Flying Tigers' War(t)haw(g)

Historical Background

During the Vietnam War, large numbers of ground attack aircraft were badly damaged, if not shot down by low-level anti-aircraft fire, surface-to-air missiles and even small arms fire, prompting the search for an aircraft able to survive such weapons. In addition, the close-support UH-1 armed Hueys and AH-1 Huey Cobra helicopter gunships were not well-suited for anti-armour operations and the fast jets such as the F-100 Super Sabre, F-4 Phantom II and F-105 Thunderchief were mostly ineffective for close air support because their high speed did not allow pilots enough time to get an accurate fix of targets on the ground, and their thirsty turbojets restricts loiter time. The only effective attack aircraft during the war was the ageing, Korean War-vintage A-1 Skyraider.

In 1966, the USAF formed the Attack, Experimental (A-X) program office and in March 1967, a Request For Information was sent to defence contractors for the A-X. The objective was to create a design study for a low-cost attack aircraft. In 1969, the Secretary of the Air Force asked the aircraft designer, Pierre Sprey to draw up the detailed specifications for the A-X project. Discussions with A-1 pilots and analysis of aircraft then in use for the role indicated that the ideal Close Air Support (CAS) aircraft should have long loiter time, low-speed maneuverability, massive firepower and extreme survivability; or, an aircraft having the best attributes of the Douglas A-1 Skyraider, Henschel Hs 129 and the Ilyushin Il-2. In May 1970, the USAF issued a modified and more detailed Request For Proposals (RFP), taking into account the massive Soviet armoured force and all-weather capability. The RFP specified an aircraft with a maximum speed of 400mph, take-off distance of 4,000 feet, external load of 16,000lb and 460km operational radius. It would also be specifically designed around a 30mm cannon, of which a separate RFP was issued. The RFP for the cannon specified a high muzzle velocity and a rate of fire of 4,000 rounds per minute. Six companies submitted theirs with Northrop and Fairchild Republic selected to build the prototypes : the YA-9A and YA-10A with General Electric and Philco-Ford to build the GAU-8 30mm rotary cannon prototypes. The prototype YA-10A first flew 10 May 1972 and after trials and a fly-off against the YA-9A, was selected on 18 January 1973 for production. The first production aircraft flew in October 1975 and delivery to the USAF commenced in March 1976. The A-10 was officially named Thunderbolt II, as Republic's earlier P-47 Thunderbolt was renowned for CAS missions during World War 2. More popular however is the nickname Warthog, or simply Hog.

The A-10 has superb maneuverability at low speeds and altitude because of its large wing area, high wing aspect ratio and large ailerons. The high wing aspect ratio also allows short take-off and landing capability, permitting operations from primitive airfields near the forward edge of the battle area, or damaged runways. It was also designed to be fueled, rearmed and serviced with minimal equipment. Many of the parts were also interchangeable between either side. The leading edge of the wing, together with the flap shrouds, elevators, rudders and sections of the fins were made using honeycomb panel construction, providing strength with minimal weight penalty. The aircraft was also designed to be tough, being able to survive direct hits from AP and HE projectiles up to 23mm. The flight system is of double redundancy hydraulic type with a mechanical back-up (known as manual reversion system) if the hydraulics were totally lost. The aircraft was also designed to fly with one engine, one tail, one elevator with half of one wing missing. The cockpit and parts of the flight control systems was protected with a 'bathtub' of titanium armour ranging from 13 to 38mm thick; total weight of the 'bathtub' was 540 kg. The two General Electric TF-34-GE-100 turbofan engines were mounted high on the fuselage to decrease Foreign Object Damage risk. The high bypass ratio of the engines means low IR signature and their location, directing the exhaust gases over the tailplane helps mask them further from IR-guided missiles.

The main built-in weapon of the A-10 is the General Electric GAU-8/A Avenger 30mm Gatling-type cannon. One of the most powerful aircraft cannon, the A-10 was designed around this weapon system. The whole gun system weighs 1,828kg with full ammunition load and measures 5.931 m long from the muzzle to the rearmost point of the ammunition system. The magazine can hold 1,174 rounds although 1,150 was the normal load-out. The standard ammunition mix is a five-to-one mix of PGU-14/B Armour Piercing Incendiary rounds, incorporating a Depleted Uranium core, and PGU-13/B High Explosive Incendiary rounds. The rate of fire originally selectable between 2,100 rpm and 4,200 rpm. Later this was fixed at 3,900 rpm. Other weapons include 'dumb' bombs of the Mk.80 family, cluster munitions and laser-guided bombs, although the last mentioned is uncommonly used. A more commonly used guided munitions is the AGM-65 Maverick missile. During Operation Desert Storm the IR camera of the AGM-65D version was used by A-10 pilots as a poor man's FLIR (Forward Looking Infra Red) as the aircraft was not equipped with dedicated FLIR. ECM pods and AIM-9 Sidewinder AAM were also used for self-defence.  

The first unit to receive the A-10 was the 355th Tactical Training Wing based at Davis-Monthan AFB, Arizona. The first mission-capable unit was the 354th Tactical Fighter Wing, then based at Myrtle AFB, South Carolina in 1978. Originally unwelcomed by the fighter community as they traditionally favour speed (not to mention appearance). Furthermore, a number of A-10s were shifted to the role of Forward Air Control (FAC) and designated OA-10. These FAC aircraft however are physically unchanged and remain fully combat capable. The first combat experience for the A-10s came in 1991 during Operation Desert Storm. They flew 8,100 sorties and destroying more than 900 Iraqi tanks, 2,000 other vehicles and 1,200 artillery pieces. They also managed to shot down two helicopters using their cannon while losing four of their numbers to SAMs. Another three battle-damaged aircraft managed to get back to base but were written-off. The Warthog were also active in The Balkans, taking part in Operation Deliberate Force and Operation Allied Force. Although not initially involved, the A-10 was active over Afghanistan during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Anaconda. They returned to the Gulf in 2003 during Operation Iraqi Freedom and in 2011 took part in Operation Odyssey Dawn in Libya.

The A-10 has received many upgrades over the years. In 1978, the Pave Penny laser spot tracker was fitted, allowing the aircraft to receive reflected laser radiation from laser designators for faster and more accurate target identification. Inertial Navigation System was received in 1980 and the Low Altitude Safety and Targeting Enhancement (LASTE) upgrade provided computerized weapon-aiming procedure, an autopilot and a ground collision warning system. In 2005 the entire A-10 fleet received Precision Engagement upgrades that include an improved fire-control system, ECM and smart bomb targeting with the aircraft receiving the upgrade designated A-10C (A-10B was a one-off night/adverse weather prototype). The Hog's service may be extended to 2028 although there are proposals for earlier retirement.

The Kit

Italeri released a new tool 1/72 scale A-10A in 1997; this was followed in 1998 by the OA-10A. Although I have not personally checked the original A-10A release, I believe the contents of the boxes are the same. After all, physically, the OA-10A is the same with the A-10A. On initial inspection, it looks like Italeri has a winner here. The panel lines are tiny and crisp, the shape and dimension are generally spot on (although some modelers beg to differ). The cockpit, although paled in comparison with aftermarket resin ones, should look good once painted and weathered with one of the best ACES II ejection seat in plastic that I have ever seen. What truly sets it apart from the Hasegawa kit is the ordnance load - Hydra rocket pods, Rockeye CBUs, Maverick ASMs, Sidewinder AAMs and even a large external fuel tank. The gun barrel however need some work, or help from an aftermarket set. The boarding ladder can be posed in the open position and so are the canopy and the ailerons/speedbrakes. The marking options are for two FS36320/36375-painted aircraft; however Italeri marked the darker colour as FS35257. While already a boring scheme, it was further worsened by the choice of decals - both featured rather anonymous aircraft:
1. 81-962, 52nd Fighter Wing, Spangdahlem; and
2. 80-258, 110th Fighter Group, Michigan ANG, Kellogg ANGB, Battle Creek, Mich.

Construction

As usual with aircraft models, construction started at the cockpit. As mentioned before, the cockpit is actually good enough out-of-the box as it featured detailed and crisp raised details. The cockpit parts and the fuselage sidewalls were painted Gunze Sangyo Aqueous H317 (FS 36231 Dark Gull Grey), XF-1 Flat Black and XF-2 Flat White where appropriate. The ACES II ejection seat consists of  three parts and has good enough detail that I decided not to use a Neomega resin ACES II seat in my stash, saving it for a more needy kit. The bottom half of the forward fuselage, incorporating the nose wheel well was also assembled, after painting the wheel well XF-2 Flat White. Before the fuselage halves were cemented together, Italeri suggested that 30g of ballast should be placed in the nose area. I ended up filling the whole nose cavity with plasticene and I guess it might weigh more than 30g. The fuselage halves did not align well, but the bottom of the nose/nosewheel assembly was more problematic, needing puttying and sanding in order to get the nosewheel assembly to fit to the fuselage halves. Bypassing the assembly of the wings, I assembled the engine nacelles. According to some modelers, the fan blade count for the Italeri A-10 was wrong...I weren't terribly concerned anyway but the fit is, well, bad. None of the engine nacelle parts fit well and require filling and sanding (and I end up forgetting to sand some of the seams!) . Thankfully the entire engine assembly fit nicely with the fuselage and so did the tail assembly.

Then I turned to the wings. Again, like the the fuselage and the engine nacelles, the fit was bad. The upper and lower wing halves have slight misalignment and rather large gaps at the the joint near the wingtips. Thankfully, the latter was at the bottom of the wing so was not really noticeable. The inboard slats was glued in the deployed position (upon reflection, I should have cut the posts and put them in the lowered position). All the pylons were cemented but I leave the Sidewinder and Maverick launch rails for later The same goes with the airbrakes. Returning to the fuselage, I cemented the nosecap and the cannon barrel. The latter has poor detail and I think best enhanced using aftermarket products, Then it is time to paint.

Painting and Finishing

Post-1990s, the colour of the A-10 fleet was rather boring. Apart from a few airframes painted in experimental paint schemes, the rest of the Hogs were painted two-tone greys : Light Ghost Grey FS 36375 and Dark Ghost Grey FS 36320. Rather than using the kit decals however, I used TwoBobs' "Shark Bait" decal sheet, featuring three aircraft from the 74th and 75th Fighter Squadron, 23rd Fighter Group during Operation Iraqi Freedom. The painting scheme is the same with all other Hogs and I used Gunze Sangyo Aqueous paints. For the false canopy underneath the nose, I painted it FS 36118 freehand...yeah, I should have made the masking for it, but laziness had struck me; besides, it was underneath the plane, so it was most likely out of view and I have no intention to enter my models for any competition! The gun barrel was painted XF-1 Flat Black and later on graphite powder was rubbed onto it.

The Twobobs decal sheet featured three aircraft : callsign 'KC', 'Virga' and 'Tweeder'. After reading the background information, I chose 'KC' for my Hog (plus it was the most vibrant). KC or 'Killer Chick' was the call-sign of Captain (now LTC) Kim Nichole Reed-Campbell of the 74th FS, 23rd FG. On 7 August 2003, while flying A-10A s/n 81-987, she took heavy anti-aircraft fire damage over Baghdad while supporting the troops on the ground. The aircraft lost all hydraulics and started to roll left towards the ground. She tried several procedures to get the aircraft back under control; none of which worked. She eventually put the aircraft in the aforementioned manual reversion mode, after which the aircraft responded well. Landing was tricky however, as without hydraulics, there were no airbrakes, brakes and steering. After landing, it was found that the aircraft had suffered damage to the engine and the hydraulic system. Hundreds of holes peppered the airframe and large sections of the aileron were missing. For this action, Cpt. Campbell was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The Twobobs decals are nicely thin and have good register. The Flying Tiger insignia and the Air Combat Command shield decals have separate white backings to ensure no colour bleed-through. However I still use the kit decals for the IFR probe as it looked like they are nicer than the Twobobs' offering. All the decals responded well to decal softening solutions. The model was then subjected to a combination of sludge wash and 2B pencil for enhancing the details.

Finishing

The final assembly started with the landing gear parts. They are assembled, painted Tamiya XF-2 Flat White and weathered, this time with a thin application of Tamiya X-19 Smoke. Like the rest of the kit, they have nice details and suitably 'pop up' with the wash. I did however lost one part of the main landing gear doors to the Carpet Monster....anyway, unlike many other kits, there weren't many aerials to fit onto the aircraft, as they were already moulded in-situ (and thankfully, they are rather large and quite able to withstand the odd knockings). For the weapons, the TwoBobs instruction sheet includes an arming suggestion, based on a typical A-10 load for CAS missions during Operation Iraqi Freedom:
(Port-to-Starboard)
Station 1: AIM-9M Sidewinder on twin rail launcher
Station 2: LAU-68 7-tube rocket launcher pod
Station 3: AGM-65 Maverick
Station 4-8 : Mk 82 500-lb bomb (Station 5 empty)
Station 9: AGM-65 Maverick
Station 10: LAU-68 7-tube rocket launcher pod
Station 11: AN/ALQ-184 ECM pod (long)

I used the kit's Sidewinders as I have run out of the 'L' (the 'M' has the same physical shape) version in my stash. While the missiles are OK, the twin launcher looks too wide. I tried to use Hasegawa's twin launchers but the one in the Air-To-Air Weapons Set are for the Phantom, furthermore, while dimensionally correct (I guess), the shape was wrong for the A-10's launcher rail. The LAU-68s were also from the kit as Hasegawa's weapon set only have the LAU-3 and LAU-10 pods. The Mavericks are also from the kit, as Italeri moulded the seeker head separately using clear styrene. The Mk.82s came from Hasegawa's Weapon Set I and the ECM pod is from Hasegawa's Weapon Set VII. The AN/ALQ-184 pod however is of the 'short' version. As mentioned before, the airbrakes can be posed in the opened position. In reality however, the airbrakes are hardly left in that position on the ground unless for maintenance. The kit airbrakes however are meant to be in that position only as the instructions did not show the steps to assemble them in the closed position. I tried anyway by simply dry-fitting the halves....they didn't fit well at all. I then tried swapping the lower halves and they have better fit. The fit of the airbrakes to the wing however left a lot to be desired though. I am tired of the kit by this time and left them as they were. Finally, the canopy was fitted in the open position.

Conclusion

Is Italeri's 1/72 Warthog a nice kit? Yes I believe so, with good detail overall. However, the assembly was far from easy, and I ended up having seam lines at the badly-fitting parts (especially at the engine nacelles and the spine of the aircraft); definitely my worst work. As an excuse (ha!), this build actually took place several years ago, when I was at my (extended) Padawan stage and given a second chance, I believe I can make better model out of Italeri's 1/72 A-10s.

World Famous Flying Tigers

Historical Background

Curtiss' P-40 (Hawk 81) was developed from their earlier P-36 Hawk (Hawk 75). In fact the first prototype XP-40 was the 10th production P-36 with the original Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp air-cooled radial engine being replaced with a liquid-cooled, supercharged Allison V-1710 V-12 inline engine and was first flown in October 1938. The original prototype had the coolant radiator placed in the underbelly of the plane, just aft of the wing trailing edge. This however caused a large drag. Curtiss engineers, using data obtained from the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA), moved the radiator to the chin position with the air scoop also incorporating the intake for the oil cooler. Improvements to the landing gear fairings and exhaust manifolds also improved the performance and further tests in December 1939 proved that the aircraft could reach 366 mph ( the original prototype can only flew at around 315mph). The Allison V-1710 engine produced around 1,040hp at sea level and at 4,300m, pretty average by the standards of the time and the single-stage supercharger means that it cannot compete with contemporary fighters such as the Bf 109 and was considered unsuitable for the Northwest European Theatre. Consequently, climb performance was also poor for the early P-40s. Later variants which have a more powerful version of the V-1710 engine did however have better capability. However dive acceleration and speed was good, which, in combat, allowed the P-40s to escape the weaker Japanese fighters by simply diving away.

The early P-40s were armed with two 12.7mm M2 machine guns in the nose and two 7.62mm Browning machine guns in each wing. This was later modified to four (and later still, six) 12.7mm M2 machineguns in the wings. The wings are strong, being built from a five-spar structure allowing survival from medium-calibre flak damage and ramming (accidentally or otherwise). Operational range was also superior to the Spitfire and Bf 109 although still short of the Japanese A6M and Ki-43 and Lockheed's P-38. In the Mediterranean and North African theatre, it was considered roughly equal, if not slightly superior, to the Bf 109 and clearly superior against the Italian Fiat G.50 Freccia and Macchi MC.200 Saetta. Against the nimble Japanese fighters, the P-40 cannot match them in a low speed turning dogfight and are best utilised in the 'boom and zoom' tactics, using their superior dive speed, excellent rate of roll and sturdiness. All versions of the P-40 was given the name Warhawk by the USAAC while the British called the early (versions B to C) P-40s as the Tomahawk and the D version onwards as the Kittyhawk.

The early versions of the P-40 can be distinguished from the later versions by having two guns in the nose, with a smaller engine cowling. It was used by the USAAF in defending Pearl Harbor and The Philippines, many being destroyed on the ground. It was also used by the British Desert Air Force in North Africa and Soviet Voyenno-Vosdushnye Sily (VVS) on the Eastern Front. But arguably, the most famous operator of the the P-40, especially the early versions, was the 1st American Volunteer Group (AVG) of the Chinese Air Force, nicknamed The Flying Tigers. The main architect and leader of this group was Colonel Claire Lee Chennault, a former USAAC officer who had worked in China since 1937. Since the United States was not at war with Japan prior to Pearl Harbor, an unpublished Executive Order was signed by President Roosevelt on 15 April 1941 authorising the establishment of an American fighting force within the Chinese Air Force. Pilots, ground crew and administrative personnel were drawn from the USAAC, USN, USMC and some private citizens. Their P-40s were taken from a batch of British orders, convincing the latter to take a later batch of more advanced P-40 variants. The AVG consisted of three squadrons: 1st ('Adam and Eve'), 2nd ('Panda Bears') and 3rd ('Hell's Angels').The P-40s were painted with a shark face on the front of the fuselage, after one of the AVG pilots, Erik Shilling, saw a photograph of a Bf 110 of Zerstorergeschwader 76 in a British magazine. He chalked up a drawing of the shark face on his P-40 to see how it might look and asked for Chennault's permission to use it as his squadron's (3rd Pursuit Squadron) insignia. Chennault instead approved it for use by the whole group, thus cementing the connection between the Flying Tigers and the shark face motif forever.   

The AVG first saw combat on 23 December 1941 when it defended Rangoon, Burma together with Brewster Buffalos of the RAF. The AVG remained in Burma until 27 February 1942 when it pulled back to China, where continued to fight against the Japanese until disbanded and absorbed into the USAAF as the 23rd Fighter Group in Spring 1942. Throughout their existence, the AVG was credited with 229 air-to-air kills, while having 14 pilots KIA, captured or missing. The AVG had better kill/loss ratio than contemporary Allied units mainly due to the use of 'boom-and-zoom' tactics against the more nimble Japanese fighters and also the general obsolescence of the main Japanese fighter at the theatre, the Nakajima Ki-27 'Nate'. In various guises the Flying Tigers survive to this day as the 23rd Wing of the USAF, flying Fairchild Republic A/OA-10 Thunderbolt II attack aircraft and HH-60G Pave Hawk CSAR helicopter and Lockheed HC-130P Combat King CSAR command aircraft.

The Kit

Academy's P-40C kit, released in 2000 is actually a rebox of Hobbycraft's P-40 dating back to 1996. It consists of 65 light grey parts (not all used for the B/C version), 5 clear parts plus the usual decal and instruction sheets. Upon first inspection, the kit features fine recessed panel lines and looks like an easy build. However, online review stated that the the kit contains some mistakes, a few of them major. The windshield is more of the later variants of the P-40; the wings have wrong angle of attack, the underbelly is also not appropriate for early variants of the P-40 and not to mention that the cockpit has rather sparse details. On the other hand, the decals are finely printed but I'm wary about the quality of Academy decals. Although not mentioned in the instructions, the markings are for White 7, Squadron Leader Robert Neale, 1st Pursuit Squadron 'Adam and Eves', American Volunteer Group and White 68, Charles Older, 3rd Pursuit Squadron 'Hell's Angels', American Volunteer Group.

Construction

Before starting with the construction, I checked out some of my favourite modelling websites and found that some helpful souls have pointed out the inaccuracies of the Hobbycraft/Academy kit and offered their solutions to the problem. While extremely helpful, my modelling skills was such that I might end up with a ruined kit, so I decided to just continue with my usual OOB policy. As usual, construction began at the cockpit. I started by painting the sidewalls and the cockpit parts Interior Green using the Tamiya recipe for it with the detail parts picked up in Flat black. The detail for the cockpit is adequate, especially with the canopy closed. Once the paint had dried, I assembled the interior parts but set it aside for a while. In the meantime, the fuselage halves were mated together with the prop shaft between the halves. The actual instructions however have you add the whole of the propeller assembly at this time - a sure recipe for disaster.

The chin radiator was next and thankfully, there was no fit problems here. The completed cockpit interior was then fixed into place through the bottom, together with the instrument panel and what passed for the M2 breeches. The fuselage gun fairings and the horizontal tails were also added at his time. Next, the wings. The wing assembly was a rather simple affair, consisting of just the one-piece lower wing and separate upper parts. The wheel well was moulded together with the lower wing half. Nevertheless, surface detail was petite and crisp. I joined the halves but left the gun barrels and the pitot tube for later. When the wing assembly was joined to the fuselage, the undersized belly became apparent. Consequently the gap at the radiator outlet was also bigger than it should. Anyway, I halted the construction at this juncture and proceeded to the painting process.

Painting and Decaling

The AVG P-40s were taken from a British order so it would be painted in the American equivalent of  RAF Dark Green, RAF Dark Earth and RAF Sky, or in my case, anything on hand! For the Dark Green I actually used Tamiya XF-13 JA Green (as a substitute for FS 34079; oh, the irony!) and Dark Earth is Tamiya XF-52. While Academy listed the bottom colour as 'Sky Grey' (Tamiya XF-19), I believed that the colour is actually British Sky (Tamiya XF-21) and was painted accordingly. It should also be noted that the decision for aircraft markings should be made before painting as the marking options feature different camouflage patterns and shark faces (Erik Shilling personally chalked the shark face motif on each of the AVG's P-40s before painting, hence no two are the same). I originally wanted to do Charles Older's aircraft but eventually settled for Robert Neale's, for the same reason I chose VMFA-333's markings for my F-8E Crusader. The decals, as expected, were of the same quality as other Academy decals of the same vintage. They have good colour density and register (except perhaps for the fuselage band and individual aircraft numbers, which were quite translucent) with the flying tiger insignia, squadron insignia and kill markings (for Older's plane) having a separate white backing to avoid colour bleed-through. They were however almost decisively stubborn against decal setting solutions, even the 'heavy artillery' Mr. Mark Softer. I ended up using a burnishing tool to 'persuade' the decals to settle over the panel lines. For the national insignia, there are two choices : normal or 'faded'. Not having any reference available, I ended using the 'faded' insignia for the upper wing surface.

Finishing

I started off by cementing the exhausts into place. They were painted steel and I decided not to weather them as per usual. The landing gears were next. As the main wheels incorporate weighted tyres, I decided to cement the tailwheel first, so that I can get a proper sit for the flat section of the mainwheel tyres. This was followed by the wing machine gun barrels and the pitot tube.  The kit includes the bead-and post sight but I end up using neither as they were overscale. The post however was replaced with a 0.3mm copper wire. The propeller and the cockpit glazing were then fitted, finishing the actual build. Then I subjected the model to a sludge wash. I think that I had made the solution too thick, as the excess was quite hard to remove. Finally, a spray of Tamiya Flat Clear finishes the work on this model.

Conclusion

With the number of inaccuracies, the Academy/Hobbycraft P-40C kit is definitely not a perfect kit and a lot of work is needed to bring it to actual P-40C standard. To the less initiated (or who don't mind) it does look like an early P-40 and in many respects was better than it's Monogram contemporary (I can't comment about the Trumpeter version as I haven't seen or build one).

Tony The Swallow

Historical Background

The odd duck among Japanese fighter planes of World War 2 (together with the early versions of the Yokosuka D4Y Suisei 'Judy' dive-bomber) by being powered with an inline engine, the Nakajima Ki-61 Hien was developed by the Kawasaki Aircraft Industries as a response for a 1939 tender by the Koku Hombu. The tender specified for two fighters powered by the Daimler-Benz DB601A engine, built locally as the Ha.40. The first, designated Ki-60 was to be a heavily-armed high-altitude interceptor, while the second, the Ki-61 was to be a general-purpose fighter intended to be used in an air superiority role at medium to low altitude. Unlike many other Japanese aircraft of the period, the Ki-61 was to be fitted with a self-sealing fuel tank (semi self-sealing for the wing tanks), armoured windscreen and armour plate behind the pilot. Armament was two 12.7mm machine guns on the upper fuselage and a 7.7mm machine gun in each wing.

The Ki-61 (or officially, Army Type 3 Fighter, Model 1) first flew in December 1941. Test pilots were enthusiastic about the self-sealing tanks, pilot protection and improved armament (Japanese Army fighters up to that time were mainly armed with two rifle-calibre machine guns only). However the top brass of the Koku Hombu, who still believed in highly maneuverable, lightly-armed fighters, like the Ki-43 Hayabusa, viewed the aircraft with some scepticism as it has a higher wing loading than previous fighters. To address their concern, a fly-off was staged between the Ki-61, Ki-43, a pre-production Ki-44 Shoki, a Lavochkin LaGG-3 (flown to Manchuria by a Soviet defector), a Bf 109E and a captured P-40E Warhawk. The results showed that the Ki-61 was faster than the other planes, and being inferior only to the Ki-43 in maneuverability. Production was planned to start in April 1942, but following delays, it was only started in August 1942.   

The Ki-61 Hien (Swallow) actually first saw action in April 1942 when the prototypes were thrust into action over Yokohama during Doolittle's Raid on the 18th. The operational aircraft first saw service with a training unit, the 23rd Chutai and first saw combat service in the South-West Pacific with the 68th and 78th Chutais based in Wewak, New Guinea and Rabaul, New Britain respectively. The jungle and tropical conditions, together with lack of spares undermined the efficiency of the new fighter. Like many new aircraft being rushed into service, the Ki-61 suffered teething problems and the engine, unlike the original DB601, was not reliable through poor quality control at the factory. Despite the problems, the Hien was considered with some concern by the Allies, as unlike against the Ki-43 and the Japanese Navy's A6M, they cannot escape from the Hien by simply diving. The Hien was also also used elsewhere in the Pacific Theatre and as B-29 interceptors over the Home Islands. As interceptors, the Ki-61 was also grouped in special units which used ramming as part of their tactics. The Ki-61 looked so different from the other Japanese fighters that Allied pilots misidentified them as German or Italian in origin. In fact, Captain C. Ross Greening, who took part in the Doolittle Raid, took the intercepting prototype Ki-61s as Bf 109s. Based on this observation and the perceived origins of the fighter, the US War Department gave the codename 'Mike'. Later, it was finally revised as 'Tony' as the Ki-61 looked like an Italian-designed fighter, specifically the Macchi MC.202 series.

A total of 3,159 Ki-61s were built with the Ki-61-I being the main production version. The Ki-61-I Ko (or 'a') was armed with two 7.7mm Type 89 machine guns in the wings and two Ho-103 12.7mm machine guns in the upper fuselage decking. The Ki-61-I Otsu ('b') replaced the rifle-calibre wing machine guns with the H0-103 heavy machine guns. The unreliability of the tailwheel retraction mechanism caused the tailwheels to remain fixed in the 'down' position for this (and the Hei) variant. The Hei ('c') version replaced the wing machine guns with German MG 151/20 20mm cannons. As only 800 weapons were managed to be imported into Japan by U-Boats, just 368 Hei variants were built (the remainder of the cannons were utilized as spares). The Tei ('d') version have a revised armament arrangement by mounting Ho-103 12.7mm machine guns in the wings and a single Ho-5 20mm cannon in the fuselage. The final Ki-61-I version was the KAId  interceptor, with two 12.7mm machine guns in the fuselage and two 30mm cannons in the wings. The Ki-61-II was supposed to be an improved version, featuring a more powerful engine, the Ha-140. The engine was however even more unreliable than the Ha-40 and with the destruction of the Asahi plant making the engines in 1944, an alternative powerplant was sought, creating the Ki-100 fighter.

The Kit

The kit I build was the 2005 reboxing of the 1/48 Hasegawa kit originally released in 1994. This particular reboxing is of the 'Hei' or 'c' version of the Ki-61-I.  The parts have nicely engraved (and raised, where appropriate) surface details with thin trailing edges of the flying surfaces. The cockpit has adequate details to show especially when the modeler decides to use the kit's one-piece canopy. The parts count are relatively low for a 1/48 aircraft kit but does not sacrifice the details (of course modelers can spruce up their kit further by using aftermarket resin and PE parts). The decals provide markings for two aircraft from the 244th Sentai, a premier Ki-61-I operator during the war. Unlike earlier Hasegawa decals, the white portions are white instead of ivory for 1990s Hasegawa kits. The options are for:

1. Captain Fumisuke Shouno, Chofu Airbase, February 1945; and
2. Captain Yukio Ishioka, Chofu Airbase, 1945

Construction

As usual with aircraft kits, construction starts at the cockpit. The cockpit parts were painted Tamiya XF-59 Desert Yellow with the various detail parts in XF-64 Red Brown, XF-69 NATO Black, X-7 Red and XF-3 Flat Yellow.  A hole was drilled into the left fuselage in order to accommodate the oil cooler intake. Then I moved to the radiator assembly which consists of four parts. While the instructions suggested silver, I painted the radiator flat black and then drybrushed silver onto it. The sidewalls were then cemented onto their respective fuselage halves with the dashboard, cockpit floor and pilot's seat and the radiator assembly cemented onto the right half of the fuselage. The fuselage halves were then mated together using Tamiya Extra Thin Cement. There is a little gap on the fuselage spine, but I add a bit more cement and squeeze the halves that bit more. The resulting ooze were left to dry and was later scraped off with a sharp hobby knife. The front fuselage decking was then cemented onto the fuselage but I did not attach the gun barrels, gunsight and exhaust manifolds at this time. A hole was also drilled into the fuselage decking to accommodate a, uh, 'thingy'.

Moving on to the wings, I first drilled holes on the upper wing halves in order to fit Parts Q2 and Q3 (cannon breech covers on the real plane) and on the one-piece lower wing half, to accommodate the drop tanks. The wing halves were mated together and the wing assembly was then fitted to the fuselage. There is a slight gap at the upper wing roots which was swiftly dealt with putty. The cannon barrels were however left off at this stage. The tailplanes were then cemented onto their places and this was followed by the radiator flap. returning back to the cockpit, after painting the rear cockpit decking the same colour with the interior, the parts were fixed in place, at the same time not forgetting the gunsight. This was followed by the canopy, which was masked beforehand. The rest of the parts were left off until after painting.

Painting and Decaling

As mentioned before, Hasegawa provides two marking options; the first in plain natural metal and the other with green splotches all over the fuselage. The kit instructions specify Mr Color 8 Silver which I think does not look right in simulating natural metal. Yet I have ran out Tamiya AS-12 Bare Metal Silver and end up using TS-30 Silver Leaf anyway. The anti-glare panel was painted XF-69 NATO Black. Having done the basic painting, I decided to do the second option with its camouflage pattern. Looking at the instructions, the green splotches were painted over the air defence white bands and around the 244th Sentai's tail markings. So, I modify my approach by applying the Hinomaru/AD bands and the 244th Sentai's markings first. I let the decals settle and then started painting the camouflage pattern using Tamiya XF-13 JA Green. Once the paint had dried, I applied the rest of the decals.The wing leading edge ID bands, together with the forward part of the propeller spinner,  was painted using a mixture of Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow and XF-7 Flat Red. The panel lines were highlighted with a 2B pencil.

Finishing

The drop tank halves were mate together and painted Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey; when dry they were attached to the pylons and cemented to the wings. Finally the smaller or the more fragile parts can be permanently fixed to the model, starting with the fuselage machine guns and the exhaust manifolds. Tamiya Weathering Master Soot was then applied to simulate exhaust deposits on the fuselage. This was followed by the more vulnerable parts like the landing gear assembly, tailwheel, radio mast, pitot tube and the wing cannon barrels. The propeller was then fitted. Finally Tamiya TS-79 Semi-Gloss was sprayed and when dry, the masks were removed, finishing the build.

Conclusion

Another fine 1/48 aircraft kit from Hasegawa. It was easy to build and have no real nasty surprises (the gap on the wing root is just a minor annoyance). I guess there is not even the need for aftermarket stuff for this model (with the exception of decals probably). When displayed with its other Japanese comrades, it immediately attracts attention due to its inline engined nose profile.