Tamiya has released a new tooled Kawasaki Ki-61 Tony, and here Kevin Brant reviews and builds the kit.

Read the Review

If you have comments or questions please post them here.

Thanks!

The Tony looks very good Kevin, looks like a good investment if you are suffering from builders block. Just a pity about the decals for the roundels, they just don't look right? From the last image it looks as if you can see the blue fuselage strip under the roundel? I think some thinner aftermarket ones might be necessary or maybe the use of masks. Nevertheless nicely done Kevin.
tim

Thanks for the review Kevin. I've always liked the sleek nose of this plane. I'm just finishing a build of Tamiya's venerable A6M2 Rufe and it has gotten me in the mood for Japanese fighters. And since I find myself gravitating to 1/72 scale, this kit checks all the boxes.

The low-point of the Rufe was also the thick decals. Close trimming of the roundels avoided major problems there, but I had significant silvering and ridges on the tail numbers.

Kevin, good review and nice build!
This kit found its way in my shopping basket already.
I like Tamiya kits but I just keep wondering: Why take them so long to address the decals issue? Every single review gravitate around two poles: brilliant engineering and poor decals. Why takes them decades to fix the issue?
Anyhow, there is a wind of change sweeping Tamiya yard for what I can guess and I hope is for the best.
Gabriel

I was thinking the exact same thing Gabriel.