Fernando N's Tiger Model Nakajima KI-84 Hayate

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

As some of you might know I have a couple of these in the stash as a testbed for paint colours and good old fun just building a simple kit.
So here’s number one, think these are mainly for the kids giving them a stepping stone in the hobby, the parts are simple snap fit with optional use of glue.
The contents of box:


One version, the box one:

First Tiger Model for me and the quality of moulding and detail is very nice and on par with the major players.
Started with the office and as there are no colour call-outs I grabbed some Tamiya instructions to lend a helping hand, used Revell enamels to paint the interior:


Not many upgrades planned, just drilled out the exhausts:

Had a chance to test me new tools for the decal work and pretty pleased they worked as hoped, ip decal fitted in nicely too, for those who like to paint there is a normal version too:

Made up some seat belts, had good fun fretting with the wires getting suitable shapes :

All painted and weathered with some browns before closing up:


And a nice tight fitting fuselage:

That’s it for now folks, hope to have more time this week and start air-brushing in the weekend.

Thanks for looking in.
Fernando

 

[Polux]

Wow!! Nice work so far...
The office looks magnificent

 

[Deleted member 5819]

Hi Fernando and welcome to the GB, great start to your build, glad the water pen worked out ok, I've put a few tips below about dry fitting etc on these types kit, may or may not help I'm certainly not trying to tell you how to build your models It's just what I've learnt build them.
Cheers Pete.

Hi, Jim mentioned dry fitting yesterday the only downside is that dry fitting is a problem as once the two parts are together they are some times very hard to separate. I soon learnt that early on with the toon tanks, I should have mentioned it, far be it for me to tell any of you how to build but a quick sand around the connecting pins and you can get them apart again without damage, the other tip is to cut 3/5mm of the smaller connecting pin the male one, that is best one I have found.

I would also recommend that you thoroughly wash the tank tracks, on the last two toons thay were very oily and even the sprues had a slight oily feel.

I haven't come across a glue that won't glue these together yet and I glue everything on.
Pete.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

Love the office work Fernando, top job.

 

[papa 695]

Looking very nice Fernando

 

[Jim R]

Hi Fernando
You've made a cracking job of the cockpit. Seat belts look very neat and add a lot to the interior. Drilling of the exhausts is well done - 12 drilled and 12 in the centre In your photo of the Set and Sol applicators what is that brush with the long hairs behind?
Jim

 

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

Polyx, Bob and Ian, thank you.
Pete, thanks and also for the tips, should have thought about it myself before but being on a builders jazz I forgot about the pins….lower wing had a resulting gap to fill whoops.
Jim, thank you too and the brush on the background is a Harder and Steenbeck Kolibri 333 from a pack of five:

Bought them two years ago and had to replace the 2/0, 3/0 and 5/0 only recently due to all the use, they work great with enamels and acrylics.

Been a bit busy on this little one the last couple of days and not having many parts managed to complete assembly before the weekend, including some filling and sanding due to some fools rush to get it glued together before the weekend …
Then came the windshield and canopy:

As these are designed for kids and are snap together, the 5XL attachment points make sense but I didn’t like the look of having some extra window frames on the inside .
First grinded these away with a cutting blade on a multitool:

Then came carefully cutting the excess away, followed by sanding the area’s smooth going from 400, 1000, 1500 to 2000 grit.
After sanding polishing time with 3800, 4000, 6000, 8000 and 12000 grade micromesh.
Restored clearness using a mix of 1:2 Vallejo Gloss and Airbrush thinner, looked like this after an afternoon of work:

Carved a bit too deep at some spots, that the subsequent steps couldn’t remove so the scratches are a part of the weathering:

Made a simple gunsight from 0.4mm brass and finished the office with some 6B pencil scratches :

Added a break line to each wheel too, the wheel wells are pretty barren:

Masked off and ready for the primer and paints:


Hope to have some time in the week to paint it up, eager to see how the VJ colours look like, more on those later.
Thanks for looking in and have a great week everyone.

Fernando

 

[wotan]

Fernando

Great job on the cockpit and a very sharp looking build so far.

John

 

[Deleted member 5819]

Hi Fernando nice work on the cockpit, like the seat belts and the gun sight is a nice touch .

Have you tried Kolibri synthetic blue brushes, I use the red one as you do but have stared using the blue one's as well which are very good.

Pete.

 

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

John and Pete thanks guys.

I’ll have look for the blue ones the next time in the local airbrush shop Pete and two years’ service for a pack of five at €15.50 isn’t that bad, at least the hairs are more consistent than Revell’s brushes….

Just a small update of the paintjob now, before spraying VJ 71.010 Int. Green on the canopy I covered any gaps with PVA.
After the green dried, VJ Grey primer was sprayed on followed with a bit more to fill around the edge of the canopy with regular filler.
With filler on it was time for the panel lines using VJ 71.057 Black:

The underside was sprayed with VJ 71.312 IJN Med. Grey in a couple light coats to keep the shading intact (looks better in real):

Same was done to the topside with VJ 71.325 IJN Dk. Black Green and VJ 71.001 with 71.002 for the Yellow id stripes:

It’s under two coats of VJ gloss varnish now but hope it will be dry soon for the decals and weathering.

Thanks for looking in and have a great week everyone.
Fernando

 

[Deleted member 4539]

Looking real good Fernando.

 

[Mr Bowcat]

That looks great Fernando.

 

[Jim R]

Hi Fernando
Looking excellent. Amazing how good these Toon builds can look when built by a modeller with skill
Jim

 

[Deleted member 5819]

Hi Fernando, looking good, as Jim has said "Amazing how good these Toon builds can look when built by a modeller with skill" would you like to paint my one .
Pete.

 

[Fernando N]

Evening all,

Ralph and Bob, thanks guys.
Jim, thank you, coming from a you much appreciated sir.
Pete, thanks and if I lived closer I would be happy to help you out but the Lanc is pretty safe in your capable hands and brushes.

Made good progress the last week, forgot to take any pics in between so here’s most of the steps in text…

Finished the decals early in the week and they worked like a charm with Microsol setting in nicely, the curve on the sides left a crease on the two roundels.
Airbrushed the prop too but instead of the proscribed XF-10 it was VJ 71.036 Mahogany with a mist of VJ 71.057 Black.
Some detail painting after that, guns wheels exhausts and a correction here and there of the airbrushing.

Gave it a wash of AK 093 for the undersides and A.MIG-1005 for the upper surfaces yesterday, a little stippling here and there with aluminium paint for chipping and a couple of soot streaks from Tammy’s Weathering master B (the make-up box thingy).
Applied a coat of VJ matt varnish and left to dry overnight expecting to remove the masking this morning and finish it.

This morning when revieuwing the result not really happy with the look, not matt enough so a second coat was sprayed on and I went on my morning run to enjoy the spring day:

Back from a nice warm run, the matt had enough time to dry and it was unmasking time.

When peeling away the canopy masking I found out some paint crept under, cleaned that up with a sharpened sate-stick and touched up the paint and gloss of the clear canopy.

Drop tanks, prop and a wire put on and it all was finished:





Will be adding more photo’s to the completed section soon.

Thanks for looking in and have a great week everyone.
Fernando

 

[papa 695]

Looks great Fernando

 

[Si Benson]

That looks fantastic Fernando
And what a beautiful view for a run! Just the thought of running makes my knees painful

 

[Fernando N]

Thanks Ian and you too Si, indeed running is only great if your knees are up to it.

Made this photo at 2/3s of a 30km run, lucky to live close to great parks and lakes....

 

[Jim R]

Hi Fernando
That looks very nice indeed. I'll bet Tiger Models never thought this would be built to such a high standard.
Jim

 

[Deleted member 5819]

Hi sorry for the late reresponse I'm back in hospital, very nice indeed, top work as always .
Pete .