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1/32 Ki-61 Tony 'Mustang Jepang' Indonesian War of Independence


BradG

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Hasegawa-KI-61-Box_zpsf156bdcb.jpg

 

The end of WW2 pretty much saw most of the empires of the world fall and the Dutch East Indies was no different. Fueled by 3 years of occupation by the Japanese, who actively encouraged nationalistic sentiments, Indonesia declared independence just two days after the Japanese surrender on August 15th. The result would be a rather nasty conflict that was rather unflattering for the Dutch, who eventually recognised Indonesian Independence in December 1949.

 

There were many Japanese aircraft left in Indonesia at the end of the war and as many as possible were quickly snapped up by Indonesian forces, who managed to gather a surprising amount of serviceable equipment. In early 1946, Dutch intellegence reported 14 Ki-61's were operational with a further 4 unserviceable aircraft, but it is thought that 6 aircraft were acquired with only 1 serviceable. The Dutch called the Ki 61 'Mustang Jepang'; Japanese Mustang. They would have been a formidable opponent for a Dutch Kittyhawk, less so for the Mustangs. Aside from this water colour painting, this is all the information known of these aircraft.

 

IndonesianKi61_zps8ebc246a.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Detail painting and a wash on and things look a little more lively, although still glossy. The Eduard pre-painted seat belts are nice, but the paint on them is fairly delicate and I did chip it while bending, but it won't be noticeable once the fuselage is together and canopy on. 

 

P1010019_zpsb90d520c.jpg

 

P1010018_zps539f7fb0.jpg

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A little more work tonight. Fuselage went together without a problem but I had a small problem with the wings. There is a centre section to the wings with the wing spar that runs though it. I found this didn't quite fit and then the wings didn't quite slot into position. I cut off the guides for the lower wing halves and fitted each wing half seperately and that cured the fit problem. I really don't know what why things wouldn't line up when they should have. It's a little rough at the moment as I've run out of 1200 grit sandpaper. A little rescribing should fit the panels I scrubbed out.

 

P1010024_zps2096a0d0.jpg

 

P1010022_zps623db1c2.jpg

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Haven't had a lot of progress over the last month/6 weeks due to cricket season starting up and my old man having a mild stroke, so I've been kinda busy as you might imagine but slowly things are getting back to normal and the old man is getting better. Anyways, I've managed to slap some paint on some of the joints to look for faults before I'm out the door to training tonight.

 

P1010015_zpsd28f84af.jpg

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Thanks mate.

 

A little more progress with many little bits being glued on. I found some issues with the formation lights on the wingtips, they didn't fit so well and since the instructions call for them to be painted anyway I took the sandpaper to the clear bits so they fit well. I know I got the wings right as the landing light cover fits perfectly. I stuck the gear legs and tail wheel on so I can paint the whole thing in pretty much one shot with natural metal before camo, which with a little luck should be soon.

 

P1010016_zps6e8b4443.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

You would give up modelling to watch us keep the Ashes? (Removes tongue from cheek)

 

Haha nah, I'll build models while I watch you retain the ashes this year! Thankfully we have Boof in charge now, but there are some players in that team who gotta go, starting with Clarke and Haddin.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I've been going a little slow on this but got some white paint on the rudder and some matt in the cockpit ready for the canopy to be glued on. I'll take some pics when it's looking a little more advanced as it pretty much just looks like the pic above at the moment.

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