Hello Everyone,
I've started my next build. I first learned about this aircraft back in my online flight simming days. It quickly became one of my favorites, so now I am going to build it and see it in real 3D for the first time.

Here are the box art and the sprues:



Seems that I always have to get the cockpit out of the way first. Because you can see it and not see it, it's one of my least favorite areas. I'm not much for open hatches or cutaways, and peering through the perspex at this scale seems to me a waste of time. Here's my effort, anyway.



The cockpit is at it's widest equal to or broader than that of the P-47. But the opening is no bigger than the cockpit opening of a 109. I'd bet in 1/32 scale, you could make it real flash.

This is the forward view of the Homare 18-cylinder radial engine.

I was tempted to plumb the forward part of the engine with some fine copper wire I have until I googled an image of the engine:

I decided I'd save that effort for a bigger scale some time in the very distant future.

And a rear view of the engine:

I drilled out each exhaust pipe with a .5mm drill bit and then angled it to each side to try to capture the oval opening. Each hole is so tiny, that they're barely visible even with my glasses on.

The fuselage and wings are buttoned up, but not prettied up yet. So, no picture...

Thank you for looking!

Gary

Looks like a great start, Gary. happy modelling with this one !

Gary,
I'll be following right along with your new build blog from start to finish. Now aren't you the lucky one

Nice start to the cockpit, as it already looks quite busy.

As for ignition wiring of double row radials in 1/48 scale, yeah, it looks complicated, but it's really not all that bad. I've done a few. The trick is that every other wire usually goes to the back bank of cylinders (just study the wiring and you'll see the pattern used), and that each cylinder has two spark plug wires for the duel ignition. All the wires do come out of that whitish ignition manifold in front of the crankcase.

I did wire up both Pratt & Whitney R-2800-10 Double Wasp engines for my 1/48 scale GWH P-61B build. Now that was twice the fun. Oh yeah, I had to made the ignition manifolds out of brass wire too.







Joel

Hl Joel,
I always look forward to finding inspiration from you. Your wiring looks real good! I will definitely give it a go once I do something with a big radial and small spinner like a Corsair or Hellcat. we'll see about this one. One of the last steps on this build will actually be attaching the engine and cowling to the plane. The exhaust set up makes me want to avoid getting foreign paint on it.

Best Wishes,

Gary

Gary, I'll also follow along with your new build as I have 2 Shiden in my stash (Tamiya and Hasegawa). It was on my production plan for long but somehow I didn't realise it yet ....

Happy modelling with this one!
Torsten

Hi Gary, great start buddy! With the engine so tightly cowled you are not going to see much anyway. With a 1/32 scale kit it is easier to wire...... but ...... (isn't there always a but?) The amount of physical detail increases as well.

My favourite Japanese subject is the Ki44 Shoki closely followed by the Ki61.

Torsten,
I'm glad to have you along!

Chris,
I have a Ki-44 in my stash as well. I'm going to build it for the 1945 Campaign. i bought three Japanese fighters at a show, N1k1, ki-44, and Ki-61. My three favorite Japanese fighters.

Gary

Glad to see a built of the Shidden on the way! Here is my Hasegawa one!

Hello Jean,
Thank you for showing me the photos of your excellently built N1K1. i like your subtle chipping.


Thank you, again,

Gary

Hello Everyone,
Just small progress and big plans to talk about:

A few modellers have been showing their severely chipped warbirds recently. When I first joined the Thunder and Lightning campaign I had a George like this in mind:

Of course,mine would be less chipped and looking still flyable.
Because the entire underside of the plane is NMF, I'll use aluminum foil.
Back when I stumbled through my first aluminum clad plane here at Aeroscale:
http://aeroscale.kitmaker.net/forums/236286#1992560
I discovered a way to get chipping to happen through manual handling. Mainly this was due to my newness to both aluminum cladding and artist acrylic paints. In the interim I've learned to make my paint more durable. I'm hoping to repeat the process, but using my hands to act as airflow over the surfaces of the aircraft.

Anyway...that's the plan...

The George was first issued with Kawanishi Green upper surfaces, and grey undersides. Then they quit painting the undersides. This left me a need to find out what they did with the cloth-covered control surfaces. Here they are pre-shaded with a sharpie:



The black line at the rear edge of the wing is the only place that required much filler on this Tamiya kit.

My research yielded only theories that the undersides of the control surfaces were still doped gray, or doped in Aluminum.

I decided to paint them Alclad.


Then to my horror after checking the level of Alclad in the paint cup, a thin stream poured out of the front of my airbrush until it was empty. I'm thinking my O-rings must be shot.

Thank you for looking!

Gary

Gary,
I no absolutely nothing about Japanese aircraft, so I would be guessing about the color, rather then having any actual knowledge about that specific aircraft. Late war, would mean all sorts of material shortages. If they were using gray dope, the odds are that is what they had on hand or could still get.

As for the issue of Alcad running out the front of your airbrush, hard to even guess without knowing what AB you're using.

Joel

Hi Joel,
I'm definitely no great source when it comes to Japanese war machines. I fear that the best info available would be on sites in Japanese which I can't read. Anyway, I always wonder how many aircraft profiles we use for modelling are extrapolated from one photo.
I'm not super-hung-up on detail, anyway. If I enjoy the build, and the result is eye-pleasing, then I'm happy enough. If someone wants to correct me with a bit of knowledge I don't have, I'm happy for that, too.

As far as the airbrush goes, it's an NEO TRN 1 for Iwata. I like it a lot, but it's had a hard life. I've had to remove a burr from the needle that I made somehow. It's been dropped, so it scarred on the outside, and I am pretty sure that the solvent I've used for lacquer may have damaged some O-rings. Bubbles come out of seams when I clean it, but it still does a nice job painting.

I've been googling all morning, and think that perhaps the needle failed to seat properly either because I haven't been lubricating it, or possibly because of a bit of dried acrylic somewhere.

I'll be foiling for a while, so I'll give the parts a long soak in windex and the lube the needle when I put it back together.

Best Wishes,

Gary

Hi Everyone,

Just some in-progress shots of the cowling inserted into one JPEG.

The more complex the structure, the more pieces of foil need to be used. I bought some aluminum polish from my local car parts store and polished the cowling once I was finished.

Thanks for looking,

Gary

Hi Everyone,
Bit by bit, the new skin goes on the George:

Started at the center and worked my way forwards and backwards and then outwards.
The hardest parts are the wing roots, tail empennage, and the canopy. I'll finish at the wingtips, ends of the stabilisers, and top of the fin.
I've over-cooked the foil making it a little more prone to tearing, so I've spent a lot of time getting a part almost perfect only to make a tear and start all over again.

Out of curiosity I polished the foil and took some pictures in the sun.




As you can see, the foil polishes up nicely despite the fact that I've burned it in bleach water. However, once I put a coat of future on it, some of that pop will be blended away. Another detractor against the polish is that it makes all of the panels uniform. Kind of messy to use as well. Excess had to be cleaned off with turps.

Thank you for looking!

Gary

Gary,
The foiling looks fantastic. Another skill I don't have, and at my age most likely never will.

As for you Iwata issues. I also get a little bubbling when I'm cleaning both my Iwatas from the 1st seam where the nose cone cover screws on to the body, but not when I'm actually shooting paint. The issue is caused by air leaking around and through those threads. To solve that I just apply some Bees Wax chapstick over the threads as a sealant.

I also had that same issue with the cones. Iwata uses a blue colored sealant that eventually comes off, rather then using some temp sealant, the Bees wax works great, it's dirt cheap, plus you can use it on your chapped lips.

The reason I don't have leakage issues while actually airbrushing is because I'm using low flow psi, and have the paint flow valve mostly closed. When I clean my AB's I really open up the flow valves and up the air pressure some to help with cleaning out the cone and bottom of the cup areas.

I rarely use Lacquer Thinner to clean out my ABs unless I'm shooting lacquer based paints. I always make sure that the tip of the AB is pointing downwards so that no solvents of any kind get to the O rings. I highly doubt that the small amount on the needle as you pull it out has enough on it to cause any issues. Some guys I know actually pull the needle out through the front which requires tearing down way to much of the gun needlessly.

Joel

Hi Joel,
Thank you! Remember, this is only my second plane to get more than the oleos foiled. But honestly, sometimes I think it would be easier to use Alclad. I'm enjoying the opportunity to experiment. The belly won't get the same treatment, but I reckon acrylic paint should chip off easily from the upper surfaces.
The polished foil feels as smooth as your car right after you've waxed it. Like your fingertip has to struggle to maintain contact. Sadly, I don't have room to do a silverplate B-29. However, the 352d Fighter Group polished their P-51's to get higher performance, so I have a least one opportunity to make one shiny in war markings.
Thank you for the beeswax tip. Fortunately the airbrush is still painting like it should. It bubbles up front when I clean it, and the only thing I can think of that caused the Alclad to rush out might be because I've never lubed the needle and maybe it didn't seat probably. Still, I'm only just guessing after doing more online research.

Best Wishes,

Gary

Gary,
The metal foil looks great!
Glad to see you are building a Japanese plane and I am building one as well except its an older Tamiya kit from the 1970's and is not as nice as yours.

I am one of those that removes and inserts the airbrush needle from the front and since I started doing this I have had 100% reliability in the operation of the airbrush.

Years ago I would pull the needle from the rear of the airbrush when cleaning it and even though I had ran clean thinner through the airbrush before pulling the needle a very thin film of paint would still appear on the needle and months later I would get some random episodes of the airbrush trigger feeling a bit sticky from paint/thinner residue building up inside the airbrush body...this used to really get me p****d off when I wanted to do some airbrushing. That's when I wised up and started removing the needle from the front of the airbrush body when cleaning the airbrush at the end of the day and have had no more issues with sticky needles or triggers.
Sure you will have to remove the spray nozzle when removing the needle from the front of the airbrush but that is such a simple thing to do I don't understand what the fuss is about.
A few minutes doing a proper cleaning of your airbrush will save a huge amount of time and maybe even some wasted paint when you want to paint something and realize your airbrush is wonky.

As an experiment next time you use your airbrush and later clean it wipe the cup clean and then spray thinner through it to where it looks really clean...then remove the spray nozzle and slide the needle out through the front of the airbrush. You will most likely see a thin film of paint on the needle and will see for yourself exactly why I recommend only removing and inserting the needle from the front of the airbrush...its the paint residue inside the airbrush body that you can't see that will trip you up eventually and possibly even ruin a paint job.

I have never needed to do anything beyond removing the spray nozzle and needle when cleaning any of my airbrushes but I always make sure those parts are clean before putting things back together.

BTW, when I bought my first Iwata seven years ago it came with a tube of 'SuperLube' and I use the stuff each time I clean the airbrush...one small drop is all that's needed on the airbrush needle and then I smear it over the front half of the needle. The SuperLube keeps the airbrush working smoothly and it won't react with the paint that could leave fish eyes in your paint job.

Matrixone

Les,
Looking forward to seeing your next build, as your photography really sets it apart from most of the stuff the rest of us post.

I guess I should clarify my AB cleaning statement, 1st by mentioning that both my Iwata ABs are single action: the M1 and M2. The needle can't be removed from the front without 1st removing the turning collar which should only be done if you're replacing the needle.

My cleaning procedures is to dump the left over paint, then using 91% Iso I clean the bowl and the bottom carefully with a Qtip till almost all the paint has been removed except for directly under the needle. I then open of the needle to almost the max, crank up the flow pressure to 25psi or so, and shoot Iwata cleaner through the AB. I do this a few times. Once I can't see any paint on the bottom and the cleaner shows no signs of paint, I remove the needle. I've yet to find any paint on it. I still wipe it down with a damp Qtip soaked in Iwata cleaner. Then using a dental floss plastic probe with bristles that easily bends, I work it slowly into the back of the cone with some Iwata cleaner in the bowl. As soon as I feel resistance, I remove it. Any crud stuck inside the cone easily comes out. I then put a drop of WD-40 on the needle and wipe it towards the point. Then I just replace it.

This sounds a lot more complicated then it is, and takes less then 5 min.

Rarely do I bother to remove the cone cover or cone. So far, so good.

Joel

Hi Les,
Thank you for the reply! I'll take your advice and give my airbrush a pre-use clean from the front before my next painting.

Best Wishes,

Gary

Joel,
Cleaning a SA airbrush is not as critical as a DA airbrush. The DA airbrush really benefits from being clean and well lubricated, a sticky needle or trigger can make free hand painting those WWII Luftwaffe schemes a real battle. I am a bit finicky about keeping my airbrush clean and I am probably the only modeler on the face of the earth that actually enjoys cleaning my airbrush.

Gary,
What I meant was after you are finished after another airbrush painting session was to wipe the paint cup clean and run thinner through the airbrush to where it looks like its clean and THEN remove the spray nozzle and slide the needle out from the front of the airbrush body...this is a good way to see first hand just how much gunk is inside of an airbrush body.
When I started removing the airbrush needle from the front I never had anymore incidents of the trigger or needle feeling sticky.
Its a very good idea to also insert the cleaned needle from the front too, this way there is NO risk at all of the needle tip being bent by bumping it against anything and bending it...if you bend the needle tip its pooched.

I will post some pictures soon of my current group of projects.

Matrixone

Gary,

Super work on your Shiden! The foil absolutely dropped my jaw. The AB advice is first-rate.

Les, can't wait to see your next model.

The best info I can interpolate about the color of the underside of the ailerons is aluminum dope. Here's a long N1K discussion on J-aircraft: http://www.j-aircraft.com/faq/N1K.htm

Hi Frederick,
Thank you!

Gary

HI Everyone,
I thought I'd show you more of the foil skinning process:


I started with the center of the belly and then skinned the next set of panels outward. You don't need to do each panel separately. After you've put on a few pieces, you get a feel for what will work.

Then outward again with two more panels. Sometimes I take the snaps outside just to remind me why I don't load up my airbrush with Alclad.

Sometimes you have to let the panel lines dictate just what size your panel is.

Again, the goal is to leave the outer edges till last. Many times in my last foil build, I pulled a hand away to reveal that I'd lifted the foil from a trailing edge by contact.

Ideally, you are able to wrap around a edge. Fortunately metal can be stretched and shrunk to fit many shapes, even when it is so thin, you can't even measure the thickness.

If you are fortunate enough to cover the complex shape to your liking, then you just trim off the excess.

Thank you for looking,

Gary

Hi All,
Second report in one day. I spent a lot of money on DIY home repairs I made this week, so I have nothing to do but sit in the house and build models! Well, a model.


I foiled the 'fittings' for the wingtip lights, again wrapping around the wing-edge to avoid snag-points.


A few more pieces, and the wingtips are done.


Same process on the fin. Use a wrap-around whenever the kit gives you one, and then fill in where necessary.

Anyway...foiling in the main is done! I have to foil the cannon gondolas and the wheel well covers, and that's it. I need a break from foiling anyway. This went much quicker than my P-47.


I know some people build elaborate light boxes. But I think when it comes to NMF, that steals from the beauty of the beast.


I really like the inverse gull-wing effect at the trailing edge.




I didn't polish the belly. At some point they quit painting the bellies so I'm leaving it operational. Dirt and oil streaking to be added later.


The green in the wheel well was an ad-lib by me. I've seen others model it NMF, but I wanted to add some contrast. I haven't studied enough George photos to know her inch by inch.

Thanks for looking!

Gary

That foiling looks amazing Gary, well done!

Cheers, D