1/48 Otaki Ki-61 Tony |
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Gallery Article by Thang Le
on July 9 2003 |
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This is the Otaki
Ki-61 Tony in 1/48 scale. At the time I put this together, I got
frustrated by the lack of the after market decals for this a/c. Now, I
learned that ARC just reviewed a new batch of decals for just the Tonys. I
used kit decals for this one. The kit is very old. I bought it at
the last contest for $2.00. I just want a quick build and try out the
paint chipping effects, since most of the JIAAF planes looked pretty beat up, at
least through available photos.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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I got the paint chipping that I
was looking for by accident, and I just love it. The build was very
simple, since I built it OOB as usual. Not much for the interior, and the
canopy came with the one piece closed canopy. The panel lines are recessed
in this old kit, that's nice. I painted the base color with MM Chrome
Silver. I sealed it with the Testor Aluminum Sealer. I then used
Tamiya JN Green for the blotchings. I went to town with the green dots,
and blobs. It looked pretty good at this time. I masked around the front
of the cockpit and painted the black anti glare. When I removed the
masking tape, the green paint also chipping away with the tape. Wow, the
paint chipped away and revealed the silver aluminum underneath, naturally.
I have to repaint some of the green, and used the sticky side of the masking
tape to peel off the other spots. More chippings, and touched up where I
think it was too much silver color shown. Nothing, I mean nothing would
stick to the Chrome Silver. I gloss coated with Future, and tried to paint
the blue stripe with MM Enamels. Peeled off the masking tape, chipped off
more paint. I got kinda' frustrated at this point.
I want to mask and paint the
Hiromarus and white fuselage band, but....more chippings, more re-paint? I
put it aside while searching for solutions. I didn't know if the tainted
yellow thick kit decals would work, since the kit is at least 20 yrs old. With
nothing to lose, I gave it a try. Some small pieces broke away once it hit
the water, but for the most part, they were workable. I put the decals on
including the yellow band on the wing leading edges. I used white decal
sheet for the white band, and no more chippings. I added the silver on top
of the decals to blend them in with the rest of the beat up scheme. The model
was finished with normal routine of oil wash and pastel. It looks great, I
think. For the folks want to look for the paint chipping effect, I'm
convinced this is the way to go. Just make sure that you have all the
masking done before start peeling, and the peeling could be uncontrollable, and
the re-paint at place you don't want to peel off. You got the picture.
Since when that the paint chipped off at certain places that you wanted and just
the right amount on the real planes???
Have fun
Thang Le
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