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Ozkan Turker
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“The One-shot Lighter” Mitsubishi G4M Betty

January 22, 2013 · in Aviation · · 5 · 3.9K

"The One-shot Lighter" is a one of the name given by Allied pilots for Mitsubishi G4M because of their tendency to explode or catch on fire from any slight damage to the wing fuel tanks after being hit .

Model built as S.F.B of kit. I used heavy gauge self adhesive metal foil tape to simulate rivets and extra panel lines . After covering all over I used Tamiya and Gunze Sangyo acyrlics . Rubbing with fine sandpaper to remove some paint was easier than adding silver chipping. Anyway it was funny trial.

Happy modelling

Ozkan

Reader reactions:
5  Awesome

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5 responses

  1. The weathering effects are great, but I have a thought, the extreme chipping done on Japanese airplanes is to match photos taken during the war, but the surviving photos were taken by US personnel, of destroyed or abandoned airfields (and planes), usually after the battles to take those islands. Would an 'in service' plane be that beat up? The Japanese are meticulous, as a group, ? FWIW

  2. Ozkan I like what you have done here. Covering with foil ahead of time is a different approach. I know guys that will undercoat with silver then camo over it. I don't do much modeling of Japanese aircraft but I have the Betty and would build it just to accomplish something like this, but I want to try and perfect the salt method of masking to accomplish the chipping. I like yours, the worn areas and chipping look great. Good job on the foil too, I know how difficult it can be to avoid wrinkles in some areas.

  3. Great job, Ozkan...could you perhaps tell us a little more about the foil procedure? I've not seen the effect accomplished in such a manner before as far as I know. Thanks...again - nice work.

  4. Great model, with a great finish. I have seen this approach with bare metal foil before. The model it was used on was a 1/24 Fw 190D based on the old Airfix Fw190A kit. The late war 190's often had un painted undersides and cowlings and the modeller in question incorporated this into his build.

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