Awesome guys, just got ya'll down!

 its not a new year without a new Japanese gb, I am in! Not sure what yet.

Waikong: It's good to have you. Putting you down now.

I'll join in if I may.  I have a 1/72 Hasegawa Betty that has been in the stash way too long and is mocking me.

dwsrazor

I'll join in if I may.  I have a 1/72 Hasegawa Betty that has been in the stash way too long and is mocking me.

 

Sure! Welcome aboard! Just put you down.

I'm looking forward to that Betty. Nice one.

Cheers

Tony

Hi 

Is the group build open to modern Japanese aircraft 

I have 10 such kits in my stash and I would very much like to join in with the 1/72 Fujimi UH-60JA helicopter 

John .

Here she is. Getting Started. Hopefull a fast build. Only one sprue!

Off to a good start cb. 

plasticjunkie

Off to a good start cb. 

 

Thanks PJ!   Here is update #2

Mixed a custom cockpit color based on info at aviationofjapan.com :  http://www.aviationofjapan.com/2010/05/shiden-kai-shiden-kyofu-colours-part.html

 used Tamiya , XF-58 lightened with some XF-4, and a few drops of Tamiya Retarder for good measure...

Glued the wings together and set aside...

Put some liquid mask on a few parts...

Instead of preshading, I got an idea to black base and then  pre-dry-brush the raised detail...

Not sure it worked out;however, next time I will mix a lighter version of the cockpit color so I won't have to put on as many coats .

I lightended up the cockpit color with a little yellow green the dry brushed the painted cockpit walls. I think it look ok...

CB: Looks good to me! You're off to a great start! 

Helo: Sure, anything is long as it's Japanese. WrinkledM built this cool Super Cobra in the last GB. 

Thank you kindly .

That is one really nice Super Cobra

I've made a start on the UH-60J

Paint instructions call out for the cabin area in H-53 neutral gray and the cockpit in H-52 olive drab . I'm wondering if a flat black cockpit floor , consol and seat frames would be more appropriate , with olive drab seat cushions ?

John .

Looks good, nice work! No idea about the cockpit colours, maybe someone else here knows?

Well , I took a guess and figured it probably , might be , maybe is black for the pilot and co pilot 

Nuetral gray for the cabin .

I'll paint the seat cushion olive drab and then start assembling the interior .

I finished painting the cockpit on the Shinden.  IP decal worked surprisingly well with Tamiya Mark-Fit (strong).

Got fuselage halves joined and test fit the wing. I was surprised to find that the wing fuselage joint was not a perfect fit as there are multiple problem areas that will need attention.

Started working on the engine as was perplexed that the instructions sheet called for the gear box to be light blue? Not trusting the Tamiya color recommendations (which also said the cockpit area should be XF-71 wich is a Mitsubishi (zero) cockpit color from what I understand), I tried to find a color photo of the Homare engine. The only color photo I found seemed to support Tamiya's claim so light blue it is.

Darn cb you are wizzing by this one, looks great.

plasticjunkie

Darn cb you are wizzing by this one, looks great.

 

Thanks PJ. Have to go back to my real job tomorrow though, so we shall see if I can keep the progress going smoothly 

The Shinden is coming along nicely , I really like the PE detail

I've got the cabin of the UH-60 glued up .

The instrument decal sheet almost distintegrated on me , it was so brittle . I manage to get part of it on and most of the lower decal portion 

I'll add the front cockpit side windows to the fuselage halves next and then glue everything together .

Looking good so far Helo!

This morning I worked on cleaning up fuselage and wing seams. Also getting cockpit ready to install so wing and fuselage can be joined.

Debating with myself what color the lower surfaces of the N1K1 should be? I know general concensus for N1K2 is bare metal... Unsure if this holds true for N1K1 however?

Gotta change my entry for this GB.  Instead of the Grace, I'll be doing the "Jill".  I got my B6N2 and B7N2s mixed up.  Looking to get started on it this week.

A little more progress on Niki...

Ok, I'm again with this Tamiya 1/48 Aichi D3A1 Type 99. I just barely started the cockpit from 2020 but things got crazy and I never got back to it. I would really like to get this one going again. I might be 5% along, if that.

BK

Great work CB and Helo. Unfortunately I need to finish a couple of last years builds before I can make a start.

cbaltrin

This morning I worked on cleaning up fuselage and wing seams. Also getting cockpit ready to install so wing and fuselage can be joined.

Debating with myself what color the lower surfaces of the N1K1 should be? I know general concensus for N1K2 is bare metal... Unsure if this holds true for N1K1 however?

 

I looked up the N1K1J in the Thorpe book and his take was that the N1K1J could be S1 or S3 scheme camouflage.  S1 is light grey on the bottom, S3 is unpainted aluminum on the bottom.  The N1K2J also might be either, in that reference.  The J indicated landplane.

The N1K1 is the original floatplane version of the same airplane, the Kyofu, code name Rex.  It is said to be in the S1 scheme, light grey bottom, by Thorpe.

Thanks for the info John!

jeaton01

I looked up the N1K1J in the Thorpe book and his take was that the N1K1J could be S1 or S3 scheme camouflage.  S1 is light grey on the bottom, S3 is unpainted aluminum on the bottom.  The N1K2J also might be either, in that reference.  The J indicated landplane. The N1K1 is the original floatplane version of the same airplane, the Kyofu, code name Rex.  It is said to be in the S1 scheme, light grey bottom by, Thorpe.

Helo: Looks good! The colour scheme works really well. 

DiscoStu & Brandon: Got you guys changed out and added. 

CB: Nice work!!! As Jeaton says I think you could go either way. As I understand they did start out with Kawanishi grey undersides but as things got worse the planes were just being pushed into service with the undersides unpainted. 

Got the engine assembled and primed the cowling. Dry fit the major airframe components because it looks better in a picture 

Next step will be to insert the cockpit and join the wings -- then start cleaning up the wing join areas...

Hi,

I just joined the community. Are Japanese ships allowed in the GB or just land and air. Can mediocre newbies join the group?

You're making great progress CB, nice work!