1:32 Ki-84 FRANK

Frank was the best Nakajima managed in time

The Ki-84 Hayate, Allied code Frank, came about as an answer to ever faster American fighters. A radial engine of over eighteen hundred horsepower, self-sealing tanks, armor behind the pilot and armament that gave nothing away to its opponent: on paper the machine the Japanese Army Air Force had needed from the start. It got into service only in 1944, though, when other numbers than performance figures were deciding matters.

Early examples flew, late ones fell apart

The difference between the early and the late form here is not in aerodynamics but in quality. The first series had armament made up of two cannon and two heavy machine guns, later versions were given four cannon. At the same time, though, raw materials and skilled workers were running out: landing gear legs cracked, the pressure system leaked and the engines did not give the stated output. Experimental variants with a wooden rear fuselage and with steel parts replacing light alloys also came about. The glazing, by contrast, stayed the same throughout: a sliding dome over the cockpit, a fixed front frame and a glazed area behind the pilot whose small frames are among the things that give a model away most.

What you will find in the box

The list of contents ends with the double covering of the glazing, that is the outside and the inside, and with a pair of insignia masks. Decals, unlike with most of the neighboring sets of the same range, are missing here. The round Japanese marking is very easy to spray, because it has no inner detail, and a sprayed area behaves more faithfully on a deep green finish than the film of a decal.