Closing up more panels
Looking inside the rear of the gun bay there isn’t a huge amount of detail that’s worth showing off in my view so it’s decision time – try to find some references to show how these panels opened and scratch some internal details like operating support arms etc or close them up. I chose the latter and you can see that the access doors are taped up while the glue sets. There’s a gap at the top join but I will fill that later when the tape is removed in a couple of days’ time.
I’m beginning to enjoy the build again and the interesting and futuristic look of this advanced WWII Japanese fighter is beginning to show through. What also shows through is the detailed engine when viewed from underneath via the main wheel wells.
Preparation before painting
You can see here that the kit is pretty much ready for masking and spraying, so it’s out with the Tamiya tape and protect the cockpit interior. A wipe over with Tamiya thinner cleans off any grease and hand oil and we are good to go.
In terms of paint I have decided to use Xtracolor gloss enamels this time, mainly because I have the colours I want to use at hand in their extensive range and later, if I need to use a wash, the high gloss surface will take the wash easily enough. A heads up from Dave C who has already finished the ZM Raiden (that will feature in Build Now and then Finished Now in the near future), is that the ZM decals were quite stiff and he really struggled to get them to settle down into the recessed panels. So, the gloss surface should help with some of the markings (although there aren’t many on the sheet) and I plan to spray the Hinomaru red circles anyway. But more of that later.
Light Gull Grey is a good match for the light grey underside colour and that went on very well using only a few drops of cellulose thinner. Of course you have a day’s drying time with gloss enamels so it’s onto some other sub-assemblies to keep up progress…