I have always liked the beautiful lines of the Grace, and have only hesitated to build this model because I didn't have all the usual references and detail sets. I finally decided to take on the kit on to build a single model as quickly as possible, while still keeping with normal standards for near OOB. Given that there is no Eduard detail set for the Grace, I elected to simply paint carefully to get the well detailed cockpit looking realistic. I did black basing to highlight the ribbing in the sidewalls and brushwork to pick out the black details, following color suggestions in the instructions. I mixed the dark Aichi Interior Green according to kit instructions. For some parts, I started with a base of Gunze Aotake as this was clearly how the real cockpits were finished from surviving museum example. The results looked pretty good. I used an IJN interior green, more of a Mitsubishi color, for the wheel wells and gear covers as that looked right to me from reference photos. As far as construction goes, the kit is almost OOB, except that I did the ignition harness with very fine wire glued to a ring cut from sheet styrene. The trickiest part so far was carefully gluing the canopy in place and masking with limited resources. There is only an old Montex vinyl set for the Grace (no Eduard mask set). For curved sections of the canopy the thick vinyl would not conform well and stay down. So, I used the vinyl mask for some sections as a template to cut a more flexible alternate mask from Tamiya tape, That worked well. I used all the kit pieces to seal up the entire pit with masked transparencies but I only used white glue for sliding parts. These can be removed after all painting has been done. I am thinking about having the canopies closed for once. I really like the lines of the Grace when the whole greenhouse is closed. Not show standard but I may go for it. I didn't take pics of the masking until I had painted the interior frame color and the yellow ID panels, but you can see it went down well.

Painting has been a trial in patience, after doing the canopy frame interior color and the yellow ID panels first, I proceeded to paint the underside color and mask it fully. No pics of the Tamiya XF-76 I used for this before I masked it all , it will be seen in the final photos of the build

A marbling pre-shade relieved the monotony of the single green topside color. I like the result after the Tamiya XF11 was applied. This is partly revealed in photos but not contrasting as in real life. I was also pretty happy with the paper masking technique I used to do the scalloped edges of the light and dark camo separation line. Overall, I will do more work with oils to enhance weathering and shading effects after the clear coat goes down.

I haven't decided yet on whether to paint the hinomarus. I had a very bad experience with the painting process on my Betty awhile back. I will decide this week.

Anyway, keeping the narrative simple on this one. I am happy with the results and will see this one through (fingers crossed) this week. Really want to get something in headlines and this is my best bet for now. Hope you like it so far.

Beautiful entry of a, like you said, beautiful aircraft, Colin @coling
You made some solid and progress already with nice great results.

Colin, that’s a good start and painting so far. I’d go for painted insignias 😉
May I suggest Dead Design masks? They have a pretty big catalog for jap subjects, in Kabuki tape, for numerous Hasegawa kits (amongst other makers), and cover hinomarus and squadron numbers plus the usual canopies. I’ve used them in my Seiran and have their Ki-27 vac canopy+ mask and will soon order the B5N1 set

Thanks, John. I may do more than one of these. A fun model and a really attractive aircraft.

Thanks, Pedro. I really appreciate the tip on the masks. It got me searching more carefully on eBay for all things B7A and I found both Dead Design and Montex masks. I decided to go for the Montex because they include the tail codes and I had excellent results with their very thin vinyl masks for my Bf-109G-6 a while back. They were also a bit cheaper while offering more masks in the set. Now I will have to wait a couple of weeks for delivery from Australia, but I will be able to work on the B5N Kate in the meantime for this same GB. The Kate is also very close to completion. I will be able to do the torpedoes and landing gear for both kits and make good use of the time. The two models could be in headlines around the same time (assuming all goes well, knock on wood).

@coling I will be waiting for Your Kate 🙂

You're doing really nicely with this @coling. I did one for review when it first came out - geez! 20 years ago? yikes! - and remember it being an excellent build, which you have discovered.

Thanks, Tom. The Grace has been my most relaxing build in a long time. Great fit and very nice detail. More soon.

Thanks, Spiros. More masking to do for the fuselage hinomarus and the yellow code numbers. The Montex set is quite comprehensive. Fingers crossed it will all look OK when the stencils come off.