"young George" 1/48 Otaki

[Ronnie Murray]

Im really struggling to make a little progress on this build but here is what I got done over the holiday weekend.

[Bill L2]

Very nice Ronnie. Great airplane. Cant wait to see the finished kit.

[lgriffin]

Good work, Ronnie. I like that the Otaki kit is a mid-wing (early) George directly adapted from the floatplane. Hasegawa has us covered in 1/48 with the later N1K2 low-wing George. Nice plane.

Lee G.

[Bill L.]

Keep the 'Modeling Mojo' working!!

Bill L.

[Ronv]

Looking good Ronnie!
RonV

[Ronnie Murray]

Did a little work this weekend.  The landing gear doors are glued on so I'm committed to the wheels up and flying mode.  I brush psinted the interior green and black for the cockpit.

[Ronnie Murray]

Otaki kits always give you a very nice color profile but i never noticed thats actually a 1/48 scale reference too.

[Ronnie Murray]

This is what I've done so far, just the underwing 20mm cannon gondolas and the cockpit.  The kit gives a one piece closed canopy so I will build it wheels up, inflight.

[Ronnie Murray]

Seems like the George is appreciated across the board.  I have seen two examples in person, at Wright Patt AFB in Ohio and at the Udvaar Hazzy ctr. In Washington.  It is a sleek and menacing machine.  It marks a complete change of design for the Japanese.  Early war planes were light in weight, power and firepower like the Nate, Oscar and A6M2.  The N1K1 obviouslt took lessons from the P-47, starting with the large cockpit...kind of busy.

[DavidS]

A favorite of mine. Rated the best Japanese naval fighter of the war. A dangerous opponent.

David S

[Ryan K]

Is this going to be a straight build or part of a future diorama?

[Ronnie Murray]

This is a great book that includes history about the development of the  Rex floatplane, to the Shiden and to the Shiden Kai.  Both the Japanese and US pilots were impressed with the performance of these fighter planes.

[Ronnie Murray]

I agree Lee, I've collected or built nearly all the Otaki kits and they are some of my favorites.  The only real problem with this kit is the landing gear bays.  They are extremely shallow and I'm not about to cut them out and rebuild them. 

[lgriffin]

Good choice, Ronnie: Those Otaki kits are solid, and the mid-wing George is a very interesting subject.

Lee G.

[Ronnie Murray]

It's time to start a new model project with a little more meat on it.  For me it means WWII aircraft subjects.  This time it will be the N1K1J.