The cockpit looks great, Chris!  The Tamiya Warbird series 1/72 kits are a lot of fun.

cbaltrin

 

 

Gamera

Oh wow that still looks great though! Love how the washes (I'm assuming) picked out the cockpit detailing. It's a friggin' shame to cover all that up.  

 

 

 

Thanks, I actually used Tamiya Smoke for the wash, with a bit on thinner and retarder thrown in. 

I am thinking about some what-if markings for my ki-61...

 

BK

Gamera

Oh wow that still looks great though! Love how the washes (I'm assuming) picked out the cockpit detailing. It's a friggin' shame to cover all that up.  

Thanks, I actually used Tamiya Smoke for the wash, with a bit on thinner and retarder thrown in. 

I am thinking about some what-if markings for my ki-61...

Oh wow that still looks great though! Love how the washes (I'm assuming) picked out the cockpit detailing. It's a friggin' shame to cover all that up. 

BTW: I ordered a pound of Silly Putty. Hopefully it will be enough to mask off the O-I..... 

Gamera

Cbaltrin: Wow that looks astounding! That work on the instrument panel is insane, it's got to be what- the size of a dime!?! 

 

Oh, less than a dime!  All I did to the IP was paint it black and dry brush silver and add the kit supplied IP decal with Tamiya Decal solvent (mark soft?).

Some Pit Pics...

Cbaltrin: Wow that looks astounding! That work on the instrument panel is insane, it's got to be what- the size of a dime!?! 

waikong

Thank you both. Love to detail cockpits.

John, any advice abt the landing gear. The front ones do look very spindly? Need to replace them with something? Will they fail at some point? Especially if I have to move them around?

 

cbaltrin

Starting soon Gents...

 

 

Started work this tiny plane.  I am pretty amazed by the engineering and detail of this little gem. A shame it mostly won't be seen at this scale.  Makes we wonder when on when will Tamiya apply their skills to 1/72 A-7 Corsair series, among others, but, I digress....

Gamera

Tcoat: She's coming along great! Weird about the plastic, all the Hasegawa kits I've built the plastic is super hard.

Like the decals, the natural metal aluminum one would be really cool! 

 

Yep. I have a couple of natural metal planes but this one would be different. I will likely do it in matt aluminum Bare Metal Foil since I have a pile of it around and it doesn't last forever.

Tcoat: She's coming along great! Weird about the plastic, all the Hasegawa kits I've built the plastic is super hard.

Like the decals, the natural metal aluminum one would be really cool! 

cbaltrin

That's looking fantastic tcoat. Going to be a real looker I'm sure!

 

It is  very nice kit for it's age. Nice OOB detail without being at all fiddley.

The plastic is a bit weird in that it can tear easily instead of cutting cleanly. Even using my nice sharp sprue cutters and trimming with a new blade I ended up with some torn spots where the sprue attached.

The seams closed almost completely up with just some extra thin Tamiya cement. There was a very faint line in some spots that If I had squeezed just a but harder or longer probably would have went away

The wing roots however were a perfect fit with no filling required at all

And there it sits! The decals are trash. They completely shatter as soon as they hit water. I coated them with some lacquer and now they stay together but will NOT settle into detail no matter what is done to them. I have to decide if I am going to paint markings or buy a decal sheet.

At this point I am seriously considering doing this white one. I can paint the large markings and print decals for the smaller. Be a nice change from all the green and grey on my shelves.

BrandonK

 

 

cbaltrin

Starting soon Gents...

 

 

 

 

 

This kit is AWESOME. Built it last year for Weekend madness. Great kit.

 

BK

 

Agree Brandon, I have been amazed at what I have seen so far...  I assembled the wings and you almost  dont need any filler on the leading edge -- crazy.  PS your Tony looks great.

Looks great Tcoat! Both the engine and the cockpit/pilot have turned out great! 

Cbaltrin: Very cool! I need to build a Ki-61 myself. I tried a few years ago and attempted the green camo on the upper surfaces and made a total disaster of it. 

Tcoat

Engine base coated and detail painted

 

 

Pilot, cockpit and engine dark brown washed, flat coated, and ready to get closed up and hardly seen again!

 

 

BK

cbaltrin

Starting soon Gents...

 

 

BK

Starting soon Gents...

That's looking fantastic tcoat. Going to be a real looker I'm sure!

Engine base coated and detail painted

Pilot, cockpit and engine dark brown washed, flat coated, and ready to get closed up and hardly seen again!

keavdog

Nice!  I've got the Tamiya Frank in the stash.  Pilot reminds me of Lt Dickinson from Midway [lol]

 

Yep!

Japanese plane

Japanese markings

Japanese flight suit

Very, VERY Caucasian pilot face

waikong

Really like how the panel came out.

 

waikong

Really like how the panel came out.

 

The only issue I have had is when I tried to put the decal on the panel it exploded into a million pieces and the resulting shrapnel almost took out two of my fish and the cat! Going to see if I can save the rest of them with an overcoat of lacquer but may have to go aftermarket. Be a shame because I like the kit markings. I just went old school and dry brushed it but still have a couple of steps to go to tone it down a bit. Wasn't to upset about the decal as the gauges were so finely printed they were almost invisible anyway. The cockpit is going to be so tight when closed up that anything that can be done to make things pop will help.   

Really like how the panel came out.

Nice!  I've got the Tamiya Frank in the stash.  Pilot reminds me of Lt Dickinson from Midway [lol]

Gamera

Hey Tcoat, welcome aboard!!! 

Great job on the cockpit there, looks like your pilot got slimed though!!! 

 

OH NO! Now I can't even look at him without seeing Bill Murray. 

Hey Tcoat, welcome aboard!!! 

Great job on the cockpit there, looks like your pilot got slimed though!!! 

Monday I felt the need to do a nice out of box aircraft and since I just happened to have the kit I picked up at the flea market two weeks ago sitting on the table so

Then today this thread popped up again and I figured...

For a change of pace this will be done with very lightly weathered almost factory fresh paint.

Cockpit assembled

Cockpit base coat

Detail painted and tinted Future wash

Not sure who designs these models with the nice padded bucket seat but it has to either go or be hidden and since this will be OOB then hidden it shall be.

Base detail in gloss 

You know what wash. Even glossier.

Pilot in dark brown wash but not flat coated yet. Cockpit still glossy

Cheers Waikong! That's a 1000% improvement! 

Thank you!

WOW, beautiful cockpit waikong!

Thank you both. Love to detail cockpits.

John, any advice abt the landing gear. The front ones do look very spindly? Need to replace them with something? Will they fail at some point? Especially if I have to move them around?

I just went with what Hasegawa supplied when I built mine, yours is leagues better.  The landing gear can be very wobbly due to the way the main struts are inclined forward, combined with their length.