Here is my recently finished 1/48 scale Arii Ki-61.

The model was built O.O.B. and marked with Aeromaster decals.
Paints used were Model Master enamels.






Matrixone

Beautiful work Les. The Ki-61 is such an elegant design!
I love the weathering around the wing roots and cockpit entry, did you apply the camo then scratch it off?

Cheers, D

Thanks Damian!

I did the wear on the paint job in two steps, before the green stripes were sprayed on I used the salt weathering technique and placed the damp salt on places where I needed the paint to look like it flaked off. After the green paint was added I used my finger tips to remove the salt to check how chipped the paint looked, after comparing my model to photographs of other Ki-61's I could see I needed a little more wear on the paint so I carefully used some fine grade sandpaper and water and sanded off a little of the green paint to get the effects I was after.

Another picture of the Ki-61


Matrixone

Les,
She looks great! Love the weathered paint job. A great rendition of one of the best looking planes of the war.

Well done!

Gaz

Beautiful job Les - I love the paintwork . I have tried the salt technique but had problems with the salt leaching into the acrylic paint and creating white rings around the areas where the salt was applied. I tried sealing the salt with clear coat before color but the result was the same . I had better results using pepper ground from a pepper mill- it doesn't adhere as well as the salt so you must go a little heavy with it to allow for some getting knocked off. I'm curious if you or anyone else has had leaching problems with salt. Cheers - Richard

Les,

Great paintwork (as usual, lol), looks the real thing!

Richard - I am yet to try the salt chipping technique, so academically speaking, perhaps the reason for that problem is too much water still on the surface when you cast the salt?...

Cheers
Pedro

That is very nice work. I love the camo and the weathering.

Beautiful model. It looks like you could hop right in and take off.

I have a big interest in japanese aircraft of WW2 and this looks great, Les! That paint work is brillant. The b/w photos could easily mistaken for real war photos. Can you tell us more about the pilot who flew this Hien? All I recognize is, that it's an aircraft of the 68. Sentai from New Guinea. Your model makes me want to build a Hien from my stash (have at least 2 from Haegawa) ....
Recently I got Osprey's "Ki-61 Aces" (No. 114). What a great book that is with so many fantastic and to me unknown photos. Do you also have that book?

Torsten

Thanks guys!

About the salt weathering technique...instead of wetting the surface of the model I used damp salt and placed that on the models surface with an old paint brush.
Wetting just the models surface and trying to get the salt to go exactly where you want it to go is a lot more work so I just get a clump of salt and use a paint brush dipped in water to attract the salt to the brush and then place it where it needs to go.

I have never had issues with the salt grains leaving white rings on the models surface but that could be because I use enamel paints.

Torsten,
Yes the aircraft is marked in the 68th Sentai and one of my reference books says the pilot of this particular aircraft was Captain Onozaki but I.I.R.C. the Aeromaster decal sheet said a different pilot flew this airplane...I don't know which one is correct.

Matrixone

Les,
Another outstanding build. Your NMF coupled with just the right amount of weathering, really makes this quite as eye catching display model.

Joel

Thanks very much for the comments Joel!

I really do want to build another model of the Ki-61, hopefully using the Hasegawa kit next time. This old kit turned out okay but it looks poor compared with what I have seen of the more modern Hasegawa kit.


Matrixone

Les,

Superb, as usual. I still like the old Arii/Otaki kits. They aren't the latest-greatest but they make decent models with a little TLC.

Your salt method, I will try that.

68th Sentai - IJAAF's "hard luck" outfit. Their palm wave camo - some of my favorite.

Les, absolutely fantastic looking bird! Your rendering in black and white could be confused for a shot of the real McCoy! Thanks for sharing. Take care. Jim

Thanks Fred and Jim!

I like to convert some of the pictures of my finished models to b/w so I can better compare the model to the photographs in my reference books of the full size aircraft, this way I can tell what areas on my future models need to be improved.

Matrixone