Tamiya 1/48 Kawanishi N1K1 Kyofu - finishing a part built shelf queen

[Dave Ward]

This was an ebay purchase - part built, not badly, with some need for seam filling, but not a trowel job!

One thing that needs serious attention is the engine - maybe a paint strip to start.............


I'm toying with the idea of showing this with extreme paint flaking - a lot of Japanese late war aircraft suffered with this, and I reckon a floatplane could be worse than a landplane - I'll decide whilst sorting the seams.............
Dave

[Guest]

That extreme paint chipping was more a feature of Army planes than Navy ones, AFAIK. The Navy applied good primer to their planes, because of the environment they were to operate in, while Army planes left the factory pretty much in bare aluminium and were often painted at the unit’s discretion in the field — so without primer, and often even without any cleaning. Late in the war, of course, painting standards would probably have slipped for Navy planes too.

BTW, I first thought the original builder had tried installing a bank of LEDs in the nose

[Dave Ward]

After a bit of filling & seam sanding - an overall coat of grey primer

The floats are just dry fitted for the moment ( I put the port outrigger on back to front! ). I can find a suitable grey for the underside, but I might have to mix something for the uppers - none of the cam greens I have are green enough, so it'll be one of them with a few drops of Emerald. I know these faded pretty quickly, so I'm not looking for a definitive colour! I'll paint the leading edges yellow & mask them, before starting to spray the main colours.
Dave

[Mark1]

Looking good

[Tim Marlow]

Coming together quickly Dave. Soon be floating.....

[Lee Drennen]

Very nice Dave and I love shelf queens I’ve never seen this one now it’s on my list. Thanks for sharing.