This latest model is a Japanese Imperial Army fighter from the 101st Flight Regiment based at Fujieda Airbase Japan in 1945.
In contrast to my last model, which was a Japanese Navy Zero, probably the best fighter in the world at the time of Japan's entry into the war but fell behind in development, this aircraft was Japan's best fighter of the war and ranks alongside the later Spitfires, the Mustang and the FW190.
At this period the Japanese were not priming their paint very well and their aircraft suffered from a lot of paint chipping and wear. They were also heavily used deployed against American B29 bombers. I have therefore tried to capture that hard used, paint chipped look.