Zoukei-Mura 1/32 Raiden

[Nigel Heath]

Hi g-usa, I have not read through this properly, I will tomorrow - promise. From what I have seen in the photos though this is looking absolutely incredible, the washes and weathering are top notch. What a great build this is, I am now going to have a good look at your other build thread.

[Billydick]

Hi George ...... missed this thread somewhere along the line. Love the Raiden, a beautiful looking plane imho (no accounting for taste). Will follow with interest.

BillyD

[georgeusa]

I was looking at the cockpit and where the instrument panel was to be installed. It looks like it will it will sit it you can view the front and the back. Since this kit has so much detail, thought I might need to do a bit of something to make the back less barren. So I drilled out some of the backs of the instruments (many holes to drill, yechhh.) and then placed individual wires leading from the different instruments with this result:

While I let the glued wires dry, I will start on the port side wall. I have put the various pieces together on the wall and just still marvel at the detail.

As the parts dry on the port side wall, back to the IP panel and painting the wires with a thick black paint to represent covered wire. And here that is. I must say, though, with afterthought, probably should have painted the wire before I installed it rather than afterwards. It was a pain to paint the inner wires.

So I got the port side wall drying the IP wires drying, let’s go back to the starboard side wall and attach it to the cockpit and see how it lines up. So far, the fit of parts has been quite good with very little fiddling, etc. to get parts to fit each other. The subassemblies mesh well. The side wall went on with ease.

Now my yo yo friends (doesn’t it seem like we are bouncing back and forth?) while the starboard wall dries and the IP wires dry, I put on the first coat of paint for the port side wall and the black wash (Tamiya Smoke).

I let that dry a bit, and then dry brush with Testor’s metallic silver. Now, I don’t know about you, but drybrushing is a wonderous thing. You barely graze a brush over a piece of plastic and suddenly, detail pops out at you that didn’t exist before. Great fun. Also, how many of you go through this experience. You start to drybrush and pick a less than obvious place to start to test to see if you have removed enough of the paint from your brush to actually drybrush rather than coat. You lightly brush, testing to see how much paint is left, then as you proceed, you get to that magical point in time that only lasts for a few brush strokes, where the level of paint on the brush is perfect, your control is in sync and just the exact amount of detail is revealed. Then you go over to the other side where there is not enough paint, it is harder to bring out detail, but do you really want to reload the brush and start the dance over again. Trials and tribulations of a model painter. Anyway, here is some pictures of the port side wall after drybrushing and detail painting.

And here it is in place with most of the cockpit completed.

In the last cockpit photo on the control lever column is a minute PE part that looks like a cog. It is a nice touch. Think I will break here and hope photobucket is up so I can update. It wasn’t up earlier today. All comments are most welcome.

[keefr22]

Very nice, that really does look good!

[Nigel Heath]

Hi g-usa, I have now read through the whole thread and I am fully up to speed. This is a lovely kit and you are doing some fantastic work on it. I could not make my mind up about the seats, both had good and bad points. I don't like moulded in seat belts but the PE ones looked a bit weedy and unconvincing somehow. Keep it coming fella.

[Pete in Lincs]

George,

It is looking very nice.

What a wide cockpit!

I wonder how it compares with a P 47?

I have the Ta152 to build, Sometime!

Keep on keeping on.

Pete

[nick32]

Loving following along George, this is a kit i want to get at some point so i'm closely following.

You are doing a great job of it, plus keeping the Boss happy - You have my admiration..

[georgeusa]

Update:

Next up is the radio compartment and the gas tank (or petrol for Nigel). I have given the various kit parts for the radio compartment a base coat of the respective colors and a black wash. There are PE parts for this section and they will be used.

And here is the tank and firewall painted up with the start of weathering.

A question about photobucket. Does anyone else have the same problem I do? When I upload a few pictures at a time, even though the screen states I have uploaded the correct amount of pictures, when I go to my library, pictures that should have been uploaded aren't there. Just curious. Can always upload them again, but it is a bit of a pain. Back to the build. Back to the radio compartment and the PE. I love working in 1/32 because the parts are so much bigger and easier to work with. This goes on the radio console.

Here is the front part of the radio section with its PE parts installed.

And here is the picture with the immensely, huge, PE part already shown, attached. (Canopy glue, still drying.)

Here is the radio sitting on a PE base (that is entirely invisible now) and attached to the radio shelf and rear bulkhead.

While the radio glue is setting, back to a bit of weathering on the engine firewall opposite the gas tank. Have put on a base of silver with a black wash.

While the firewall’s black wash is drying, I attached the roll over assembly that covers the radio. All parts have had a base coat of Humbrol 30 for the cockpit color, followed by a black wash of Tamiya Smoke. After all of that has dried, a light drybrushing of Testor’s metallic silver is done.

I now attach the firewall to the gas/petrol tank and will finish the weathering and touch up some straps a bit better.

The next step is a wash of Flory Rust that is almost completely removed from the panel. In this case I brushed it on and continued drying and removing the wet wash with the brush leaving just the bare minimum left on the part.

While that dries, I am bouncing back to the cock pit to begin assembling the various components prior to inserting them in the port fuselage half. Before I can do that, I need to install the IP panel in the cockpit.

Next I attach the radio compartment to the cockpit.

Next after the superglue dries and I wasn’t careful and didn’t align the two correctly; I detach the parts with some careful prying with a scalpel, and then reattach them the way they should have been in the first place. (And then kick myself for not checking the alignment properly before the superglue set.) The entire assembly to be inserted into the starboard fuselage half will consist of the engine, the firewall/petrol tank, the cockpit and the radio shelf. I plan to do this in sections.

So, I now attach the engine to the firewall/tank.

Finally the cockpit/radio subassembly is attached to the engine/firewall assembly and this mishmash occurs.

Now look closely at the last picture above. Does anyone else see all that high quality extra work I did to place individual wires in back of the instrument panel to make sure that area did not look barren. Now I know why the kit manufacturer didn't care about the back of the IP. I guess just need to chalk it up to a learning experience that will come in useful in the long run. Now, to get the parts to fit with my added wires, had to cut off most of each individual wire length to about 1/2 inch (NIgel can provide mm) and then put all of them at a 90 degree angle. Once I did this, there was just enough room to attach the firewall/engine assembly to the cockpit/radio assembly. C'est la vie. This looks like a good stopping place. The next step in the instructions oddly enough is not putting the cockpit assembly inside the fuselage halves and buttoning up the fuselage. It is construction of the wings. Seems like the assembly instructions vary from the intuitive way to build. As always, comments and critiques appreciated.

[hendie]

your weathering is looking good.

Okay, I can't see all the wires from the IP but just feel that warm and mushy feeling you have inside after completing it - and that's withOUT canoodling!

[Neil AS]

Great work George, as they say our never to old to learn, but isn't that what modelling is about the challenges the next kit throws up and the boundaries we like to push to achieve that perfect model.

[Duncan B]

Impressive skills on display, not just the modelling but the domestic diplomacy as well! These Zoukei-Mura kits look really impressive and somewhat intimidating too, such a shame that a lot of the details will disappear once completed though.

Duncan B

[georgeusa]

Latest update: Wings

The wings consist of a one part bottom wing with two top wing halves. In this section, the wings are constructed with the main wing spar; and in each wing, two wing cross beams, the machine gun support structure, a fuel tank and the machine guns. In the middle of the bottom wing two cross beams and a support are placed. The first step is to put the kit spar that runs the span of the lower wing in, clamp it shut and make very sure it is aligned properly as down the line this becomes quite important. (Yeah, I know that from the hard way.) Here is the port wing with the main spar attached, the two cross beams and the machine gun rack. It is painted with a base of Testor’s metallic silver and then weathered with Tamiya Smoke. I did not spend too much time on the weathering and finishing as I believe hardly anything will be seen even with the top wing machine gun access panels open.

Here is the center section with its two cross beams, support structure, control lever and to either side the wing fuel tanks. I test fit the upper wings and there is no way these wing tanks are visible, I was feeling lazy, so I inserted them just in case they are needed for some sort of stability or strength issue, but did not even bother to put on a spit of paint. Again, the center section was painted and weathered the same as the port wing, but not a lot of effort was done as I do not think it will ever been seen again.

Here is the starboard wing, same effort as the port wing as to painting and weathering.

Next up are the machine guns (okay, I know they are technically 20mm cannon, but don’t get hung up on the terminology or I will start calling them the bang makers!! And being in the military I have upon a time or two either recited or heard the difference between gun and rifle.) Taking them off of the sprue, I am so impressed with the detail on them. There looks to be some tiny injection marks, but I do not think they will be seen once the guns are installed. If so, can always fill them before I fasten the top wing. I bought the metal gun barrel set for this kit. I compared the metal barrels with the kit barrels, and to be honest, there is such a slight difference, I am not going to use the metal barrels on this kit. The kit barrels are already drilled out and look just as good as the metal ones. Fear not, I will not waste the metal barrels. For they, like the seat with the PE seatbelts will find a new home in the Hasegawa Raiden I have in the stash. (Actually, I discovered I had two; got to stop the impulse buying. Kits, pretty kits, come here my precious. Feel like an old Gollum (which really doesn’t resemble the description of folk stories of golems, guess no relation) going into a hobby shop; just can’t resist. Anyway, here are the plain jane kit guns, no paint, just plastic. I hope I can do them justice. More importantly, I hope they are very visible once the wings are put together. What I am beginning to realize with this kit is half of my work will only be preserved in pictures. Because once the kit is buttoned up, even a proctologist will not be able to view the details. So, boys and girls, if you have this kit, and you don’t just like painting and weathering to amuse yourself, might want to put it together with tape to see what will show and what won’t and just focus on the show part stuff. My original goal was to paint and weather everything, but I have run out of steam for that as evidenced by my just throwing the bare wing tanks in. Here is the kit guns.

Note the rather prevalent injection marks in the smaller gun that goes in the outer position. I still do not think these will be visible, so not going to bother with them right now.

Here is one set of wing guns and their respective magazine cases with the base paint on. For the guns, Humbol 53, for the magazines, Tamiya Nato Black.

I have painted all 4 magazines with a base of Tamiya Nato Black. The 2^nd and 4^th from the top have been weathered with a dry brush of Testor’s Metallic Silver to bring out wear and details. The 1^st and 3^rd are awaiting treatment and are in the picture for contrast.

Here are all 4 magazines painted and weathered.

And here is the guns with a black wash over the gun metal base. This was followed by a dry brushing of silver to pop the detail out.

Here is the starboard wing installation of the guns and magazines. Here is where you find out if the main spar and the cross beams were properly aligned. If you do a good job initially putting them in place, no problems. If not, the trimming, fettling, filing and manhandling come into play. The starboard side, not aligned too well. The port side, much better. What I am finding with this kit is the prior step’s proper alignment of parts is critical to continue with construction of the next steps. That really became apparent when I put the engine, firewall, petrol tank, cockpit and radio set together. The subassemblies that were properly aligned during construction slid together with little effort and just clicked into place. The subassemblies that were even off a smudge, results in problems. Starboard wing gun installation.

And port wing gun installation.

Next up are the wheel wells. Each wheel well consists of 3 sections that butt into the main wing spar. Installation was relatively easy and went a lot better than I thought it was going to be. There are multiple complex curves in this assembly that the 3 sections must follow and mirror and got to give credit to the ZM designers, the parts fit perfectly. Here is the starboard assembly followed by the port assembly.

Now, my extensive knowledge of the interior wheel well paints of Japanese aircraft is, to put it bluntly, non-existent. So, foolish me, this should be such an easy thing to discover on the web, right. Yeah, discovered it’s like asking for a consensus on the color Sky. Who was the manufacturer, what month of the year was it produced, what year was it produced, what unit did it go to, was there a full moon when the aircraft was delivered to the unit, did a unicorn make an appearance in a dream to the emperor the night before . . . So, I went with the kit instructions which calls for the interior color of the wing from the main spar back to the tail, silver and from the front of the spar to the leading edge of the wing, the same color as the bottom of the aircraft. What color is that you say, back to the internet. Seems the bottom grey of Japanese aircraft is about an elusive color as Sky is to the Spitfire. So, I went with Tamiya Japanese grey. And I would like to tell you if it was the army grey or navy grey, but prior to this build, it seems I knocked the paint bottle over and got paint all of the number and description of it. Looks right though. Now why all of this rambling about the interior paint. It arose because the instructions call out for the gear wells to be the same color as the exterior bottom, but then want the actual wheel well inserts to be painted in Aotake. (Yeah, another color that has 50 different versions.) So, I just gave up and painted everything as per the instructions with Tamiya paints, IJ grey for most of the interior forward of the spar and Tamiya X-13 for the aotake. Then each section was given a slight wash and then a drybrush of silver. A heavier drybrush was done on the aotake parts to help lighten the Tamiya paint. Here are the results.

In the first photo of the finished wheel wells, it shows the oil cooler intake vent with screen. I am not too happy with the aotake results. I last used this paint on a 1/24 Trumpeter Zero Floatplane and I remember it being a whole lot lighter. I don’t know if the paint has darkened with age. I may get a new tin and repaint. But, I will wait until after the kit is finished to see how much of it shows.

Next up, the top wings are installed and I get to see how much of the gun bay is left for viewing pleasure.

I am stopping here. I am a bit disgusted as so little of those fine weapons show through the access panels. The tooling on them is beautiful. Luckily I have pictures to remember them by. I am truly glad I did not waste the metal barrels on them, especially the outer guns. You don’t even see the barrel because of the positioning of the weapon. There was just a significant amount of research, design, complex tooling and execution that went into the machine guns. Have to wonder why put that investment into something that won’t be seen. Seems like it could have gone to areas that will be quite visible. Oh yeah, since I have already bent one machine gun barrel, I am taking bets as to how long or if I will make it through the build without breaking off one or both of them. I give myself slim odds for the barrels remaining intact. Next step will be mating the fuselage halves together and then attaching to the wing. Comment and criticisms welcome.

[hendie]

I do tend to agree with you. It's nice to have detail - but it is also nice to be able to observe said detail once complete.

This does seem like an exercise in futility

Edited February 2, 2014 by hendie

[Nigel Heath]

Stunning work g-usa and a good, entertaining read a well. (Emperors and unicorns - where do you get this stuff from?). I echo the comment from hendie and Duncan. This is clearly a lovely kit but such a shame so much detail is hidden with no real way of showing it off.

You have also given me an important task which I will not shirk:

0.5 inch = 12.7 millimetres

Regs,

Nigel

[georgeusa]

I am still disappointed that so little of the gun bay detail is observable. My only consolation is the injection marks I had a slight concern about definitely do not show. Will be posting the next update in a few. And Nigel, thanks for the conversion.

[hacker]

Those guns almost look like German MG-FF cannons. I know the Japanese used copies of American,British and German guns

[Vanja #66]

Amazing work, gerogeusa, weathering leaves me speechless... Seeing this makes me want one... 55.55% smaller, though...

[J.P.]

Ahhhh Crud!!!!! Another build to follow?!?!?!?! First it was RoyMattblack's Pocher Rolls, then his DB5, Fozzies B-17 front end, two 1/32 scale P-51s a couple of armor builds....I'll never keep up. I don't really even care for Japanese aircraft but the hook is set....I'm in Don't get me wrong keep the updates coming and keep up the great work.

[georgeusa]

Update: Fuselage to Wings

In the next steps I get to close the fuselage up and then attach it to the wing section. The instructions have you place the radio/cockpit/firewall/engine assembly in the starboard fuselage half, then put all the other miscellaneous parts that need to be put in prior to the halves being put together. Then you attach the starboard fuselage half to the wing. Then you attach the port fuselage half to the wing and starboard half. Let’s see how this will work.

Sorry, my ADD is kicking in. Or, “Now for something completely different”, before I start with the above, here is a shot of the wing gun panels. They are very thin as compared say the thickness of the fuselage or wings. My only gripe, rather prominent injection marks on the inner surfaces which will be seen if the gun bays are open. Here they are filled

Okay, back to the main topic. I start by painting the inside of the fuselage halves. I didn’t do too much as there will be little that shows with the cockpit side panels covering up most of the fuselage walls. So just a base coat of the interior green, wash of black and a very light drybrushing of silver. Not a lot of effort. Didn’t try to fill the injection marks as they will not be visible.

Then, this assembly of a lower cockpit frame with the tail wheel elevating actuator motor and the actuating rod that runs the length of the fuselage to the tail wheel must be first attached to the cockpit floor bottom of the radio/cockpit/firewall/engine assembly. Then the whole shebang is then attached to the starboard fuselage and the rod is further glued to attachment points along the fuselage side until it meets the tail wheel strut. And if you had 3 hands it would be handy. (An awful pun and I am sorry.) Here is the tail wheel actuator assembly.

In the background there is just visible a spreader bar that is designed to keep the two fuselage halves the right distance apart a separate lower fuselage panel to be inserted once the halves are joined. Will show the lower fuselage section a bit later. I hope all these parts will mesh together well in the end.

Here is the shebang put in the starboard half. I’ve attached the radio/cockpit/firewall/engine assembly in the starboard fuselage half. Relatively easy and did finally mesh when I figured out what should line up with where in the fuselage.

Very strange, didn't plan it, but I took the picture of my build right under what the kit has as there representation of what it should look like. They look similar don't they? Could I be doing this right? Hope so. Next, I attach the actuating rod along the fuselage wall up to the tail wheel strut.

As you can see, I am waiting for the glue to set so I can complete the last part of attaching the actuator rod to the tail wheel strut. I really hope in the tail wheel assembly section there is a stronger attachment for this strut. I think if the attachment point right now is used, it won’t support the weight of the aircraft. Not impressed by its stability at this point in time.

Okay, I have dry fit the starboard fuselage to the wing assembly. It was not easy or pretty. And the in the next 3 photos say goodbye to all of that detail because it will be the last time it sees the light of day; ever. All that wasted design, detail and effort. “But honey, at least we have the pictures to remember this by!!”

Nigel, I apologize for the last picture. I know your penchant for focused shots. Now, an admission of my modeling inability. I tried to attach the starboard fuselage assembly to the wing, get it adjusted right, and then put the port fuselage assembly in its place, but I could not make it work without another set of hands to hold everything together. I was afraid if I did not get the starboard side aligned just perfectly on the wing, then after the glue had set and I attempted to attach the port fuselage, there would be huge gaps between the fuselage halves and between the port half and wing. So, I chickened out and glued the fuselage halves together to eliminate to lessen that seam. Hope this works out okay.

Now, if you look at the picture above check out the gap that has resulted between the port fuselage and the bulkhead behind the radio. Remember when I didn’t get it lined up right the first time and had to take it apart. Guess who didn’t get it lined up right a second time. Yepp, the doofus from Texas. So back to the scalpel and carefully prying the radio assembly apart from the halves without breaking anything. Did I say without breaking anything; how optimistic on my part? Luckily, it was only the radio antenna that broke. That I can fix easily. So, I pried off the radio assembly

And then reattached it properly (I hope) for the third time. Hope that third time charm thing is really in effect. It looks pretty good now. Very little gap and what there may be is hidden in the shadows even before the windscreen is put in place.

Wrestlemania now commences. I have attached the assembled fuselage to the wing unit. And taped as best I could to make sure everything is aligned correctly and there will be no gaps when the wing fillets are put in place. And I said a fond farewell to much (translate that to all) of the bottom cockpit detail. Bye bye. And for the third time I broke off one of the oxygen bottle assemblies.

So after the glue has set, the port wing fillet fits quite nicely with only a tiny gap around the engine I am so happy, success. See I know what I am doing when it comes to building models. I don’t need no stinking instructions. Look at how well it fits.

Dashed to the ground I go falling in flames. Maybe the instructions should have been followed, maybe I don’t know as much as I think I do. Let’s take a look at the starboard side fillet.

OHH, this is not pretty. I got gaps, I got steps, I got a crappy fit and it is not the kit’s fault. Oh no, it is entirely my fault. Maybe, next time should follow the directions!! So out with the putty. I love sanding, I love filling, I love sanding, I love filling . . .

I still have a bit more filling and sanding to do, so while the 3^rd application of filler and Mr. Surfacer dries, I will go to the bottom fuselage panel and see what is entailed with that part. A quick dry fit shows it will snuggle in quite well with only a bit of a gap that can be taken care of quickly. I don’t know how anyone ever completes a kit without sanding and filling. Must be me. I read all these reviews where the reviewer didn’t require the use of any filler. I think I’m lucky if I only have to do each seam once. So, here is a picture of the battery that fits in the bottom of the fuselage. The next thing that goes is another oxygen canister.

And here is the completed lower fuselage panel ready to be mated up with the fuselage and wing section. I tried; I really did try to keep my enthusiasm up in regards to detailing and painting every part on this kit. But you can tell from the picture of the battery, the oxygen canister and the finish on the lower fuselage interior, I gave it a half-hearted effort. When I tested the fit, there will be nothing visible down there. Nada. Well the fuselage and wing assembly still needs a bit of drying (and filling and sanding), so I am going to stop here and begin with the attachment of the lower fuselage section to the rest of the plane. After that I get to play with the landing gear. Comments and criticisms.

[hendie]

you could always buy an endoscope

[Nigel Heath]

G-usa, I have only skimmed through your post and can't do it justice right now, I will make a proper evaluation tomorrow. I hope that is OK?

Best Regards,

Nigel

[Vanja #66]

Great stuff here, weathering amazes me...

[nick32]

Good stuff George, i'm enjoying following along.

Nick

[Vally G]

Hi George,

I really like what you are doing with this bird.

Kind regards,

Adam

[Billydick]

George - impressed with what's going on here. Detail is incredible on this.

BillyD