Otaki

[@darrellid]

Handsome kit of a handsome plane. Excellent surface detail for the era.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Right on!

[@jameslarosa2396]

Great job. You sure make these older kits look beautiful. Quite some time ago I built an old Otaki P-40 that I bought cheap at a model show. It was well worth the money.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Thanks James! I've seen the P-40 kit at the hobby store, but never got to look in the box.

[@gsr4535]

Otaki/Arii has some fine old kits. Fun nostalgia builds. The P-40 is good except for the leading edge of the wing is too swept back.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

@@gsr4535 That's a bit of a difficult fix!

[@alantoon5708]

Otaki (later Arii) were the best for their time (1970's). They were also available under Airfix and AMT labels. The later kits like the Corsair, Hellcat, and P-47 were very nice. The Spitfire, 109G, and FW-190 were also nice.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Thanks Alan! I've built several of the Otaki kits and really enjoyed them.

[@c123bthunderpig]

That's me, reentering the hobby, great build, I haven't got back up the learning curve on new paints and weathering I usually built them "clean ". This aircraft in real life must have been very maneuverable based on the empennage very strong aerodynamically A note to my model instructor :-) . In the process of learning new materials I discovered a company called VMS out of Poland. They make a nice range of " chemicals" for modeling. My first order just came in so have not tried them yet. However you mentioned using this kit to experiment on, plus in my vintage stash I have many kits unfinished - I mention this because VMS makes a paint stripper which looks awesome, you buy it in concentrate form, dilute it and the paint peels off in layers - no damage to plastic and no sanding off where you lose detail. Pricing similar to all this new stuff , great customer service, and packaging it took about ten days to mail from Poland. Catch ya on next video.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Right on. I still need to check out the VMS products.

[@tonysteppan8495]

You nailed it on this kit. Yours came out nicely. From the Otaki kits that I've built I found that these are all pretty much simple but nice kits. It's great for the new modeler and older kit builder. You can expand on everything from painting to adding details to enhance their kits. It's Kind of the fun of making it your own. You know for the price you can't go wrong. For those that are really wanting something more your right try Hasegawa. The other part of kit building is doing research to get ideas on what kind of build you want in the end. It's endless! THANKS Jon

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Thanks Tony! You bring up a good point about historical modeling and one of my favorite aspects; research. It's a topic I haven't hit on yet in the kit reviews, but it's key to realistic modeling. And it is endless (in a good way).

[@gsr4535]

Jon, just a quick note...... if you're gonna make another one of these, sanding stick on the seat to curve the seat-back. Drill holes also in the seat-back. I do this with all Japanese Otaki/Arii kits. Yeah, the tires with that raised rib along the centerline! Hahaha

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Great point! That would be accurate for most Japanese aircraft. However, Hasegawa has a different seat design for the Ki-61/Ki-100 seats with a separate seat back. I've already scratchbuilt a similar seat for my next Otaki Ki-100. 😉

[@gsr4535]

@@jonsmodelkitreview4624 Ah yes Jon......Kawasaki changed the seat on the "-100". LoL. Good catch!

[@kennethjames9416]

I have built a couple of these kits,went together well and can be had for little money.Well tidy build and review.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Thank you Kenneth!

[@chrissakal532]

I like how yours came out. Our local hobby shop had a number of the Otaki 1/48 series kits for like 5-10 bucks each and I bought most of them (combatants from the P.T.O). I mean sure, you're not going to get a Tamiya wonderkit, but the shape, outline, and surface detailing is just fine and there are plenty of aftermarket items that you can get to detail it as much as you want. Yeah, I'd still be fine with an Arii/Otaki kit.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

@@chrissakal532 Right on! My friend just sent me several more Arii kits to review (Spitfire VIII and Mitsubishi J2M "Jack"). Both look pretty nice. I plan to review those shortly. Cheers!

[@randkorp2003]

You can buy three Otaki/Araii kits for the price of one Hasegawa kit. For me, I will take the Otaki kit and try to improve it every time.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Right on Rand!

[@goforitpainting]

Looks cool.

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Thank you!

[@gsr4535]

Hahahahaha I have built this kit. Not bad, one of the better Otaki/Arii kits. Not much worse than the Hasegawa version. Interestingly, the wheel well is slightly better than the very similar Otaki Ki-61 wheel well. LoL

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

Right on! That's wierd about the wheel well. I think it should be exactly the same.

[@gsr4535]

@@jonsmodelkitreview4624 I know right? But the well is slightly deeper on the ki-100 and it also comes with the little door actuator arms that are missing from the ki-61!. LoL

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

@GSR Having done the Hasegawa Ki-61, I know what the wells should look like. Otaki should have gone with deeper wells, not busier wells. Fortunately, they are on the underside and not really visible.

[@wrathofatlantis2316]

Worst problem on all Hasegawa Ki-61/100s, is the left wing is moulded curved, not warped... It almost impossible to straighten it without caving-in the top surface,,,

[@jonsmodelkitreview4624]

@Wrath of Atlantis Great point, I'll second that! I experienced the same problem on my Hasegawa Ki-61 (I thought it was self-induced).