Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki - GPM

My next model Surely more complicated than an average building...

Thanks for your posts, Sparrowhawk and Airgoon I choose the Ki-44 because it is a rather recent kit and the aircraft is a pretty one, with something not very big behind a huge engine.
The kit is rated as difficult but many parts are optional. You can make the cockpit or not, there is a simply printed engine if you don't want to assemble over 100 parts for the engine alone...
Construction starts with the cockpit.

@ Airgoon - I'm afraid you'll have to wait a little for the finished model. This is not the kind of kit that I can build fast :rotwerd:

I enclose a few more pictures of the cockpit.

Thanks for your posts, guys
I'm trying to make the model as 'paper' as possible. The idea of putting a small drop of glue on the small levers is good but I wonder if it will be visible! As you see, I was somewhat too prudent when cutting those levers :rotwerd:...
Not so much on the lateral panels. They need a bit of patience and a lot of luck

@ zec - you're right, they look great! What glue do you use? For these small parts I use cyanoacrilate glue and it doesn't like pen markers...

@ Airgoon - no tricks, indeed. I enclose a picture with the tools I use. Unfortunately, the (very efficient) hole-maker is too big for the tiny holes on the lateral panels

I enclose two pictures of the cockpit, as it is now. The pieces joining the two rear bulkheads are not part of the kit. I added them to make the assembly a bit stiffer. The rear bulkhead will, probably, have to be painted...

Moving on to the engine. In the picture, you can clearly see the thickness of GPM's paper. Almost armoured!...

Moving on with the engine...

Thanks for your tips about the glue :). John and Tino have already told me about white glue but the fact is that I am so used to UHU all-purpose (cellulose) and cyanoacrilate... :rotwerd:

Continuing with the engine. The fit, up to now, is just fine =)

Well, this is a lot different from an architecture subject but, being in paper, it is fun as well
I enclose a picture of the rear bank of cylinders and valve actuators. The bulk of the engine work is almost complete

And there it is! The exhausts are not yet there. I used bits of card instead of wire for admission pipes. Not necessarily better looking but I like to use card where possible

Thanks for your posts, Sparrowhawk and Airgoon. I really appreciate them
cbg - you made a good acquisition. Up to now, I find it worth every cent!

Two more pictures, of the propeller and spine. Rolling GPM paper is a (bad) joke. I swapped the original parts inside the propeller for new ones, in thin paper.

@ John - You are in for a good one! Ulm is one of Schreiber's best kits. I built the 'old' kit but, probably, the new one is just a reissue.

@ Zaphod - You got to the buzzword: paper :D. Rolling long cylinders is always complicated and GPM's thick paper certainly doesn't help
The parts you talk about have something good: the diameter is not too small. The method I use is to put the part over a desk (or something else) edge, press it with a finger, one hand or both, depending on the part size, and slide it around the edge. It is important to put the pressure evenly and not too much. I repeat the process until the diameter looks good and reasonably uniform, putting more pressure, in any pass, where the diameter remains bigger. The worst part is to get the desired shape close to the edges. You should be able to do it without laminating the paper because the diameter is reasonable. That was not the case with the cannon on the Panzerjagerwagen. Fortunately, it is not too hard to keep just the outer, printed, slice...

Getting back to the Ki-44, I enclose a few pictures of the engine cowling. There are no parts for the interior and I guess I'll have to paint it

@ Airgoon - Your picture says it all :). However, with a part of that size, I'd tend to use the whole hand, and not the fingers. It might be better to use a not very sharp edge and have several passes with moderate pressure, instead of one or two with more pressure. It allows you to keep checking the shape and put the pressure on the next pass accordingly.
If the hand is very dry, it may slide over the paper, instead of getting the paper along with it. Make sure this doesn't happen!

I enclose some pictures of the wing structure. The outer formers have to be trimmed, if the ailerons are to be built separately, which I did.

The only parts that GPM provides for the wheels are the centers! Up to the builder to do the remaining...

The external fuel tanks of the Ki-44 are a lot less pointed than, say, those on the Starfighter :D. They pose different problems to build, as well.
To get the shape right, I used the same method as for the Hecht and Molch torpedo noses: rolling a long strip of thin paper to serve as a basis to glue the parts provided in the kit. It was easy for the nose but not so much for the tail, as it proved to be something thinner than an ordinary ellipse...
Anyway, it ended up as you can see in the pictures

Thank you, zec and Frank Unger You're right, zec, the method is the same and I'm happy with it.
I enclose two more pictures of a small assembly below the engine cowling.

I do, Tino, I do. But I try to avoid it
Some more pictures - air intake and exhausts.

Moving on to more colourful assemblies...

@ Henni - first, you have to define the curve you want to get. If it is an ellipse, you have:

r=a cos(t) and y=b sin(t), where 't' can be anything from 0 to 90º (first quadrant).

If you take 'a' as the radius of the curve (at its base) and 'b' its overall height, then, for any 't' value, you calculate r and y. y is the paper strip depth corresponding to r radius. The relation between the paper strip length and r is very simple and depends only on paper thickness, having in mind that you must have equal areas. Taking e as the paper thickness and l as the strip length, the area is e x l.
The area for a circle with r radius is equal to 3,14 x r x r. From this, you get l = 3,14 x r x r / e.
This means that, when the strip length is l, its depth should be y. Calculate a few points in a spreadsheet, put them to (real) paper and that is it!

Just a tip: I found out that ordinary 80g/m2 paper has a thickness close to 0,115mm. With 5mm radius, you already need a strip of paper 683mm long!
I only put glue when I join parts of a long strip. Otherwise glue thickness would start to be relevant

@ Henni - Go for it

A bit more, at the front and at the tail...

Hi Josve,

Using balsa rods may be simpler, if you have the right tools. But you know how much I like to use paper :D...
I'm moving now to the wings. Underside first, lateral panels next.

Adding the main landing gear...