1/32 Hasegawa Mitsubishi J2M-3 Raiden ("Jack")

Gallery Article by Olivier Barles on Mar 23 2012

 

 

Bonjour,

Here are a few pictures of my Hasegawa 1/32 Mitsubishi J2M-3 Raiden ("Jack") under the markings of the 302nd Kokutai.

A pleasant kit to assemble.
I just added a few extra details (wiring in the cockpit, 2 handles on the windscreen that are very visible on many J2M-3 pictures but amazingly "forgotten" by Hasegawa and the brake cables on the undercarriage) and as usual, cut the empennage control surfaces to obtain a more dynamic look (an option never offered by Hasegawa that always propose fixed molded control surfaces).  Then, I could focus on "the big fun" in building this model, i.e. "colors and weathering"...

 

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Painting a Japanese Imperial Navy plane that is not a "Zero" (which were painted in a reasonable amount of different patterns eventually), can be a real challenge when trying to enhance the usual "green over grey"...  "By chance", the Raiden J2M-3 came into service by end 1944, a moment when the quality of the Japanese painting was already quite low.  The paint on those aircraft (and more especially the IJN / Mitsubishi green) had a redundant tendency to be washed away very easily by weather and time.  Then, due to a deteriorated level of servicing caused by the circumstances and that was mainly aimed to maintain the basic requirements of what a fighter plane should rely on (mechanics and weaponry), "plane wash" and "paint touching up" were no priorities.

Good thing is that it gives interesting opportunities to express one's talent!  So, following a first layer of aluminum color, I painted green and grey in successive and very diluted coats, already trying to have some interesting painting effects.  Then, a sharp rounded blade delicately used helped me in "scratching the green" all over, but mainly on the areas where the colors were usually washed away...  Wishing to escape the nice but too famous markings of those 352nd Kokutai machines holding the yellow and red lightings on their flanks, I chose instead a plane from the 302nd Kokutai, offering also some variations in the uniform and boring IJN green scheme.

In fact, the colors of the cowling and the surfaces just behind the exhaust  pipes of this particular plane - coded 151 - is subject to controversy.  Depending on the available documentation, it varies from white to yellow, some also mention aluminum and I eventually decided to go for this latter possibility.  I found this choice more realistic in view of how those planes were usually painted.  Knowing "by experience" that fantasy was usually not an option for the deco of Imperial Japanese Navy planes, one could assume that those aluminum color parts were in fact some newly replaced parts that could not have been properly painted "on the field".

Finally, I dusted the model, worked on the Hinomaru red to obtain faded red nuances, made the grey dirty and stained by a few leakages of "hydraulic juices", got the structural lines subtly visible by using various diluted paint mixing, added the wiring for the antenna and finished by painting the pilot that was in the box to put him into the cockpit...

Usually, I don't like using pilots in my models, but this one is so wonderfully engraved that I could not resist "using him". In fact, Hasegawa proposes a few options to build this pilot: there are 3 different heads and a couple of arm pairs, so it gives a few possible combinations of positions and expressions.  As the one I chose seems to show a pilot who very seriously salutes the ground staff and colleagues that are probably witnessing his departure for a new mission, I thought of adding a more personal touch: a long rectangular white scarf with an Hinomaru printed right in its middle, slipped in the left windscreen handle.  As you know, in order to show their patriotic feelings for Motherland, "Kamikaze" always, but sometimes other pilots, could wear such scarves rolled around their heads under their flight helmets.

Another way to try pushing the realism of my Raiden!

Hope you'll enjoy!

A bientôt,

Olivier Barles

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Photos and text © by Olivier Barles