Kawasaki Ki61-I Tei Hien (Tony)

Just finished building the Ki-61 by Hasegawa. As always, Hasegawa gives you good quality, making it a fun kit to paint and build. The cockpit is plain, but the pilot figure sets it off nicely. Overall, the fit was good. A little trimming on fuselage halves and wings is needed, but nothing major.The decals were also very nice, going on smoothly with no tearing. Overall, you cannot go wrong with this kit and it gets a perfect 5 star rating from me.

The kit is from 1997 but was reboxed with new decals in 2003. The kit comes with 2 gray sprues and 1 clear parts sprue. The only option for the canopy is closed. The surface detail is really good with nice engraved panel lines. Interior detail is just OK. A decal for the instrument panel is all the cockpit detail there is. Not even a joystick. Parts went together very well with no issues with any steps. The only under wing stores are 2 fuel tanks. The decals went down very well with a little Micro Sol. The markings were a little confusing. My kit did not contain the markings for the aircraft on the box (the one with the clover). There was instead an extra marking sheet added to the instructions for the 2 markings that were provided. (Both markings were for the 18th Flight Training Unit). This is a limited parts kit that can be built very quickly and makes into a nice Ki61.

Great little kit with a small number of parts, but solid surface detail. Engraved panel lines, though a bit shallow, so you may want to rescribe them just to be safe. Cockpit is simple, but comes with a pilot so much detail won't be seen. Decals are nice, typical Hasegawa quality. No major issues- highly recommend for beginners and for fans of the Ki-61.