# Nakajima Type 11 Night Fighter, in-progress



## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

A model a little bit out of my comfort zone is this 1/48 scale Tamiya Nakajima Type 11 Irving.

Some in-progress pics of the cockpit...

































There are a few more parts I need to add inside the fuselage halves before I can close them up for good.


Agentsmith


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## philo426 (Mar 4, 2009)

Nice detail!I made the 1/48 Hasegawa Saiun(Myrt) and Hien (Tony)and they came out great!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks philo426!

The real challange in making this model will be painting the overall green camouflage and still making it look interesting. I will be doing some careful work with the airbrush by adding some pre-shading and lightening a few select panels here and there to represent some subtle paint fading.

Agentsmith


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

I have this bad luck thing going on with Japanese WWII aircraft. Half the ones I start building develop some problem, either small and annoying, or big and disasterous, that makes me give up the build. Maybe it's because Dad shot so many of them down .

I totally ruined Tamiya's Jack. I started Tamiya's old A6M5 about a month ago and ruined the canopy. I started Hasegawa's A6M5 figuring, how could THAT go wrong? Well it has horrible wing root gaps that I just did NOT feel like dealing with... I hope the curse doesn't continue with that big expensive 1/32 Shinden I have!


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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

BTW, in the NY/NJ area, we pronounce that "Oyving."


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## philo426 (Mar 4, 2009)




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## John P (Sep 1, 1999)

Well, I did get a FEW done:
http://www.inpayne.com/models/models_wwii_japan.html


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

philo426 and John,
Nice job on the Japanese aircraft models!

I have a handfull of kits of Japanese planes and the one that I like the most is the Tamiya Dinah, the Dinah is the best looking twin engined prop aircraft of the war.

Agentsmith


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## Cro-Magnon Man (Jun 11, 2001)

Great work everybody - as ever agentsmith, philo426 and as always JohnP. The Japanese war effort is a curious subject: ruthless and clever in attacking objectives; steam-rollered in defending them.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks Cro-Magnon Man,
After painting the cockpit on this model I can see why the Japanese lost the production war against the U.S., there was quite a variation in paint colors used in the cockpits of Japanese airplanes and it gives the impression they did not have much planning or experience for mass producing warplanes with efficiency.

More in-progress pics...

























Agentsmith


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## surfsup (Apr 19, 2009)

Very nice work so far. I like the look of Japanese Aircraft as they came out with some interesting designs.....Cheers mark


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks Mark and giant monster!

I stopped work on this model for a short time and built (and finished) another Tamiya kit but have returned to the Type 11, I might have another in-progress pic of this model posted later today. Right now I am masking the clear parts in preperation of painting to come.

Agentsmith


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## iamweasel (Aug 14, 2000)

Thats some sweet detailing you've done on that. :thumbsup:


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## Phillip1 (Jul 24, 2009)

agentsmith,

What you have done looks really good so far.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks iamweasel and Phillip!

The last look of the cockpit before the canopy has been glued on for good.
















The model was just given a light coat of the base green color, after its dry I will start the fading of the uppersurface color by spraying on variations of green.
The lower surfaces will get slightly darker shades of green on a few random panels.

Agentsmith


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

A base coat of Nakajima green has been sprayed on, after the paint is dry I will start the paint fading process.


















Agentsmith


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

I started adding the paint fading to the uppersurfaces by spraying on some different shades of green in streaks and mottles on random panels.
The wing roots were given dense small mottling in a light tan color...this is the area where much of the paint chipping will be and I wanted the paint here to look more distressed than the rest of the airframe.


























Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

NICE! Thanks so much for the WIP pics-- I really need to start using my airbrush......

John


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks John!
Hope you start using your airbrush, its the easy way to paint your models.

More in-progress pics...the messy looking paint fading effects have now been covered up by a thin coat of the base green color, I was careful to not cover up too much of the paint fading and want just enough of it to still be visable. After the flat coat is sprayed on some of this paint fading effect will be further muted so I can't tone it down much more than I already have.
















The engine cowls have also been weathered but have no pics of them right now. Next up for this model I will mask off and paint the yellow ID markings on the leading edges of the wings.

Agentsmith


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

More painting and some weathering...

The yellow ID markings have been masked and sprayed on the leading edges of the wings. 
Also I started adding some paint chipping to the wing roots.

























Agentsmith


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Some new in-progress pics


































No more weathering will be done until all the markings are put on, I will be spraying a coat of Future on the model today to prep it for the decals.


Agentsmith


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## philo426 (Mar 4, 2009)

Looks good!I like the minor corrosion damage on the pilot's side exhaust pipe!Very realistic!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks philo426!

I just finished putting on the decals and after they are dry I will attempt add some weathering to the markings...this will make or break this model because if I screw up airbrushing over the markings the model would be ruined.

Agentsmith


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## Sgthawker (Apr 20, 2012)

Your work is fantastic, I'm sure you'll do fine... :thumbsup:


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks Sgthawker, no model is safe from defeat until the final step is completed!:hat:

Agentsmith


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

More in-progress pics...all the markings are now on the model and have been weathered to match the rest of the airframe.

























Agentsmith


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## philo426 (Mar 4, 2009)

Cool!Now vou get to peel of the canopy masks ans see how you did!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks Philo426,
There are a few more steps in the weathering process before I can see what the canopy will look like without the masking tape.

Today I added a pin wash of thinned black oil paint into all the control suface hinge lines and also on a few random panel lines of some access hatches. 
At the same time I put in a few streaks of leaking oil around the lower part of the engine nacelles with some dark brown oil paint.
After I was finished with the oil paints I sprayed on a coat of flat clear to do a quick check to see what steps in the weathering process will need to be done...no new pics until I have something more to show, the model must dry a least a day before I can safely handle it so I don't leave finger prints on the models surface.

Agentsmith


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## scooke123 (Apr 11, 2008)

Looking great so far - really liking the weathering and those exhaust pipes look really nice!
Steve


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Thanks for the build-a-long. Will be stealing your cool methods! Excellent work.


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks Steve and kdaracal for the comments!

Two more in-progress pics of this model, these might be the last because there is not a whole lot left to do on it.

In these pics you can see where I used a pin wash of thinned black oil paint on the gaps on the control surfaces, what you can't see is where I added the same oil wash on some panel lines under the engine nacelles and cowls.
The props, wheels, and landing gear legs are painted and weathered and are ready to go on the model.


















Earlier today I took some test pics and converted them to b/w to compare the weathering on the model against photographs of the real thing, the model looks good enough so I won't be adding much more weathering and risk ruining it.

Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

Looking _very_ weathered Agentsmith :thumbsup::thumbsup: Can't wait to see it up on it's wheels, and your photos of it. That's an excellent tip, btw, shooting it in B&W to compare it to reference pics-- Thanks!

Question about the tape you mask the canopies with-- is it anything special? My big concern would be leaving some kinds of masking tape on too long and the adhesive residue possibly harming the plastic. I've used cheap 'regular' wide masking tape for model assembly at times, and had to almost sand off some of the residual adhesive off the bare plastic. Lesson learned, but now, what tape to use?


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Schwinnster,
The best masking tape I have ever used for masking canopies is Tamiya tape, not only is it ideal for masking canopies it also will not leave any residue to clean up afterwards even if you leave the tape on for weeks at a time.
When I build a model with a splinter camo pattern I will use Tamiya tape and cut it into narrow strips and outline the splinter pattern and then use cheaper masking tape to fill in the wide areas, that way I won't need to use so much of the Tamiya tape.

Agentsmith


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## Schwinnster (Sep 5, 2011)

Thanks Agentsmith-- I'll have to get some of that Tamiya tape. Good tip on using it to outline the splinter camo and fill in with the cheaper stuff. 

I've a Hawker Typhoon that I really need to finish up, and post up here, and then I want to start on my He 111H-22 with the V-1 Buzz Bomb. The Tamiya tape will really come in handy for that. So, again-- thanks for calming my fears about leaving it on for weeks


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Schwinnster,
The Tamiya tape will give you no problems, the cheaper masking tape might! In the past I painted a model with a splinter camo pattern and used cheaper masking tape to fill in the outlines I did with the Tamiya tape, after the model was painted and I was removing the masking tape and the cheaper tape did leave some residue that took some extra time to clean off. You might try blue low tack painters tape, its what I use and have had good results.

Here are the last of the in-progress pics of the Nakajima.

































Agentsmith


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## kdaracal (Jan 24, 2009)

Nice progress.....looking forward to more!


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## agentsmith (Mar 27, 2005)

Thanks kdaracal!

No more in-progress pics!!!

This one is finished, here is a teaser pic...more will be in another thread.









Agentsmith


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