Doyusha 1/32 Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate - Frank
By Rodney Williams
Yes! Another bare metal model. This model was sent to me by my good email friend Brad Hagen that was one of the "free" employees with LSP. Brad also sent me the "ZERO" that I built and had posted on LSP. A great big "thank-you" goes out to Brad.
CONSTRUCTION
I began with removing all of the kit parts from the tree and then "dry-fit" them together. Most everything fit real nice, so it was on to building the cockpit and painting it.
I started with the instrument panel that had raised dials and looked real fine. It was painted with flat black then it was rubbed down with the "SnJ" powder. I added the future to all of the dials.
I added stainless steel gun barrels on the top front section of the cowling and I added some card stock for a backing plate on the back of the spinner.
I repeated the painting process for the cockpit area with the sliver and then over coated it with the clear blue paint. Of course I just have to add seat belts and shoulder straps to this "Out-of-the-Box" model.
The cockpit was glued in and the fuselage was put together, aligned and glued. The cockpit was then closed in with some styrene card stock. I attached the pre-painted engine and then glued on the cowling ring. The semi-finished 3 piece wing section was attached and I finished fixing the kit´s landing light that went into its location on the leading edge of the left wing.
As usual, I give the model a wash using thinned down Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black paint which is sanded off the model. This application certainly shows all the flaws that need to be fixed.
Once all of the sanding was complete, including the usual panel line and rivet replacement I gave the model another wash and re-sanded the entire model again. I inspected the model for any more flaws.
I cleaned up the clear windscreen and canopy parts then mask them off so I could paint them along with painting the entire model with Tamiya Chrome Silver.
After I got the model painted I found a big gap on the inside of the lower vent so I had to fix that with some card stock. (see enclosed photo).
I had finished the prop and paint the hub red then mask it off with my blue tape.
The 4 blades had been painted silver then I applied the yellow color and mask it off after it had dried for a couple of days. The last color that I applied was green. The tape was removed and did not pull off any of the underlying paint. I weathered the prop slightly with some "SnJ" powder on my small brush. Later I installed the protruding gun barrel.
Since I was successful on using the Scotch 3M #2080 masking tape on my other bare metal models I accomplished good results on this model. I sprayed on my "future" and then a few days later I applied the blue tape to the model and painted on the light grey and the yellow orange colors.
My 30 year old circle cutter still works like new so I cut out my red "meat ball" spray patterns and put them on the model, then sprayed on my XF-7 Flat Red paint.
The medium grey color was lightly sanded with 2000 grit wet 3M sandpaper which removed some of the paint and let the silver show through. I like this method and it looks somewhat realistic for a weathering effect. I added a bit of oil stains here and there and then dusted on some of Tamiya´s "dull coat."
Final assembly went like clock-work, especially my gear alignment application.
My last operation after the model was inspected is attaching the black human hair for my antenna wire.
This was really an easy kit to build so go buy one if you can.
© Rodney Williams 2000
This article was published on Wednesday, July 20 2011; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016