Author Topic: Ki-44 Shoki/Ki-84 Hayate hybrid (was: F**k it, let's bash some plastic!)  (Read 15809 times)

Sentinel Chicken

  • Guest
Got home from our spring break Gulf Coast road trip Saturday and got some work in yesterday on my Shoki-Hayate kitbash:



Up on the wheels now. Did a touch up to the camouflage- I was going to break out the airbrush, but it still needs some tweaking and truth be told, it's been so damn humid I'd be asking for trouble to use the airbrush. It's been ages since I brush painted a model. Oh well. I am trying out the Model Master Acryl line. Previously I used the enamels, but the ease of clean up and thinning on the Acryl line has me intrigued and I'm using the line for the first time on this model. Jury's still out, but the water clean up of the brushes is a plus so far. The prop and spinner is on there just for the pic, I'll glue it into place when finished. I still need to craft a cannon barrel to protrude out from the center of the spinner.



Underside view. I used styrene strip to create the undercarriage retraction linkages. Easier said than done in 1/144 scale and my 40+ year old eyeballs. Fuck. Inboard gear doors are from the Hayate kit, they fit the Shoki's inner wing just fine (translation "Good enough for me"). Tail wheel came from the Shoki kit with strip styrene gear doors. I probably could have used thinner styrene there. Oh well, looks good enough to me. Thank God for a magnifying glass and thin point brush do paint the wheels. This build has me thinking about investing in reading glasses!

The oversized spinner on that cowl reminds me of the Hawker Sea Fury, no question this kitbash had it existed in real life would have had serious overheating issues, but that fits in with my backstory of this being an experimental prototype pressed into combat service.



This shot gives you an idea how small this plane is. I tried to thin out the cowl flaps but only succeeded in thinning out a layer of skin on my fingers. Ouch. So plan B was to paint it with black paint to give the optical illusion that the cowl flaps are thinned. I'm not thrilled about the brush marks on the camo finish, but that should look better once I add a few layers of clear coat, gloss for the decals and then a final layer of flat when done.

You can see one of the advantages of this size- little to no cockpit detailing to be arsed with!

Offline ChrisF

  • Doesn't mind rough when he knows its gonna be rough...
  • Ham-fisted? Maybe. Master modeller? Definitely!
Wow ! thats tiiinnnnyyy !

Offline Tophe

  • He sees things in double...
  • twin-boom & asymmetric fan
    • my models
small and beautiful :)

Offline Brian da Basher

  • He has an unnatural attraction to Spats...and a growing fascination with airships!
  • Moderator
  • *
  • Hulk smash, Brian bash
That's some nice progress, Mr Chicken! I really like how the camo sets of the yellow spinner. This build reminds me of something Focke-Wulf would come up with.

Brian da Basher

Offline taiidantomcat

  • Plastic Origamist...and not too shabby with the painting either!
  • Full Member
  • Stylishly late...because he was reading comics
Great work! That is crazy small  :-\
"They know you can do anything, So the question is, what don't you do?"

-David Fincher

Offline Rafael

  • El capitán del Cartón
  • Head of the Venezuelan Brigade
SC, you have the skills of a Swiss watch maker. What a beauty!!!
I don't take life seriously. I'm not getting out of it alive anyways.

Sentinel Chicken

  • Guest


Finally got my airbrush all cleaned up and working again. This is the model all masked up for some airbrush work. Some modelers use Tamiya masking tape, me, I'm a cheap bastard so I use painters masking tape from any home improvement store. I cut small strips and use those to mask off the area and then use that putty-like adhesive tack to protect areas from overspray.



Airbrushed Insignia Yellow for the fuselage band and also the tips of the underside of the wings. By now it should be pretty obvious who's markings are going on this model. I have to do some touch up work with a brush, it's been a while since I had the airbrush in hand and like all things, it takes some practice. I had a beat up old model that I did few practice runs on, though.

I used Testors Model Master Acryl, I must say it airbrushes nicely right from the bottle with no dilution.



Underside view showing the yellow areas airbrushed on the underside of the wings. One other advantage of 1/144 scale for fighter aircraft, it doesn't take much paint and airbrushing is pretty quick. Down side, you have to really watch the paint flow through the airbrush on areas this small or you get a big blob mess.

After some touch up work and the paint is well dried, the next step will be the a shot of gloss for decals. I'm considering using Future for the first time. Anyone have any experience with it on models this small? I'm a bit hesitant as I don't need a heavy coat, just enough to let the decals sit well without any silvering.

Offline taiidantomcat

  • Plastic Origamist...and not too shabby with the painting either!
  • Full Member
  • Stylishly late...because he was reading comics
Airbrushing future (although I have not done it personally) Is much more forgiving, than say rattle bombing a gloss coat (which Is what I usually do, but my models are much bigger) Use light coats and you should be just fine  :) Future also self levels so it will be more consistent as well
"They know you can do anything, So the question is, what don't you do?"

-David Fincher

Offline Brian da Basher

  • He has an unnatural attraction to Spats...and a growing fascination with airships!
  • Moderator
  • *
  • Hulk smash, Brian bash
Nice work, Mr Chicken! I really like the paint scheme and the swept horiz. stabs.

I'm told you can brush Future on by hand as well, which is a nice option to have.

Brian da Basher

Offline Scooterman

  • Professional A-4 Stalker...and stealer of Rule 3.
  • Even his underwear is embroided with Skyhawks...
SC, I use Future all the time, airbrush and hand applied. 

When I hand brush it, a flat, wide brush works best for me.  Try not to overload it too.  Just like doing it with a ab, light coats are key.  And watch leading/trailing edges and things of that sort.  The Future will run to the backside and create a bit of a 'puddle' if you got the brush too loaded.

Practice padawan, and with it over time, you too will enjoy the glory that is the power of Future................ :icon_jedi:


Sentinel Chicken

  • Guest




Canopy's in place now and painted with a very fine tip brush. This morning worked on the weathering. The easiest method that works for me is to use a Q-tip and some gray/black artist pastels. I rub the Q-tip on what I need and then apply it to the model. You'll need several applications and some rubbing (heheheheheheheheheh). I'm trying to get most of the weathering in place now as I plan to clear coat it with Future to apply the decals. Then some weathering over the decals, and a shot of flat topcoat to finish it off. I also use an artist's nubbin (I think that's what they're called) to apply weathering streaks.

Offline GTX_Admin

  • Evil Administrator bent on taking over the Universe!
  • Administrator - Yep, I'm the one to blame for this place.
  • Whiffing Demi-God!
    • Beyond the Sprues
Damn that is looking good.
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline Brian da Basher

  • He has an unnatural attraction to Spats...and a growing fascination with airships!
  • Moderator
  • *
  • Hulk smash, Brian bash
Looks like you're in the home-stretch, Mr Chicken! While everything about this little model is fantastic, for me it's your treatment of the canopy that really pulls it together.

Brian da Basher

Sentinel Chicken

  • Guest
DONE DAMMIT!

















For a frame of reference, three of the squares on the base I used to shoot these pictures is about an inch.

Everything was brush painted with the exception of the yellow theater markings on the aft fuselage and underside of the wings, those were airbrushed.

The decals were aftermarket 1/144 scale that I picked up off eBay. The carrier film was bit thick, but the decals were nicely printed and durable.

From the previous pics I posted, I airbrushed the model with Future. This was the first time working with Future and was very pleased with the results, I'll be using it on all my subsequent builds. After airbrushing several coats, the finish was nice and glossy and because it was self-leveling, it definitely evened out a lot of the brush marks. Not all, but enough of them. In applying the decals, I would first soak the decal in water to get it to slide on the backing paper. I then blotted out the excess water and then dipped the decal in Future before applying it. They went on without a hitch- no decal set or Micro-Sol needed and absolutely no silvering at all if there was any imperfections on the gloss coat underneath. I used a Q-tip to blot out any excess Future so the decals would stay put. I think brushed a quick coat over the decals and let it cure overnight.

The following day I rattle-bombed it with a coat of Testors Flat, just enough to further seal the decals and dull the finish to the desired flat appearance. Last thing I did was attach the prop and the guns- one on each wing and one in the spinner, those were just simple styrene rod painted steel and a dab of black on the tip.

The right landing gear angles out more than it should, Chicklet 004 conducted a nuisance raid on my workbench and that was the best I could get with my repair efforts and my 41 year old eyeballs. This is 1/144 scale, after all.

Markings are generic and not specific for any Luftwaffe unit, but my back story would be Nakajima engineers being dispatched to Germany to work with Focke Wulf on a Shoki-Hayate hybrid with a supercharger in the belly that would have the performance to take on the B-29 Superfortress at altitude. Operational testing might have been done in Germany but the war situation meant that the prototypes and Japanese team never made it back to Japan before the end of the war.

This was my first build after being away from the workbench for several years, it feels real damn good to finish something, learn some new tricks (Future) and was a total blast. No more real world shit for me unless I'm dying to have it. It's WHIFF or nuthin'.  :icon_jedi:

Offline RussC

  • Our own personal dragon trainer...with a flying wing fetish
  • Resident Painter
Interesting! this would have given the Later Tempests and Furies plus the P-47N some competition. Looks more Lavochkin than Focke-Wulf.

Offline GTX_Admin

  • Evil Administrator bent on taking over the Universe!
  • Administrator - Yep, I'm the one to blame for this place.
  • Whiffing Demi-God!
    • Beyond the Sprues
Very nice. :)
All hail the God of Frustration!!!

You can't outrun Death forever.
But you can make the Bastard work for it.

Offline ChrisF

  • Doesn't mind rough when he knows its gonna be rough...
  • Ham-fisted? Maybe. Master modeller? Definitely!
A mini marvel !!    :)

Offline arc3371

  • Takes no responsibility should anyone try to turn the drawings into plastic...but we will still hold him accountable for the madness that ensues!!!
Looks great

Offline Doom!

  • Slayer of pixels and plastic!
  • Glad to be here!
    • Doom Island 2
That's just too cool!  :) 
Doom!
Jeff G.

Offline Brian da Basher

  • He has an unnatural attraction to Spats...and a growing fascination with airships!
  • Moderator
  • *
  • Hulk smash, Brian bash
Talk about an excellent finish in every sense of the word!

Outstanding, Mr Chicken!!!

Brian da Basher