This 2002 sheet has markings for eight aircraft of the famed 244th Sentai and based on the  quality of the earlier sheet, this one also made it out of the bargain bin. I grabbed it as it had a Ki-100 in among its options. The aircraft are either in Kawasaki dark green mottles over unpainted metal or overall unpainted metal. Most have the white defense bands on the wings and fuselage, though the modeler will need to paint those on. You'll also need to paint the wing leading edge ID markings and the red tails on those that have them.  The sheet has insignia for one plane, but you can use kit markings for others if you so wish.

The sheets provide the subtype of Ki-61 (long or short nose) along with the pilot. A rather well done instruction sheet provides more aircraft information as well as where the primary reference for the scheme came from. In those cases where the information is unknown, options are provided for the modeler to make their choice. The Propagteam printed decals are superbly done.

The aircraft are listed vertically from the left and so here are the pilots:

Aircraft 1 and 2 are Kobayashi

Aircraft 3 is Takashima

Aircraft 4 is pilot unknown

Aircraft 5 is Suzuki

Aircraft 6 is Shinomiyao

Aircraft 7 is pilot unknown

Aircraft 8 is Ando

You'll notice that some have the spinners camouflaged while others do not have the all red tail planesThis 1/48 sheet recommends the Arii/Otaki or Hasegawa kits, and most will choose the Hasegawa for the Otaki version is both a bit off.

December 2008

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