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It's not British, it's a Raiden!


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Hey guys,

Here are a few images of the build to date of my 1/48th Tamiya Raiden Jack. Again, not British, but what the hell!

(Are we going to need to set ground rules here on whether non-Brit builds are allowed here Mike?)

It's been put together as a fairly quick therapeutic build whilst I'm scratchbuilding and driving myself nuts with a 1/72nd Airfix Sopwith Pup!

It's a nice fitting kit, and has gone together well, with the exception of the wing root, which will need a bit of sanding down as it wouldn't sit flush.

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The wing root join issue was solved with a bit of filler, sanding and superglue! It's not perfect, but it's as much as I can be bothered with.

I primed the kit with Tetrosyl silver auto primer, and when that dried, I sprayed the undersides with Xtracolour light aircraft grey. Love those paints!

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There are a couple of imperfections I need to sort out on the underside of the fuselage (like a couple of dips and a seam at the rear of the fuselage I missed) but that can wait till the rest of the kit's ready.

After a couple of days, I masked off the undersides, and sprayed a bluey/black mix of Revell paint onto the fuselage for the anti glare panel. There are again a couple of touchups to do, but that can wait.

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I've sprayed the props and the spinner reddy brown, and did the same with the antenna, which I CA'd into place. I need to attach a little wire from the radio to the antenna, glue in the glass panel in the cockpit, and that's done.

I'm in the process of masking off the cockpit hood, which is a bloody nightmare, and then it'll be ready to glue on.

I'm about to start on masking the wings for spraying the yellow identifying colour stripe, and in a nutshell, that's where I am folks!

Thanks for reading.

Nick

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(Are we going to need to set ground rules here on whether non-Brit builds are allowed here Mike?)

No. There are no ground rules for this and there aren't going to be. What we hope to achieve with this site is a Brit slant on modelling. Not strictly enforced rules on who and what you can post, based upon nationality. Even grey jets from our US colleagues are encouraged, as long as they don't swamp the site. What we ultimately want is some interesting colourful builds from interesting colourful people and I think we seem to be acheiving that so far. Your Raidens proof of that.

Strange looking thing the Raiden. Looks like a barrel chested street fighter :rambo: Looking good though.

Nigel.

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Sounds good to me. Thanks Nigel.

It is a funny looking bugger though the Raiden isn't it? Interesting aircraft though, and you don't see too many of them around.

Should get round to painting it green this week.

Still undecided as to whether I'm going to make it a clean one, or do the whole paint chipped look though..

Anyway, thanks for the comments.

All the best,

Nick

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Great build so far. Why only three seatlbelts though ?? Is that aJapanesething ??

David.

Thanks David.

About the seatbelts, the Raidens possibly had 3, maybe 4. I based this off a Bill Lachance model Raiden I saw up on ARC.

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I thought, "Feck! That looks nice, and he makes nice models. I'll copy it!"

Never really researched it much past that actually. It's my first Jap, and I couldn't (at the time) find too much info on the Raiden.

It'll do for me though!

Cheers,

Nick

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*gets sudden urge for chips*

Very nice aircraft. Interesting design as well! Was this a late war aircraft?

Yes, it was a late war (originally approved for use in December 1943) interceptor, designed to give priority in climb, speed and high altitude performance.

The mark the kit is based on, the J2M3, first saw action in the Battle of Mariana in September 1944.

It really excelled, however, in defence of mainland Japan under the 302nd Air Group on Atsugi island, which was in the main path of the US B29 bombers. They shot down around 300 planes from the end of 1944 till the end of the war.

(Read off the Tamiya instructions!)

Smoky bacon or salt and vinegar crisps by the way?

:drink:

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Yes, it was a late war (originally approved for use in December 1943) interceptor, designed to give priority in climb, speed and high altitude performance.

The mark the kit is based on, the J2M3, first saw action in the Battle of Mariana in September 1944.

It really excelled, however, in defence of mainland Japan under the 302nd Air Group on Atsugi island, which was in the main path of the US B29 bombers. They shot down around 300 planes from the end of 1944 till the end of the war.

(Read off the Tamiya instructions!)

Smoky bacon or salt and vinegar crisps by the way?

:drink:

Smoky bacon :eat:

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  • 2 months later...

After what seems like bloody ages (and the fact work has quietened bown for the hot Dubai summer!) I've finally been able to crack on with the Raiden.

Here are some progress pictures of the build to date.

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I sprayed the yellow leading edge bands first, and when that was dry, masked off the plane and sprayed the rest.

I used Revell 48 (Sea Green) mixed with some black to get the IJN green shade. It may be a little dark, but I ain't resprayin!

I used the salt chipping method before the spray process, and wonder what you think. Did I over do it?

The sliver bands by the wing root were where I missed pulling off two earlier bits of masking tape! WHat an bottom.

The whole thing needs a bit of retouching in places (like where I pulled off yellow paint from the bands, the wing root strips, around the cockpit etc) but that's where I am to date. Might redo the yellow bands as they look a bit iffy.

Righto, off to put some shelves up now to keep the War Office happy.

Cheers,

Nick

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Nick,

Would you adam & eve it!

I'm building the Hasegawa Raiden at the mo. This WIP will help me out big time!

Cheers.

Bob

What do you think of the paintjob Bob?

I'm half thinking it's a bag of s***e (too dark a shade of IJN) and am going to respray it. The lazy part says sod it.

Opinions?

Cheers,

Nick

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What do you think of the paintjob Bob?

I'm half thinking it's a bag of s***e (too dark a shade of IJN) and am going to respray it. The lazy part says sod it.

Opinions?

Nick - she looks really good but I'm not WWII expert. If she's only a shade too dark rather tha re paint all of it, why not give her and all over highlight - one shade lighter. Might just change your mind.

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