Iskender Mailibayev has kindly shared these images and details of his exacting build of the venerable Hasegawa J2M3 Raiden 'Jack' in 1/72 scale, using the 2004 '302nd Flying Group' re-release.
To begin with Iskender compared the 1977 kit parts with several sets of plans and photographs of the actual aircraft, concluding that the plans in the Model Art profile most closely represented the original. He found that the kit fuselage appeared 2mm too short in the tail section so lengthened it by inserting Evergreen plastic spacers in cuts carefully aligned to preserve the tapering shape of the airframe. Iskender also re-built the under cowling oil cooler intake as the kit version was found to be undersized and incorrect in shape.
Iskender further enhanced his model by using the excellent Resin Art aftermarket set, together with Master Model Type 99 brass gun barrels, CMK landing lights and MYK Design decals. The cockpit interior was finished using AK Real Color RC306 IJN Mitsubishi Interior Green.
For finishing the model Iskender used a mixture of Tamiya and Mr Color paints - Mr Color C124 Dark Green (Mitsubishi) for the upper surfaces, Tamiya XF-76 Gray Green (IJN) for the under surfaces and the leading edge IFF strips in Mr Color 58 Orange Yellow IJN /IJA Aircraft.
Iskender found the build complex, involving a lot of aftermarket additions and scratchbuilding techniques, but ultimately satisfying. A fully detailed and step-by-step build report with many more images may be found at the Scalemodels.Ru forum here .
With very special thanks to Iskender for sharing these images and details of his excellent Raiden model built from a 43 year old kit 'still going strong'!
Image credits: All model photos © 2020 Iskender Mailibayev; Box art © 2004 Hasegawa Corporation
7 comments:
What a labor of love. Wonderful craftmanship and it looks fantastic, even more so in the smaller scale. The markings are just the icing on the cake! Well done, thanks for sharing!
Dan
Great scratch-building skills and perfectly excuted modifications - very creative! That's a beautiful model. One of my favourites.
I can only echo Dan and Michael's well-chosen tributes; such clean work, and it all looks 'to scale'. Great job, Iskender, and thanks for sharing it with us all, Nick.
I would be interested in how the MYK decals behaved for you, Iskender. (They certainly look great). I have several sheets in 1/144, but know that the application method is unconventional, something I did not know about the only time I tried to use any of them (cruel - at that time, they had no English on the instructions).
Thank you all for high praise of my humble efforts! Your comments are inspiring and motivating. Regarding MYK Design decals, to my shame I’ve learnt of their “proper” application method after the model has been completed)) I’ve applied them as standard waterslides over glossy surface with a little Mr. Decal Softener. The decals reacted as you would expect from any regular high quality type. Next time I’ll definitely try to use them the way producer suggests. But in any case you can safely apply MYK Design decals in a regular way too))
Yeah looks fantastic and the length just looks right too to my eye, truly superb.
occa / Martin
Impressive surgery! Great result.
Very nice work, Iskender & thanks for sharing, Iskender & Nick.
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