Fine Molds Kayaba Ka-1 autogyro

Today's completion is one of those events of serendipity that just seem to come out of nowhere. I have had the Fine Molds kit of the Kayaba Ka-1 autogyro for many years, possibly since it was first released in 1991. Somewhere along the line the instruction sheet and decals were misplaced, so when I rediscovered the kit it was just a couple of very small sprues in a standard sized box. But after looking at things for a while, I figured I could dope out the construction sequence or find a copy of the instructions online. And finding hinomarus wouldn't be an issue; I have many of them in the decal vault.

But we manly modellers don't need instructions anyway, right? The build was trouble free, though I did have to think about the strut work on the landing gear for a few minutes until I was sure I had them. Luckily I did have photographic reference for the gyro and there are not many parts in the kit. And being Fine Molds, they fit well.

One of the options was for a Ka-1 in overall silver dope, so I opted for that one. Some detail painting was required on the wheels, prop, leather surrounds for the cockpit openings. Thankfully the airbrush was thoroughly behaving itself during the session with Alclad aluminum, and I was really very happy with the result.

It even got me down to the garage stash to see what else I have in the way of autogyros. I found the Azur Cierva C-30 in French markings and the Planet Fw-186 in German. One of them will likely be joining the build queue in the near future, though there is a lot of competition for bench space right at the moment, with a flurry of recent purchases. I know there is a Russian gyro out there too (from A Model?) but that is for the distant future.

This is completed aircraft #456 (#22 for the year), finished in March of 2016.