Here's my little input to Model Contest 010.
A small break throught the mass of Shidens and Shiden-Kais.
Kawanishi N1K1 Kyofu - Hasegawa 1/72
Built OOB, used colour from WEM Kawanishi green.
Figures are from CMK - in this scale very good detailed parts
- Miro Herold -
5 comments:
I like it a lot and the WEM colors look very nice. Were they easy to use?
I see some decal film here and there and the finish is a bit too even but a very nice overall effort for the scale. 8
This is a 10 for me. True, the decal film is a minor disturbance, but the model is very well built with lovely detail: diorama setting, antenna detail, tech data on the rudder (should only be on the port side, though). I also think it has the righ amount of chipping and weathering.
Maybe I can share some thoughts on weathering here. I've been observing on a number of websites that you get the more 'wow' and 'great weathering' the shabbier the model looks. Challenging this, a fellow-modeller on Britmodeller commented: "Give the 'lighter shade in the middle of each panel' treatment a miss: aeroplanes do not weather like that, nor will you find dark smudges along every panel joint". And Nick Millman wrote to me in answer of a personal question: "Most aircraft in service were quite well maintained and retained lustre as the paint surface was wiped over with oily rags." A high level of surface maintenance was standard in most air forces during the war, in some cases aircraft were even waxed. Only in very adverse climate conditions (Russia, N. Africa, New Guinea) would you find stronger deterioration.
I think as Japanese aviation enthusiasts we are sometimes misled by the appearance of left-behind derelict specimens photographed by US forces months after the surrender. These are not operational aircraft! Apart from some chipping of unprimed upper surfaces you find very little weathering on IJN planes in operation. Mind that in 1945 most came right from the factory and did not survive a week!
Excessive scratches, heavy exhaust stains and multi-hued surfaces are simply not realistic.
Thank you Michael. We should also keep in mind though the not-that-good quality of fuel that resulted in plenty of soot, the typical Japanese engines that dripped oil all over the place, the weathering of the floats from the friction with the water during take off and alighting, the unprimed aircraft types that were easily losing their paint when the boots of the crew or the fuel hoses were getting in contact with them, the fact that some panels were often removed to maintain for example the weapons etc.
The average Japanese modeler tends to finish their models in crisp condition as if they have just come out of the factory. There is also the "Spanish school" (I think that's how it's called?) with plenty of color gradation, shadows and shades. Personally, I believe there should be some balance between the two. Studying your subject carefully is also very very important. Yes, I totally agree that new aircraft types that were produced towards the end of the War and were quickly sent to the Japanese mainland front should have minimum weathering. But let's not forget the a/c used in suicide missions or at schools for training, the majority of them old a/c. Let's not also forget a/c of units stationed in Hokkaido, Sakhalin and ofcourse Manchuria with very cold weather conditions. The whole Korea peninsula is not that hot either.
Perhaps the next project of this blog should be to examin how weathered and "multi-hued" were the surfaces of Japanese a/c.
The past month or so I keep reading on this blog about "Millman said this" and "Millman said that". I have no problem whatsoever if someone quotes Millman but personally I'm not particularly impressed by such a quote. Just because Nick advised you to finish your model in a certain way doesn't automatically mean that I agree with Nick or that I like the completed model. I hope I'm free to express my opinion on my blog.
I like it. A nice straight build and a true break from the shiden (kais). It is an 8 to me.
Leon
Nice looking model! Some minor things here and there, but a very good effort!Although it's never really seen, the bottom of the center float looks unfinished. 8
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