Hasegawa Nakajima Ki44-II Otsu SHOKI (Tojo) 1:48 – build review

Kit: 08200
Feature article by Gary Wickham

A note from Geoff

Great to see Gary back in Build Now, this time with his superbly finished Nakajima Ki44-II Otsu Shoki (Tojo) w/40mm cannons. Japanese aircraft from WWII are almost always interesting, not only from a markings/scheme point of view but the way they weathered. This can then make for a great modelling project and that’s exactly what we have here. We are all in for another treat, not least because Gary is so good at illustrating and showing exactly what he has done during the build. All those fixes, adjustments and additions are shown with photos and often great captions that I for one find very useful. Thanks Gary – take it away…

Intro comments

Looking for a change of pace after the E-2C in 1:72, I decided I wanted to have a crack at a natural metal finish (NMF). Knowing how much love and attention Hasegawa puts in any Japanese subject, I figured it would be perfectly safe to build the Ki44 Tojo pretty much out of the box. Well, as it turned out, this was really a bunch of “firsts” for me:

• first NMF using Alclads
• first time I have painted ALL the markings on (no decals)
• first time I have built a base with grass (very happy with how that turned out BTW)

Oh, the crew figure is from Wolfpack and the pilot is from the Tamiya Zero.

On with the build…