Ki. 62 "Inline Hayate"

[upnorth]

I do rather like that....a lot actually!

[Taiidantomcat]

Spectacular! I have wondered about that painting decal trick for some time... cool to see it in action 

[sequoiaranger]

>Spectacular! I have wondered about that painting decal trick for some time... cool to see it in action<

It stemmed from insecurity about the quality of the "blue wave" decal from the old Hayate kit decal sheet. Some of the other small stuff on the decal sheet had "shattered", and I couldn't afford to have that, especially since the wave decal would be tricky to apply and would be stressed in the process. Also, I wanted the wave, the spinner, and anti-glare panel to be the same color, and the best way to insure that would be, of course, to use the SAME paint for all of it. I also thought that the three decidedly-pointy tips of the "arrows" would be too hard to "mask" and likely acquire paint seep, so the sprayed decal and careful cutting-out of the shape seemed the way to go. It took some meticulous measuring and planning to get it to look right. The slight difference in color between paint and decal seen in the photo is actually "sheen" rather than "color", and some gloss-and-then-dull spray should unify the color as indistinguishable.

upnorth and Sticky---thanks. I think it will turn out well!

[NARSES2]

Oh that is looking really nice 

[Pablo1965]

It is an awesome scheme, I feel an special sympathy for this aircraft.

[sequoiaranger]

>It is an awesome scheme, I feel an special sympathy for this aircraft.<
>Oh that is looking really nice<

Thanks, y'all. Yet to come are the colorful yellow wing-leading-edge markings, the dark-green propeller and blue spinner left. Oh--I had originally had all the blue areas Floquil's "C&O Enchantment Blue", but it was too dark for the blue wave (looking almost black against the pale green). I re-painted everything in the lighter blue. If I was thinking, I should have left the anti-glare panel in that darker blue-black (a color often used by the Japanese) for yet another color in this surprisingly "complex" scheme.

PSR fubar--more needed, then re-paint    But only the underside of the fuselage.

[sequoiaranger]

The putty "FUBAR" I have been dealing with (now several times) turned out to be unusual. I had, several times,  puttied a t-shaped crack/depression in the underside, but when I filed and sanded the putty down, the crack/depression re-appeared each time!! Odd. Then I noticed that the slightest pressure to the spot would cave in the plastic (but rebound when the pressure was off). I discovered that the plastic there was as thin as could possibly be and still be there---no amount of PSR was going to change anything. What to do--it was an "ugly" thing to behold on such a nice, smooth fuselage.

I poked a hole (actually just barely touched it with a sharp instrument NOT intending at that moment of putting a hole in it!) in it, and used a CA applicator that had a micro-opening almost like a hypodermic needle, and squirted come CA inside around the hole. (If you have ever made Vac-form aircraft, CA is a great stiffener for flexible plastic--make a criss-cross pattern of CA "snail tracks" and, like the Wellington bomber, you now have a webwork of structural strength.) Hopefully this will keep future putty work from flexing the plastic there, but it is yet another delay in getting to the final product. Patience, patience!

[The Wooksta!]

DO NOT use Baking Soda!  It weeps over time and causes some micey chemical reaction in paint which goes through primer.

[sequoiaranger]

My Nakajima Ki.62-II "Mozu" came out looking remarkably like the original drawing, methinks. I suspect that the original drawing was some artist's extrapolation of a Hein with Nakajima design appearances. The Ki.62 drawing had the fuselage length quizzically shorter than the Hein, Tojo, Hayabusa, or Hayate, so I did lengthen it a little to match the Ki.84 Hayate look (I *COULD* have super-sectioned the rear fuselage and taken a couple of feet out of its length, but....!!). Kinda resembles a Yak 9. I had many last-minute glitches about which I am VERY angry, but I feel I made an excellently-engineered kit-bash of the subject and captured the look of the Ki.62 project with some design "upgrades".




Here is the underside showing the hefty propeller, decalled "wheel-wells", pack guns, and oil cooler. The fuel-cooler is blocked by the prop blade.

"Backstory" to follow in a few days.

[GTX]

Pretty!

[AXU]

Nice work ! 

Alex

[sideshowbob9]

Stunning! Your hard work has definately paid off!

[sequoiaranger]

GTX, AXU, SideshowBob9--thanks. I AM satisfied, actually, though I just noticed (lower photo in post below) that the left landing gear somehow got "splay-footed" out while drying, so I will correct that.

Now, if I display this Ki.62 in some contest, I will somehow have to explain that it is NOT the Unicraft kit, but kit-bashed from six different aircraft (two more if you count the armament changes).

Compared to the "official" drawing, my Ki.62 has a slightly wider nose radiator. The official Ki.62's was only as wide as the spinner---too little cooling area for the engine, methinks, and would have given the "Mozu" overheating trouble. My coolant radiator was taken from the Ki.61 with the same engine, so should be about right. Also the fuselage is slightly longer (in the tail), there is an additional small oil cooler under the wing (Bf-109's had TWO coolant radiators as well as its oil cooler) and the armament is changed. All within a designer's "discretion", and why I named it the Ki.62-II. I also feel that if Japan had license-built the inline engines exactly as the Germans had built theirs, many of the reliability problems associated with their "cheap" copies would have disappeared and made the "inline-engined Hayate" a real contender*.

*Upcoming backstory will have "German" engines arrive for it!

[Stargazer]

Wonderful! Makes you wonder why didn't they produce it for real at the time...

[Taiidantomcat]

Highly impressed