Revell 1/32 Mitsubishi J2M Raiden

[yak face]

Underside now sanded and this area and any others that need it have had the riveter run over them to replace any lost detail . Ive also been sorting the engine and cowling. The part of the engine that will be seen when the removable panel is taken off has had wiring added to the cylinders . The exhausts and cowl flaps have been fitted and the bottom section and front have been glued together and fitted to the engine. The top piece fits very nicely after a bit of fettling and adding a sliver of plastic card . Im not sure if im going to fit the whole engine after painting or fit it now , the protruding exhausts are going to be a bugger to mask up if I do. Next up fitting the last few bits to the cockpit ( radio behind the headrest , bulletproof screen , gunsight and control column) then I can see about getting the canopies on.

[yak face]

Been looking at the kit radio , again nicely detailed but totally wrong ! So its been sanded and chopped a bit and ive started to add some details . The gunsight is quite accurate but has solid plastic lenses so out with the old holographic confetti to replace these. The kit supplied bulletproof screen , (which sits forward of the instrument panel and gunsight on two poles ) had a whacking great ejector pin mark in the middle. I tried to sand and polish it out but only ruined it so ive had to make a new one from scratch. This and the gunsight need to be fitted before the screen goes on .
Speaking of the transparencies , theyre very nicely done , fit perfectly but have very faint frame lines so my least favourite job - masking canopies - was a little bit harder .

[Steven000]

Nice progress Tony :thumb2:
Have fun

[yak face]

Gunsight and bulletproof screen now fitted and time to look at the radio. This was titivated up a bit and painted . After looking at pics of the Zoukei Mura kit for reference ( there's very little useful info on the net ) I could see that the radio looks like its held in place with A shaped brackets ( or are they elastic bungees ? ) , which I made with some fuse wire bent to shape . Holes were drilled in the side of the radio and small pieces of plastic rod glued in to attach the brackets/ bungees to. I added a couple of wires from fuse wire and routed them to the sidewall .

[adt70hk]

That's coming on really nicely Tony.

You're right about very little in the web about these. I found the same when I did ancient Tamiya offering. I enjoyed it so much that I've bought another one. Will have to look up the ZM instructions when I get around to building it.

Keep up the good work.

Andrew

[yak face]

The rear deck and radio have now had an oil wash to darken them up to match the rest of the pit . The windscreen and rear section of the canopy have been fitted , very nice positive fit too . Once the open part of the cockpit is masked up I can get some primer on and see which bits of the airframe need further attention ( or not , hopefully ) .
I’m still undecided about whether im going to have the engine viewable or glue the cowling panel shut , either way I think I might leave the engine assembly off till last to make masking the exhausts easier .

[papa 695]

Outstanding work so far Tony. Looking forward to seeing this in paint.

[The Smythe Meister]

Just caught up with this Chunky Monkey Tony, looking excellent :thumb2: ,
Like Ian said, I'm looking forward to seeing the paint started .

[yak face]

Got the cockpit masked up ready for primer then realised I still had a bit of work to do on the airframe . The navigation lights on the kit are just solid , whereas the ones on the aircraft are clear with a coloured bulb . So out with the spares box and a suitable piece of clear plastic was found in the shape of a cocktail stirrer . Cut to size and flattened at one side these were then drilled slightly and red and green paint added. Theyve now been superglued in position and will be sanded to shape and polished .

[Waspie]

I'd never heard of the Raiden before this. It's been great watching it progress. Can't wait to see the complete aircraft finished. It's certainly looking good Tony.

[The Smythe Meister]

Got the cockpit masked up ready for primer then realised I still had a bit of work to do on the airframe . The navigation lights on the kit are just solid , whereas the ones on the aircraft are clear with a coloured bulb . So out with the spares box and a suitable piece of clear plastic was found in the shape of a cocktail stirrer . Cut to size and flattened at one side these were then drilled slightly and red and green paint added. Theyve now been superglued in position and will be sanded to shape and polished .[ATTACH]499262[/ATTACH][ATTACH]499263[/ATTACH][ATTACH]499264[/ATTACH][ATTACH]499265[/ATTACH][ATTACH]499266[/ATTACH]

Lovely stuff mate,...
... Makes my effort SO ameturish!!
Top job Tony,loving it

[flyjoe180]

Superb work Tony

[yak face]

Got the nav lights sanded and polished up ( Brasso again ) so theyre ready to be masked up . One other thing I wanted to do before priming was add some detail on the firewall behind the engine . Looking at the pics of the Zoukei Mura kit ( probably the most useful reference , theres not much else apart from a basic walkaround of the outside of an aircraft in the planes of fame museum and some scrappy cockpit shots ) there is what looks like an air intake on the top of the firewall . I made a basic representation of this using plastic strip and some bias binding ( sewing stuff , nicked from the mrs!) for the mesh screen .
The airframe minus engine is now ready for a quick blast of Halfords primer but not while its this cold in the shed !

[Andy T]

That intake looks great and I always love your innovative use of materials. I'll remember that one!

[yak face]

Got some primer on today , only a light misting as the recessed details are very fine and i dont want to lose them .As usual the grey primer highlights any areas that need further attention and a couple of joints just needed a smear of acrylic putty and a wet finger to smooth them off .