Timc

Thanks all: The paint is WEM Colourcoats Kawanishi Green. It is indeed light but It looks good in natural light, not quite as bright in person.

Thanks all. I always try to limit my chipping even though it seems as though some Japanese aircraft shed it in sheets (as it seems but in reality, it was probably bit by bit). Apologies for the crappy photographs, I'm using a 12 year old 2.1 Megapixel camera that I think needs to be replaced or have its lens cleaned.

Hello all: This one's finally done. Here are a few mediocre photos of the finished model. I used WEM Colourcoats Kawanishi Green for the topside and the bottom is alcad. The decals are not the best but are useable with the exception of the yellow commander's stripes. They're not opaque enough to cover the fuselage Hinomaru and since I had already installed those, I was committed to painting the stripes. All in all, a decent kit but the instructions either have a couple parts reversed (the wheel well inner door actuators and the aft canopy portion or I really have a case of dislexia. Here's a link to the build thread http://forum.largescalemodeller.com/topic/1999-first-kit-of-2014-hasegawas-new-132-n1k2-j/ Comments always welcome.

Ambroid Proweld is what I use, almost exclusively. It's very hot and does a great job.

Almost makes me want to buy the Revell Bf109G-10 (Erla) when it arrives here in the States.

Yes indeed! Have a great day. Or, if you prefer, have a mediocre day...LOL

I'm glad that I wasn't the only one who saw the need to remove the landing gear and tail hook details. Good catch. There's one more piece of equipment that may need to be removed from your cockpit. It's been a long time but I think the floatation tube (silver tube with the petcock on it on your left sidewall) does not belong in the A6M2N as the floatation bags weren't installed (again, check my information as it has been a long time since I dabbled in the A6M2-N). I think you also removed the flap handle/actuator (one of the two black handles on the right sidewall). I built this conversion awhile back and never finished it. My castings didn't look as nice as the ones I'm seeing in your photos. My outrigger floats had horrible mismatch seams on both the struts and the floats themselves. I filled, sanded ad nauseum but in the end I just threw in the towel. The main float wasn't real bad and I did manage to use it up until the point where I chucked the entire project but you nailed the "flimsy" part of the beaching dolly right off the bat. Here's a bit of FYI in the event you're interested. The rudder on the A6M2N is taller than the rudder on the A6M2b in the area of the mass balance weight forward of the hinge line at the top of the rudder. MDC got this part spot on the money and it really is a good conversion, pity I couldn't make it work. One word of caution though, check the lower forward wing insert for fit prior to cutting out the wheel well area from the lower wing. My copy and another build I saw online were both short in span and we both needed to build up the ends of the resin part cause we didn't check the fit prior to sawing the lower wing up.

The link you posted tells how the modeler achieved the look. I would (and have) use the same method. That A6M5 is not what I would consider an example of heavy paint chipping. That A6M5 is more accurately chipped than some of the horrid examples I've seen on the internet where huge chunks of paint are missing from gigantic sections of the airframe. There is an historical context that I will not delve into as it's beyond the scope of this post suffice to say that all Japanese aircraft didn't lose sheets of paint over a great majority of their surfaces. However, the extent of paint chipping is a matter of personal taste and what I think is excessive may not be to another so find that zone with which you are happy and chip away.

Are you speaking of the new tool Hasegawa 1/32 P-47D series? If so, you've heard wrong. Between the two (Trumpeter and Hasegawa), the Hasegawa kit is far and away the better kit regarding accuracy and fidelity of detail. Notice I did not say there are no issues with the Hasegawa kit, there are but they are relatively minor and easy to fix.

Hey Tom, great job on the kit. For all the kits shortcomings, you've managed to pull off an exceptionally well rendered miniature. Hats off! Tim

If you're into the American Civil War, there's also Winchester Virginia, Manassas Virginia, Appomatox Courthouse (which is just East of the Blue Ridge), and a whole bunch of other minor battle sites in Virginia. There's not much left of the Fredericksburg Battlefield but last I knew there was a small piece of the stone wall that sheltered the Confederate army as they massacred the Federal troops as they advanced across the open field. If you travel North along the blue ridge, you'll find Antietam battlefield in Sharpsburg, Maryland and if you go just a few more miles North into Pennsylvania, you'll find the greatest battlefield of the Civil War, Gettysburg, Pa.

Looks like they got the firing and transport modes confused. Either that or that thing doesn't have any suspension when it's moving.

There were 234 made with both the staggered waist guns and the pumpkin (aka Cheyenne) tail turret so there are a few to choose from. I think I can find a serial number range but the the production blocks were, according to my references, Douglas blocks 25 and 30. I prefer Alclad. The shade variations of aluminum I can get with Alclad are far more than any kind of foil treatment. I tried foiling but even with the smoothest of adhesive applications, the foil shows any lumps or bumps underneath and smoothing just adds grainy streaks to the foil.

Sure, it has to do with the forum saying of "dropping a grenade in the room and closing the door". I'm picturing a smiley throwing a grenade through a doorway then closing the door. After a few seconds the door blows off....rinse and repeat.

Well, I'll just have to get some retarder and thinner and give it a go! Thanks guys.