Well, despite the usual Texas heat (and I do mean HEAT, 100 degrees HEAT), I have managed to finish off a couple of builds that I'd been working on for a couple of months. (Easier to do when one finds themselves out of a job, sadly, as of last Friday, so I've managed a lot of bench time along with job searching).
Over the last couple of years I've been adding kits to my stash of Japanese subjects. The "Nell" has always been an interesting Jap bomber due to its unusual tail alignment, with the twin rudders attached atop the stabilizer rather than buttressed to the end such as on the B-24. Additionally I have been fascinated with this bomber since I first saw a vacu-formed kit in 48th scale (Bill Koster) but this Hasegawa 72nd scale kit was the only one I could readily find. I'd rather have this in 48 scale to go along with my now ancient Tamiya G4M Betty, but this is the best I could do.
The kit presented absolutely zero challenges. It falls together like a Tamiya. There was only a little need for filler. The one thing I decided early on was that I did not want a standard green over gray paint scheme. I found some other kits built with this brown/green/gray-green scheme, but I never could find any color photographs or other reference materials confirming that the Nell was actually ever painted in such a scheme. But since I thought it looked interesting, I went with it as a matter of artistic license.
With Japanese aircraft, I cannot resist doing a good bit of weathering typically, but for this one I did actually keep the weathering to a relative minimum. I pre-shaded the panel lines, which actually shows up pretty well especially on the under-side, and then I used a silver graphite pencil to replicate wear along walkways, the engine cowlings, near the cockpit, and near a couple of wing access panels. Paints are a mixture of Tamiya and Model Master. There are a couple of coats of Future to help with decal application and to seal the decals in, then followed with an overall coat of flat clear to finish it off.
This was truly an enjoyable build. Highly recommend this diminutive kit for fans of Japanese warbirds.