[Saeta]

Well, you may remember my recent thread "Marushin : Same old question asked once again" where I pondered about the purchase of my first Marushin and seeked the Forum's advice. Feedback was mixed, although mostly possitive and encouraging, so I did order my GEORGE from Hobby Japan via e-mail.

I do have to say that I am quite happy with the purchase, although this may have to do with the fact that : A) I had kept my expectations relatively low, and B ) I have not tried to put it together yet. Main overall early impressions are :

SHIPMENT :

• Arrived very fast. Made it from Japan to The Netherlands in six days.
• Very well packaged, no damage of any kind to contents.
• Because the plane comes disassembled, the size of the box is optimised and is actually very small ( a GEORGE may be of an overal size similar to a Hellcat, but the Marushin box for it is only about one fifth of the size of a F6F box by FM ).

COSTS :

• Starting price was OK. I understood Marushin to be a very expensive brand but I got this one for US$ 59.95
• Then, they only charged US$19 for shipping it ( airmail & insured ) halfway across the world to me ( normal P&P for most similar purchases I have made from US internet retailers was 40-50 bucks and two weeks to arrive. No discounts of any kind for shipments above $100 or any other figure when sent outside the US... ).
• Important : when I buy a diecast outside the European Union and have it sent to me in Europe, I normally have to add customs taxes to the cost of buying the model. This tax is levied on the total value of the purchase ( hence not only on the cost of the model itself but also on the Postage & Packaging !! ). This tax can be about 25% of the purchase cost and hence it adds up to quite some money. But my GEORGE must have entered The Netherlands flying low, well below the radar coverage of the Dutch taxmen, and landed incognito at my door instead of the expected note from the local post office saying "sir, a parcel has arrived for you from Japan, you may pick it up from us prior payment of $20 customs import tax...". When re-examining the packaging box, I saw that the shop had labelled the parcel contents with the rather unimportant title of "toy" instead of the grand sounding "diecast aircraft replica", which together with the small size of the parcel may have played a role in persuading the NL Customs to let it go through unhindered. If this was done intentionally by Hobby Japan, it is quite smart since it makes a purchase from them cheaper overall at no cost to them.
• Anyway, bottom line of all this is that I got it for the total grand price of US$ 79 shipped airmail to my door from across the world, which given the very advantageous euro vs dollar exchange made it cheaper for me than a FM Zero bought locally and only a bit more expensive than a 1:48 HM Spitfire purchased in my local diecast shop.

THE MODEL :

• As expected, the metal work and the metal painting look indeed very good
• I need to buy more shelves first before I start unpacking and assembling my latest 1:48 diecast acquisitions, but playing around with it, fit seems OK.
• As expected, canopy frame is not painted to the same quality as the fuselage. Many of you said it was a "thiner" coat of paint. I would even argue it is a different type of gree alltogether !!
• As known, cannons are bare metal thin rods
• Plus all the other well known issues of heft factor ( nice ), no cockpit details ( not nice but I can live with it ), etc

Overall, what I like the best is the subject matter and the fact that I finally have a GEORGE in my WWII 1:48 collection. Also, the good thing is that those issues that are right about my first Marushin are very right, while the couple of things which are wrong can be fixed ( I will re-painf the canopy frames and also paint the cannons ). But for this I would again need your advice. Would any of you know :

1. What exact colour should I use for the canopy. Would any of you have the precise colour reference for buying the Japanese Navy WWII green paint from say, Tamiya or Humbolt ? Have you got any experiences doing this re-paint job ?
2. I have tried to look for some colour photos but I have found no images that can tell me what the colour of the GEORGE guns was ?
3. Also, since the guns are metal rods, I am not sure I can use any type of paint that I would normally use on my plastic models. What do you say ?

Feedback / advice would be greatly appreciated !

[hworth18]

Saeta,
Glad to hear everything arrived and as you expected. I haven't painted the canopy on either of my Georges, but Tamiya makes some acrylics in the late Japanese IJN greens. As far as the cannons, I assembled mine, with a little white glue to hold everything in place, then brushed Testors Gunmetal enamel on them. The paint holds fine to the guns as long as you don't fiddle with them too much.

[Saeta]

Originally Posted by hworth18

Saeta,
Glad to hear everything arrived and as you expected. I haven't painted the canopy on either of my Georges, but Tamiya makes some acrylics in the late Japanese IJN greens. As far as the cannons, I assembled mine, with a little white glue to hold everything in place, then brushed Testors Gunmetal enamel on them. The paint holds fine to the guns as long as you don't fiddle with them too much.

Thanks hworth. Would you know which one of these it might be ?

Tamiya Color - Acrylic Paint

Lanslide, you could be our expert here, are you there ?

[hworth18]

I don't see the colors listed there. I will look when I get home tonight and can give an accurate "X" number/color.

[Saeta]

Originally Posted by hworth18

I don't see the colors listed there. I will look when I get home tonight and can give an accurate "X" number/color.

Thanks hworth !!

There is a Tamiya colour "XF-11 J.N. Green" where I wonder if JN stands for Japanese Navy. Later there is "XF-13 J.A. Green" ( Japanese Army ?? ). I would have assumed so if it was not for the fact that at the end there is "XF-71 Cockpit Green (IJN)" . Why would knowledgeable people like Tamiya reffer to the same Navy by two different names ?

[Cruver Collecter]

Originally Posted by Saeta

Thanks hworth !!

There is a Tamiya colour "XF-11 J.N. Green" where I wonder if JN stands for Japanese Navy. Later there is "XF-13 J.A. Green" ( Japanese Army ?? ). I would have assumed so if it was not for the fact that at the end there is "XF-71 Cockpit Green (IJN)" . Why would knowledgeable people like Tamiya reffer to the same Navy by two different names ?

Squadron catalogue has the XF-11 listed as Japanese Navy Green, might be the match you are looking for.

[hworth18]

The XF-11 JN Green sounds about right, but there is also a JN Green (Late) and I don't know what number that is. I do know they are two different colors of green.

[Saeta]

Thanks hworth and Cruver.
I will try that and see how it goes....

[Cruver Collecter]

Just did a bit of snooping and found that Eduard makes a canopy mask for a 1/48th scale N1K2-J Shiden and N1K1-Ja George. I have used these in the past and they sure do help out when doing canopy painting.