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Kawasaki Ki-61

History

During WW II, the Japanese Army Ki61-I Hien, code name Tony, was the only mass produced Japanese fighter to use a liquid cooled engine. Great efforts were made during its design to keep it light, and this produced a well balanced fighter interceptor. The Hien was a formidable interceptor that had good high altitude performance and maneuverability. The Hien served in the Philippines and New Guinea campaigns and in the air defense of mainland Japan.  

After the loss of the Philippines, and the initial raids on Japan by China based B-29s, large numbers of Ki-61-Is were assigned to the defense of mainland Japan. The most famous squadron using the Hien was the 244th Sentai. The 244th Sentai was commanded by Japan's youngest squadron leader, Major T. Kobayashi. The 244th Sentai accounted for 160 B-29s downed during the war, and flew the Hien until the end of the war.  

The model

The diorama here depicts Lt. Chuichi Ichikawa standing along side his Ki61-I for a photo shoot. He was delivered to his aircraft by the staff car included in the diorama.

The Kit

The Kawasaki Ki61-I kit is two kits in one box. There is the aircraft kit and the kit for the Type 95 Small Sedan. Each kit has its own instruction guide. The sedan kit offers several options. You can build it as a convertible with the top up or build it with the top down. You can also build it with two figures, a driver and a machine gunner with a mounted machine gun. A single decal sheet has the decals for three different aircraft and decals for the sedan. The kit also includes a standing pilot figure.

Construction

Building the Hien went with relative ease as the parts fit was excellent accept for step 5, Fuselage Installation. Installing the fuselage to the wings was difficult as the parts fit was not good. it required shaving, putty, and sanding to get the two assemblies to fit correctly.  

The construction of the sedan and the pilot figure went well just by following the instruction guide. I built the sedan convertible with the top down and just a driver. The parts fit for the sedan, pilot, and driver was excellent.

Painting

All paints for these two kits was done with enamel paint. The underside of the Hien fuselage and wings were airbrushed with MM Dark Blue Gray. The top side of the fuselage and wings were airbrushed with MM Olive Drab. The landing gears and wheel wells, along with the inside of the wheel well doors were painted with Floquil Bright Silver. The prop was painted with MM Military Brown.The underside of the sedan was painted with MM Medium Green and Floquil Weathered Black. The top side of the sedan was airbrushed with MM Olive Drab The interior of the sedan was painted with MM Interior Green. The driver uniform was painted with MM Medium Green, and the rag top was painted with MM Sand.

Decals

The kit provides decals for three aircraft, and the sedan. I chose to use the decals for the aircraft of Lt. Chuichi Ichikawa, 244th Sentai (Flight Regiment) at Chof Airfield, Japan, 1945. The decals were excellent, they were easily placed on the model and responded well to decal setting solution.

Conclusion

To sum up, this kit was a very enjoyable build. Hasegawa has done a great job with this kit. The external detail is good, the parts fit is good, and the decals were excellent. I recommend this kit to any modeller.