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Tamiya
1/48 Nakajima J1N1-S Gekko Type 11 (Irving Early Version)
Kit
No 61084
Interestingly,
the name “Gekko” refers not to the skinny green reptile but is the Japanese
word for “moonlight”. Quite
frankly, either reference is appropriate. The
J1N1 Gekko is both skinny and green as well as a moonlight hunter. Nightfighters are one of my favorite types, so I really
looked forward to building this kit.
This kit
went together beautifully. I built it OOB. The interior is the most extensive
yet by Tamiya, even better than their Betty is.
The side consoles are built up affairs, which adds more depth than
standard “molded-on” style. It
also aids in the painting and looks great when completed.
The pilot and radio operator areas are well detailed almost to the level
of resin kits. The gun bay is a
simple representation of the upper and lower oblique guns. When building, I used
a number of techniques from the very comprehensive “How to Build a Gekko OOB”
article by Gregg Cooper that I downloaded from Hyperscale.
There were
no fit problems except were I did not read the instructions.
Well I DID read the instructions AFTER I did some assembly. What I did was install the wrong fairing that fits between
the upper fuselage and the fin. There are two types provided, one for the
“late model” with the deeper fuselage (part G11 ) and the one I was supposed
to use for the more shallow fuselage “early style” (G4). I installed the rear fairing (G11) one day and came back the
next day to install the upper rear fuselage (G3). When I dry-fitted part G3 to
the model, I noticed a very unTamiya-like step at the rear fairing.
To fix it, I decided to shim the upper fuselage with a piece of plastic
card, fill and rescribe the panel lines. I
primed it and repeated the process two more times.
This fixed everything and looked OK. After I was satisfied with the fit,
I continued with the rest of the model. That
was when I saw the CORRECT rear fairing sitting on the sprue!
I managed to separate the upper fuselage part, remove the incorrect
fairing, install the right one and reinstall the upper fuselage part.
The fit was…perfect, except for the damage I caused.
The lesson is…read the instructions, dry-fit EVERYTHING and read again! Oh well, I guess got to practice filling and rescribing,
something you don’t do too much of on Tamiya kits.
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The rest went
very smoothly. I used Tamiya paints throughout with the exception of the
interior metallic green, which was Gunze. Gregg
Cooper describes a complex technique to replicate this elusive colour.
I used this 4-step technique for most of the interior and I used the
Gunze with a little dry brushing for touch ups. It is difficult to tell the difference but I recommend you
try Gregg’s technique, just for the experience.
The exterior was Tamiya XF-11 JN Green overall.
I did no pre-shading or fading. I
wanted a “clean” look for the exterior and I understand that, in general,
land-based Japanese night fighters were fairly well maintained.
A clean airplane is a fast airplane.
A note on the canopy parts should be made here.
Tamiya has used a new molding style on the canopy frames that I have not
seen before. Normally raised
“ribs” represent the frames. This
looks good and when masking with Tamiya tape, make a clear outline to cut
within. On this kit, Tamiya has
made the frames flush with the “glass”.
There are very, very narrow grooves molded around the glass.
The frames are very hard to see through the Tamiya tape, even when you
use a soft pencil to try to highlight them.
The only technique that worked well was to mask with
“Bare-metal Foil”. I
have used this method before. It works well, but I see two disadvantages; the
foil is hard to remove in one piece and the foil leaves a little bit of adhesive
behind. The advantage of foil is
that it gives slightly sharper edges than tape and on this kit, foil is probably
the only option. All that said, the
canopies look great with the subtle frames.
There were two canopies provided so I used the closed canopy on the plane
as a mask when I painted the fuselage. I
masked and painted the open canopy parts separately and installed them during
final stages.
I used
Testor’s Sealer for Metalizer as a clear coat and the kit decals set with
Gunze “Mr. Mark Softer”. This is the best decal solvent I have used, just
one coat on the model, place the decal and one coat on top.
I did not need to repeat the solvent on any decals except where I cut the
tail markings on the rudder hinge-line. By the way, I liked the look of the
markings for option “D” even though the instructions stated that it did not
have the lower oblique guns installed. I
liked the backward characters on the tail, the overall green colour AND the
lower guns. It maybe inaccurate,
but it’s MY model! (Actually I goofed – I guess I should have read the
instructions! LOL). After the
decals were set, I picked out the hinge lines with oil colours thinned with
lighter fluid which dries very quickly, thanks again to Gregg. A last coat of
Metalizer sealer and it was done! I
did not add an antenna wire, as the model will be handled a fair bit.
The
instructions were great and Tamiya has included (as they have in most of their
latest releases) a separate 2 page history sheet. The kit is very well
engineered and allows for multiple versions with different fuselage, canopy,
armament, engine and exhaust configurations.
This is the second version released so far, the first was the Gekko late
version with the deeper, more aerodynamic fuselage.
I hope that Tamiya will make the very first J1N1 version (before the
Gekko). It had two mini-turrets
just behind the cockpit area, they were not very effective but they look very
cool! Please Mr T., Pretty please!
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I am very
happy with the results but less happy with my “goofs”. The model was on
display at the Borgfeldt/Tamiya booth at the recent Toronto Hobby Show and
received many compliments.
I would
highly recommend this kit to anyone. It
goes together beautifully, it has a great amount of detail and it looks very
elegant when completed. In
addition, go get Gregg’s article, download all 3 parts and archive it.
It provides very good advice on building, finishing and weathering that
can be used on any model. Having
the article handy when building the Gekko was very helpful.
Bill
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