The figure has that hand-on-the- joystick pose that might be out of place outside of the cockpit. And I haven't decided whether to paint it or not.
Let me draw your attention away from that figure once again, and point out some work on the landing gear legs. As I mentioned in my spue review, Hasegawa thoughtfully included a brake line on the leg AND molded it with a round cross-section, which is pretty impressive. Upon closer inspection, that round cross-section isn't consistent. I guess there are limitations to the injection molding process. There are a couple of spots where this happens. Here's one...
A bit of careful carving renders the plastic into a more convincing brake line.
Here is the other spot. Ah, the things one can improve when you have the time and inclination!
The wheels are comprised of four parts: the two tire halves, one inner wheel cover and one outer wheel cover. Each component is keyed so that the outer wheel cover has a specific orientation to the gear leg. Instead of using the keys and trying to guess the location of the tire flat spot in relation to this position, I'm going to remove the keys and glue the outer wheel cover last after I've oriented the flat spot on the ground.
One tedious task that can be addressed now is the insert for the bottom of the wing. I think, based on my reference, there are differences in this area between the N1K2-J and N1K2-Ja (Late Version) and hence the insert. The wing itself gives an indication of the size of the Shiden Kai.
The wing inserts are a tight but not quite exact fit. Unlike Tamiya, who boldly mold external panels along actual panel line joints because they are confident that the fit will be good enough without having to use putty, Hasegawa is more realistic and figures, "hey if you're going to have to use putty, you may as well fill the joint completely". Tamiya's approach is the best but only Tamiya seems capable of pulling it off. Without Tamiya's engineering and molding prowess, Hasegawa's alternative s an acceptable to this modeler.
The ammo ejection chutes are doubly blocked by the insert itself and the wing.
I removed the first layer of blockage by opening up the chutes on the insert.
That makes the chute less shallow but still blocked.
I started to chain drill the second layer through the wing bottom but I stopped after one hole.
Need to check my references first. Obviously there is a gun body somewhere in that hole that I'm not going to represent. Is it better to open up the hole completely or should I block them off somehow?