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George Henderson
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Hasegawa 1:48 Kawanishi N1K2-J Shiden (Violet Lightning) “George”

April 16, 2019 · in Aviation · · 15 · 2.1K

This model represents an aircraft of the 343rd Fighter Group, flown by Leading Airman Ikuji Matsumura. A very nice kit. I added the RB Model Brass 20mm Japanese cannons Type 99 Mk. 2. I bought these for the soul reason that they were on sale dirt cheap. I used Uschi van Rosten rigging thread (0.02mm) for the antenna wires. This is the ultra fine size meant for 1:72 rigging but I think it is more to scale for 1:48 antenna. I painted the innards Tamiya XF-58 Olive Green lightened with XF-4 Yellow Green. Camo was done with Tamiya XF-11: J.N. Green over XF-16: Flat Aluminum. This is the first time that I've tried the hair spray chipping method, a work in progress shall we say. This is also my first attempt with Tamiya Panel Line Accent Color: Dark Brown. Again...a work in progress. I used the kit decals save for the fuselage stripe which I painted on

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15 responses

  1. Very nice model George! I believe to have this model somewhere in the stash, and don’t recall ever having opened the box... the decals look ok, something wich I never liked much in Hasegawa kits to be honest. Thanks for posting it

    • Thank you Pedro. I know what you mean about the decals. Right now I'm working on Hasegawa's Ki.44 and the decals are atrocious. I've painted the wing/fuselage bands and will paint the Hinomarus. My only hope is trying to save the tail flying school badge

  2. Stellar work as usual, sir...well done !

  3. Beautiful model George,congrats!

  4. Beautifully painted. Also like the antenna wire, which to me a lot of modelers seem to get too heavy in terms of bore. This seems perfect to scale, almost invisible.

    ‘Liked’

    • Thank you David. I just noticed that I bent the pitot tube while taking pics. The antenna thread was both a pleasure and a pain in the keester to work with. This stuff grabs like crazy when it touches a gel type CA, setting up almost immediately. It also stretches forever, no more saggy wires. The pain part is that I never quite knew when I was holding it being so fine and light

  5. Great looking "George" George!

  6. Thank you Dale. One more in the stash

  7. Added two profile shots

  8. Nice job George, and like you some of the antenna wire used on models seem to be too thick for 1/48 scale. I use nylon thread but I'll have to check out that van Rosten rigging thread.

  9. quite a beautiful build george

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