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Fujimi 1/72 B7A1 Grace


srkirad

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Good evening mates, I'm a bit late with joining - only last night I've decided to take part in this GB as a good friend of mine @Lanmi persuaded me to join him in this GB.

As he already started work on Fujimi D3A1 Val, I've selected another Fujimi oldy - B7A1 Grace, so here we are... as a scale modelling sitcom"Val & Grace" :D

 

Jokes aside, as with most of other Fujimi kits of this age, canopy is a bit thick, so rather plain cockpit detailing won't be much visible, so I'll try to make this one straight out of box, at least regarding to the cockpit area :)

 

grace-001.jpg

 

Regarding to canopy masking, this time I've prepared - at recently held Mosonshow I've bought precut masks from Dead Design Models, so I expect enjoyable ride...

 

grace-002.jpg

 

Cheers and see you soon with some "in-progress" photos,

S.

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Great!

 

Another of the lesser known JNAF late war planes. I will watch with interest. This was the replacement for the B6N Tenzan/Jill that in turn was meant to replace the B5N Kate.

 

Pete

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Cockpit is... well... assembled :D as well as wings 

 

grace-003.jpg

 

I've only did some repair work in bomb bay, underneath the cockpit, as there were 3 nasty ejection pinmarks very visible.

I've filled them with styrene 0.2mm circles, and now I only have to sand down a bit that area, and re-engrave lost "panel lines".

Primering and painting phase is not so far away!

 

grace-004.jpg

 

Cheers,

S.

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I'll be along for this one, I have a kit I was given by a member of another forum ages ago, I've not seen one built that I can remember so this may be what I need to get mine going before long, not this GB though, I'm already booked for it. :)

Steve.

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11 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

This looks like an interesting subject and not one I've seen before, so really looking forward to following this one. 

Best of luck.

Cheers Pat 

Hi Pat,

 

Not a very well known plane, it was designed as  a replacement for the B6N and intended to operate from a new class of large carriers which were never built. As a result production was limited, not helped by an earthquake in May 1945 which wrecked Aichi's Funukata plant. Only 9 B7A1 prototypes and 105 production B7A2 were ever built according to Francillon in his Putnam book and they were operated from shore bases by a couple of Kokutais. When the new 1850 HP Homare engine worked it was fast - around 350 mph, and could have proved a bit of a handful for USN fighters.

 

Pete

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Since last update, I've finished cockpit area - like I promised it's OOB.

Painted with Gunze H54, and subtle wash done with artistic oil Raw Umbra

 

grace-005.jpg

 

Engine, cowling and under nose air inlet were painted with Gunze Stainless metalizer, subtle washed with artistic oil Raw Umbra

 

grace-006.jpg

 

Instrument panel was painted into black, and then over it I've applied decal with instruments, provided with kit - it gave very nice look as decal matched raised details of instruments.

 

grace-007.jpg

 

grace-008.jpg

 

Fuselage assembling is next on the schedule...

 

Cheers,

S.

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welcome along and with a nice classic as well.

 

It is nice to see these old Fujimi kits showing up, as they were nice model to build in there time.

 

Masks for the canopy are a really good idea, those canopies are otherwise super hard to do nicely with home made ones.

 

Good luck with this build, great to see you've made a good start on her already.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Small update after a while - fuselage joins required some attention so it took some time for sprue goo to cure in order to sand it down.

 

Wings and horizontal stabilizers are now attached, there will be some small sanding here and there (my mistake - some glue went where it wasn't supposed to :D ), and small parts are due to be prepared for attaching and/or painting.

 

grace-009.jpg

 

grace-010.jpg

 

Engine exhaust pipes were given flat/closed so I've drilled them a bit, just to give some depth to details...

 

grace-011.jpg

 

Hopefully build will go faster now that fuselage is assembled with wings, so primer and painting can come soon.

 

Cheers and thanks for comments, critiques and support :)

S.

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Since last photo update, wheel and bomb bay were primered with Gunze Black Surfacer 1500, and then sprayed with Gunze Aluminium metalizer, overcoated with dilluted Gunze H63 Aotake Blue.

 

grace-012.jpg

 

grace-013.jpg

 

I'll leave it to dry for few days and then I'll spray gloss coat to seal it down...

 

Cheers,

S,

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  • 2 weeks later...

All the small parts are now assembled and readied for primer.

Painting masks by Dead Design Models are just GREAT - they are nicely precut and designed to fit this kit's canopy, their adhesive is strong to hold them onto canopy, but easy enough to remove them from paper carrier without any problem!

 

Grace itself today received layer of primer - Mr. Surfacer 1200.

 

grace-014.jpg

 

grace-015.jpg

 

Next step is preshading...

 

Cheers,

S.

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Thanks for the kind words mates :)

 

Preshading is done - Black Mr. Surfacer 1500, and so are some small parts that go into aluminium afterwards...

 

grace-016.jpg

 

grace-017.jpg

 

Spinner and propeller are painted with Mr. Color Propeller Color

 

grace-018.jpg

 

I plan to paint metallic (and Aotake Blue) parts tomorrow, and most probably I'll paint parts of fuselage and wings that are prone to chipping into Aluminium, so I can do the chipping of camouflage colors later.

 

Cheers,

S.

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Said and done - Aluminium was painted on parts of fuselage and wings where chipping is most likely to occur - I plan to use scratch/chipping fluid over this area, before I paint cammo colors... In theory looks like it will work, we'll see how it goes...

 

grace-019.jpg

 

grace-020.jpg

 

grace-021.jpg

 

Inner surfaces of wheel and bomb bay covers were painted in Aotake Blue while wheels and landing gear legs + arrestor hook were painted in Aluminium..

Gloss coat was oversprayed to seal them...

 

grace-022.jpg

 

Cheers,

S.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I've started process of painting camouflage - first step was underside areas.

After I've sprayed Ammo Scratches Chipping Fluid, I did the layer of Gunze H61 IJN Grey, and after some playing with "scratching", I've oversprayed middle parts of panels with H61 lightened with white color, so scratches were toned down a bit and made more realistic I hope so...

 

grace-023.jpg

 

grace-024.jpg

 

grace-025.jpg

 

grace-026.jpg

 

grace-027.jpg

 

I'll leave it to cure for few days and then I'll take care of upper surfaces - Gunze H59 IJN Green it will be!

 

Cheers,

S.

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