Hasegawa 1/48 Nakajima C6N Saiun (Myrt)
762nd Kokutai, Imperial Japanese Navy Air Force
Bamban Airfield, Tarlac Province, Luzon
Philippines, January 1945
The 762nd Kokutai of the Japanese Navy Air Force was one of the larger IJN air units that served in the Philippines in late 1944. Although primarily a bomber-attack unit, the group had its own compliment of other aircraft such as its own fighter protection, reconnaissance and miscellaneous flying machines. As As I was browsing through my photo collection of Japanese aircraft in the Philippines, I noticed a photo of a wrecked C6N Saiun taken at Bamban Airfield. This immediately sparked my interested and I went immediately to my "shelf of doom" and found two of my un-built Hasegawa 1/48 C6N Sauin kits. I decided to get one and leave the other saving it for another WWII Philippine based "Myrt" aircraft (that's another unit and another build).
(click on the thumbnails for a larger view)
As usual, I built this kit straight out of the box with the addition of seatbelts fabricated from masking tape and seat buckles made from solder wire. As with most Hasegawa kits, the assembly starts with the cockpit. I painted the interior with my own mix of Nakajima Interior Green and picked out the details using mostly black and dry brushed the details.
The fit of this kit is very good and required minimum sanding and filling. The only filling I did was to put drops of Mr. Surfacer 500 on a few small hole gaps in the wing roots.
I assembled the rest of the kit following the instructions but kept some parts in sub assemblies before painting. I started by spray painting the wheel wells with Mr Color #8 Silver. This was followed by an overspray of clear blue green to simulate the "aotake" finish. I sprayed the fabric areas with my mix of grey green. Once dry, it was masked prior to painting the lower fuselage.
Then comes the most challenging portion of the assembly. Masking the canopy!!! The kit comes with two canopies (open and closed). I chose the closed version so at least I can masked it was a whole canopy instead of masking several smaller portions. I think I spent more than half a day just doing this.
Afterwards I attached the canopy to the fuselage temporarily using Crystal Klear. Then I pre-shaded the entire model with Tamiya semi gloss black X-18. After ample drying time, I sprayed Mr. Color Cowling Color #125 on the cowling area. Then I masked the cowling portion and I was ready to paint the lower fuselage.
The kit instruction called for a Japanese Navy Grey underside but since I was basing the kit on an actual aircraft this was where I deviated from the instruction and painting guide. The real aircraft had natural metal finish (NMF) undersides so I sprayed it with Mr. Color #8 Silver. For the upper surface I used Mr. Color # 15 IJN Dark Green as a based and then followed by Mr. Color #129 Nakajima Dark Green. I always apply several thin light coats rather than a few heavy ones. Once I was able to get the shade I want, I let the model dry thoroughly for 24 hours.
(click on the thumbnails for a larger view)
I sprayed Mr. Color #46 clear in preparation for decal applications. I applied the hinomarus using the kit decals. Although the kit actually represents a 762nd Ku bird and it provided the 762nd tail numbers, the color was different. The kit decals were supplied with white numbers while the actual aircraft that I was basing this model had yellow tail numbers so I had to go into my spare decals for them. Fortunately I still have several yellow IJN tail numbers so I was able to come up with 762-03.
(click on the thumbnails for a larger view)
Then it was time for final detailing and weathering. The fuel caps were painted red and the chipped paint was simulated with a fine brush dipped in chrome silver. Exhaust stains were a mix of black and browns and was airbrushed. Other sub assemblies such as the wheels, rear machinegun , antennae and flaps were installed. For the aerial, I used heated stretched sprue and then painted it with metallic grey and used white paint to simulate the insulators.
The final assemblies were the propeller and drop tank. I started by painting the yellow orange warning bands, masked it and then painted Mr. Color #131 Propeller color. The spinner was painted with Mr. Color silver #8. The drop tank was painted with my own mix of Nakajima grey while the fuel stain was a mixture of clear yellow and clear red.
I was very satisfied with the quality of the kit and had nice time building it. My other "Myrt" is waiting and it will only be a matter of time before I plunge into it.
Tony Feredo
