Nakajima Ki-43 - Halinski - 1/33

[Erik Zwaan]

What a smooth cowling Ricardo! Cutting out those shark teeth already fills one's evening full of work, ha, ha!

Erik

[ricleite]

@ Erik - You know, when the parts are slim, the teeth should not be long. But they could be broader, making fewer of them to cut. The not so bad point is that each (small) cut can be made by just pressing the knife.

The gunsight is a tiny assembly. Being black in a black background makes it almost invisible.

[ricleite]

As usual, I used the canopy accessory produced by Halinski, It is very transparent and fits well.

[Erik Zwaan]

Certainly a great fit, looks very good! Do you apply glue to the entire surface or style by style, or simply a few dots here and there? I have also heard of builders who use double sided tape. Canopies are tricky, excess of glue must be rubbed away and in case of using acetate based glue a wooden tooth pick works miracles.

Cheers,
Erik

[ricleite]

@ Erik - I almost invariably adjust the parts to the plastic canopy step by step. Gluing a complete part in just a single step would be too risky. I apply glue on dots or, mainly, edges/frames and not all of them. The middle frames may not need glue. All-purpose glue works acceptably.

The wing leading edge bulges to accommodate the landing gear. The double curvature is approximated by a sequence of narrow parts with awkward shapes. As you can see in the third picture, I put those parts together before applying them.

[Don Boose]

Beautiful work. The internal structure for the antenna is excellent - superb craftsmanship even though it is invisible once the model is assembled.

Don

[MrConk]

Most excellent. Do you use a canopy glue or a regular paper glue?

[Isaac]

Ricardo

Magnificent work!

but

all that beautiful cockpit detail disappeared under the closed canopy.


Isaac

[Erik Zwaan]

Well Ricardo, there's really nothing I can add to Isaac's comment: Magnificent work, every aspect of your build looks so tremendously clean. You're almost there!

Erik

[Mike1158]

Brilliant, great build.