J2M3 Raiden

J2M3 Raiden (Jack)
1/48
Tamiya

The Raiden was an interceptor used by the Imperial Japanese Navy to defend against bombers. It was built to climb very fast and do a lot of damage quickly with its four 20mm cannons. It always had mechanical issues that were never quite solved, but when it did work, it worked beautifully.

This plane is one of my all time favorites and I built this years ago from the very old Tamiya kit. You can see my early attempts at weathering and paint chipping on this. Funny that I even had paint chipping on what would have actually been fabric covered surfaces. lol Ah well, live and learn, and of course, I've gotten much better at my craft since. Still, this little piece of nostalgia holds up fairly well.

Needless to say, whenever I get around to building my 1/32 version by Hasegawa (I was one of the first ppl in the USA to get that kit), it'll look much better.

Paint and weathering done with Tamiya.