Hi All,

Kawasaki Ki-61-I Tei Hien, 55th Sentai, Sano airfield near Osaka, 1945 – the final stages of war. At that time, the unit participated in the battles over Japan, initially in the western, and then in the middle sector of defense.

This is Hasegawa JT14 kit, with the addition of photo-etched parts from Eduard in the cockpit.

The markings are a combination of Montex masks and homemade decals (Hinomarus, black indication codes), for which I used a sheet of clear Techmod decal and a color laser printer.

Ki-61-I Tei is a variant of the Kai variant, with a fixed tail wheel and a slightly longer nose than the standard Ki-61-I. In this version, there are practically no fit issues, which are headache for other versions of Hien that Hasegawa has released so far.

The model is far from perfect, what troubled it were: definitely a bad luck (the paint chipped together with masks, tapes, bluetack, changing decisions with regard to painting techniques, and in the end came unsuccessful corrections on the left side, which resulted in a different shade of one panel; the camo on the tail is not the best either – but to be honest I’m afraid that further amendments could only result in a cascade of new problems, so decided to leave it as it is.

I hope you like it anyway.

Stay tuned, best
Hubert