I picked up this kit some time ago. I recently purchased an Eduard mask for it, so I decided it would be a good time to build it.

I've built a coupld of variants of this kit, and didn't run into any problems (although, at the very end, the canopy didn't fit terribly well). The kit has two painting options: a subject "taken possesion" of by the British in 1046 (the wording is from the instuctions) and a subject captured by the US. The British subject is in its original camouflage; the US subject had the paint stripped down to bare metal. I decided for now the camouflaged subject would do.

The kit was primed with Ace Hardware Gray Primer in a rattle can. I've got to admit, priming from a spray can is much easier than using the airbrush. The underside is Tamiya XF-12 JN Grey, and the top is my Tamiya mix for FS34092. According to my notes, the 34092 mix is roughly XF-26:3 and XF-2:2 - that is, three parts Deep Green to two parts Flat White. I like the look of it on Japanese naval aircraft, although I don't know how historically accurate it it. The anti-glare panel is Auto Borne Black Sealer. I thinned this with some Testors Universal Acrylic thinner I've had for years (they don't make it anymore), and it sprayed very well. I tried using Vallejo Model Air IJA Chrome Yellow for the IFF bands on the front edges of the wings, but it sprayed very pooly, so I used AMMO Gold Yellow RLM 04 instead, which worked well. I used the Eduard EX095 mask on the canopy, and it worked well. Intestestingly, the EX095 set contains masks for both the J2M3 and the J2M6.

Page last updated August 2, 2026.