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Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki

Introduction

The basic idea for building this kit was to try new techniques, and to regain my "touch" with the hobby since I came back recently after several years of absence!
This particular Ki-44 was flown by Capt. Yukiyoshi Wakamatsu of 85th Sentai late 1943-1944 with missions that took place in Burma and China. I hope you will enjoy it...

Construction

During the whole procedure I didn't used the instruction manual because it was in Japanese, so I had to consult other resources.
I started with the cockpit, which was very basic. So I had to add details such as cables, levers, etc... I also had to improve the seat by opening some holes (for weight reduction purposes on the real aircraft) and construct the supporting brackets. The seatbelts were made from aluminum foil and the buckles from a very thin plastic strip. After I finished detailing, I airbrushed the cockpit with a mixture of Vallejo interior green and white in proportions 4:1 approximately and continued with dry brushing and wash with oil color (burnt umber).

The fit of the kit generally was good, but in certain areas I had to use a lot of putty and plastic strips to fill the gaps and build a new canopy since the one from the kit was blurry and scratched. Also I was not satisfied by the quality and the fitting of the cowl flaps, so I decided to make new ones from scratch using evergreen plastic sheets. The next step of the construction was to cut and build new exhaust pipes, since the ones that Arii provided was in one piece with the fuselage. For that purpose I used pieces from an empty soda can, which I cut and glued in the desired shape and position. I also noticed the non-existent headlight at the left wing which I built too.

As far as the engine detailing, the only things I added was the sparkle plugs and the oil transfer tubes improving the general appearance of it.

Painting and Weathering

Since I used Tamiya’s aluminum for my undercoat, I proceeded to the painting without priming, spraying the whole model and letting it dry for a couple of hours.
The next step was critical for the final appearance of the model. I decided to use the salt technique for the chipping-weathering since my goal was to build a very “old” bird. With a thin wet paint brush I added a touch of water to the desired areas of the model, followed by sprinkling salt on them. With the same paint brush I did some correction at the positioning of the salt, simply by pushing it in desired area. After the hole procedure was finished I let it dry overnight. The next step was to spray the camo, with IJA dark green and red brown mottling for the upper surfaces and a mixture of Rlm 78, light gray and white approximately in a ratio 4/1/1. I let it dry for a couple of hours and then with an old toothbrush I gently scrapped the salt from the surface. Last, a coat of gloss varnish was followed in order to place the decals.

Next step was to place the decals using Microset and Microsol letting them dry and then I did a wash with thinned oil paint (burnt umber). With the edge of the X-acto blade I scrapped the decals to make them looked aged to tie it together with the general appearance of the model. Last I added some oils stains, smoke at the exhaust, machine guns and some more scrapes to needed areas. Lastly I sealed my work by spraying a semi-gloss varnish