I went ahead and finished this turkey up the other night. I must say I forgot how much I like working in this larger scale. Everything is so much easier, especially on these old eyes. This kit was a joy and went together very nice. i must confess the Raiden isn't particularly my favorite Japanese fighter and truthfully, the lightning bolts, in general, look dumb to me. It's funny, when I was asked to build one of these I said to myself....."self?, I hope it's not the one with the lightning bolts he wants".........naturally lol. Well, That said, it was still a fun build and great practice for weathering the dark IJN Green for future A6M zeros. The only gripe I have is the short-shot windscreen on the port side where it meets the sill. Unfortunately I didn't notice it until it was too late. I may fix this with a little chunk of styrene, or I may not.....lol.
Other than some PE belts. it's pretty much out of the box. I did wire up brake lines and the radio with lead solder. The decals came with a choice of white or yellow tail codes, as they apparently weren't sure of the which was correct. I originally tried using the white ones, but they came apart in water. Undaunted, I then tried the yellow ones and had no issues. They snuggled right down. I have no idea what that was all about.
Next I'll be doing a 1/48 Ki-44 to continue my chipping practice and a Macchi 202 which won't be as chipped. Like this Raiden, these are two I've never done so I'm looking forward to them.
Can you fly this plane and land it? Surely you can't be serious? I am serious, and don't call me Shirley
