Hi all, new to the group but not new to modeling. I used to model quite a bit in my youth and reached my pinnacle around 2005 when I stopped due to the usual reasons (work, family, etc). At the time I was airbrushing Model Master and Poly Scale with my Badger 150, but had no idea about weathering past some exhaust streaks and gunsmoke and all too random chipping.

I December 2019 I decided to get back into the hobby and pulled out my old stash, bought some glue and paint and completed some half finished models like the DML 1/48 Ho-229 Night Fighter and the Ba 349. It was then that I decided to focus solely on Japanese aircraft as I had always been interested since first playing Aces Of the Pacific and flipping that great manual all Games used to come with.

Anyway, the subject of this build was actually started in 2005ish and so it contains some mistakes that I don't think I would make now

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Next step was to paint the darn thing. When I last actively built planes, I just blasted the paint on (un-thinned I think) without any thought to tones or paint variation. I knew about pre-shading the panel lines so I gave it a shot. Then onto the paint...can anyone spot the mistake? Yup, I painted my IJA airplane in IJN colours.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Then came decals and panel wash. Boy were these nerve wracking times! I used Tamiya panel liner, and that went on fine until I wanted to remove the excess and used too hot of an enamel thinner (Testors, iirc). It took off some of the Tamiya clear coat but the paint wasn't affected too much, or at least not enough for me to fix it (I had low standards back then and wanted to get this under my belt).

And that was it, she was done and I was happy!

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Oh boy, was this a challenge. I didnt mentions the trials and tribulations I had with the lower landing gear leg (they broke while re-painting the plane), figuring out how to mix and spray the clear coat, figuring out how the panel wash worked and how to remove it without removing the paint... I'm glad that I have another -I in the stash that I will build using the lessons and details I have learned building this one.