Jump to content

1/48 N1K1 George


ghodges

Recommended Posts

This is the "quickie build" I started a few days before going to Phoenix...

100_3008.jpg

 

100_3012.jpg

 

100_3017.jpg

 

100_3021.jpg

 

100_3018.jpg

 

100_3025.jpg

 

There's a few things I'd do differently for a contest build, such as blending the Squadron vac windshield into the fuselage and airbrushing the Aotake blue instead of hand brushing the Tamiya clear blue over the silver base coat. I did, however, drill out all of the guns, add a few doodads in the cockpit (mainly a new seat and belts), added the wingtip lights from clear plastic (but forgot the tail light :smiley7: ), and drilled out all of the exhaust pipes. The paints are all Model Master and Floquil enamels. The markings are from Aeromaster, and went onto the model with no problems. For only about 15-20hrs work so as to get something in the stash built and onto the shelf, this old Otaki George was a FUN build. I kept the weathering to a minumum, applying some chipping with a sharpened colored pencil instead of trying to show the massive flaking that the later model low-wing George-Kai's were prone to (lousy late war paint without proper primering). The exhaust streaking was done with pastel chalks. Questions, comments, and critiques more than welcome! Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Looks pretty good by George! Those squadron vac canopies are a pain in the A$$. I've always have trouble with them but if you manage to get em on right they are a big improvement over pop bottle canopies.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

man, you add whole body rivets? that is crazy..... i never gonna image to do that....althrought i like it so much.

these rivets made this model look like a 1/32 one, i did think is this a 1/32?

 

well, how did you make these rivets? can you introduce me some tools to do it as well as yours?

 

thank you very much. amazing job. :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

By George, you've got it!

 

Great work! I started an Otaki a few days before NATS as well...Bf-109G. It's on hold until I finish the Koster vac XP-72 Ultrabolt. Hope my 109 turns out 1/2 as good as yours!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Imperial Japanese ace, NAP 1/C Shoichi Sugita of the Matsuyama Wing, southern Kyushu, early 1945, would be proud of your accomplishment! Very good, Gil.

 

Best,

Mark Fiedler (aAzZ09)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Gil, great job on the George. Yes, if'n this had been a contest build, the windscreen could have used some blending. But for a "quickie build"/"fun build" this came out great. I especially like the airbrush effects in the layered green, taking advantage of the underlying gray/green plastic showing thru the thinly applied green in some areas. (Or was that "pre-shading"?) As usual, ya did good. Loved the Havoc too. I too, right before the Nats, started an Otaki/ARII kit, the P-47D Razorback. It is also a decent kit that can be built as a "quickie build"/"fun build" without hesitation and look quite good sitting next to a Has or Tam Thunderbolt. Model on, Brother of the Sprue. :smiley20:

Edited by Weedeater
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ying: Those rivets are Otaki molded. I added nothing in the way of rivets, except for a few needle holes to replace rivets on seam lines lost during sanding.

 

This model is 1/48. Revell of Japan did mold a 1/32 early model mid-wing Shiden (George) way back in the 1970's, but those molds are at the bottom of the Pacific, and finding that kit today is very hard to do!

 

Thanks for all of the kind words. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ying: Those rivets are Otaki molded. I added nothing in the way of rivets, except for a few needle holes to replace rivets on seam lines lost during sanding.

 

This model is 1/48. Revell of Japan did mold a 1/32 early model mid-wing Shiden (George) way back in the 1970's, but those molds are at the bottom of the Pacific, and finding that kit today is very hard to do!

 

Thanks for all of the kind words. Cheers!

 

GIL :smiley16:

 

i am kina poor in knowledge of model companies and histories. i just know some big companies like hasegawa, Tamiya, Accurate miniatures, Revell, Itaries, Dragon, Trumpeters and so on.....i saw Otaki but did not ever pay attention to see its' productions. could you give me some infor about this company called otaki? this N1K1 looks pretty good. :) i did not know hasegawa or tamiya made 1/48 models with full rivets.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This model is 1/48. Revell of Japan did mold a 1/32 early model mid-wing Shiden (George) way back in the 1970's, but those molds are at the bottom of the Pacific, and finding that kit today is very hard to do!

 

GIL :smiley16:

 

 

This comment rang a bell in my memory. I just checked my collection and found one of these Revell 1/32 N1K1 Shiden kits. Almost all the printing on the box is in Japanese. In checking inside the box, I have never touched it--everything is still in the sealed bag with good looking decals and a rather impressive instruction book. This kit has the box art printed on paper that was then wrapped and glued to the basic cardboard box. If this is a worthy kit to build, I could be interested in taking a swing at it.

 

Ed

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Ed: That George is one of the BEST Revell 1/32 kits EVER produced! I built it years ago, but unfortunately it was destroyed in a move. As I recall, it went together very well and was nicely detailed OOTB. However, you could probably also sell it for $150+ seeing as how rare it is! You could probably also swap it even for one of the more expensive Tamiya or Trumpeter 1/32 kits (or even get a 2 for 1 swap).

 

Ying: OTAKI was a Japanese company that produced many very nice 1/48 aircraft 1975-1980. Their kits have been eclipsed today by more modern kits from Hasagawa and Tamiya. But, their kits are still considered easy to build, reasonably detailed, and also cheaper than the newer versions. They're excellent to build as "shelf sitters", but require some work (extra detailing, some corrections) for compitition purposes. You'll also find some of the Otaki molds under the name of AARI. Some of the Airfix 1/48 kits are also old Otaki molds.

 

Some of the better 1/48 Otaki kits are the F4U-1A Corsair, The F6F-3 Hellcat, the Bf-109G-6, the N1K1 George, the Jack, the Tony, a late model Ki-43 Oscar, and the P-40E. You can get newer, more detailed, and more expensive kits of all of those now; but when Otaki released them in the 70's they were the BEST out there! They also made a P-51D and a Zero; but those weren't as good as the others even back then. Otaki also produced other models in other scales, but I'm not as familiar with those. Hope this helps!

 

GIL :smiley16:

Edited by ghodges
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 4 weeks later...

Great job done Gil. This is my favorite Japanese WWII plane. I was lucky enough to pick up three 1/48 Hasegawa Georges for $15 at one of the IPMS shows. I'm done with one, almost completed a second. I also have the old 1/24 Bandai George that I plan to do some very extensive scrachtbuilding to the engine and cockpit. I recently picked it up on Ebay for $28, mint and factory sealed from 1973!

Link to comment
Share on other sites

×
×
  • Create New...