History

The Kawasaki Ki-45 was the first attempt by Japanese manufacturers to provide the JAAF with a modern twin-engine fighter. The original specification was issued to Nakajima, Mitsubishi, and Kawasaki in 1937, but the first two soon withdrew from the project, Kawasaki continued into 1939 with the completion of the Ki-45 prototype. This proved to be inadequate in many respects, so in 1940 the aircraft was completely redesigned, with some existing Ki-45 prototypes being converted to Ki-45 Kai (Modified), with different wings, tail surfaces, and engines. Thus modified, the new aircraft was accepted for production by the IJAAF, entering service in 1942. The aircraft served throughout the Pacific War in China, New Guinea, Indo-China, Manchuria, the Philippines, and finally in mainland Japan against the B-29 heavy bombing offensive, where it was one of the few relatively effective interceptors.

Lady Furry is a one-piece resin bust that is 100mm tall, or approximately 1/17th scale. The kit comes with two metal hoop earrings that can be added to her but does not include a plinth for display. There are no color suggestions for the kit.

First off, let me warn you, I am not a figure painter…yet. I have been trying to improve this side of my modeling skills, as I want to do some dioramas. I have a few large-scale figures under my belt, namely Spiderman and Green Lantern. Painting them is about as far away from painting Lady Furry as possible, but sometimes, it helps to step out of your comfort zone. Boy, is it chilly out here.

The first release of C-47/DC-3 kits from Roden has been issued as a C-47B from the 53rd TCW, 437th TCG, 83rd TCS. The parts have some nicely engraved detail on them, but on my sample it wasn’t entirely consistent. It looked great on the wings, tail, and the sides of the fuselage, but on the top and bottom of the fuselage halves, it faded out and was pretty faint. The rear door is molded as a separate part to fit into the space in the left fuselage half, and contains the main entry door and cargo door with its hinges.

Clear parts consist of two strips of windows which fit inside the fuselage, two landing light lens covers, the astrodome, and the windshield, which on my sample was missing from the sprue and wasn’t in the poly bag, either. A replacement was promptly and graciously supplied by MMD-Squadron, so construction could continue.