The Japanese Nightfighter: Gekko Late Production 1/48
Hello again,
Finished her today after a long battle with minor details and my own faults.
Trying to get a less boring, monochromatic all green Jap plane was my challenge, that and cutting my stash by building long time stored kits.
The build part was a joy, a true Tamiya engineering, almost no fuss or putty, but the painting, weathering and detailing were a bit of a pain. So there you go…another step on the learning curve.
Kit got Eduard’s PE and masks. In fact almost all markings are painted, the exception were the small #76 and 176, too small for me I guess. Cannon ends are Quickboost replacements.
I guess building that Zero will not be sometime soon
13 additional images. Click to enlarge.
Craig Abrahamson said on February 26, 2018
Nicely done, Pedro….gotta love those Tamiya kits, huh..? 🙂
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 27, 2018
Thanks Craig. I think this was the best Tamiya kit I’ve built construction wise. Smooth and clever. The challenge here is the rather dull looking of the plane and the lack of other options rather than the 2 that come in the box, even when looking around the after market stuff.
david leigh-smith said on February 27, 2018
Smooth and ‘cleaver’? Over to you, Tom
Pedro L. Rocha said on March 2, 2018
Typo rectified
david leigh-smith said on February 26, 2018
Another great build, Pedro. Not easy getting that level of interest in an essentially one color aircraft, but you achieved it through weathering and detail, and nice tonal shift.
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 27, 2018
Thank you for the kind appreciation David. Cheers
Louis Gardner said on February 26, 2018
This is an amazing build my friend !!! I especially like how the exhaust staining turned out, and how you managed to get the green in slight variations of color. The photography is spot on as well………….
Well done Sir !!
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 27, 2018
Thank you Louis. When I started painting the exhaust stains I felt that it was turning rather sorry looking, in fact, it would diminish the overall effect of the kit. On a second look (the next day…) it looked a little less bad.
Glad you and others don’t agree with me 🙂
Bernard E. Hackett, Jr. said on February 27, 2018
Pedro, just a lovely build! This has got to be one of their best!
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 27, 2018
Thanks Bernard, and I second your opinion regarding this kit
Tom Bebout said on February 27, 2018
Well done Pedro, don’t see this aircraft very often. Looks good.
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 27, 2018
Tom, I bought this kit when it hit the shelves, in the late nineties I believe. The only reason I bought it was because the Irving was a rather misterious plane to me, with very little information about it at that time.
all this years later, I me to the conclusion that it was time to deal with this dull looking bird, taking advantage of a campaign build. I guess the later is the reason this kit is not seen built more often.
paul teixeira said on February 27, 2018
Overall nice build. I like the different subject matter. I to enjoy the challenge of making solid color painting not mono-chromatic. I got a lot of great techniques watching YouTube and such. Now its something I really look forward to doing. I really like the way your exhaust stains came out, again not a mono-chromatic approach!
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 27, 2018
Thank you Paul, I resorted to other builds about Japanese green planes (Zeros, Kates and the Irving of course) and decid to combine 2 ways to modulate the rather dull black green that covers 90% of the plane.
1- mixing in a 3 to 2 reason, the black green with the yellow used on the ID bands. With some degree of dilution I randomly covered the inside of large panels
2- The same mix but using oil paints, applying it very diluted in small parts and highlights.
What’s your preferred method if I may ask?
Jeff Bailey said on February 27, 2018
Great Gekko, Pedro! I like these Japanese twins and this is one of the nicest. You did great with the painting, too.
Bravo!
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 28, 2018
Thank you Jeff. Appreciate the feedback and share your interest about Japanese twin engine aircraft. Most of them are indeed quite elegant
Greg Kittinger said on February 28, 2018
A real beauty – love the interior work, and all the weathering. Looks great!
Pedro L. Rocha said on February 28, 2018
Thank you Greg. The cockpit is the highlight of this kit, in my opinion. All, but seats belts and some other minor stuff, is present in the plastic. It really is a kit made for the home market, given its niche
George Williams said on March 1, 2018
Good to see one of these kits built especially when it’s as nice as this, great finish.
Alex said on October 17, 2018
Very interesting model. The exhaust is really unusual and it would have been certainly super noisy; we can almost feel it looking at the smoke stains you made. Like it 🙂
Pedro L. Rocha said on October 18, 2018
Alex, don’t know about the noise, but the exhaust stain was quite heavy on these birds. That you see is merely my personal interpretation of poor B&W photos . Thanks for the comment