1/50 Ki-61 Hien - Pacific Theatre of Operations II

[Rogi]

Username: Rogi
Name: Igor
Category: Beginer
Scale: 1/50 (oh ya old style kit battle of the 48 vs 50 )
Manufacturer: Tamiya
Type: Ki-61 Hien (Tony)
Aftermarket: Maybe some additions to the sparse cockpit will have to wait and see,

I'll be doing the mount of Maj. Teruhiko Kobayashi , 244th fighter group. He was one of the better known aces and encouraged his men to strike the enemy B-29s from the front. The 244th Sentai was the premier fighter group for home defense.

 

[Rogi]

In a time when 1/50 was fighting to be the "standard" scale, Tamiya came out with their own series of 1/50 aircraft, among these the Ki-61, mostly good for the time, now a days the aircraft shows its years with non recessed panel lines, and this kit doesn't even have the alignment markers that we usually have in kits, it'll be an interesting build, I just hope I will stick to OOB and everything will be fine

Maj. Kobayashi in his cockpit

And him with Crew chief? I believe this aircraft below is #24

Here is a small dilemma, my older decals for the stripe are in red, while most sources show the stripe as blue, does anyone have any opinion as to which color is correct?

and a small P.S. I think there might be a member that is also doing his aircraft (there is ! it is Totalize but I think he is doing 295 while I'm doing 24 ) Is this still ok to do the same subject? If not, I will change my version of the Maj's mount, as he also had 86 and another one 295 he flew including 24, if not, then I'll switch to another pilot in the 244th and custom make some decals

 

[Wurger]

I think it is the same Ki-64 with the number 24..

Here is a shot of Teruhiko Kobayashi , commander of the 244th Sentai where the strip can be seen. It looks like being of different colour comparing to the red Japanese national marking. Also the difference in tonality can be noticed in the first and second pic above.

There is no reason to change the version even though if there would be somebody else who was assembling and replicating the same mount.

Oh ... and by the way , painting the strip blue shouldn't be any problem methinks.

 

[fubar57]

Great to see you jump in Igor. The profiles I've seen have a blue strip. Here's a profile of#24....

I've also seen the stars on the flash as yellow so maybe Wayne can verify a) if the profile is correct, b) which color the star is.

Geo

 

[fubar57]

Crossed posts, great photos Wojtek. In the third photo, the star looks white but the Japanese letters look a different color.

Geo

 

[destrozas]

nice igor.
View attachment Kawasaki Ki 61 Hien-4.pdf

View attachment Ki 61 Hien-2.pdf

Here you have the profile of the 24 blue photo of the time

View attachment Kawasaki Ki 61 Hien.pdf

View attachment ModelArt #428.pdf

View attachment ModelArt #428-3.pdf

I've placed something on the plane I think the blue 24 is more than correct


P.D: if you need pictures of the interior, I have 3 photo books packed inside the model I, kai I, II, II kai, also detailed profiles and distribution schemes.

 

[Rogi]

Thank you all for the info. and photos fantastic

Thank you so much Sergio for the download links Fantastic, I think I even have the same French book on the Ki-61 as in the first couple profiles

Merci Mes Amis

 

[Thorlifter]

One of my fav's Igor. Can't wait to see it completed

 

[Crimea_River]

Nice!

 

[Vic Balshaw]

Very cool Igor and unusual scale.

 

[mikewint]

What Vic said, be pretty tough to tell a 1/48 and a 1/50 apart. Glad you're in the GB

 

[Wayne Little]

Great choice Igor, Kobayashi's aircraft went through different fuselage striping, white, Red, White and Red, Double White, and finally Blue.his last with the blue was passed on to anothe r pilot in may 1945.

 

[Catch22]

Looking forward to this Igor!

 

[Totalize]

Igor,

Great to see you going for one of Kobayashi`s aircraft. I never knew there was even a 1/50 scale but I suppose this is not surprising as there were 1/32 scale armor models before 1/35 scale took over.

Regarding Number 24. I am not sure if you are aware but Kobayahsi flew at least 3 different a/c numbered 24. So it depends on what you want to do. You said 24 but he flew 2 Red 24's (with a line across the top of the number)and one blue 24. All were the same aircraft I believe just painted differently.

The first red 24 had what looks like a mottled camo scheme with a white stripe down the side.
the Second Red 24 was done in bare metal with a red stripe down the side.
the third a/c was blue 24 was done in a mottled camo scheme similar to red 295 and had a red stripe down the side. This is the one in the pictures above.

I am not sure if you are going for accuracy here but you should be aware that all three aircraft were Tei's, these a/c had the longer nose versus the Hei as this was done to accomodate the two japanese Ho-5 autocannons, the Hasegawa kit represents a Hei. A few noticebale differences between the Hei and Tei besides the length of the nose (longer distance between the leading edge of the wing and exhausts on the Tei) was the larger air intake present on the Tei. Looking at the box art of your kit it could be a Tei as there is what appears to be that distance I mentioned between the leading edge of the wing and exhaust. You may be good to go here. If not I believe Hasegawa makes some Tei's in 1/48 scale.

Here's a link to Some profiles of the various numbered 24 aircraft Kobayashi flew.

The Aircraft of Captain Kobayashi


Hope this helps.

BTW. Thanks for the info on the Ki-61's. Very useful.

 

[Wurger]

I think the profile of "Hien" s/n 4024 at March 1945 .... is incorrect. These red quick ID strips and the front of the wheel doors are probably a wishful thinking of the author only or just wrong rendition of an image taken with the ortho-material. I think the "Blue 24" is shown in these pic posted above. It is clearly seen that the leading edge of the wing and the main wheel doors are of light colours. If these would be of the red , these were as dark as the Japan Hinomaru or just like the strip on the fuselage ( if it was red too ).

 

[Totalize]

Wojtek,

The artwork you posted is definitely different from the pictures posted above but I am just wondering if the Nishikawa artwork represents the same aircraft but at a different point in its painting life.
Would be nice to know what Nishikawa used as a reference for his artwork.

 

[Wurger]

Of course you can be right. However the yellow quick ID markings does never seem to be of the red coulur. All Japanes planes wore them painted of yellow rather. The mistake could have been made if a reference picture was taken with the orthochromatic negative. A such ortho-material causes a very dark in B&W images , appearence of the yellow colour. Almost the same like the red. Please look at the shots..

 

[Wayne Little]

I think the profile of "Hien" s/n 4024 at March 1945 .... is incorrect. These red quick ID strips and the front of the wheel doors are probably a wishful thinking of the author only or just wrong rendition of an image taken with the ortho-material. I think the "Blue 24" is shown in these pic posted above. It is clearly seen that the leading edge of the wing and the main wheel doors are of light colours. If these would be of the red , these were as dark as the Japan Hinomaru or just like the strip on the fuselage ( if it was red too ).

In this instance my friend the leading edge strip is red, one of the very few instances it occurred, applied for a short time.

 

[Wurger]

I've grasped. THX.

 

[Wurger]

Anyway I found a digitally colorized photo of the "Blue 24" at the : ??????????? : ?????????? ??? Ki-61 HIEN/TONY

And these two profiles at the :

Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien/Tony
Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien/Tony