G4M1 to G4M2 conversion?

[Caerdydd]

Hello

Does anybody have any experience of converting Tamiya's 1:48 G4M1 Betty to a G4M2 ?

Thank you!

SEb

[Steve N]

I considered going the other direction with Hasegawa's 1/72 G4M2. It's been a few years, but as I recall some of the main issues are:

- Completely different nose window layout..the G4M2 had much more glass than the earlier Bettys. You'd probably have to vacu-form clear replacements for the fuselage sides forward of the cockpit. Also, the nose itself has a large, flat panel as opposed to the G4M1's uninterrupted curve.

- Upper turret in place of the handheld gun. You'd have to remove the gunner's cupola behind the cockpit, and scratbuild a turret further aft.

- Large, flat, square windows for the side guns, in place of the earlier teardrop blisters.

- Completely different exhausts (individual stacks in place of the pipes) and four-blade props.

- Reshaped tips on all flying surfaces (I seem to recall the later Bettys had a different airfoil section as well.)

Those are just some of the highlights..the early and late Betty's were very different animals.

SN

[Caerdydd]

Thank you Steve.

It's too hard to convert

SEb

[Gaston]

Thank you Steve.

It's too hard to convert

SEb

It is far too hard to convert as you say: I started it and quickly gave up; it was just a nightmare...

A super expensive resin conversion set exist, but the name of the company escapes me. It was at least $400 and only available briefly in Japan, though it was re-released...

Tamiya really missed the boat by offering only the boring, turretless and Ohka-incapable G4M1 for 14 years now... One of the worst decision they ever made imho.

Gaston

[Gaston]

It is far too hard to convert as you say: I started it and quickly gave up; it was just a nightmare...

A super expensive resin conversion set exist, but the name of the company escapes me. It was at least $400 and only available briefly in Japan, though it was re-released...

Tamiya really missed the boat by offering only the boring, turretless and Ohka-incapable G4M1 for 14 years now... One of the worst decision they ever made imho.

Gaston

The hard-to-remeber name of the company is "Create 301". Don't know if the conversion is still available.

Gaston