Hasegawa 1/48 Ki-84 '51st Fighter Regiment', previewed by Scott Van Aken

The Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (キ84 疾風, lit. "Gale") is a single-seat fighter flown by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in the last two years of World War II. The Allied reporting name was "Frank"; the Japanese Army designation was Army Type 4 Fighter (四式戦闘機, yon-shiki-sentō-ki). The Ki-84 is generally considered the best Japanese fighter to operate in large numbers during the conflict. The aircraft boasted high speed and excellent maneuverability with an armament (up to two 30 mm and two 20 mm cannon) that gave it formidable firepower. The Ki-84's performance matched that of any single-engine Allied fighter it faced, and its operational ceiling enabled it to intercept high-flying B-29 Superfortress bombers. Pilots and crews in the field learned to take care with the plane's high-maintenance Nakajima Homare engine and landing gear prone to buckling. The difficulties of Japan's situation late in the war took a toll on the aircraft's field performance as manufacturing defects multiplied, good quality fuel proved difficult to procure, and experienced pilots grew scarce. Nevertheless, a well-maintained Ki-84 was Japan's fastest fighter. A total of 3,514 aircraft were built.

THE KIT

Prior to this kit's release in 1999, the only other options for a Ki-84 were kits by Otaki and Tamiya. Tamiya's offering was (and still is despite be marketed as 1/48) their 1/50 kit. Tamiya produced theirs back in a time when they were trying to make 1/50 a standard scale. In fact Japan's Koku Fan monthly aviation magazine used to have profiles and plans in 1/50 scale to help spur interest. This kit from Hasegawa was much welcomed by modelers and was part of Hasegawa's major production spurt of the 1990s when they released a lot of new tool kits into the market. It has been reissued many times, each one with basically a change in box art and decals. This 2024 release is no exception.

The kit was the best yet available in this scale and due to a lack of modern competition, it still is. You get a well appointed cockpit that really only needs to have a seat harness as there is a lot of detail on the floor and the sidewalls. Since the cockpit assembly installs on pins which fit into sockets in the fuselage sides, you must install it when you close the fuselage halves. Something Hasegawa tried on this kit is to use polycaps to hold in all the landing gear so you need to be careful not to forget these items. They are also used for wing pylons and the prop. There are two sizes so be sure to use the correct ones.

With the wings assembled, they and the tailplanes are glued in place. Construction then moves to the landing gear. You can leave those off until after painting. The engine assembly is especially well done and fits onto a firewall over which a close cowling fits. Next step will have you install the landing gear and doors, but again, I'd hold off until after painting. Attention then goes to the bomb racks, gun barrels and other bits that are easy to break free during handling. The kit has separate flaps and these are designed to be posed open. As is frequently the case, these items were rarely open on the ground so you might want to see if you can modify these to fit closed. There is a separate canopy so that might be able to be posed open.

Instructions are well done and use Gunze paint references. Three markings options are provided, all three basically differing only by aircraft number. The color is olive drab over green-grey. The sheet includes stencils, a decal for the instrument panel and the yellow wing leading ID areas. Thanks to the straight wing leading edge, these latter decals should not be an issue to use, unlike those on the Ki-43/44. There are, of course, a number of aftermarket sheets for the Ki-84.

My lone building experience with Hasegawa's Ki-84 showed issues with the polycaps for the landing gear. In fact, I broke both gear where they enter the polycap. Apparently Hasegawa rethought this feature as I only recall it being used on one other kit after this. It is a great idea for non-load bearing items like props and drop tanks, which is how most other kit makers use them. Anyway, the kit itself builds well and should make into a very nice model.

KIT #:	07534
PRICE:	3300 yen ($37.00 delivered via UPS from Japan)
DECALS:	Three options
REVIEWER:	Scott Van Aken
NOTES:	2024 release