Kit#: 12431.
Price: 46$
Decals: Two Options.
Notes: Aerocalcas 72004 used.
History:
From Wikipedia: "The Dassault-Breguet Super Étendard (Étendard is French for "battle flag", cognate to English "standard") is a French carrier-borne strike fighter aircraft designed by Dassault-Breguet for service with the French Navy.
The aircraft is an advanced development of the Étendard IVM, which it replaced. The Super Étendard first flew in October 1974 and entered French service in June 1978. French Super Étendards have served in several conflicts such as the Kosovo war, the war in Afghanistan and the military intervention in Libya.
The Super Étendard was also operated by Iraq (on a temporary lease) and Argentina, which both deployed the aircraft during wartime. Argentina's use of the Super Étendard and the Exocet missile during the 1982 Malvinas War led to the aircraft gaining considerable popular recognition. The Super Étendard was used by Iraq to attack oil tankers and merchant shipping in the Persian Gulf during the Iraq-Iran War. In French service, the Super Étendard was replaced by the Dassault Rafale in 2016."
The Kit:
The small top opening box contains four sprues bagged in two separate plastic bags, with the clear parts coming inside their own bag. The parts are moulded in light grey plastic and have a little bit of flash, but nothing a sharp hobby blade can't deal with.
Instructions are of the fold out type, with the assembly instructions on one page, and the camouflage instructions on the second one.
Decals are printed by Cartograf, and are of excellent quality.
Construction:
I began by removing the wings and gluing them together. The lower halves of the wings had huge ejector towers that needed to be removed, and after doing so, I glued both wing halves together.
Next came the cockpit. It's formed by three simple pieces, an instrument panel with no decals, a seat, and a cockpit tub. All the cockpit pieces were painted flat black, with the cushion of the seat being painted in RAF Dark Green. While the cockpit was drying, I glued two lead weights to the base of the roof of the landing gear, in order to avoid the SuE being a tail sitter. After letting the weights dry for some minutes, I glued the cockpit into place, and then glued the fuselage halves.
With the fuselage halves closed, I glued the wings into their openings. These are a loose fit, so care needs to be taken regarding alignment. The horizontal stabilizers were next. These were glued in place and left to dry. With the wings dry, I glued the missile supports onto the wings.
Colours and Markings:
Argentinian Super Etendards were painted in the French scheme of Dark Sea Grey and White, with the Argentinian flag on the rudder and elevators. I initially wanted to paint my aircraft with RAF Extra Dark Sea Grey, but it was too light. After checking several internet photos, and coming across this MM article: http://www.modelingmadness.com/scott/mod/setendard.htm , I chose to paint my aircraft with Revell's 78 Tank Grey for the upper surfaces, and white 05 for the lower surfaces. I first painted the upper surfaces with Revell 78, then I painted the flag on the empennage, and then I masked off and painted the white. After all that was dry, I painte the nose black with the aluminium trim. I then gloss coated the entire aircraft for the decals.
Decals came from Aerocalcas's sheet number 72004. These decals are thin, and tend to fold on themselves if you aren't careful, that's how I lost numeral 0752. Anyways, after decalling, I matt coated the entire aircraft with Revell's matt varnish.
Final Construction:
The wheel wells were painted aluminium, the landing gear struts were painted white, the same as the wheels. The fuel tank was painted Revell 78 and white, and the Exocet missile was painted white with a light blue tip and a black band behind it.
When I tried to install the gear on its place, I noticed it was a really loose fit, so I reinforced the joint with some CA. After that, I attached the landing gear doors and glued the fuel tank and missile in place.
Conclusions:
Academy's Super Etendard is the only modern game in town for a Super Etendard. It comes with decals for the French SuEs used during the Lybian war of 2011. In spite of its shortcomings (lack of cockpit detail), it was a fun kit to build.
Kit#: 2832.
Price: 75$
Decals: Two Options.
Notes: Aerocalcas 48005 used.
History:
From Wikipedia: The Grumman F9F Panther is one of the United States Navy's first successful carrier-based jet fighters, as well as Grumman’s first jet fighter. A single-engined, straight-winged day fighter, it was armed with four 20 mm cannons and could carry a wide assortment of air-to-ground munitions.
The Panther was used extensively by the U.S. Navy and Marine Corps in the Korean War. It was also the first jet aircraft used by the Blue Angels aerobatics demonstration team, from 1949 through late 1954. The aircraft was exported to Argentina and was the first jet used by the Argentine Naval Aviation."
The Kit:
The kit comes in a sturdy top opening box, typical from Trumpeter. Inside, there're three light grey sprues and one clear sprue. The model comes with two decal options for aircraft of the US Navy. Apart from the plastic parts, included are a film part for the instrument panel and a photoetch instrument panel dial faces.
Construction:
I began by painting the interior of the fuselage and the cockpit parts in Interior Grenn (Revell 48). When that was dry, I painted the side consoles in black. The pilot's seat was painted in black too, with silver rudder pedals and black instrument panel. After all that was dried, I moved on to the fuselage.
I didn't want to build the aircraft with the air brakes in the down position, as the kit would have you glue them, so I trimmed the actuator of it and glued the brakes in the up position. With that done, I glued the cockpit to the fuselage side, and glued 60g of lead weight to the back of it to have a nose sitter aircraft. Before closing the fuselage, you must glue the nose landing gear to the roof of the cockpit, otherwise you won't be able to place it after the aircraft is complete. I then glued both fuselage halves and let them to dry. To complete the fuselage, I built up the cannon bay and glued it to the nose of the model.
While the fuselage was drying, I built up the wingroots and wings. The wing roots were easy to build, and the wings per se need to have the holes for the bombs and missiles opened before gluing them together.
After gluing the wings together, I glued them to the fuselage halves, and left them to dry. The horizontal stabilizers were glued too at this time.
Colours and Markings:
The F9F-2s of the Armada Argentina were painted in a simple scheme of Light Gull Grey upper surfaces with white undersurfaces. I first painted the upper areas of the aircraft with Revell 76 Light Grey, and primed the lower surfaces with the same colour. After letting the paint cure for 24hs, the lower areas were painted with Revell 05 White. After the paint had dried, I glossed the aircraft with Revell's 01 Gloss Varnish to prepare the surface for the decals.
I used Aerocalcas 48005 decal sheet for this aircraft. The sheet has two options for the Panther and one for a Helicopter. They were of excellent quality and easy to work with, and they needed only one pass with Microsol over them to make them conform to the surface. After letting the decals dry for 24hs, I varnished the model with Revell's 02 Matt Varnish.
Final Construction:
I painted the main landing gear in white, and the bombs and missles with Olive Drab (Revell 66). Before gluing the armament to the wing pylons, I glued the landing gear, which proved to be a fairly loose fit. With the armament glued (six missiles and two 100lbs bombs), the model was complete.
Conclusions:
It was fun to buitl this kit, no fit issues and nicely detailed. Recommended.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grumman_F9F_Panther
Kit#: 81750.
Price: Can't remember.
Decals: Two options.
Notes: Nothing.
History:
From the LET LET book about the Bf 109G: "The Bf 109G "Gustav" was the most important variant of the Bf 109. It was also built in the largest numbers, in particular during the last years of the war. The Gustav was fitted with the new Daimler Benz DB605 engine, giving 1475hp.
Externally the (early) Gustav was similar to the preceding "F" model. The most visible differences were the lack of the small triangular cockpit window and the addition of small air openings on each side of the nose."
The Kit:
The kit has 78 pieces moulded in dark grey/clear plastic, and comes in four sprues of grey plastic and three clear ones (one has a solid canopy, the other one has a separate canopy, and the third one has a windscreen and the armoured headrest).
The kit has recessed panel lines, no flash, and is covered with tiny rivets that may make some people leave this model aside and go for the Hasegawa offering.
The instruction sheet comes as an 8-page booklet with 12 steps in black and white.
There're two decal options included:
1) Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Black 1", Walter Nowotny, 1/JG54. Painted in RLM 70.
2) Messerschmitt Bf 109G-2 "Black 13", Günther Rall, 8/JG52. Painted in RLM 74/75/76.
Construction:
I began by painting all the cockpit parts in RLM 66 (Revell 78), the instrument panel was painted flat black and the rudder pedals in steel (Revell 91). When the paint was dry, I removed some from the contact areas so the glue could have more grip in those areas. While the cockpit was drying, I set out to work on the fuselage and the wings. The fuselage halves need to have the exhausts glued first, so I did that, and glued the throttle controls to the left fuselage half. After all that, the cockpit was trapped between both fuselage halves. It was also at this time that I glued the engine cowlings and the oil cooler to the lower part of the fuselage.
For the wings, Hobby Boss tells you to open holes for the underwing cannons. Check your references, because the cannons may not be appropriate for the version you're building. My option didn't have the cannons, so I didn't open any holes for them. I'm also not really sure if the G-2s carried the fuselage fuel drop tank, so check again your references. After doing all that, I glued the wings to the fuselage.
Colours and Markings:
Günther Rall's aircraft was painted in RLM 74/75/76, with the rear half of the fuselage painted entirely in RLM 74. I first painted the rear fuselage half in RLM 74 (Revell 69), and then I painted the front of the aircraft in RLM 76. Some mottling was requiered in this area, which was painted in RLM 75 (Revell 47). The wings were painted following this article: http://www.modelingmadness.com/scott/axis/luft/me/109/48g2.htm
The nose and wingtips were painted in yellow.
After painting the aircraft, I glossed it to place the decals, which worked really well.
Final Construction:
I painted and added the landing gear, the gear doors, the tailwheel, the clear parts and the propeller. With those parts on, the aircraft was finished.
Conclusions:
Another fun kit from Hobby Boss. The cheapness (but no quality control issues and great fit) make them great kits for those who want to jump into scale modeling.
References:
http://www.letletlet-warplanes.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/Bf109G.pdf
Kit#: 7455.
Price: Can't Remember.
Decals: Two options.
Notes: I used spare decals to make this kit as Kaneyoshi Mutoh's aircraft.
History:
From the instructions: "The Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force Shiden-kai was developed from the Navy Kyofu seaplane fighter. Replacing the floats of the Kyofu with a landing gear and fitting the airframe with the compact but powerful Nakajika Homare engine, the IJN fighter went into production in 1943 and was provisionally asigned to units in October 1944. The IJN, however, found a lot to be desired with the new fighter and it was sent back to the drafting tables, where modifications to the fuselage, main wing positioning and automatic combat flaps were added. The finished product was the intercepto Shiden-kai. The prototype made its maiden flight in January 1945..."
The kit:
Coming inside a top opening box, the parts are moulded in dark grey and clear plastic, and come bagged in two separate bags. Easy to follow instructions are included, albeit with a bit of broken English.
Decals offer options for two aircraft of the 301st Fighter Squadron:
1) N1K2-J "343-23" of Petty Officer 1st Class Tomokazu Kasai, April 1945, Kanoya Naval Air Base.
2) N1K2-J "343-22," April 1945, Kanoya Naval Air Base.
Both aircratf are painted in Dark Green uppers with natural metal undersides.
Construction:
I began construction on the cockpit. All the parts were painted in Interior Green, black and silver where appropriate. The cockpit is divided into two sidewalls and one floor. Once the cockpit was fully painted and dry, I glued all the pieces together, and left them aside.
Next step are the wings. Before closing them you have to add the wheel wells, which were painted in steel, according to the instructions. You also get the options of opening two small holes for the footstpes. Once the wells were installed, I glued the upper wings into the single lower wing.
Back to the cockpit, I glued it to the fuselage, together with the other fuselage half. After gluing both halves, I glued the wings and the horizontal stabilizers. The flaps were glued in the down position, since I thought the aircraft looked better with them that way.
With an almost fully complete aircraft, I began work on the engine and engine cowling. The engine face is glued into the cowling flaps, which can be posed in the open or closed position (I chose open). This is the stage in which you have to glue the exhausts to the cowling, then the cowling is glued into the nose of the plane. The engine was painted black, and then glued to the cowling flaps piece. The last part of the engine to be glued was the cowling.
Colours and Markings:
Kaneyoshi Mutoh's aircraft was painted in Dark Green over natural metal undersurfaces. I painted the upper surfaces with Revell's 40 Black Green, and the lower sides were painted first in grey (primer) and Revell 91 Steel. The aircraft was then glossed up for the decals.
I used a mix of decals from the kit and from other Japanese fighter spares, the Hinomarus came from the kit, the number 4s on the tail were masked (as well as I could) and painted white, and the other letters came from my 1:48 Zero and J2M3 Raiden (both too in 1:48). After that, the aircraft was matt coated.
Final Construction:
I painted the wheels and landing gear struts, the landing gear doors were painted too. The fuel tank was painted in the Japanese Grey Green colour, and the clear parts were the last pieces to be glued.
Conclusions:
This is another good kit from Hasegawa. It was a fun build without difficulties, and it left me yearning for more Japanese aircraft.
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
Kit#: 9846.
Price: Can't remember.
Decals: Two Options.
Notes: Includes resin pieces to transform the J7W1 into the J7W2.
History:
From the kit's instructions: "In May 1944, the Kyushu Aircraft of Japan received an order from the Imperial Navy for a trial manufacture of the 18-shi (experimental) Interceptor that became known as the J7W1 Shinden, and Lieutenant M. Tsuruno of the Naval Aviation Technology Centre was appointed as designer in chief. Higher maneuverability and high speed were required for this aircraft to fight against the heavy bombers of the Allies. To comply with such demands, contrary to the usual aircraft, the propeller was located at the tail, main wings moved to the rear, and a pair of small horizontal fins called canards were located on the nose. This distinctive design allowed it a remarcable reduction in weight, resulting from the smaller main wings by the additional lift proveded by the canards. And without the propeller in front, weapons could be located in the nose for more efficient attacks.
Following the completion of the first prototype in June 1945, there were three test flights on August 3rd, 6th and 8th of 1945, and recorded a total of 45 minute flight. However, the war was over in the following days and the Shinden did not see any actual battle.
The Imperial Japanese Navy, encouraged by the previous success of its propeller driven Shinden prototype, had plans to build a jet powered Shinden Kai, but historians haven't been able to ascertain exactly how far along this project was at war's end."
The Kit:
Originally released in 1981, the kit has stood the test of time perfectly. It´s molded in light grey plastic with fine raised panel lines, no flash, a nicely detailed cockpit, and comes with the figure of a standing pilot. A label "Made in Japan" is displayed proudly on one of the sprues. One of the good parts of this kit is that you can leave the propeller assembly and the canards off the model until after painting and decalling, in case you need to add more weight in front of the aircraft. The landing gear is also long and skinny, and is wobbly and fragile as a consequence, so let it thoroughly dry before placing the aircraft on its wheels, and don´t go around moving it too much after that.
To convert the regular propeller driven Shinden into the Jet powered version, Hasegawa included three resin parts for the air intakes and the jet nozzle. There're also several optional armaments and fuel tanks included as new parts on this kit to embelish the undersides of the aircraft.
There're two decal options included in this kit:
1) Japanese Navy, 302nd Naval Flying Group, 1947. Painted in IJN Dark Green over IJN Green.
2) Luftwaffe, 1947. Painted in RLM 81/82/76.
Construction:
I had decided early on to build this Shinden as the propeller driven version instead of the jet powered one, so I left the resin parts inside the box and used the air intakes needed for the J7W1.
I began by painting the control stick, cockpit tub, rudder pedals and cockpit framing with Revell Sea Green 48 (the colour callouts mentioned "Interior Green"). I painted the instrument panel and the oxygen bottles flat black, and another bottle in red. The grip of the control stick was also painted black after the interior green had dried, and the rudder pedals were over painted with silver. The complete cockpit was then glued into one fuselage half.
With the cockpit in place, I began to ponder how and where should I add the nose weight. Hasegawa recommends to place 1g as forward as possible in the nose, but I chose to add 10g above the nose gear well. Since the shape of the nose gear well ends up in an angle, I glued two cut sprues to the sides, let them dry, and glued the weight after that. The nose gear well was then glued in place.
I then decided to glue the fuselage halves. I first test fitted them, to see if there would be any troublesome areas, and after checking there were none, I glued and taped both of them together. While the fuselage was drying, I thought I wouldn´t have enough weight in front of the nose, so I glued a smaller weight to the nose gear well.
I set the fuselage to one side and began to work on the wings. These are the usual single lower half and two separate upper halves. They were glued together and left to dry for some minutes. After that, the two vertical stabilisers were glued to the wing. These are a loose fit, and will have to be held until the glue dries enough for them to be left hanging alone.
I concentrated on the canards by gluing the two separate guns. I left this piece aside until the end.
I mated the fuselage and the wings together, a simple assembly with a nice fit. This left me basically with the complete airframe, sans the engine and the other parts. With the aircraft in this stage, I went to the paint shop.
Colours and Markings:
I painted the upper surfaces with RLM 70, and the lower ones with RAF Duck Egg Blue, since to me it looked the same as the late green used by the Japanese Army and Navy Air Force late in the war. Then I painted the yellow leading edge ID bands, left them to dry, and then glossed the entire aircraft to prepare it for the decals.
I chose to use the Japanese option, just because I liked it more than the German one. When finished, I matt coated the aircraft and left it to dry.
Final Construction:
After decalling, I glued the landing gear struts in place. These are long, skinny, and won´t resist much movement, so once the model is on its wheels, one should leave it alone. Before proceeding further, I left the landing gear legs to dry thorouhgly before adding the wheels.
While the aircraft was lying upside down with the landing gear drying, I built the propeller assembly. The engine front plate was painted with the fuselage colours, and internally painted silver. Then the propeller shaft was added and trapped by adding a circular piece that glues to the back of the engine plate (don´t glue the shaft to the circular piece if you want the propeller to spin). The propeller was glued to its backing plate, and then the spinner was glued to the backing plate. I put CA into the propeller hole and then pushed it into the propeller shaft, securing me a spinning propeller.
I glued the wheels to the landing gear, and then added the landing gear doors. I next glued the propeller assembly, and with a bit of fear, I put the aircraft over its wheels, and it didn´t colapse. However, the main landing gear struts did flex a bit forward, and to secure them, I cut two toothpicks, and CA glued them to the base the main landing gears, preventing them from moving forward. Since the weight I had added earlier was enough, I glued the canards in place.
Before completing the plane, I painted the clear parts. After cleaning them up, I dry fitted them, and glued them with Revell Contacta Clear.
Conclusions:
The Shinden has to be my favourite WW2 Japanese aircraft, I´ll for sure buy some more when I come across them. The landing gear may look weak, but letting it dry properly and adding the pegs at the base will make it sturdier.
References:
Kit instructions.
Kit#: 102.
Price: Can't remember.
Decals: One option.
Notes: Includes decals and stickers for the markings.
History:
From Wikipedia: "The Nakajima Ki-84 Hayate is a single-seat fighter flown by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Service in the last two years of World War II. The Allied reporting name was "Frank"; the Japanese Army designation was Army Type 4 Fighter. The Ki-84 is generally considered the best Japanese fighter to operate in large numbers during the conflict. The aircraft boasted high speeds and excellent maneuverability with an armament (up to two 30 mm and two 20 mm cannon) that gave it formidable firepower. The Ki-84's performance matched that of any single-engine Allied fighter it faced, and its operational ceiling enabled it to intercept high-flying B-29 Superfortress bombers. Pilots and crews in the field learned to take care with the plane's high-maintenance Nakajima Homare engine and a landing gear prone to buckling. The difficulties of Japan's situation late in the war took a toll on the aircraft's field performance as manufacturing defects multiplied, quality fuel proved difficult to procure and experienced pilots grew scarce. Nevertheless, a well-maintained Ki-84 was Japan's fastest fighter. A total of 3,514 aircraft were built."
The Kit:
This kit is one of several egg planes done by Tiger Models. The sprues were bagged in four separate bags. Parts are moulded in dark green and clear plastic. A single full colour instruction sheet is included with the model, and there's only one decal/sticker option.
Construction:
This kit was really simple, five construction steps and one painting and decalling section. I began by painting all the cockpit parts (seat, instrument panel and control stick) in Interior Green and black respectively. Then I glued all the pieces together and place the cockpit inside the fuselage. I next assembled the propeller and placed it in front of the cockpit. I also glued the tailwheel into place.
When I tried to close the fuselage, I realised I had put the engine askewed, so I had to force it into place, while at the same time breaking the propeller shaft. Disappointed but not discouraged, I went on, knowing I'd be able to glue the prop back with CA.
The wings were assembled next, but I deviated a bit from the instructions and glued the ailerons in place (they can be placed without glue so they can move freely). After that, I glued the wing into the fuselage.
Colours and Markings:
The painting instructions indicated me to paint this kit with Japanese Army Green and Japanese Army Grey for the upper and lower surfaces. Not having any of those colours, I chose to use RLM 70 and Duck Egg Blue for the upper and lower surfaces. I then painted the yellow leading edge ID bands and painted the guns black. The exhausts were painted with Revell's 83 Rust. I then glossed the aircraft for the decals.
There were only 8 decals for this model, and all performed well with the use of some Microsol.
Final Construction:
I painted the landing gear and the fuel tanks, which were then placed in their respective places after the paint was dry. The propeller was also glue in place with CA. The clear parts were also painted and place over the cockpit.
Conclusions:
My first egg plane. It was a fun build between more serious projects. I'll make sure to pick some more if I ever find them.
References:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nakajima_Ki-84
