1/72 Fujimi B6N 'Jill' *finished*

[Peter Lloyd]

Hello.

 

If you'll have me, this will be my first attempt at a Group Build in some years.  I've been quite productive, model-wise, lately so I am hopeful the eyes of the Britmodeller community will help me get this one over the line.  Now, which model to choose from my extensive qualifying stash?  After the Hasegawa 'Lily' proved to be a 1990s kit, and the Fujimi Ki-43 Hayabusa (a delightful little kit) too deeply buried, I have decided on this one:

 

 

The Fujimi B6N in funky boxing from a business here that parallel imports, bless them.

 

Like so many Japanese aeroplanes that came out during the war, the B6N was a big improvement over the model it replaced (the B5N 'Kate'), but lack of trained crews, fuel and numbers stopped it being very effective.  Nevertheless, I think it is an elegant machine, surely a real looker next to a Grumman Avenger or, *shudder*, a Fairey Barracuda.

 

 

Two sets of markings and instructions.  Very basic.

 

 

Typical of the Fujimi kits I remember so fondly from my youth, when they were quite hard to buy in Sydney.  Little flash, subtle etched panel lines, in this case basic wheel well and engine detail, minimal cockpit.

 

Although this will be a quick build, I will have to do a little something in the interior I think.

[Graham Boak]

2 hours ago, Peter Lloyd said:

Hello.

  After the Hasegawa 'Lily' proved to be a 1990s kit, and the Fujimi Ki-43 Hayabusa (a delightful little kit) too deeply buried, I have decided on this one:

 

If it matters (and I don't see why) I bought my Lily in 1985 and the Jill in 1984.   The Jill lacks an interior, but it was possible to buy a fairly comprehensive etched sheet for it.  Your kit is a later boxing, from around 1994.  My Fujimi Oscar was bought in 1995.

 

Vintage years for Japanese subjects.

[JOCKNEY]

Delighted to see both you and "Jill" in this GB Peter.

@jeanis also building his one which is really great as you hardly ever see these being built , hopefully you can encourage each other.

Best of luck with this one 

 

cheers Pat 

[Peter Lloyd]

Cheers Pat, I will check in with his work.

 

 

Here's some extra busy-stuff I put in the cockpit.  I copied some pictures I found of a resin cockpit for the Hasegawa 1/48 version, with added fantasy.  If I look at photos on my phone, I can't play Cannons on my model desk bluetooth speaker.  So, I glance quickly then forget most of it while I work.  After this photo, bits got broken, or torn off and improved, and the whole lot had to be ruthlessly sanded to get it to fit between the cockpit halves.  I am not too worried as the cockpit is rather thick.

 

 

Sorry for the poor photo.... but if it was a sharp photo it'd be sorry for the rough-and-ready job.  I painted the IP black, then realised its green so just grabbed the nearest green paint... after all, I only checked after the decal was in the water! 

 

The decal took ages to release but worked as it should.  A good sign.  But, I have made other 'vintage' Fujimi kit and the decals tend to work.  The hinomarus are such an awful colour, though.

 

 

Bomb fins half way through sanding.  But, I will probably use the torpedo.  A good thing about doing WW2 models, is not having to buy another kit to get the bombs.  Having said that, good Japanese bombs are hard to find (and for some reason Soviet underwing droppy-things are almost impossible! [rant over])

 

 

I don't know if this was caused by me, or the model.

 

 

These problems were solved with Evergreen strip and super glue.

[PeterB]

Hi peter,

 

Is this the B6N1 with the Nakajima Mamoru engine that Nakajima decided to use against the wishes of the IJN, or the more widely produced B6N2 with the Mitsubishi Kasei introduced when the Navy insisted that they stop producing the Mamoru and do as they were told? Fujimi did both and I built the B6N1 by mistake due to lack of info at the time, not that there is anything wrong with it of course. I am guessing that it is the B6N2 as I can see a "12" in amongst the Japanese lettering on the box - the N1 was Model 11 and the N2 model 12 as it was just an engine change.

 

Pete

[Peter Lloyd]

Ther differences between them as far as I can see are fairly subtle, but the intake and exhaust on my model will be those of the B6N-2.  Engine development in the war was such a hit-and-miss business for all the combatant nations.

 

Here's a bit more progress:

 

 

 

A layer of Gunze Aqueous IJN green. The cover is a bit 'pebbly', it's funny how I am making rookie errors despite decades of modelmaking.  

 

In this photo you can see one of the undercarriage legs: the retraction arms are extremely fine, they would not be out of place in a new-release kit by Eduard today. 

[Peter Lloyd]

Which reminds me....

 

 

Like most kits from the theme of this GB, the kit is a blend of finess and crudity..  I sliced the blobby wheels out with the Dremel, and found some spare wheels from an AZ Models Spitfire XIV that are about right with regard to hub size and diameter.  A glace at the references showed the Griffon Spitfires were actually heavier than the B6N, so it makes sense the wheels are a similar size.

 

It's amazing how the Japanese engineers had to eke out range and performance for the vast Pacific theatre by shaving everything down (and the B6N had a pretty staggering range- 50% greater than the Grumman Avenger).  The cost of this flimsy construction and lack of self-sealing tanks (which decreased capacity by about 30%) was the plane was a deathtrap.  According to the Air and Space Museum in the US, B6Ns failed to sink a single Allied ship.

 

I don' t think we take much time to consider the humanity (at least until it was trained out of them) of the kids recruited into the Japanese military and the profligate criminality with which their lives were thrown away in utterly futile operations.

[PeterB]

The Judy and Jill were designed to replace the earlier Val and Kate but by the time they were introduced (mostly after the Battle of Midway) the IJN carriers were a spent force. That, combined with the loss of so many highly trained crews and the increase in Allied AA and fighter cover meant that they had little chance of getting near a target, let alone sinking it, though as you say they were very vulnerable to damage. The emphasis on range at the cost of protection cost Japanese aircrews dearly, and in the end proved self defeating!

 

Pete

 

 

[Peter Lloyd]

Speaking of self defeating (bear with me here)...

 

 

The Fujimi hinomarus compared to a sheet I have from Techmod.  There are thin, strong, move off the sheet quickly.

 

 

 

I chose the wrong hinomarus (too big) for the fuselage but I'm going with it as this is a quick build.  The Fujimi decals were very slow to move but okay considering they are 30 years old.  Mr Mark Softer harmed the Gunze paint here and there.  I buffed the decal areas and paint generally with micromesh cloths to get a smooth surface for the decals.  The removal of paint from the control surface ribs is actually much more subtle in reality.

 

Masking was done fairly quickly: with almost all the panes being square it's not too hard.  The Fujimi panel lines are VERY fine. I managed to predictably knock off most of the flap rails on the trailing edge, despite Fujimi making them both strong and almost to-scale.

 

 

Fujimi list aotake (spelling?- metallic blue-green) for most interior surfaces.  But the cockpit seems on better authority to be green and the undercarriage appears to be a pale metal or bare aluminium.

 

I promised self-defeat.  After painting and doing quite a lot of weathering, I dry-fitted the torpedo: it fouls the air intake.  I re-checked photos, and the intake is offset to port by some substantial amount.  The instructions give no indication of this whatsoever: there isn't even a full underside view in the paint guide, just a part of the wing.  I'll be breaking it off and repositioning, both because I want to add the torpedo, and also because it is clearly a quirk of the B6N that must be depicted.

 

 

[Peter Lloyd]

Off it came:

 

 

 

Better.

 

 

Panel lines picked out with an oil paint/turpentine/white spirit wash.

 

 

Decals sealed.  On to the little bits . . .

[JOCKNEY]

Looks terrific 

 

Decals are always an unknown quantity,  I've had very recently made decals refuse to leave the backing sheet at all or vapourise like the Novo ones yet 50  / 60 year old Frog ones still work perfectly 

 

Cheers Pat 

[Peter Lloyd]

Well the final stage was adding the torpedo, undercarriage, antenna mask, pitot (I used the base of the kit part, drilled it out with a 0.3mm drill, and inserted a piece of stretched sprue).  The photos are in the gallery.

 

I depart for a holiday in two days, so I am pleased this model wasn't too difficult and got off the blocks.  Considering how many of my builds bog down, it is a testament to these Japanese kits that they build so well and offer such a good basis for detailing.  You could of course go a lot further than I did.

 

My thank to the mods and all who look at this thread, and I dedicate the build, FWIW, to the brave young Japanese lads who by accident of when they were born were virtually obliged to be killed as cannon fodder.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Well, that's just excellent!   I particularly like the faded finish.

[Peter Lloyd]

16 hours ago, Enzo the Magnificent said:

Well, that's just excellent!   I particularly like the faded finish.

 

Thank you Enzo.  It looks much less weathered in reality. I think most B6Ns had short and interestingcareers.   I really need to improve my photography.

 

I also left a few masks  on for my gallery pics- oops!

[Enzo the Magnificent]

4 hours ago, Peter Lloyd said:

I also left a few masks  on for my gallery pics- oops!

 

Yeh...  I do that quite regularly.   

[PeterB]

The range of Fujimi JNAF kits is pretty good and covers some late war subjects nobody else seemed to be interested in. The fit was usually good but their Aichi D3A Val was a pain due to them building it with a fuselage insert for either the D3A1 or D3A2.

 

This one has come out rather well!

 

Pete

[JOCKNEY]

Great stuff Peter

Congratulations on getting this one finished,  looks the business 

Cheers Pat 

[bissyboat]

Looking good. Very sugoi with turquoise wheel wells. ⚓👍

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Just caught up on this one Peter, nicely done and a lovely result! 🏆