fabric control surfaces and the drop tanks.

Then after allowing that color a short while to dry I masked off the lower surfaces of the elevators and ailerons. I saw a photo of some Ki-84s with bare metal lower surfaces and research on the particular markings that I am doing indicate that this aircraft was done in that manner- Dark Green Upper Surfaces, NMF lower surfaces, and doped JA Light Gray on the lower portion of the control surfaces. So I then airbrushed Tamiya Flat Aluminum on the metal lower surfaces and those parts not yet on the main build such as gear doors, main gear struts, wheel hubs, chin scoop, etc.

Some other research indicated green fronted prop faces on the Ki-84- I was not sure about the rear surface, so I went with the usual IJA Red Brown from Polly Scale. I used Tamiya Dark Green on the front surface as supposedly was a darker gray green color used rather than standard IJA Nakajima Dark Green.

And finally I airbrushed on a coat of Tamiya Flat Black for the nose anti glare panel, cockpit IP hood, and rear decking

While the cockpit detail is quite spartan, the exterior surface detail is very sweet. A nice proper mix of very petite raised lines and recessed detail. Not bad at all for a 40 year old kit.

Later this evening I need to dip the canopy in Future so tomorrow I can mask it off, attach it, mask off the anti glare panel, and be ready to paint the Dark Green upper surfaces tomorrow or Wednesday

Nice work SP, you making some serious progress now!

nice update - you are in the home stretch now.  How do you like the Tamiya Flat alumnin, I never tried airbrushing with it, seemed like the metal 'grain' was too big to get a smooth finish on flat surfaces, but it seems to look nice in your pictures.

Thank you guys. Yup, just about into the home stretch here.

Wai, I really like Tamiya's Flat Aluminum. I think it airbrushes superbly and that the pigment grain is just right for 1/48 and larger. If I use it with Humbrol's Matte Aluminium, a darker a grayer hue, a nice two tone NMF panel effect is easy to get.

And for this afternoon's airbrush session- a nice coat of Aeromaster Warbird Acrylic IJA Nakajima Dark Green in all the upper surfaces.

and on the canopy frames and Pitot Tube

and some views of the NMF/Dark Green demarcation... I will need to go back and touch up the chin scoop sides with Aluminum.

Wow, almost there! BTW overspray like that is why I started just masking everything I don't want sprayed with the blue painter's tape!

Yeah I did not think that the chin scoop would catch any there but ya never quite know. I did make sure of those stabilizers though... I can probably have decals done and be ready for weathering on my days off next week.

Great, looking forward to the decaled photos.

I am all ready for the Future coat after today's airbrush session. 

I touched up the nose area with Flat Aluminum

And added the propeller warning stripes with Gunze Orange Yellow

Almost there! Nice work on the warning stripes on the props.

Gamera

Nice work on the warning stripes on the props.

  Those can be a significant PIA.

They were,,, even with their placement lines molded into the blades. All I had to do was match up my masking tape to those lines.

Well I should be able to start the home stretch over my days off on the next three days. I have drilled out the muzzles on the wing cannon barrels, and thanks to E bay, was able to get the paint I needed for the spinner in a most rapid fashion. While doing a bit of research for the markings last week, I found that a Japanese company also made decals for the same aircraft as the ones that I am using from Super Scale. Now my particular interest was the color of the spinner, as the SS sheet has nothing noted there. Life Like, the Japanese decal company, whose research I put more faith in the Super Scale based off of past experience, showed the spinner to be "Yellow Olive #7". A bit more research turned up this shade being something along the lines of  OD 34088. Now came the speed bump. Polly Scale made just such a shade in their IJA color line up. But their line being discontinued only 2 LHS carried them. A trip to one and phone call to the other said that I was S.O.L. Enter a search on E Bay and I was able to find the paint color, along with free shipping. Not being one to waste a semi good bargain I grabbed a few more colors that sounded useful, and a bit over 72 hours after placing the order, the paints were here and I can now continue on my merry way to completion. I just had to share all that trivia, as that is one of the best things to happen for me all month so far.

Wow, that's great news SP, do they even make Polly Scale anymore? Used to be my favorite brand of paint then it seemed you could only get it on-line and now I'm not even sure you can find it there.

Supposedly it is being discontinued. But Testors' website still has much, but not quite all of the line on there available.

Oh yeah, I painted the exhaust stacks this morning. So now all is ready for the coating of Future on the main build.

Today's update: All exterior parts needing a coat of Future have been airbrushed with that modelers' miracle product. I even tried something new with it. I added a bit to the Polly Scale IJA Green paint, instead of thinner,  to improve its' airbrushing qualities- worked superbly! No tip dry at all and gave a satin finish similar to Gunze Aqueous. 

here are all the loose parts "Futureized"

a close up of the prop and spinner- I really like that Polly Scale IJA Green, nice light Olive shade.

a couple close ups of the exhaust stacks. It was a custom shade that I mixed up- Gunze Burnt Iron, Red Steel, and some Russet Brown. I now have a bottle of the stuff since it was the remnants of the two metallic colors with the Brown thrown in for tinting.

And the upper and lowers"Future-ized"

Now I will let it all dry overnite and tomorrow or Wednesday it will be time for decals.

Looking good stik......a little too good for a Jap fighter.

The weathering and aging is still a week away Reasoned. It won't be a monstrosity, but it wont be showroom condition either ;-)

Yeap, almost there, decals and a wash and boom!

stikpusher

The weathering and aging is still a week away Reasoned. It won't be a monstrosity, but it wont be showroom condition either ;-)

Yeah, I figured as much, just giving you junk.  You have done a fine job of working with molded details (e.g., the exhaust), that can be a real challenge to get to look.... real.

Don't forget dry brushing Gamera...  That old school stuff that is not as fashionable as chipping and hair spray and all that these days...

Thank's Reasoned! I don't mind a bit of smack talking at all. I think I have more fun for taking a great basic older kit like this and doing those little things to it such as the exhausts, rather than buying a new uber-kit  and having that all done for you. Some of that ease takes the customizing fun out of the hobby.

stikpusher

Don't forget dry brushing Gamera...  That old school stuff that is not as fashionable as chipping and hair spray and all that these days...

Thank's Reasoned! I don't mind a bit of smack talking at all. I think I have more fun for taking a great basic older kit like this and doing those little things to it such as the exhausts, rather than buying a new uber-kit  and having that all done for you. Some of that ease takes the customizing fun out of the hobby.

Very true Hans von Stikpusher... 

I am his cousin, Karl 

OK, the decals are now on. Of course, no good deed goes unpunished. The Super Scale decals for the Hinomarus that have the white outline were two parter's- white disc, then the red disc applied on top by the modeler. Of course the upper wing ones go over a linkage bump for the ailerons... and tore during the application process.

so I will need to find a matching shade of red to touch up and cover the damaged decals.

But overall, the process went quite well...

There are even the stripes on the main gear doors

a close up of the unit tail markings

and the propeller with spinner in place...

Real nice job you've done there. Shame about the decal, I've done similar things all too many times, but I'm sure you can get it fixed up just fine

Yeah shame about the wing hinomaru but most of mine end up doing the same thing. Shouldn't be too hard to fix with a little paint and disappear under a little weathering.

Yes pretty common to tear the decal in that spot,easy fix tho. Great looking build, eager to see the finish!