Nakajima G8N1 Renzan

by Bobby McElroy

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In 1942 the Imperial Japanese Navy had the need for a long range, land-based four engine bomber. This aircraft would be used to support the fleet and aid in operations penetrating deeply into allied held territory in the South Pacific. As the replacement for the G4M series, the G8N1 was the bomber for this role of long range offensive bombing.

The first prototype was completed in October of 1944, and by the 23rd of that month the Renzan made her first test flight. Three additional aircraft were constructed by the end of December of the same year. However due to constant allied air attacks and a critical shortage of light alloys the Japanese Navy was forced to cancel the program.



 

Hasegawa's 1/72 scale Rita is one of their older kits. I appropriated this kit at a local contest back in 1997. I built it and then put it on the shelf.

After many years and much modeling research I decided to do some justice to this kit and try to fix several mistakes I made while building it the first time. It was fun, and a challenge. I hope you like the finished project.

The panel lines and rivets were raised, and the model was molded in the hard green plastic, typical of early Hasegawa kits but it went together well. All of the parts fitted together and I did not need to use too much putty or filler. The instructions were precise and well written.

The transparencies were not of a good quality and needed a bit of polishing up before masking and painting was done, but in the end they turned out rather well. The flight deck was lacking in detail so those of you out there who are excellent scratch builders you guys can have a field day. Rather than using the decals that came w/ the kit, I chose to cut stencils and paint on the hinomarus with my airbrush.

The pictures do an excellent job of letting the reader see the outcome of the canopy. I used masking tape to mask the glass, then placed the canopy on the model using Elmer’s glue. After the glue dried I sprayed the canopy area w/ a clear coat to help seal the area where the tape ended. (to keep the edges nice and crisp) Next I sprayed the aircraft with MM metalizer, and last with the orange. I did not remove the mask until the model was completed.

To get the canopies clear and shinny I tried a rather harsh approach. I first tried to polish them with a polishing kit, but I think I scratched them worse. Next I took toothpaste and my Dremel tool with the buffing pad and went to work. That was the trick! They turned out pretty good. After a little soap and water they were ready to mask and spray. The fuselage was first sprayed with Testors Buffing Metalizer, left to dry 48 hrs, and then oversprayed with Model Masters flat yellow and a drop of international orange. I used masking tape to pull up the orange topcoat from the metalizer for the weathered effect. It worked rather well.

For the exhaust stains I used burnt umber Acrylic Model Masters airbrushing in the direction of the exhaust.

This old kit has been through it so I wanted to try some techniques that were new to me. For the most part they worked. I would like to see Hasegawa re-release this kit, maybe adding more detailing in the flight deck. Overall this is a good kit and I had fun doing it and then redoing it. I guess that is the point then isn’t it? Hope you liked the Rita.

Happy Modeling

 

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2002 by Bobby McElroy
Page Created 27 December, 2002
Last Updated 04 June, 2007

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