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Just completed this one for the "Turning Japanese" GB, which was an absolute blast to participate in. The Hasegawa kit is excellent, overall, with outstanding fit and good detail. However, I added a few things to the kit, as well. The additions/modifications were... * Yahu Instrument Panel. * HGW seatbelts. * Master brass cannon barrels. * Wires, hoses, etc. added to the cockpit. * Added sparkplug wires and hoses to engine. * Riveted the entire airframe. * Most markings masked and painted. National Insignia masks from Dead Designs and tail/fuselage number masks were made on a Cricut, using the kit's decal sheet as a guide and cut from Tamiya's Kabuki tape paper. *Antenna wire made from EZ-Line. *Probably plenty of other little bits that I'm forgetting (noticed that I forgot to add the landing gear indicators to the tops of the wings, but I'll get to that!) Paints used were mostly Gunze/Mr. Hobby, with a few from Tamiya, MRP and AK interactive. I also used some of AK's Engine oil and Pigment Fixer (for pastel dirt/dust). The photos were difficult, since I'm currently snowed in and would usually be doing outdoor, forced perspective shots. I had to take them in my shop with LED lighting, which is pretty horrible for photography and made capturing the colors extremely difficult. There is a lot of glare that I couldn't quite get rid of. The plane appears much brighter in most of the photos than it appears in real life. From more than a couple feet away, it appears plenty dark, but as you get closer, the layered color shades and underlying rivets start to pop out at you. Overall, I'm quite happy with how it turned out and am looking forward to the next GB! Thanks for looking and for everyone who followed along with the WIP thread. On to the pictures! Thanks again, John

Howdy, all! Thought I would show one of my latest projects on the bench, Hasegawa’s 1/32 N1K2 Shiden Kai “Late Version”.......I started this some weeks back as a bit of a “pallette-cleanse” due to some heavy projects on the go. I have been “project-locked“ for some time, and decided that this kit might get me out of my own head! As always, I have started with the cockpit.... The cockpit was sprayed with a black base coat, followed by a coat of Model Master RLM82 Dunkelgrun, as I find it to be a very close match to some pictures I came across of the George that was restored by the Team at Champlin Fighter Museum. I experimented with some different painting techniques to add highlights and shadows, as I found that the cockpit, when assembled, is really dark inside the fuselage. Black components were edge-highlighted in black grey, and the natural wood knobs were painted in Model Master Radome Tan, followed by a coat of Tamiya Clear Orange. Chipping was done by hand with a fine brush, as was some of the generic placarding. I also took a page out of some armor modelers’ playbook, and also forced highlights and shadows with oils. (Martin Kovac is excellent at this.....check out his channel “Night Shift” on the ol’ YouTube!) And another. I still have to put some clear over a few instruments lenses on the radio and side consoles. I will also add some rudder pedal straps from leftovers of an HGW seatbelt set..... Seat assembly was painted as before, HGW seat harness set was installed, and draped in a bit of a haphazard manner. Still need to weather them slightly further. Another. I like the chipping on this one. Still need to add a few scratches with a silver Prismacolor pencil. I will complete this just before I install the cockpit. Right sidewall. Raised details were highlighted with a mix of the base color, and white. I then applied oils for weathering, including a washes and filters. Left Sidewall...... And lastly, the instrument panel. All dials were individually punched from the Hasegawa decal sheet, and applied. The power wire for the reflector gunsight was added from .015” lead wire. I will add the reflector glass from tinted acetate, just before installation of the canopy. I also have the fuselage halves glued together, as well as the wings. I plan to take more photos when there is something more interesting to look at. Thanks for checking in. As always, comments, critiques, and advice always welcome....Take care, until next time..... THOR

Hi Guys, A straight 18 day build with time off for Telford. A simply lovely kit that's well engineered and goes together with hardly any filler at all. Hope you like it. Regards, Bruce Crosby

These are sized for the Revell and Tamiya kits, respectively, and have been released in concert with the Sierra Hotel F-4G conversion and the GT Resin Products F-4G & ARN-101 F-4E conversion. These are printed by Cartograf. Now shipping from the Speed Hunter Graphics website. The airframes include 1) F-4G 69-7235, 4485th Test & Evaluation Squadron, Det5, George AFB, CA, May 1991 *MiG killer* 2) F-4G 69-7263, 35th TFW flagship, George AFB, California, July 1991 *one-piece windscreen* 3) F-4G 69-7561, 561st TFS flagship, George AFB, California, August 1986 Euro 1 camo 4) F-4G 69-7558, 480th TFS, Spangdahlem AB, Germany, August 1987 *SureFire '87 markings and intake artwork* 5) F-4G 69-7218, 90th TFS, Clark AB, Phillippines, June 1988 Euro 1 camo 6) F-4G 69-0291, 3rd TFW flagship, Clark AB, Phillippines, February 1991 *MiG killer* 7) F-4E 71-1073, 3rd TFS flagship, Clark AB, Phillippines, March 1991 8) F-4E 74-1050, 21st TFTS flagship, George AFB, California, June 1991 *one-piece windscreen* 9) F-4E 71-0141, 831st Air Division flagship, George AFB, California, November 1990 The sheet includes an insert sheet with black markings.

I just received this set in the mail in preparation for my Rex build. It appears there's a lot that can be used from this sheet. Is anyone interested in a review?

I'm seriously considering putting my mid-wing George and Scratchbuilders Rex conversion on the workbench after the Christmas holiday. I'm looking for some good reference material. To date, I have accumulated the following: Model Art #304 Asahi Journal Vol.1 No. 4 1/48 Tamiya Rex 1/32 Hasegawa N1K-2 I've heard that the cowling on the Scratchbuilders set needs modification, but where do I find accurate intel? Any assistance would be greatly appreciated!