1/48 Hasegawa Nakajima B6N2 Tenzan

by Bill Lachance

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The Japanese certainly flew some elegant aircraft during WW II, and this is one of my favorites. It's Hasegawa's 1/48 Nakajima B6N2 Tenzan (Allied codename "Jill"). Tenzan in Japanese means "Heavenly Mountain." The kit was built using Eduard's photoetch detail set. I added some wiring to the cockpit, and hydraulic lines to the landing gear. Hasegawa's canopy is molded shut, so I used the kit windscreen and replaced the rest with a Squadron vac. The sections were cut and glued in the open position. Kit markings were used, as I could find no aftermarket items.

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The photoetched fret contains many items for the cockpit and torpedo. The gunsights are particularly well done. Hasegawa's cockpit is crisply molded, and even includes lights for the pilot's and bombardier's instrument panels. I used the kit instrument panels, as the relief detail was finer than the photoetched items. A decal is provided for the instruments, and looks very realistic.

The fit of this kit is great, with the exception of the wings. They are designed to be held in the folded or extended position with vinyl grommets. Since I didn't want to hide the cockpit detail, I chose the extended position. The pegs do not hold the outer wings tightly, so they had to be glued. I had previously installed the wing interior pieces at the wingfold, and their presence prevented a good fit. If you want to build this kit with extended wings, I would suggest leaving out the wing interior pieces. I needed a lot of Zap-A-Gap at the wingfold.

The interiors of the flaps, wheel wells, and landing gear doors were covered with an anti-corrosive called Aotake. The translucent coating was applied to bare metal. To replicate this on the model, these areas were sprayed with Alcad Gloss Black Primer. When cured, I painted them with Alcad II Chrome. When this was cured, I sprayed a mixture of Gunze Clear Blue and Future, thinned with isopropyl alcohol. To my eyes, it more accurately depicts the Aotake than the metallic blue paints offered by many manufacturers. These areas were painted after all camouflage and clear coats were done, in order to prevent masking them. 

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I mixed my own Nakajima Cockpit color from Model Master enamels, matching the color of an old bottle of AeroMaster paint I have as a reference. The airframe was painted using AeroMaster Warbird Acrylics (sadly, out-of-production). The colors are Nakajima Navy Green and Nakajima Navy Gray. The cowling is Blue Black, and the prop and spinner are Primer Red Brown. The landing gear legs are painted with Alcad White Aluminum, and the torpedo is Alcad Aluminum.

This was an enjoyable build, and it looks good on the shelf next to my Fine Molds D4Y1 "Judy."

Bill

Visit my website to see other models of mine, I also build models on commission.  http://www.pix.prettyneatinc.com/

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Photos and text © by Bill Lachance