I think I'm turning Japanese...

[matrixone]

Thanks guys!

The little Arii Dinah will not get the orange trainer scheme, instead it will get the usual green over light gray and will be made as a war weary machine handed over to the Kamikaze...this of course will be a what-if, but this way I can go all out on the paint chipping and fading. :drool
I remember seeing a photograph of a Japanese biplane trainer that was prepped to go on a Kamikaze mission, there was a 55 gal drum in one of the cockpits. If the Japanese thought a slow biplane could reach its target then there is no reason not to think other trainers would also be considered for this type of mission.


Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

....

Luiz

 

[jknaus]

Cool. Will you be doing it in the training orangy colour?
James

 

[lupanzer]

Very nice ... Super clean

Luiz

 

[matrixone]

Thanks again guys!

James,
I don't fancy the overall orange scheme, my model will be finished as a war weary green over light gray aircraft that has been handed over to the Kamikaze and will have externally mounted bombs.

Even though the Tamiya Dinah has a horrible reputation as a difficult to build model I am speeding along with it anyway and have not run into any problems just yet...as soon as I hit some snags I will probably ditch the model and return to finishing my Bf 110G-4. There has got to a reason you never see these things built even though its a terrific looking airplane...the looks of it is why I bought this kit in the first place.
Not a drop of paint has been sprayed on the Tamiya Dinah yet, I am getting several assemblies ready for paint so I can paint all of them and some parts from other models in one airbrush session.

Matrixone

 

[matrixone]

I started putting paint on the Tamiya Dinah, now I can get to work on painting the interior. B)

The propellers and spinners are painted and weathered, the yellow markings on the prop blades will be added later.

The engines in this Tamiya kit have some really nice molded in detail, I will use some pin washes with oil paint to bring out the detail better.

Here is another Arii model that I will build, its the 1/48 scale Ki-61.

This model will be put in the markings of this aircraft.

This old kit has some very nice surface detail...

...but some of the poor fit of the parts will cause the loss of a little bit of detail.

Here are some Aeromaster decals of Japanese aircraft and you can see the difference in the red used for the national markings, the Ki-61 decal sheet on the left and the Ki-84 decal sheet on the right.

And the Ki-84 decals next to the Dinah decals on the right side. Both the Ki-46 and Ki-61 national markings are way too brown, they look worse in person...the Ki-84 roundels are actually a brighter red than what you see in my pictures. How could Aeromaster get this so wrong?

Matrixone

 

[Piet]

Top as Always

 

[moon puppy]

You're going all out!

 

[phantom II]

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[Adam]

Nice camo scheme! Those Arii/Otaki kits always build up real nice.

 

[Duke Maddog]

Man, I'm loving this Japanese Air Force Buildup! You models are always magnificent and I'm thrilled to see these Japanese aircraft being done.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks guys!

At last I have something interesting done on the Tamiya Dinah. Some detail painting has been done on the interior parts. The Japanese Interiors book by Mikesh was a great help to act as a guide for painting this model but it also points out that Tamiya maybe could have done a little better with some of the interior parts, perhaps they did not have complete information on the interior when designing this kit.

I will brush on a coat of Future of these parts and later will use an oil pin wash make some of the molded in details stand out better. If needed some dry brushing will be added.

Some painting of the interior of the Ki-61 was done too but there is hardly any detail to paint on this old kit...I did what I could.

I added some plastic to act as a shim on the lower engine cowling and this helps the nose piece to fit much better without needing to fill and sand the step that was there before. I also did dry fitting of the wings to the fuselage and it looks like a pretty good fit even with the shim added.

Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

Brilliant , Les

Luiz

 

[matrixone]

Thank you Luiz.

When I use the oil paint on the Ki-46 and Ki-61 interiors I will also do the oil paint pin washes on the Ki-84 at the same time, I have held off on doing much on the Ki-84 for this reason...I need to get on with it and get it off my work table. :S


Matrixone

 

[Gator]

Very nice.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Gator!

Some of the work with oil paint has been done on the Ki-84 mostly around the engine cowling and wheel wells.

There are a few access panels that I also detailed with the oil pin wash on the wings, the remaining pin washes will be on the control surface gaps.
Also done was painting some red on the national markings to represent some touch ups done by the ground crew to keep the rising sun emblems in good condition. This is hard to see on the model right now and I hope the flat clear coat will make it more visible.

Here are some snaps of the Ki-46 cockpit parts after some work with oil paints were done to add some depth to the structure.

The engines were also given a light wash with oil paint to bring out the molded in detail.

The cockpit parts during dry fitting to check how they will look later on.

There are a few tiny things that still need painting on the cockpit parts but after that I will spray all the interior parts with flat clear to blend everything together...I REALLY like this Tamiya kit.

Just like the Ki-46 I tried to detail the Ki-61 with oil paints but there is hardly anything to detail in that cockpit plus the coke bottle thick canopy will not allow much to be seen anyway.


Matrixone

 

[Duke Maddog]

Way to go Les! Most impressive work; that interior looks extremely well done.

 

[matrixone]

Thanks Duke Maddog!
Usually I don't spend too much time tarting up the interiors but due to the amount of cockpit glass on the Dinah some of the work I am doing on it will be seen on the finished model.

Matrixone

 

[lupanzer]

Awesome ,Les...as always :salute

Luiz

 

[ij001]

Looking great Les.

Ian.