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Ki-201 Karyu

       
Click on the pictures above to see a larger image. "Hans", the standing figure is from the Preiser 1/72 Luftwaffe figure set.

This is the RS Models 1/72 scale resin kit of the Ki-201 Karyu, a Japanese WWII jet design that was quite similar to the German Me-262. Although the Ki-201 never flew, it's smaller cousin, the Nakajima Kikka did fly twice.

The RS kit is designed much like a standard injected plastic kit, with thin hollow resin fuselage halves. I had some fit problems throughout especially with the wings and engines (lots of thick flash and other problems).
The flat locating surfaces for the tailplanes on the tail are not level which each other, so the tailplanes don't quite sit on the same level. I was too lazy to fix the problem - it's a design feature! Yeah, that's it.

The landing gear is nicely done in white metal, so there's no fear that the model will collapse under its own weight on a hot day.

I used several shades of Testors Metalizer on the Karyu. The base coat of aluminum was airbrushed but other Metalizer colors were hand brushed on some sections to add a different shade. I based the red tail (and borrowed the decals) from the DML Hein kit. The red arrow on the side of the fuselage came from a 1/32 Me-262 aftermarket decal kit. The model only has a slight amount of weathering.

The vacuformed canopy doesn't look great (and it's not on quite straight, either), but I was tired of fiddling with it...so it'll stay as it is.