1:72 Canopy Mask for Ki-78 (AZMOD)

A record machine that stayed the only one

The Kawasaki Ki-78 was not a combat aircraft and was never meant to be one. It came out of a brief Japan set itself at the end of the 1930s: to build a machine capable of threatening the world speed record. The aeronautical research institute of Tokyo Imperial University took part in it, and the result was a small single-seat type with an unusually small wing area, high wing loading and a cockpit into which the pilot rather squeezed himself than sat down.

Power came from a licensed Daimler-Benz DB 601A supplemented by the injection of a water mixture, which allowed the output to be pushed well above the rated figure for short periods. The machine first left the ground on December 26, 1942. The best measured result came a year later, on December 27, 1943, when the Ki-78 reached 699.9 km/h. That was not enough for the 850 km/h set as the target, the takeoff run was unbearably long, and after thirty-one flights completed the program ended in January 1944. A single example was built.

What the set is for

The package holds pre-cut self-adhesive masks for the framing of the canopy and for other clear areas. They are applied to the transparent part, lifted off after spraying, and the edges of the frames stay sharp and straight. A result like that is hard to find by going over them with a brush by hand, especially in small scales, where the frame is narrower than the stroke of an ordinary brush.

The shape of the cut-outs matches one particular Ki-78 kit from the brand AZ model. On other models of the same aircraft in the same size the mask need not fit, because the thickness and the curvature of the clear part differ.