Saturday 18 December 2010

1/144 scale aircraft - Ki-44 'Tojo'

After finishing my trios of Ki-51 'Sonias' and Ki-27 'Nates', I turned my attention to the third and final type in the most recent F-Toys release.  This turned out to be the Ki-84 'Frank' - a fairly late-war (1944+) fighter.  Before I could begin, I chanced upon a bundle of 1/144 Japanese aircraft on Ebay.  £7.71 (including postage) later they were mine.  On arrival the box contained two Navy aircraft - a 'Betty' and a 'Zero', and four for the Army - a Ki-45 'Nick' and 3 Ki-44 'Tojo'. 

I decided to deal with the 'Tojos' now and to leave the others 'till another time.  All were complete, save for some markings, so I painted on their Sentai markings (the simplest ones I could find!).  I present two of them for your edification.

Ki-44 of the 246th Sentai in flight.
Ki-44 of 85th Sentai over some remarkably similar terrain.
Incidentally, just in case you are you've been wondering about my apparently encyclopedic knowledge of Sentai markings, I can now reveal that it all comes from this book.
I was lucky enough to pick up a copy of this A4-format publication (OK - it was an impulse purchase) at Partizan in Newark last year.  It turns out to have been £3 well spent.

4 comments:

Paul said...

You are getting quite a collection for your Japanese forces.I think these could be even better with the canopies detailed.

I hate detailing clear parts but they certainly make a difference at the three foot scale that I use.

Tim Gow said...

Paul
The canopy frames are painted silver (to represent bare metal) on both - it doesn't show up very well in the photos. I know what you mean about clear components - a real PITA.
Tim

Al said...

Good post, there seems to be quite a good range selection in this scale

Tim Gow said...

Al
It is very much a case of 'buy it when you see it' with the Japanese kits, as they tend not to be available for very long. That said, my own style of reckless purchasing has amassed quite a selection over the past few years.
Tim