A ‘George’, by George! Hasegawa 1/72 N1K2-J
I don’t know how long I’ve had this kit, but Scalemates shows this ‘Blue B1’ boxing being released in 1980 (original tooling from 1977 – but it might even be an older Mania kit?). Impressive kit with very nice fit and nicely recessed paneling lines, but not much detail in the cockpit and plain wheel wells.
This little guy went together very quickly, but I stalled a little when I looked at the later released kits and noticed the sqn lettering and fuselage striping should have been yellow, depicting First Lieutenant Tokushima’s aircraft with the 343rd Naval Wing 301st Fighter Sqn. Other web searches identified Tokushima’s N1K2 with different positioned striping and a white ‘15’. I tried to look for replacement decals, but didn’t want to spend more money than what I spent on the kit.
Even though I’m pretty sure the undersides should be a natural metal finish, As per kit instructions I proceeded to do an easy broadcast spray of XF-11 and Xf-12 for the JN colours. When it can time to finish, I decided to celebrate the original kit with the issued decals and I was pleasantly surprised just how nice they settled into place and sank into the recessed paneling. Not sure if the victory stamps should be there, other views show the stamps to be upside down (yikes). Later tried to do some panel accents which came out fine on the Grey and not too noticeable on the Dark Green.
Thanks for viewing.
Nice work, George @georgeswork ! It turned out great. Glad the old decals were useable .
Excellent job, George!
A "George" by George: what better?
Well done!
Small but beautiful.
Great result on this little 'George', George @georgeswork
Well done.
Nice work, George!
Crisp build in the gentleman's scale.
Neat build. I have this kit in my stash and plan to make it this year. That fuselage stripe decal does worry me a little - I always struggle with those sort!
A gorgeous George by George.
Nicely done George.
Great job, George
Great work! Great kit!
A nice little George, by George!
I nice build - I like these old kits that did have recessed lines - gives them more life!
I love that plane and in this scale you did a fantastic job. Well done George on your George! My dad’s name was George. He would have liked this too.