The P1Y1 Ginga, known to the Allies by its reporting name 'Frances' was a twin-engine fast bomber which was originally intended to be a successor to the Mitsubishi G4M 'Betty'. The specification against which the aircraft was designed was so demanding, however, that the resulting aircraft was quite complex and proved to be difficult to manufacture. The 18-cylinder Nakajima Homare engines also proved to be difficult to manufacture in sufficient quantity, causing further problems for the aircraft. Many of these problems were addressed to some extent, and by the War's end, over 1100 examples had been manufactured. In service, the Frances was capable of carrying over 2,000lbs of bombs or a 1,800lb torpedo over a range of almost 3000 nautical miles and at a speed of up to 340mph. Defensive armament was covered by a front firing 20mm cannon and a rear-firing flexibly mounted 13mm machine gun. A night fighter variant was produced, but it wasn't terribly successful against the high-flying B-29s. During the closing stages of the War, some aircraft wound up being used in Kamikaze attacks. Interestingly, the man credited with developing the aircraft's aerodynamic shape, Miki Tadanao, went on to design some of Japan's early bullet trains.

The kit shown here is the 1/72 Hasegawa Kugisho P1Y1 Ginga (Milky Way Galaxy) "Frances". A pretty straight forward and basic assembly process with the addition of a resin torpedo which was included in this particular kit. No real fit issues and for that matter very little filler was used. I went "Old School" and used liquid mask on the canopy and then cut the frames out prior to painting…..(I really need to start using pre-cut canopy masks)! I used Tamiya Black XF-1 and or White XF-2 to prime my models now. They are gloss paints and adhere better than most Tamiya flats. These gloss colors also show trouble spots and smooth out minor rough areas. No two models get the exact same treatment but I went all black first on this one. I then shaded in all panels with White, top and bottom.  Next, I streak with White, top and bottom.  For this bird, I then squiggled with white on the bottom but not the top. Then came an all over spray of the bottom with White.

For the underlying bare metal, I sprayed Alclad II Aluminum on parts that I wanted chipped. Then, I placed some pieces of chopped up blue up painter's tape in place over the ares that I want to show as chipped.  Then, the topside got squiggled with IJN Green XF-11 then covered in same IJN Green color. That is how I ultimately get my splotchy effect with rain streaking. ....Finally, pull up the tape. Tamiya panel line wash for the prop hub. Followed up with some pastels and pencils for final weathering. Also a new technique was used on the  propeller blades Mr Color 131 (XF-64 can also be used).... I dipped a Paint brush in some Gunze Mr.Color Chrome and after the paint had completely dried (overnight) on the brush I streaked the dry brush overt the prop blades. I really liked the effect sort of a silver hue that looks as thought the bare metal is coming through the paint.

Please remember that for the most part most Japanese a/c were really painted rather hastily and the paints that were used seemed to peel off very quickly for a variety of reasons Ocean corrosion, humidity, lack of time to apply multiple coats.

Hopefully my techniques work well enough and are up to your IPMS Nymburk standards. Dekuji vam vsem! Rob