Betty Bomber takes to the skies again Done!

[phantom II]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

Those are beat up birds for sure Christian . Interesting how much chipping is evident on the Betty's but that Gekko seems to be in really good shape. Wonder if that is right after the end of the war.

This group ( there's another picture ) were at found at the end of the war at Yokosuka AB .

There is a mixture of late Judie's Irving's and Bettie's and one lone Myrt .

The Myrt looks spotless with the Irving's looking pretty good.

The Betty's and the Judy's are looking pretty rough.

My best guess is

The Irving was produced for B-29 interceptions so I don't know how much flight time they actually got .

The Betty's ( which are late types ) flew on long distance raids which might accounts for some of that wear and tear .

I can't say why the Judy's look so beat up though .

Anyhow, I'm not convinced that the Japanese paint did all that well under the tropical skies and coral runways .

There's also the rumors of paint shortages , so they might not have received the prescribed paint coats late in the war. :idonno

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[moon puppy]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

Anyhow, I'm not convinced that the Japanese paint did all that well under the tropical skies and coral runways .

I was going to ask about that, think I had read that the harsh environment had a lot to do with how beat up they looked.

 

[nerdling]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

I'm calling this one done. Completely painted in Tamiya Paint. A combination of Tamiya XF-11 IJN Green and XF-64 Red Brown. I also used some Moskit exhaust and Techmod Decals. The decals are very thin and fragile. As you can see I had a slight mishap with the fuselage hinomaru while I was masking for the tail stripes. But I figured it makes it look more weathered. The guns are a combination of Vector and CMK stuff. Also threw in some Eduard pe for good measure. To be honest hardly any of the aftermarket is even visible now.

 

[phantom II]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

The cigar came out quite nice . The exhaust is the cat's meow though .

Cheers, Christian B)

 

[nerdling]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

The cigar came out quite nice . The exhaust is the cat's meow though .

Cheers, Christian B)

Thanks. It's just to bad Moskit doesn't seem to be around anymore. These pipes were really nice.

 

[phantom II]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

I agree . Very nice for the larger kits !

 

[RichB]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

Those are beat up birds for sure Christian . Interesting how much chipping is evident on the Betty's but that Gekko seems to be in really good shape. Wonder if that is right after the end of the war.

This group ( there's another picture ) were at found at the end of the war at Yokosuka AB .

There is a mixture of late Judie's Irving's and Bettie's and one lone Myrt .

The Myrt looks spotless with the Irving's looking pretty good.

The Betty's and the Judy's are looking pretty rough.

My best guess is

The Irving was produced for B-29 interceptions so I don't know how much flight time they actually got .

The Betty's ( which are late types ) flew on long distance raids which might accounts for some of that wear and tear .

I can't say why the Judy's look so beat up though .

Anyhow, I'm not convinced that the Japanese paint did all that well under the tropical skies and coral runways .

There's also the rumors of paint shortages , so they might not have received the prescribed paint coats late in the war. :idonno

Cheers, Christian B)

In late 1943, early 1944 some factories stopped using primer. Large aircraft, like the Betty, were some of the first to see this simplified process. About this same time some factories only applied the camouflage colours to the upper surface leaving the underside natural metal. It seems that only the areas were the hinomaru were applied were properly primed and painted and why they don't seem to exhibit as much peeling. The elimination of primer was a progressive thing and did not occur at all factories or on all aircraft types. Some received the full, specified process until the war's end and why we see the variation in paint conditions.

Cheers,
Rich

 

[razordws]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

I like the scuffing on the paint job. Exhaust are indeed very nice. Great job Ryan!

 

[moon puppy]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

I'm calling this one done. Completely painted in Tamiya Paint. A combination of Tamiya XF-11 IJN Green and XF-64 Red Brown. I also used some Moskit exhaust and Techmod Decals. The decals are very thin and fragile. As you can see I had a slight mishap with the fuselage hinomaru while I was masking for the tail stripes. But I figured it makes it look more weathered. The guns are a combination of Vector and CMK stuff. Also threw in some Eduard pe for good measure. To be honest hardly any of the aftermarket is even visible now.

fantastic job Ryan. :dude

I love the chipping around the panel lines. how did you pull that off?

 

[Sherman 18]

Sweet! Your paint chipping looks Fantastic!!!!!

 

[nerdling]

Thanks guys. Bob, for the chipping I used a combination of wood toothpicks and a metal dental pick. I just ran them around the panel lines in a random manner until I achieved the look I wanted. Just make sure you don't push to hard or you will end up scribing the lines deeper. As for the scuffing I just sanded the top layer of paint until the aluminum primer was showing through.

 

[moon puppy]

excellent :dude

 

[phantom II]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

Those are beat up birds for sure Christian . Interesting how much chipping is evident on the Betty's but that Gekko seems to be in really good shape. Wonder if that is right after the end of the war.

This group ( there's another picture ) were at found at the end of the war at Yokosuka AB .

There is a mixture of late Judie's Irving's and Bettie's and one lone Myrt .

The Myrt looks spotless with the Irving's looking pretty good.

The Betty's and the Judy's are looking pretty rough.

My best guess is

The Irving was produced for B-29 interceptions so I don't know how much flight time they actually got .

The Betty's ( which are late types ) flew on long distance raids which might accounts for some of that wear and tear .

I can't say why the Judy's look so beat up though .

Anyhow, I'm not convinced that the Japanese paint did all that well under the tropical skies and coral runways .

There's also the rumors of paint shortages , so they might not have received the prescribed paint coats late in the war. :idonno

Cheers, Christian B)

In late 1943, early 1944 some factories stopped using primer. Large aircraft, like the Betty, were some of the first to see this simplified process. About this same time some factories only applied the camouflage colours to the upper surface leaving the underside natural metal. It seems that only the areas were the hinomaru were applied were properly primed and painted and why they don't seem to exhibit as much peeling. The elimination of primer was a progressive thing and did not occur at all factories or on all aircraft types. Some received the full, specified process until the war's end and why we see the variation in paint conditions.

Cheers,
Rich

I also read that they were were running out of paint late in the war and only painted under the Himomaru's as exemplified by the late Zero's .

This is an early Betty though , so none of this probably applies . :idonno

 

[taiidantomcat]

Betty Bomber takes to the skies again.

Congrats on finishing!

:yipee


That is a beauty! Hoping to do one of these myself one day