Product #09836(http://www.hlj.com/product/HSG09836)
from HobbyLink
Japan
History –
The Imperial Japanese Army Air Force ordered a development of an twin engine, two seater fighter, due to the rapid developments in Europe in
1937. Kawasaki Shipbuilding was proposed and assigned the designation of the Ki-38. This design only went as far as a mockup, but by the end of
1937 the Imperial Japanese Army ordered a working prototype of the Ki-45. The prototype Ki-45 was fitted with 2 Nakajima Ha-20 Otsu
engines, and its maiden test flight was during January 1939. The results from the test flight did not meet the Imperial Japanese Army
expectations, as the Nakajima Ha-20 Otsu engine was underpowered and prone to failures. The Imperial Japanese Army insistent on having a
working twin-engine fighter,and ordered Kawasaki to continue with the development. After many improvements the Ki-45 was finally fitted with
Mitsubishi Ha-102 engine and officially adopted for use by the army in February 1942. Initially it was used to as a long range bomber escort
but was no match against the American single engine fighters. The Ki-45
went through many design changes since its introduction to service in 1942 with different fuselage and armament configurations, Towards the
end of the war, the Ki-45 were placed into an Interceptor roles against
Allied Bombers during the Japans homeland defence.
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The Kit -
The latest reissue of Hasegawa’s 1/48 Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu or Nick as the Allied’s called it has been boxed in a Limited run with schemes from the
4^th Flight Regiment. The kit its self hasn’t changed from its previous releases, so if you have any of the past releases you should know what you are getting.
Opening the box lid you are greeted with one large plastic bag containing 147 parts on 7 medium gray and 1 clear
sprues. The cockpit is jammed packed with detail on 34 parts, depending on what version and scheme you decide to go with. The couple ofletdowns to this area are, there are no seat harness’s supplied as a decal or Photo Etch parts, but there are few aftermarket options out there if you wish to add them. The two rear side wall parts have injection pin marks that will need to be cleaned up, these parts could
have been easily turned and facing the other way during the tooling process as there is no detail on the other side.
The engine detail is very basic and simplified. The assembly is provided as a single drop in plug, and most of the engine detail will be hidden away by the nacelles. The kit also includes optional exhaust pipe types for the Thrust and Collective type of pipes and the corresponding option of engine nacelles are provided too.
The transparent parts are crystal clear and are free from any scratches. Optional parts are supplied for the different versions of the Ki-45 with or without the firing upward machine guns. Also supplied is open or close canopy parts for the front and rear compartments. As per all Hasegawa kits, they include the navigation lights as clear parts which you will have to remove the molded on areas on the corresponding locations.
Only 2 schemes are included in the box are -
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4th Flight Regiment, 2^nd Attack Squadron, Lt Isamu
Kashiide.
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4th Flight Regiment, 2^nd Attack Squadron, Ozuki Air Field, Yamaguchi 1944.
The decals are in good register, majority of the decal sheet contains the yellow leading edge stripes, the white bands for identification markings and the
Hinomaru’s. The rest are for the tail unit markings and stencils.
Overall exterior details are fantastic with very fine recessed panel lines and rivet with raised details for the fabric covered ribs for the elevators and ailerons areas. The parts show no signs of molding flash, sink marks or major seem lines, but there is a couple of annoying injection pin locations on a couple of the parts.
I would like to thank HobbyLink Japan for providing this review sample.
Dave Johnson
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