Scale aviation modeller international

One crucial aspect behind the application of the

comprehensive decal suite was the demand to let

various items to set before applying follow-up items in a

time consumed but demanded layered approach

The final result of all my efforts saw a nice 1/72 scale replica of the

Kawasaki Ki-61-Id Tei resplendent in a colourful finish of retained

markings from the 244th Sentai combined with the IJAAF’s Scheme

B3 mottled camouflage

Still possessing the kill markings achieved by the

renowned Captain Teruhiko Kobayashi, this by

May 1945 battle worn fighter was passed onto

2nd Lieutenant Shunzo Takashima from the 159th

Shinbu-tai special attack unit

been stripped of its ordnance

and all usable instrumentation

removed. And it would have

carried two 250 kg bombs

mounted underwing in place of

the auxiliary 200 litre drop tanks.

The base for this massive

decaling project was to be Tamiya

acrylics, with Bare Metal Silver

(AS-12) predominate and Flat

Aluminium (XF-16) wing control

surfaces. Flat Red (XF-7) was used

for the tail and Semi-Gloss Black

(X-18) for the anti-glare panel.

Red Brown (XF-64) was

used for the propeller.

Tamiya’s decals

are used in two

stages. I started with

the camouflage pattern decals,

covering the entire fuselage in

two halves and the upper wing

surfaces, even the radio antenna!

I was a bit worried about how

the decals would cope with the

fuselage shape, especially the

compound curves. But though

I imagined this was going to be

a stressful process, it actually

turned out to be trouble-free.

The principal camouflage

decals went down just fine, aided

by the application of Micro-Sol

and Set solutions. I strongly

recommended working in stages

and letting each stage dry

overnight before moving on,

especially when it comes to

overlying decals like the national

insignia and unit markings.

The decals also supply a large

number of stencils, tallies, and

markings, some of which are

extremely small, calling for fine

tweezers and magnification to

I found that all decals, from even the large two fuselage

halves and upper wing components, right down to the smallest

information tally, all went down just fine

26 • JULY 2018 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

022-27-JapWings-Tony-0718.indd 26 11/06/2018 13:54