I’ve had this kit lurking in my stash for some time now. And the only thing that’s missing (so far) among the completed kits on my shelves is a Japanese plane. So I busted this one out this morning and gave the sprues a good washing. I’m hopefully going to be starting on it within the next few days…my hours were switched at work so now I’m on the graveyard shift…with sleep being an inconsistent fantasy. In the meantime, I’m trying to figure out what Hasegawa means by “cockpit color” by browsing the internet. If anyone out there has any idea as to what the cockpit color for this bird is, let me know! [:)]
Cockpit colour here should be Nakajima cockpit interior colour, they Mitsubishi, Aichi, etc all used a different colour, there wasn’t much standardization. Nakajima cockpit interior is sorta a greyish-green, it looks a lot like British WWII cockpit interior green to me, I just use it instead of trying to mix something custom.
If you want, I have a few pics of the Oscar in the Erickson Collection I can send your way. That one has been re-engined to a US plant, but fits in the cowling, and the paint scheme is somewhat simular, but very faded as it hasn’t been restored yet. I remember there are a couple of IP shots, but from the floor as you can’t get on them. PM email if you want the pics.
Thanks for the tips, guys! Gamera I took your advice and painted the interior with a bottle of MM RAF interior green that I had. Tempestjohnny, the markings will indeed be the same as the box art! Goldhammer, I’ll definitely message you about those photos, thank you!
Here are some shots of the build. I’m working the graveyard shift from now until the early spring, so I’ve had to split my model building time with my sleeping time. But the bird is coming along!
Thanks everyone! It’s been a while since I’ve posted anything, I hope everyone is doing well. In between trying to find sleep (thanks, graveyard shift) and chasing a new kitten around, I’ve found time to not only work on my Oscar, but finish it! The parts went together with ease. Thanks again to goldhammer for the photos, they came in really handy when I started painting this thing.
Speaking of paint: I painted the majority of this bird with Model Master Chrome Silver. I used MM flat black to paint the anti-glare pannel on the top of the plane, and that’s where I ran into my first problem. It seems that the MM Chrome Silver doesn’t like other paints being applied over it. I made a couple of strokes before my paintbrush came back with a silverish/black color of paint on it. I ended up letting the top layer dry, and dry brushed (carefully) more black on top of that, eventually getting the flat black color I wanted. When I began to paint the yellow stripes on the wings, the MM Deep Yellow also blended with the Chrome Silver. I ended up spraying a clear coat over the plane at this point in an effort to provide a base that wouldn’t blend my paint. It worked! Testors Aluminium was used for the flaps, while MM Steel was used for the cowling. I then applied the green splotches with Tamiya JA Green. This was my first time using Tamiya paints, and I gotta say they look great. I used Tamiya Red Brown for the prop and spinner.
I’m afraid I don’t have many nice things to say about the decals. They were thin, ripped easily, and tried my patience. But they went on, with a bit of effort. I weathered the plane with a wash, and created exhaust streaks by dry brushing black paint onto the fuselage.
All in all, it was a pretty fun build. This was the first Japanese plane that I ever built, and it’s currently sitting pretty on top of my shelves. Thanks for checking out my Oscar!
