1/48 Tamiya J1N1-S Gekko Type 11

Gallery Article by Tony Feredo on June 12 2010

Philippines Independence Day 2010

 

Nakajima J1N1-S  Type 11 /"Gekko"/*
901st Hikotai, 153rd Kokutai
Matina Airfield (Davao No. 2)
Mindanao, Philippines
August 1944

 I am always on the look out for interesting scale modeling projects and Japanese WWII units and aircraft  based in the Philippines is one them.  As I was going over the history units, I stumbled upon the exploits of the 153rd Kokutai whose 901st Hikotai were equipped with J1N1-S Gekko night fighters.  One interesting piece of info that I gathered was the use of an early Type 11 "hump back" version that was with the unit when it transferred to the Philippines in August 1944.  Now being a a researcher of airfields and airdromes in the Philippines, my recent area coverage was Davao.  Although there were several airfields in Southern Mindanao that were used, narrowing down the units that were stationed there required a little more effort than usual.  So when I learned that the
 901st Hikotai was based at  Matina Airfield (Davao No. 2), it immediately caught my attention and it gave me a reason to build this kit.

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The model was built straight out of the box without any modifications. There was minimal filling and sanding as the parts fit well.  Detail of the interior for an OOB finish is good.  I followed most of the interior painting instruction while modifying a few colors on the insides. Exterior details are great and built the model in sub assemblies so as
 not to damage smaller details during handling.

 I opted to paint the yellow leading edge IFF rather than use the kit supplied decals.  Tamiya suggest that the underside of the two tone aircraft be IJN Grey but I opted to use a NMF undersides as my previous research mentions that early Gekkos deployed in the southern fronts had an NMF finish.  With this in mind, I painted the undersides with Mr. Color No. 8 (Silver).  The upper camo was painted using a combination of Mr. No. 15 (IJN Dk Green) and No. 129 (Nakajima Dk Green).   I used the kit supplied hinomarus but used spare decals for the 153rd Ku tail markings.  Weathering was done with enamel paints and washes.

Overall it was fun build.  Definitely this will not the last Gekko I will be building.

Cheers,

Tony Feredo

Photos and text © by Tony Feredo