peter havriluk Posted September 17, 2022 Share Posted September 17, 2022 Thanks to the help I received from this group, I started work on this hot mess of a kit. Brittle plastic, thick canopies, poor detail, raised panel lines, a battleship's ration of rivets - - - I have a hard time thinking Hasegawa came by this thing in-house. It loudly screams 'Airfix' to me. Am I guessing right? If not Airfix, any ideas? Thanks! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
barkin mad Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 It's their own tooling, first released 1969, according to Scalemates. ---------- Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peter havriluk Posted September 18, 2022 Author Share Posted September 18, 2022 Thanks. Hasegawa was learning fast, then. This model must have been an early product of the imitative school of design. They sure channeled Airfix. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
JackMan Posted September 18, 2022 Share Posted September 18, 2022 (edited) Peter, the Hasegawa G4M1 may be old but it's not too bad and does fit well. See sroubos's build on BM: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235114609-172-mitsubishi-g4m1-betty-by-sword-models-box-artschemesdecalssprues-release-september-october-2022/&do=findComment&comment=4488978 And another nice build here: https://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235109866-hasegawa-172-betty-g4m1-with-okha-old-tooling/ Edited September 18, 2022 by JackMan Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peter havriluk Posted September 18, 2022 Author Share Posted September 18, 2022 (edited) Thanks for the British modeller links - - - and I think one of them offers a solution to my question: One poster mentioned that the Hasegawa boilerplate-special 'Betty' I have 'even appeared in a Frog box once'.... That aging makes perfect sense to me, seeing as how crude/nonexistent the interior detail and landing gear are. Outlines seem believable. And I've seen no Russian reissue of a Frog Betty, which would be understandable if the molds were in Japan. And those weathered finishes impress the daylights out of me. I'm in modelling's short pants compared to those. Edited September 18, 2022 by peter havriluk additional comments Quote Link to post Share on other sites
scoobs Posted September 22, 2022 Share Posted September 22, 2022 The Hasegawa G4M1 is indeed a rough (& dated) kit - why Hasegawa hasn't updated it with something modern like their G4M2 kit is mystifying. However, before you drive yourself crazy trying to beat together this dinosaur, be aware that Sword has stepped up to the challenge and there is a new G4M1 kit inbound: http://arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.com/2022/09/heads-up-new-betty-by-sword-in-172.html -Scoobs Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peter havriluk Posted September 22, 2022 Author Share Posted September 22, 2022 Thanks for the heads-up on a better Betty(sorry). But my $5.00 Hasegawa does the assigned job of 'Japanese bomber' for the shelf. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
breadneck Posted September 30, 2022 Share Posted September 30, 2022 You should be happy you have a chance to model this old kit. The challenges must be overcome but this is what modeling is all about. Take it for what it is and be happy. Quote Link to post Share on other sites
peter havriluk Posted September 30, 2022 Author Share Posted September 30, 2022 Agreed. And it's worth every penny of the five bucks I paid for it. Current prices are forty bucks. Yikes! Quote Link to post Share on other sites
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