In keeping with their initial business model of releasing 1/72 single engine fighters, the good folks at Arma Hobby have recently released a Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate (Frank).

Tamiya, Revell and Hasegawa have all released 1/72nd Ki-84s, but these kits are decades old. The Hasegawa kit is still being produced, and while it is a nice kit, it has raised panel lines, a very basic cockpit without a lot of detail, and a one piece canopy. Sword released a Ki-84 in 2008, and a pre-production version in 2010, but these are limited run kits that are no longer being produced. So it is nice to see a new tool Ki-84 in 1/72nd scale.

As of the date of this post, Arma Hobby has released two boxings of this kit; an Expert Set (with photo-etch parts and masks), and a basic model kit. It is customary for Arma Hobby to release at least two boxings of each kit, so it will be interesting to see if they release another boxing.

There are three sprues included in the basic model kit; one with the fuselage, wing, engine, cockpit, and undercarriage parts; one with the horizontal surfaces, drop tanks and bomb parts; and one with the clear parts.

The level of detail in the cockpit is exceptional, and the designers have done a great job keeping the cockpit components to scale. This makes for very delicate parts in which great care is needed when removing them from the sprues and cleaning the parts up. All of the great detail can be showcased since the canopy can be posed open.

The surface detail on the kit is also very nice.

The canopy parts are thin and crystal clear.

As indicated above, the Expert Set comes with a photo etched fret that includes the engine wiring harness, seat belts, and cockpit parts. The masks for the canopy and wheels are made of kabuki tape instead of vinyl.

Six decal options are included in the Expert Set, which allows the modeler to choose between Home Defense Hayates, a Philippine based Hayate, and CBI based Hayate, and a kamikaze (57th Shimbu-tai). The decals are printed by Techmod.

The basic model kit provides two decal options; one Home Defense Hayate and a Philippine based Hayate

This looks to be another great kit from Arma Hobby. If you would like to see some built up models, please visit Arma Hobby’s website https://www.armahobby.com/. They have an excellent blog that not only shows built models, but also features articles focusing on the history of the planes included in their kits. Very cool.

If you would like to follow a build in progress, Jeff Groves over on Inch High Guy is doing a batch build of six kits. The first two installments of his batch build are here https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2022/07/15/arma-hobby-nakajima-ki-84-hayate-frank-batch-build-in-1-72-scale-part-i/ and here https://inchhighguy.wordpress.com/2022/07/22/arma-hobby-nakajima-ki-84-hayate-frank-batch-build-in-1-72-scale-part-ii/.