Tamiya 61018 Mitsubishi J2M3 "Raiden" (Yoshihiro Aoki)

Kit#: 61018.

Price: Can't remember.

Decals: Three options.

Notes: Canopy fits more or less ok, lower wing has a gap when glued to the fuselage.

History:

The Mitsubishi J2M "Raiden," or "Jack" for the Allies, was a WW2 Japanese fighter first flown on March 20 1942, and introduced into active service on December of the same year.

It was designed by Jiro Horikoshi, the creator of the famous A6M "Zero," for an specification that requiered the aircraft to be a high altitude interceptor against high-flying bombers. Thus, it sacrificed maneuverability for armament, speed and climb performance.

The J2M3 model was produced in parallel to the J2M2 version, first appearing in October 1943, with the first units being delivered to operational units in February of 1944.

The "Raiden" first appeared in combat in the Battle of the Philippine Sea in June 19-20 1944.

Due to the lack of a supercharger, the aircraft suffered at high altitude, ironic, since it was produced to bring down the B-29 Superfortress.

The aircraft was retired with the surrender of Japan on August 20 1945, with 671 units produced since 1942.

The Kit:

This kit is not new being listed by Scalemates as a 1973 release. As such, the kit comes with finely raised panel lines and engraved detail for the ailerons, flaps, rudder, and some other areas.

The kit comes with three sprues, two in light grey and one in clear. The parts were cleanly molded, with no flash visible and without any sign of warping.

Build options include lowered or raised landing gear and a spinning propeller.

Tamiya provided two set of instrucions, one in Japanese and another in English, plus a coloured profile page showing the left side of two of the model´s decal options. Each instruction sheet is divided into six construction steps, alongside written instructions on how to paint the interior.

There´re three decal options for the kit:

1) J2M3 Genzan Flying Group, November 1943, based at the Kagoshima airfield.

2) J2M3 of the 302nd Flying Group, flown by Lieutenant Sadaaki Akamatsu, March 1944 to August 1945, Atsugi airfield.

3) J2M3 of the 352nd Flying Group, flown by Lieutenant Yoshihiro Aoki, April 1945, Kanoya airfield.

Construction:

I began by painting the entire cockpit, as indicated by the instructions, with silver (Revell 90), and picking up the details with with black (Revell 08). The inside of the cockpit was painted with Interior Green (Revell 48).

I left aside the cockpit in order to focus on the instrument panel. This is a flat piece of plastic that needs to have two decals applied. I painted it with Revell 45, varnished with clear (Revell 01), left to dry, and added the decals. They were then covered with flat varnish (Revell 02).

With the decals dry, I installed the control panel to the right hand fuselage half, while also gluing the cockpit (great fit) and the tail wheel in the extended position.

I cut the wings from their sprue and glued them together, and while they were drying, I assembled cowling (which contains the propeller shaft and its backing plate).

I glued the wings to the fuselage, and the assembly had a gap where the end of the lower wing  joined the fuselage. After the assembly was fully cured, I used CA to cover the area, while rescribing the panel lines that got lost due to the sanding. 

With the aircraft more or less fully built (with the landing gear and other small parts left out to ease the painting), I began painting the aircraft.

Colours and Markings:

The colour scheme for the Raiden was really simple, dark green over light grey (as told by the instructions, and that´s what I also saw while checking internet photos) with a black antiglare panel and yellow leading edges. After looking at several internet photos and seeing the constant variation of shades on the upper surfaces (from a really dark green to dark green with a bluish tinge), I decided to use Revell 40 Black Green and Revell 371 Silky Light Grey (because the matt 76 version wasn´t available). 

I brushpainted the upper surfaces with Revell Black Green 40 until it was fully covered. 

With the black green cured, I masked the demarcation line for the light grey, and began brushing Revell's 76 Light Gull Grey for the undersides.

After the lower sides were fully painted and cured, I painted the wheel wells with light blue (Revell 49), and with that dry, I masked and painted the antiglare panel with black (Revell 08). The ridges between the black and green were sanded away with wet sandpaper.

The yellow leading edges were first masked and then painted with yellow (Revell 15).

The aircraft was then fully covered in clear varnish, to give the surface a smooth surface for the decals.

I had decided to use the decals for Yoshihiro Aoki's aircraft, the one with the lightning bolts on the sides. This gave the aircraft a lot of colour. All the decals were cut individually from the decal sheet, placed in hot water, and then placed over the model. The most important decals were the lightning bolts, which were placed without issues on the fuselage.

Final Assembly:

I painted the landing gear struts in black with silver oleos, glued them to the aircraft and left them to dry. I also added the fuel tank. 

The propeller was then built up and glued into place.

Conclusion:

This is my second Tamiya Raiden. I bought it at a low price at Hannants London, and it looks great alongside my other Japanese aircraft.

References:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mitsubishi_J2M