1/48 Hasegawa Ki-61 Hien

by Tony Feredo

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Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" (Allied codename: Tony)
3rd Chutai, 18th Sentai, Japanese Army Air Force
Angeles West Airfield, Pampanga
Luzon, Philippines
November 1944
 
Here is my Hasegawa Ki-61 "Tony" in 1/48 scale.  The kit required minimal filling and sanding.  I used Eduard PE for the seatbelts and other than that, it was a straight forward build for the rest of the parts.

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After assembly, I painted and masked the wing leading edge IFF, fuselage stripes and tail emblem of the 18th Sentai.  The model was given a primer of semi gloss black in preparation for the over-all NMF.  I sprayed Gunze No. 8 (Silver) over the entire model and as soon it was dry, I painted the fabric covered control surfaces with my mix of IJA Grey.  I applied the kit decals except for the fuselage where I had to use hinomarus from Techmod.   The anti-glare panel was painted in black and afterwards came the camouflage.  I used Gunze No. 130 (Kawasaki Dk Green) for the camo and used a variety of squiggles and irregular patterns. The model was then given a light wash and applied some weathering.

The "sugar cane" pattern is a field applied camo by the ground crews to simulate the  terrain.  Sugar cane was plentiful in the Pampanga province and in Negros Island where the unit was later assigned.

Cheers and Happy Modeling!

Tony

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Photos and text © by Tony Feredo