Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien "Tony" by ccoyle - Halinski/Kartonowy Arsenal - 1/33 - CARD

[ccoyle]

Welcome to another creative adventure in card! This kit, chosen by the members of MSW in a recent poll, depicts a Kawasaki Ki-61 Hien, Allied code name "Tony", flown by Cpt. Teruhiko Kobayashi of the 244th Sentai in early 1945.

 

Courtesy of Wikimedia

 

The Hien was interesting for a number of reasons. For one, it was the only mass-produced Japanese fighter to have an in-line engine. Second, that engine -- the Ha-40 -- happened to be a licensed derivative of the famous Daimler-Benz DB601. Third, it was the last Axis fighter to be powered by the 601 or its derivatives. And lastly, for now, it was code-named "Tony" because of its resemblance to Italian fighters such as the C.202 Folgore.

 

The Hien caused some anxious moments among the Allies in the Southwest Pacific when they encountered it, but fortunately for them, the Hien's glaring weakness, from an operational perspective, was its poor combat-readiness record. For a number of reasons, the Hien was difficult to maintain, and that, coupled with the decreasing proficiency of new Japanese pilots, meant that Allied pilots never encountered as many competently handled Hiens as they otherwise might have. Which was a good thing, because by all accounts competently handled Hiens were dangerous adversaries.

 

The Halinski kit, as per usual for their kits from that period, is very detailed. 

 

 

The aircraft's metal surfaces are printed in metallic ink, which does not show well in this image.

 

 

Many, many diagrams. The cockpit is absurdly detailed. The trade-off for the overall build is that there is no equally detailed radial engine, so once the cockpit hurdle is cleared, the remainder of the build should go relatively quickly.

 

 

I have the laser-cut frames, consisting of two frets, and the molded canopy, but no wheels -- I'll have to make those the old-fashioned way from laminated discs.

 

 

First cuts soon!

[realworkingsailor]

I’m in! (Even though it’s not the plane I voted for…😜)
 

Greg did a great video about the Ki-61 a couple of years ago:

 

 

Andy

[ccoyle]

Greg's "deep dives" are a great resource!

[Dave_E]

Oh yea! 👍😀

[realworkingsailor]

50 minutes ago, ccoyle said:

Greg's "deep dives" are a great resource!

You know you’re in for something good when you hear “Greetings, this is Greg…..”

[ccoyle]

Ya can't rush a Halinski build, partly because there is always a large number of parts to slog through, and partly because Halinski designs can be terribly unforgiving of error creep, so proper fitting and gluing is essential.