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Nakajima J1N1 Gekko

Old Dog

Old Dog

Well-known member
OK, I'll bite, maybe this will get my model building juices flowing again. I needed something that would go together without a lot of hassles so I choose a shake and bake kit and we'll see how it goes. I only have a mask set and a rather old PE set which I probably won't use much of as the interior seems pretty nice as it is. For reference I have this
j1n1-ref-cover.jpg

Which has some photos taken during the restoration that should provide more detail than I need.

Here is the kit
j1n1box.jpg

And the obligatory start up pix
j1n1-start01.jpg

j1n1-start02.jpg

I need to clear my bench of a couple of train projects first but hope to get started in the next week or so. Stay tuned and thanks for looking !
 
Nice Gary! This should be fun! I have a couple of these.

Still unsure if I am going to participate in this one, a lot on the go right now, though I would like to.
 
I saw the Irving when they were working on it. One of the fellows told me that they found out how tight the tolerances were the Japanese built to when they tried to reinstall the wing bolts. They had plated them and the added thickness of the plating prevented the bolts from fitting the holes.
 
jeaton01 said:
I saw the Irving when they were working on it. One of the fellows told me that they found out how tight the tolerances were the Japanese built to when they tried to reinstall the wing bolts. They had plated them and the added thickness of the plating prevented the bolts from fitting the holes.
Click to expand...
That's pretty amazing! I do find it interesting though as I heard that the Aichi Atsuta engine (licensed copy of the DB 601) had issues because of tolerances in the crankshaft. I'm not surprised the Japanese were so precise but I would be interested to know more about why the crankshaft failed.
 
Warren, tolerances are not the usual reason for a crankshaft to fail, usually it's metallurgy, oiling, or balance problems. I've read that a lot of the problems with that engine were more to do with the Japanese ground crew being unfamiliar with liquid cooled engines.
 
OK, I'm back, right after I posted this a period of above normal temperatures caused me to get "side tracked" on another train project but now that we've had snow I'm back inside so lets get started. Like most kits I started with the innards. From the PE fret I only used the IP and a couple smaller panels, the seats, belts and one small enclosure. The cockpit is quite cramped and once installed in the fuselage most extra bling will not be seen.
j1n1-b01.jpg

j1n1-b02.jpg

j1n1-b03.jpg

The port side fuselage detail

j1n1-b04.jpg

The starboard side fuselage detail
j1n1-b05.jpg

The kit comes with a nicely detailed upward firing gun mount, could be made into a real jewel with a little extra detail but won't be seen on mine, I just needed it to have something to attach the gun barrels.
j1n1-b06.jpg

j1n1-b07.jpg

I couldn't resist adding plug wiring, note to self: next time use a lighter color.
j1n1-b08.jpg

With the cockpit install in the fuselage the rest of the detail could be added, first is a shelf behind the pilots seat with the direction finding equipment on it.
j1n1-b09.jpg

And a radio rack behind the second seat.
j1n1-b10.jpg

And a look at how the gun mount is installed.
j1n1-b11.jpg

And the engines mounting in the cowlings. The photo makes them appear close to the front but they are actually inset quite a ways and don't show up that well under normal lighting.

j1n1-b12.jpg

Stay tuned, more to come. Thanks for looking !
 
Really nice, Gary! I have a Gecko, somewhere in a box, somewhere in the house... maybe... kinda...
 
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