Hi all.
I'm taking a little break from armor modeling for now and decided to try aircraft.
So I went down to the store yesterday to pick a kit to work with, and ended up walking out with the Hasegawa B7A1 Grace.

The box states this kit to be of the Ryusei prototype.
My finished scene will put it in a combat setting. But I don't know if the A1prototypes were used in combat. Any help on that?
Also, how hard would it be to bash it to represent a A2 model? What were the differences?
Any sort of reference material, especially color drawings and photos would be great. I'm having a hard time finding good reference on this plane.
The instructions say to paint the exterior in some sort of orange. This seems like a bit of an odd color. Any other schemes I can use?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Not a Japanese aircraft expert but I'll try to answer some of your questions


9 B7A1Prototypes were built and 105 B7A2 Production models, the Prototypes may have been pressed into combat as this is an end of the war aircraft, built for carriers but the carriers were gone by the time the aircraft was adopted.



The significant difference between the prototype and production versions pointed out by what I could find is a swap of the 7.92 mm (0.312 in) Type 1rear machine gun for a 13 mm (0.512 in) Type 2 machine gun.



A quick Google search will provide you with some scheme ideas (not great). As for the Yellow-Orange the instructions call for, that is not unusual for a Prototype or Flying Test Bed version.

Well I did a bit more research and this site states that some of the early A2s had the 7.92mm rear MG instead of the 13mm, so I guess I can do an early A2 to simplify the modification.
http://warandgame.wordpress.com/2007/12/02/aichi-b7a-ryusei-grace/
Another thing I noticed is the instructions indicate to put the wing MGs more toward the wing tip, but the A2s seem to have it closer to the body. The kit's wings however alow for either variant with the leftover, holes to be filled up, so that won't be a problem also.

As for the paint, I only see the green pain scheme with white bottom and yellow on the front of the wing. Would that be correct for me to do?

I think you'll find that bottom color is light gray not white, but that does look like a reasonable scheme.

Oh, just spotted another problem with it. The kit doesn't provide a rear MG for the cockpit, although theres is apparently a mount for it.
Now I read that the real plane could have the MG stowed in the cockpit when not in use.
Would it be OK to have it depicted with the gun stowed away while it's going in for a bombing run? Or would I have to try to get an after-market MG or scratch build one?

Ahh, the problems with going shopping without knowing what you are looking for

Right now I'm waiting for paints for this kit so in the mean time I'm just trying to get all these things figured out. Sorry for all the questions . Never really worked with aircraft models seriously. Just built an Avenger kit several years ago just to mess around.

Hi Boris,

I built the 1/48 Hasegawa Grace
. I am not a Grace-ace but perhaps I can answer a few.

Grace was painted a Nakajima green over NMF (unpainted aluminum.) Some cowls were green, some black, and some had the black arcing back from the bottom of the cowl to the windscreen. They were hastily painted without preparation and photos show the paint really deteriorated rapidly. If you have the Hasegawa kit, they have a mixing formula for the interior color, which I used. It gives a teal color. This is considered incorrect and is believed they came up with it after viewing some color photos of the Grace at NASM; the color photos and flash shifted the color to a bluish tint. This same error is discussed in my Japanese Cockpits in Color book, the same phenomenon happened with their Zero pictures; Grace's cockpit was probably a light olive with some areas/components "Atoke", the 'metallic blue' seen when the Japanese applied a blue-tinted clear over the NMF.

In combat the gun would be up and ready for action.

Ah I saw your post a bit too late Fred, I already got the colors that the instructions indicated for the interior. Oh well no biggy, I'm not a THAT concerned with it to go out and get new paints, guess people will just have to deal with the incorrect color.

As for the green. Would Tamiya's IJN Green be ok for the exterior? What about the underside? IJN Grey?

Edit:
BTW. I'm gonna need a pair of crew figures to be sitting in the plane. I'm not picky about whether a particular figure is supposed to be in a "Grace" or "Zero". As long as it's a Japanese pilot. I can't find any that actually sit in a plane, as opposed to just standing nearby. Any help?

Perhaps you mixed something wrong? I used that mix, except for brown i used rust. I got an olive color.

http://j-aircraft.com/walk/tim_hortman/timb7a.htm


http://j-aircraft.com/walk/tim_hortman/gracepht.htm

Yea as I understand from what u wrote, that would be the wrong color and the olive I got is more correct?

Any help with the pilots anyone? I keep looking but can only find standing figures.

If you're not too picky (and not in a hurry to get the pilots in), I may have a couple of Tamiya Japanese pilots kicking around in the spares box. I will have to check tonight, but let me know if this would suffice.

Yea that will do just fine, I would really appreciate it. My kit is just kinda sitting here waiting for pilots, I'm dying to finish it. Its a shame Hasegawa don't put pilots in their kits like Tamiya does.

Hey all. Finally got the pilots thanks to Gvoakes.
Now I can finish up the cockpit, and work will continue.

Oh man I just noticed a big problem. The whole wing is different between the A1 and A2.
The wheel well doors and all the panel lines are different.
The panel lines I don't mind much, but the wheel wells are way off. There are some big differences in their shape.
Although I know how to fix em with some styrene sheets and putty, I don't think I should bother.
When this plane is set in it's vignette, the bottom will be extremely hard to see. Besides anybody who eventually happens to see this model in my home is highly unlikely to even know what plane this is much less notice that the panel lines and wheel wells are incorrect.
I'm just trying to keep this build relatively hassle free to just try my hand at aircraft modelling.
So I guess I have my own little A1/2 hybrid monstrosity.
Oh well it's close enough for me. ( Hey I think my OCD is getting better )

I sure wouldn't know the difference.

Edit:
BTW. I'm gonna need a pair of crew figures to be sitting in the plane. I'm not picky about whether a particular figure is supposed to be in a "Grace" or "Zero". As long as it's a

Japanese pilot. I can't find any that actually sit in a plane, as opposed to just standing nearby. Any help?[/quote]

PJ Productions now do a set (x2) of Japanese Navy/Army pilots, in resin 1/72 scale.

http://www.pjproduction.net/index.php?categoryID=82&offset=8

I've found their figures top notch

Hey all, bad news.

The kit ended up as a chew toy for a friend's dog
And just when I was in the middle of getting it painted.

But I still want to do the diorama for it so now I'm looking to just get an A2 kit somewhere from Hasegawa. Item # JT49.
Unfortunatelly I can't seem to find one anywhere. All the U.S. based shops either don't carry it or are on a god knows when backorder. The only places that seem to have it are all in Europe. Is this kit extinct in the U.S. or what's the deal? Is eBay my only choice? I hope not.