Ki-78 Ken-San by krzychu

[CMDRTED]

Domo Arigato gozaimas Don-San ! The next kinda lame installment is attaching the tail and finishing the flying surface alignment dance. I waited to do the tail segment last because it is very simple to twist the segment into as perfect alignment as possible. kinda neat design that lets you do that...

[piotter]

Wow ! What a fast build rate!
I played with mine with couple of weeks...

[CMDRTED]

Thanks Piotter, The kit seems to go together faster and better when it is well designed. Next up is the landing gear, a deceptively complex affair. It has the normal rolled tube main leg, but a separate lower wheel holding part that covers the bent wire reenforcement. there is a wierd bend in the gear covering that is well marked where to place the attachment parts. The last complex bit which might work if this was 1/33 scale is the upper leg to gear door attachment. It is a little wedge shaped part that it is intended to punch a hole thru it to capture the leg. try as I could it wasn't going well so instead of going thru I just had it go next to it which worked out better. Here is the gear installed and the engine compartment added, just waiting for the canopy to bake...

[Alcides]

Very good work in the landing gear. I fell sometimes you have display it upside down a build to show that

What technique do you use for wheels?

[Don Boose]

That is a good-looking undercarriage, Ted, but I can see that the fiddly bits pose a challenge. I'd really love to try to build this one some day and am saving all your images and narration for when (and if) I do.

OBTW, you know that Mike Krol offers some interesting Japanese aircraft, including the Heinkle 100 in Jn markings (AXHe1). Some day, I expect a Bf-109 in Japanese markings to appear. And they can easily be scaled to 1/50 -- Just sayin'.

Don

[CMDRTED]

I know Don. Mike is ichi-ban with nipponese offerings. I have most of the kits from gremir, the japanese ones are on the mid list as they are all superdetailed and would tax me something terrible.
Well here she is finished with canopy glass. There could be a little more cockpit detail as I modeled to cockpit open. Maybe with a little more research I'll just tack on a few bits and detail it up, for now she looks just fine to me.

[GAJouette]

Congratulations on one beautifully built KI-78 my friend.
Highest Regards,
Gregory Jouette

[Don Boose]

Congratulations, Ted! This is an excellent addition to your aviation stable. The model is visually striking and the lines where the fuselage sections meet give a realistic/impressionistic sense of slightly weathered panel lines.

I think models provide an understanding and a visual impression of objects that does not always come through in photographs and other types of images of the real thing. For aircraft like this one, for which there are a limited number of photos in existence, the well-crafted model is a priceless glimpse of history. Thanks to K74 for designing the model and to you for bringing it to life.

I look forward to your next project.

Don

[cardist]

I would like to second what everyone here has been saying. I am particularly impressed with your edge-colouring. Spot on!
This has been an enjoyable and informative thread to follow. I have a few smaller scale aircraft models that I would like to build after watching this. What I have noticed over the past year or so is the increasing quality of smaller-scale card aircraft kits.
All the best and happy modelling
Bernie

[cMags]

Excellent build, congratulations! Your technique looks very similar to mine. I'd love to see you attack some of Krzychu's other kits, such as his new F6F Hellcat.