Gamera

Not sure I'd want to do another Japanese GB so soon after this one but maybe by next year I'll change my mind. I'm certainly not lacking in subjects!!!

Cliff

You could always extend this one

Well my Airfix subscription will renew at the beginning of November, which means I'll receive their special club kit - a BF109 in RAF or Japanese colour's. I reckon I might be able to get it done by the end of the year...

Hey thanks guys, I figured I'd screw the pooch here royally but everything turned out pretty darned well i think! Glad the new forum is working better for you Len and gee didn't know it was your first GB NeedBeer. Good to hear you enjoyed it!

Not sure I'd want to do another Japanese GB so soon after this one but maybe by next year I'll change my mind. I'm certainly not lacking in subjects!!!

Cliff

Gamers you've done a great job with this GB!

I' still following every post with the hope of participating again soon  but other buildz & life in general keeping me busy

This was my very first GB, I learnt a lot. Think i contributed 3 builds all veryy rewarding. I've since built up a nice stash of Japs eg Kate's, Vals, Jack, Frank, Oscar, George etc and now have a 1/48 Betty in the.mail - all inspired by this GB, one of the best I have participated in

Look forward to the longevity of this subject and a future GB

Gamera

Hey Waikong & Len, glad to see ya'll around! Before Stikpusher jumped in I thought it was just Bsyamato and me left!

I``m psyched about a Japanese GBII...have many kits in the stash just waitin`....

Len

Hey Waikong & Len, glad to see ya'll around! Before Stikpusher jumped in I thought it was just Bsyamato and me left!

As I said this GB has been running over a year, I think we're just out of steam. Most people who wanted to build a Japanese subject have done so by now. Maybe I'll try to launch Imperial Japanese GB II in a year or two from now.

RE: Posting...

I want to post more but it has become a hassle with the new (is it still?) format. Although I haven`t built any Japanese A/C for this GB, I have been building for other ones, just not posting my wip`s. I will attempt to do that tonight but not looking forward to it....

Len

I actually still read every post, but personal stuff is taking away my modeling time, and that includes posting here on FSM.  I guess i just ebbs and flows.

I understand Gamera. And I know that I kicked off my build late in the process here. It is just odd to be the only one posting here at times, with a week between my posts and no one else posting anything at all. And its not only here but on a few other threads. I dont care if folks respond to my posts, but when nothing is going in threads at all is not a good sign.

Cool Bsyamato, only two and a half months to go though.

I really need to finish my Zero, I know I've said that every month for the last six. Guess I'm paranoid about trying to mask decals and spray over them to kill the silvering. I will try to get the darn thing done after I finish off this P-40...........

Stik become the lone japanese modeller  good work!!

I have a little break these days from modelling workbench, just gluing some 1/72 veichles pieces in the kitchen and about to finish another gundam that are at 95% progress 

Hope to get back soon with other projects included the tenzan  also the summer won't go away 

SP: Oh I'm not too surprised to see things slacking off, this GB has been running for just over a year and month so it's running out of steam. I'll call it finished at the end of the year and maybe think of tossing another together - we'll see how it goes.

Thanks Gamera. I am just surprised to see that not much else is going on in here currently. I think I will be able to start slinging paint on my days off next week. At least the base top and bottom colors. I know the feeling about following along from work on your phone. But the new mobile app is not very freindly to these long threads.

Sp: I've been away from the computer except the one at work with the broken keyboard. Following along on my droid phone but as yet i'm pretty lousy with typing on i

....

Really, nice work there, she's coming along great!

The thread lights are on, but nobody's home...

I only did one little bit of work today here on my Frank. I added the smaller shackles to the wings.

Oh, BTW, on the sprues I found the kit original molding date... 1972...

A bit more work done here after breakfast out. I sanded the seams on the drop tanks and glued on the large shackles to the tanks. There are smaller shackles that I still need to glue to the wings.

I attached this"oil tank" (according to the instruction sheet parts list) onto the lower wing surface

And then it was time to place the tanks in the wings to make sure that the shackles dried at the proper angle while the glue set.

And I also glued the horizontal stabilizers in place. The silhouette is now set on this puppy.

Oh I am enjoying the weather! Full moon and clear skies.... it is glorious! Summer started late here this year so I am thoroughly enjoying this warm spell as best I can.

Well here is last night's work done while enjoying a cool refreshing beverage...

shims glued on the top cowl panel and sanded to proper fit

and then placed (but not yet glued) into the fuselage. There still is a slight gap but it fits WAY better than before.

and of course the drop tanks built and wings glued on....

I am off now to breakfast out with my wife and her mom, some errands, and maybe even a visit to the new Hobby Lobby that opened here recently!

Looking forward to them SP. Enjoy your Indian Summer, rainy and cold here on the east coast. Can't complain - we need the rain though.

Funny, I think almost every time we went trick-or-treating as kids it seems to have been raining!

The temperature has dropped quite a bit over the past couple hours, now that B.O.B went down, so I went and did some more work. And tomorrows pics will show major progress!!!! The wings are now on and I have added some shims to the cowl top deck to eliminate most of the gaps there. I also had to add a shim on one wing root to fill a gap there. Looking like a fighter plane now. Pics tomorrow.

Thanks! I will do so,,,as soon as it cools off a bit in the work area I will do some more work.

Looking good, keep the photos coming!

A little progress over the past few days on my Frank. I glued in the engine face and the front of the cowl

It is just too dang hot to get in my work area right now and do more at this time... October 1st here and it feels like August 1st...

Actually the kit does give an open canopy option and I will be using that. So some of the IP and cockpit will be more visible than the rest. But yes for the most part the detailing quite nice (a mix of raised and recessed panel detail) and fit is good. Test fitting reveals some gaps at the wing roots and around the cowling. But this kit cost under $15 and the molds are almost 40 years old, so I am not complaining. Just making observations. I don't know about the scale on this one. I do know that Tamiya did do a series of 1/50 kits back in the day, I want to say late 60's or so. I did build a Val and a Tony of those, and they did have a Pete and Tojo as well, IIRC. Those ones are certainly a step or two behind this one in terms of finesse with movable control surfaces, rotating wheels, being more akin to the old Revell and Monogram kits of the same time period.

Looking good SP! Not sure you'll even be able to see much of the IP when she's closed up with the canopy in place anyway.

I've heard that this is one of the earlier Tamiya kits that's closer to 1/50th than 1/48th- still as said the fit is pretty solid and detail is good.

I wanna say it is mid 70's vintage... 1974 or so...  I tend to sand seam mating surfaces ahead of time to make sure that they fit properly when I do assemble them.

Wow stik, an IP decal is a little lame for a Tamiya kit, when was that molded?  On the other hand, your seams sure look minimal.

Banzai! Some actual assembly today! Not much really, but a huge step forward after all the painting.... if this was a tank it would be nearly done after one month of building! 

Well I actually got the cockpit floorboard glued in last nite, and today was gluing the fuselage together

And then once the glue had dried, it was time to hollow out the the ends of the exhaust pipes. For a double whammy with the pics I also tried to get the cockpit sidewall details in the shots...

and now it's "Back to the 60's!" Tamiya gives a decal for the IP. No plastic IP with raised detail for painting and drybrushing... just a decal to attach to either fuselage half, or follow the directions, cut it in half and attach each half to the respective fuselage side...  really?

All that glitters Tamiya is not gold...  and to think that at the same time Monogram kits of the same vintage were giving us cockpits with killer IPs that are still pretty dang good today... Now before you Tamigawaphiles get your knickers in a wad, I am just poking fun at ya... Everybody had to start somewhere.

Today I made some major progress. First up I did all the detail painting colors on the interior. Then it was time for washes and dry brushing of highlight.

Engine colors are based off a few color photos of a Homare engine that I found online.

painted

and washed

cockpit floor and seat

and finally cockpit sidewalls- the color came from my interpretation of some post war B&W photos of a Ki-84 that had been captured and test flown by the Allies. The photos show each item such as levers, switches and instruments labeled with something like dymo tape in English... The whites and reds are guesses based off their contrast to the interior green, while black and bare metal were obvious.

left sidewall

right sidewall

for such minimal molded on detail, the old kit cockpit detail, while basic, compares favorably well with the real thing. If I was not trying to get this done in the next month or so I was quite tempted to improve the detailing there by scratch,,,

Thanks Gamera. Next week's days off should have some real progress to post. I am with you about paint shades, close enough works.