Yes it will be worth looking up to me. I am finding out that the photo references are a bit contradictory and confusing at best...

Well here are the touched up Hinomarus... the red touch up does not quite match... 

Aint that the truth...

That has happened to me too many times to mention. The last time this happened to me, I used the lightest grit sanding stick and lightly went over the ridge area. Created a light weathering worn effect and hid my mistake all in one.  When in doubt, weather!

Good  idea... LOL! I am gonna have one more go at the red before I try the weathering cover up approach. ;-)

Well my latest attempt had better results. I mixed up a shade of red that is pretty darn close.

After the washes, top coat, and weathering, I am pretty sure this will be hard to see once complete.

Looks really close to me. And I have to agree with Waikong about the weathering - if you're going to add a wash the area around the lights will darkened somewhat in any case.

I just popped in for a look see at your G.B. Gamera ................

Stik , your color match looks dead on .

Carl: you've very much welcome. If you haven't already check out all the awesome builds the guys have finished back on page one.

And you're welcome to join Part 2. We've had aircraft and ships but not a japanese tank so far. Thinking of doing one of my Finemolds kits or the Dragon Ka-mi myself. Too many choices!

Cliff

I have the old original Tamiya Chi-Ha in my stash that I have been eyeballing to build for quite awhile now, which is actually quite a nice kit.

Shellback

Stik , your color match looks dead on .

In direct sunlight there is a tad bit of contrast, but I am not gonna mess with this case of 'close enough'.

SP: the Chi-ha would be really cool too. Started one years ago trying to add a bunch of PE and kinda screwed the kit up. Would like to see how the kit would have turned out.

Cliff , no i hadnt looked at the completed builds out front but after you suggested it i have ..............very nicely done builds guys !!!

Thanks for the invite to phase 2 .

Stik , up here i dont get to look at my models in the sun light to often ........ I did grow up down there in So.Cal though .

Okay, after knocking out he Finemolds Ki-43 III I was looking for another Japanese kit to do.  I was looking through the stash and out from the pile, literally drops Tamiya's Ki-43 III "Dinah". 

I got busy working on the cockpit and fuselage by painting and weathering the parts involved.  Not to difficult a kit, kind of sparse on the details ,but still enough there to make a decent OOB build, which by the way is the way I prefer to build models.

I thought I would try something I have never done before.  I used the seat belt harness provided with the kit.  I cut them both out of the decal sheet and glued them in place with white glue.  I don't think they look that bad considering they are decals.  Most of the time I use a regular strip of paper and cut them to length, and fashion the harness that way.  However, in the interest of saving time and trying a new tactic, so here are the pictures...

FJS, the decal seatbelts worked out pretty good I think. The paper backing gives a much better "depth" to the belt itself rather than the decal without the paper. I have used a few decal seatbelts in the past and never have been quite happy with that aspect. I will have to try your method. Very nice work on all the rest of the interior as well.

Shell, about eight years ago to the day here, I arrived at Ft Lewis in your neck of the woods in preparation for an all expenses paid Uncle Sam sponsored overseas package tour. I got acquainted with the Pacific Northwest weather quite well over the next few months and and when we returned some 13 months later...

Fjs3: nice work! Lots like you're about ready to close up the fusilage there.

Button her up you say?  Why there's a hurricane coming!  Actually I did a lot more than that.  Had a GREAT day at the bench and I got quite a bit done. 

Fuselage all closed up

Wings and tail planes attached

Canopies in place

Seams filled and sanded.

Basically the kit is ready for painting after a good scrub down.  I even cleaned up the seams on the landing gear, tail wheel, props and spinners. 

One of the things I did NOT like about the kit, is that you seem to have to pose the cockpit closed.  It comes as a multi piece affair with the different sections, but the only way they fit right, is to close it up.  I usually like them open so I was not fond of this.  However the kit is moving right along and is now in first place as the fastest build I've even done. 

Here are the pictures SO far:

Thanks again for looking and depending on what happens with this stupid hurricane, I'll have a lot more done tomorrow.  Hoping to get a little masking of the clear parts, and some painting of the landing gear, props and maybe the bottom color.  We shall see!

Regards,

Freddie from LI

Good work on the cockpit !!

Yeah, the cockpit looks even better now that it's fitted inside.

...lookin` good. My bench is probably underwater right now....I live on a lagoon on Mystic Islands,NJ, and Sandy landed in my backyard! Got evac`d 6pm last night...tried sneaking home this morn but the cops stopped me a 1/2 mile from my street. The road was flooded but looked minor at the time. The Barrier islands and low-lying areas around me are in bad shape. My house is on one of the highest lots in the lagoon area but I think we`re gonna flood anyway. Last time it flooded like this was during Hurricane Andrew...got 18" through the house...thank God for flood insurance!

Sorry for the minor hi-jacking but it sounds like you`re affected by Sandy too. Good luck with the storm and keep up the good work...cockpit came out great!

Len

Oh that would suck bigtime Trouble! I hope that you weather the storm with minimal loss and trouble there.

FJS, coming along very nicely. That is one sleek looking design.

stikpusher

Oh that would suck bigtime Trouble! I hope that you weather the storm with minimal loss and trouble there.

Len

P.S. .....The full force of the storm won`t hit us until 7pm...yikes!

Len: just sitting in a restaurant watching the Weather Channel and it looked like NJ is about to be washed away. Keep your head down and hopefully it won't be too much damage.

Funny i'm sitting here in Florida on vacation and the storm shot right up the coast and we didn't get anything but high winds here. First time in history I think Florida has been the safest place in a hurricane.

Hey Cliff, check out my post "Hurricane Sandy"...just gave the low down of what happened to us...a lot worse for others I`m sure...a storm I will NEVER forget!!!

Sounds like you made it thru moderately well. Could have been better,but could have been far worse. I wish you a speedy salvage and recovery op Trouble.

Well lots of progress in the final steps of weathering my Frank today.

First up I applied Promodeler Wash "dark dirt" in all the recessed line areas

Then once it dries, a few swipes with a damp cloth removes the excess...

then on the raised detail I applied a pin wash of Model Master Enamel Burnt Umber, first on the lower surfaces

and once it had dried I removed the excess using a thinner moistened brush

then I repeated the process on the upper surface raised detail

MM Enamel Burnt Umber applied

and cleaned up

Tomorrow i plan on applying the final top coat, drybush chipping, and gluing the last pieces into place.

Len: ack, I'm sorry to hear about all the damage to your home. At least i'm assuming no injuries to anyone in your family? Still, people talk about property damage that stuff can be simply replaced. The issue though is the time investment in finding your stuff and setting it up just how you want can't be replaced. My prayers to you and your family among with everyone else in the path off destruction.

SP: look good, almost there now. Doogs got me to try pre-mixed washes and I've become a bigfan of them.

As long as the detail is recessed  those pre-mixed washes work great. But on raised panel lines they are not so hot, so I prefer using enamel washes due to better control.

Gamera

Len: ack, I'm sorry to hear about all the damage to your home. At least i'm assuming no injuries to anyone in your family? Still, people talk about property damage that stuff can be simply replaced. The issue though is the time investment in finding your stuff and setting it up just how you want can't be replaced. My prayers to you and your family among with everyone else in the path off destruction.

Hang in there Len! Glad to hear you and the Family are okay. I got nailed hard in 04 by Charlie so I feel your pain.

SP thats looking sharp!

Cliff hope you're enjoying the vacation what part of Fla are you in?