A 56th Sentai Kawasaki Ki-61-II model rebuild by Danilo Renzulli

This is a Fine Molds model in 1/72 originally built OOB in the '90s. New materials and techniques and a rather banal subject pushed me to go for what in the beginning was supposed to be just a restoration...hence I decided to rebuilt it in the shape of a moderate "what if" project. However let me say that if I had built a model from new it would have been much easier! 

So, squeezing some photoetched bits in an already closed fuselage has been a hard job. Apart from adding some details in the cockpit I completely rebuilt the whole exhaust complex using thin aluminium sheet and exhaust stacks by Quickboost. Other details have been built from new such as the structure behind the pilot's headrest, the cowling air intake, addition of radiator grille and a new aluminium sheet radiator door. The small intakes in the aircraft nose have been realized using 0.3mm brass tube. The upper cowling has been re-shaped and adjusted. The small inspection doors on fuselage and wings have been created from either plastic or aluminium sheet using punches of various diameters. Anti-slip pads have been added at the wings' roots using shaped bits of sanding paper of the finest grade. I added the u/c brake lines. Once the detailing job was finished, the model has been given a hand of Tamiya primer, then a hand of black Alclad primer and a finish of Alclad Matt Aluminium. The "no-step" lines are from a transfer sheet and the japanese inscriptions were realized with a toned-down black marker. For the position lights I used tiny drops of Crystal Clear. The sentai insigna comes from an Aoshima KI-61-II Kai kit while the individual number from my personal treasure.

The shooting session was done in natural light from my house' balcony....