Every angle shows how great this finish is, Woody @wkubacki

Woody, @wkubacki
This is an incredible model ! I definitely will be using this very detailed build journal in the future, when I get around to building my Raidens left in the stash.

I can only hope to have mine turn out looking somewhat close to how your kit does. Your model is perfect !

Thank you for posting the journal, and for participating again. I look forward to seeing more of your work in the future.

Fantastic results, Woody @wkubacki
Your building quality is definitely from a high level.
The paintwork, weathering and chipping is amazing.

So while I was waiting to take photos for my recently completed A6M2, I pulled out the J2M5 to re-start it. After a bit of additional body work and priming (which needs to be touched up), I started to rivet the plane using home made templates.

Last time I designed the templates, I relied solely on a set of drawings, but I soon realized that there were differences between those drawing and the model. This time I used a combination of the drawing and the model three view in the instructions to design my templates. They turned out much better than last time, with only a few misalignments.

Next I moved to the fuselage and started riveting by hand along existing panel lines. Due to the curved shape of the fuselage, I am not able to use templates (unless I design a curve into them somehow), and will have to complete them mostly by hand.

9 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Great to see this one back on the bench, Woody @wkubacki
The riveting looks very nice.

Great progress, my friend @wkubacki!
The marbling technique yields beautiful results!

A bit more work done tonight. After additional research, I have come to the conclusion that the plane depicted in the box top and in various other profiles is not Naka-191, but rather Naka-181. I made this final decision based on a photo of the plane in a hanger, with “81” stencilled on the gear door.

Gear door weight strips were painted, and I went with a loaded aircraft, with the blue band hidden. Then I masked the 81 in the reverse Manner than I usually do, which I think was why it came out so well (not needing to have to spray the 81 with black meant less chance of seepage). I also painted the underside hinomaru and the yellow tips and stencils on the propeller.

11 attached images. Click to enlarge.