Andrew's 1/48 Tamiya Raiden

[adt70hk]

Good morning all

So a small update......

Some of you will remember on the 109s for my 'Hunters and Hunted' collection the AZ Models really are awful in terms of alignment/attachment points. Whilst this old Tamiya kit is much better, the initial dry fit did suggest the potential for the same issue to occur in some key places - this of course could have led to some alignment issues later on in the build. The base of the fuselage and the wings being the worst offenders.

I have therefore started to attach some 0.3mm x 4mm plastic strips along the key joins to give the other half something to butt up against. It may not be the 'done thing' but subsequent dry fits show the all around alignment is much more positive and the various line up nicely.

Hopefully you can see what I mean below.

ATB

Andrew

PS....apologies for the second picture being slightly blurry.

 

[The Smythe Meister]

An interesting idea Andrew, can't say I've seen that done before .
I'll watch this closely..... I might well adopt it in my future build .

 

[Jim R]

Good idea Andrew. Good alignment of the fuselage halves will save a lot of faffing about with filler, sanding, rescribing later.

 

[yak face]

Nice progress andrew , nothing wrong with giving a kit a hand with the alignment , a lot of older kits ( like I seem to do quite a bit!) usually dont line up like they should , probably a result of the toolings wearing over the years .

 

[adt70hk]

An interesting idea Andrew, can't say I've seen that done before .
I'll watch this closely..... I might well adopt it in my future build .

Good idea Andrew. Good alignment of the fuselage halves will save a lot of faffing about with filler, sanding, rescribing later.

Nice progress andrew , nothing wrong with giving a kit a hand with the alignment , a lot of older kits ( like I seem to do quite a bit!) usually dont line up like they should , probably a result of the toolings wearing over the years .

Thanks gents. It seemed the logical thing to do, because although it line up reasonable well, it tended to slip a bit each time I changes hands or where I was holding it.

Should be seeing some primer soon!

ATB

Andrew

 

[Ian M]

I think I also need to educate him on racial stereotyping. When I told him it was a Japanese plane, he immediately asked where the sushi storage compartment was....

LOL I laughed far to hard at that.

Coming along nice. Nice roomy cockpit.

 

[adt70hk]

LOL I laughed far to hard at that.

Coming along nice. Nice roomy cockpit.

The irony is that there is a box of unknown usage immediately behind the pilot's head rest!

And very roomy compared to 1/72!

 

[adt70hk]

Good evening all

So I have finally managed to get the pilot done. I wanted to get him finished before got the AB and spray booth out for the plane.

As usual I have used the forum famous 'Marlow Method'!! Thanks again Tim!!!

In attempting to do a skin tone that is appropriate for a Japanese pilot, I have consulted this very helpful post on the CoolMiniOrNot forum here LINK.

As you will see all the paints are water-based acrylics, almost all Vallejo and so as they dry quickly. I was therefore able to get this done in less than three hours and I could probably have done it a bit quicker if I had focussed more.

For newer members to the forum, what follows is a very quick overview of the 'Marlow Method' - full SBS is here LINK

ACW as usual

Andrew



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Having primed the figure you splash it all over with a wash that is made from a 50:50 mix of Vallejo’s Glaze Medium (70.596 & 73.596) and Game Color Black Wash (73.201). This make the figure easier to 'read' and helps to create some preshading.















Next up is the face using the CoolMinisOrNot suggested colour palette.

For 'white' western figures you then splash Vallejo’s Game Color Flesh Wash (73.204) all over. It settles into the recesses giving shade and definition to the features and hands. I added a couple of drops of Sepia Shade Game Wash (73.200), given the skin tone I was after, not entirely successfully.

You can also see the initial black wash effect much better in this shot.









In terms of the rest of the kit for the major areas i.e. uniform, you simply take your chosen base colour plus dark grey and off-white.

You then mix a bit of dark grey and your chosen colour and apply that as a dark base coat

You then apply a thin coat of your chosen colour as it is out of the bottle, making sure you leave some of the darker base coat in recessed areas to create some shadow.

You then mix a bit of the off white and your chosen colour and highlight raised areas like creases or shoulders that will catch more of the light! Job done!







The rest of the kit was then painted to my taste....not easy when there are so many variations of Japanese wartime pilot colour schemes to choose from.

This was my chosen palette, along with my DIY wet palette.










I actually painted him yesterday but had to wait to today to get some hopefully better pictures, although the dreaded digital zoom has done it's usual worst!

It's not my best work but the worst of the worst will hopefully be hidden in the cockpit!

Also, he looks rather 'western' to my eye - a feeling my daughter confirmed.

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Looks very nice indeed Andrew..
.... and great to see you back!!

 

[adt70hk]

Looks very nice indeed Andrew..
.... and great to see you back!!

Apologies a very belated thanks!

 

[adt70hk]

Me again!

So as the spray booth was out for the Jagdpanthers, the Raiden also saw some primer and paint.

I have seen a whole range of greens used on the insides of Raidens from very dark to fairly light, and fairly strong/bright to quite muted, and so went for my own mix of what was intended to be a rough mid-way point. Didn't work exactly as planned - it's a bit brighter in real life - but you won't see much when the pilot is seated, so it will do for my purposes.

Unfortunately I some managed to mark the prop before the paint had dried, so will have to do something about that....

Thanks for stopping by and sorry for the quality of the picture, it was taken in a rush.

 

[adt70hk]

Good morning all

So the build stalled last week as we were away on holiday but I also have this week off work and so the cockpit has been finished, pilot installed, fuselage halves joined and wings stuck on, although they were not without their challenges:

• Even allowing for the age of the kit, the internals of the Tamiya cockpit differ from every other build or AM cockpit set I could find online and so I was stumped on colours, as the Tamiya instructions were somewhat lacking. Then I found a book online called "IJN INTERCEPTOR J2M RAIDEN and N1K SHIDEN SERIES, PICTORIAL BOOK MARU MECHANIC #43" (link), which did for the most part match the Tamiya cockpit (see below). If anyone knows why the difference I would be interested.....as know almost nothing about Raidens.
  

• I should have installed the pilot after assembling the cockpit as his right knee very slightly stops the IP sitting in place properly. It's very minor and you won't see it after the canopy is installed....but I know it's out.
  

• There were some 'minor' challenges with the fuselage alignment, as you can see below from all the filler...and there is much more out of shot!! I don't think it was me but I may be wrong.
  

• The worst issues though were the huge steps where the wing root joined the fuselage. Unless my eyes are tricking me, I think I can see that Andy had the same issues with his Raiden. I started by putting thin styrene rod down ahead of applying any filler, as the steps were so big. I figured any filler would just sink without some structural support. I'm in the process of applying the filler since the below shot was taken.

As this is my first 1/48 wingy build I have not added any extra detail to the cockpit and besides the curve of the fuselage and the pilot being in place mean it would mostly be hidden in any case.

I will though be scratching a rudimentary radio, as the Tamiya blob....and I mean blob....that was meant to be the radio was simply awful.

Next time you see this, hopefully, the canopy will be on and it will be primed.

ACW as usual.

Andrew

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The cockpit picture from the book:







Cockpit and fuselage ready for assembly.



















Styrene support ahead of filling the wing root steps.
Oh and yes I did drop some glue on the port wing.....I have managed to clean it up fine though. Oh and the shelf behind the pilot is definitely not finished.....but I have a cunning plan!

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Hi Andrew,
That's looking very nice,I couldn't find much in the way of references either,but I have to admit, that, because the cockpit is closed up,I didn't worry about it too much,as for the wing roots..... YEP, pretty poor really,you look to be overcoming that issue though.
Good stuff!!

 

[adt70hk]

Hi Andrew,
That's looking very nice,I couldn't find much in the way of references either,but I have to admit, that, because the cockpit is closed up,I didn't worry about it too much,as for the wing roots..... YEP, pretty poor really,you look to be overcoming that issue though.
Good stuff!!

Thanks Andy! I think the Tamiya cockpit is almost a made up version but as you say, shut up it is barely visible!

 

[adt70hk]

Good morning all!!

So the cockpit is finally finished!

As you may recall I have decided to replace the radio that sat on the shelf behind the cockpit by scratching my own offering.

The Tamiya offering was basically a small misaligned vague rectangular cuboid....in fact it was so bad I had no idea what it was meant to be until I did some research.

In researching what it was meant to be I came across a build blog showing a very clear shot of an AM one. Using this an an example I made one from styrene - the main structure was a 4x4mm rod cut to the appropriate length (c. 11mm), with thin bits of styrene sheet and circles stuck on it. It's not a perfect recreation due to the limitations of the tools I have to hand but given that the control panel faces the back of the pilot's head rest, it will hide the worst discrepancies.

ATB.

Andrew

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The Tamiya offering!

Or at least the two halves......







The one I found online on another build.








My offering.
Sorry for the difference in shot quality and colouration...the camera would not behave....it is not as black as in the final shot.













In situ.....
Much better than the Tamiya offering I think you would agree.

 

[The Smythe Meister]

Yep,it certainly is!!
An excellent bit of scratchduggery there Andrew, really looks the part .
(Like the added cabling running up to it as well.... nice touch that ).

 

[Jim R]

What a fine job you're making of this, Andrew, especially considering all the issues the kit has. Excellent looking cockpit. The pilot looks the part. As for the radio - excellent and vastly better than the Tamiya offering. The fit of the wings is very poor. All you can do is what you've done. Lots of patient sanding and filling, repeat, repeat.

 

[adt70hk]

Yep,it certainly is!!
An excellent bit of scratchduggery there Andrew, really looks the part .
(Like the added cabling running up to it as well.... nice touch that ).

What a fine job you're making of this, Andrew, especially considering all the issues the kit has. Excellent looking cockpit. The pilot looks the part. As for the radio - excellent and vastly better than the Tamiya offering. The fit of the wings is very poor. All you can do is what you've done. Lots of patient sanding and filling, repeat, repeat.

Jim, Andy

Sorry for the late response and glad you like the radio. I was very pleased with it.

The build is currently stalled. It's had a full coat of primer and it's clear the wing joins need more work....i knew that would be the case but at least the primer has helped my se it clearly. I'm just waiting on some tools to help attack them in a more controlled fashion!

Thanks again.

Andrew

 

[Jim R]

I'm just waiting on some tools to help attack them

A sledge hammer, a chain saw and some ready-mix concrete. No point in pussy footing around.

 

[adt70hk]

Evening all

So last weekend I finally finished dealing with the wing root step join issue after a number of attempts and whilst it's not perfect it is a lot better and from a normal viewing distance should be ok.

The process went as follows - give or take:

• Get to where I thought it was vaguely ok and prime it knowing it was likely to need some work.
  
• Cry at the results....justifiably as you will see below!
  
• Put it one side and think about how I could do a better job...
  
• Decide to by some Albion Alloys sanding needles. I figured the round needle would help get more rounded join, as the flat sticks weren't cutting it......
• And I was proved right, if not perfect the join was much better after a good sanding...
• In order to finish off the much improved join in a controlled way, I laid down two strips of Tamiya masking tape either side of it and then carefully painted on a couple of thin coats of Mr Surfacer 1000 and let it dry
• When I pulled off the tape, I had a much neater join to work with than previously and it didn't take much to sand down the joint to a reasonably smooth finish.

As I said it's not quite perfect but from a normal view distance it looks fine.....plus it is after all a 50 year old kit that cost me less than £14.....so I was not expecting perfection......and I don't want to spend any more time on it TBH!

WARNING....for some reason the camera picked up the slightly satin finish of the black Vallejo primer as very light if not almost white! In real life it is as black as the rest of it!

ACW as usual!

Andrew


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As you can see from the exaggerated light reflection after the first coat of primer it was a truly awful job......embarrassingly so.....










My sanding stick saviours and my new book...found it very helpful already....







3rd attempt at dealing with the truly awful wing step/join....looking much better already....as you can see there was a slight step but it was pretty easy to deal with







And all primed.....looking MUCH better and far less obvious from a normal viewing distance than it appears.....you have to love the dreaded digital zoom!!