1:32 Kawasaki Ki-61-I Hien

A Japanese fighter with a V12 engine

The Ki-61 was an exception among Japanese fighters. Instead of a radial engine it was given a liquid-cooled inverted V12, thanks to which it had a slender nose and good performance at greater altitudes. Allied airmen at first took it for an imported European machine, which earned it a reporting name that referred to Italian fighters.

Three aircraft of the defense of the home islands

All the subjects belong to the 244th Air Regiment, which defended the Tokyo area against raids by heavy bombers. The first is a machine with the red 295 from 1944, the second is the same aircraft in its state of January 1945, when the commander of the regiment took it over, and the third carries the red number 43 and comes from 1945. In all three cases it is the Hei subvariant, that is the form with reworked armament.

A note on the markings

Japanese fighter regiments used colored bands and stylized insignia on the rudder, which at this scale have a large enough area for any irregularity of the base to show. Before applying them it therefore pays to sand the edges of the rudder with very fine paper and only then to paint. The motifs settle better one at a time rather than in whole blocks.

• Three finishes for a single model in 1:32
• Subjects from a regiment defending the Tokyo area
• The Hei subvariant with reworked armament
• The large insignia on the rudder call for a smooth base
• A set of decals; the parts of a model are not included