Doyusha 1/32 Ki-84 "Frank"
Submitted by: Ronnie Murray
For nearly 20 years I have wanted to build
the "Frank" in 1/32. It's my favorite Japanese fighter
and in my favorite scale. You can imagine how I felt when a
friend gave me two of these kits for free nearly a year
ago. I jumped on that kit like a duck on a june-bug.
It's an older kit and the molds have been
swapped around but I was pleasantly surprised. The recessed
surface detail over the entire kit compares nicely with reference
photos and the moving surfaces have the fabric texture. The
grey plastic is very sturdy and most of the parts fit nicely
without much fuss. Blending the seams took a little work
but not bad compared to some kits in this scale. The
trailing edge of the wings were a little thick but this was
improved with a little sanding. All the moving surfaces are
molded in neutral position and I recommend leaving them that way
because of the construction.
Since the kit was originally designed to be a
battery operated "toy" of sorts, the simplified engine
consists of a front and back piece only. I added wiring and
washes to end up with a satisfactory product. Looking in the
wheel wells you'll see some impressive detail that's the
best I've seen in this scale. Even though the landing gear
strutts are sturdy and look fine, the wheels and tires are a real
dissappointment. I replaced them with a 48 scale resin set
intended for the Do-335, the fit was perfect. The fuel
cooler that fits under the wing is far too small, actually in
1/48 scale. Scratchbuilding a new one was simple and is
definitely the way to go. Though the instrument panel is
pretty good, the rest of the cockpit needs some real help from
the parts box. I built some side panels, a head rest and added
seat belts. The canopy is a little thick but looks good once
dipped in "future" and allowed to cure. Underwing
fuel tanks are included and the connecting braces are nicely
done.
As for the paint job, nearly every paint
scheme I've seen looks good on the Frank. It has the sleek,
classic lines of a super-model and would look good in a burlap
sack. I wanted mine to be different and really eye
catching. This particular paint scheme represents a plane
involved in one of the many island hopping campaigns. The
overall mottled look is broken up by a segment of the fuselage
and the port horizontal stabilizer painted solid in a different
green. These were replacement parts from a scrapped plane, to
repair battle damage.
I started by spraying the entire model with
Testors Aluminum Plate straight from the ol' spray can. I buffed
it with a t-shirt to get rid of the excess that comes off on your
hands. Since I used enamel as the base coat, all of the other
paints are acrylic. The two paints don't bond very well and it is
very easy to use weathering techniques to chip or scratch the
paint. The green mottle is Nakajima navy green, the
solid green panels are done in Kawasaki Army green. Other greens
could have been used and may have even been more historically
accurate but I had these on hand and they looked good to me. The
undersides of the solid green panels are Nakajima grey. The
cockpit is NMF with the same Testors
aluminum plate, the wheel wells started the same way but were
over-sprayed with Testors transparent blue. There is much
debate of where and when aotake may have been used on such planes
so I split the difference. When doing the prop, references
call for "prop green" . Nobody makes this color
yet so I used Dk. Euro green 1 and applied Archers Fine Transfers
for the yellow tips and lines. The spinner is a mix of
brown and red and the tires
You won't believe the quality of the kit
decals! My kit was one of the old ones so I can't say what
the updated decals are like. Mine looked great and went on nicely
using solvaset. It's a straightforward kit thats a real eye
catcher. Last year it was re-released by Doyusha so If you
find it, get it!! It's the only Ki-84 in 1/32 scale. With that
modeling dream of my life fulfilled, I'm ready for my next
fantasy...maybe the Revell J2M3 Jack!!
