sharkman
Master at Arms
Hasagawa released this kit this fall and has finally filled a gap in my collection. The Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN) had a number of interesting aircraft during WWII and a large number of those were floatplanes. I think most of them have been represented in 1/72 but there are still a large number without representation in 1/48. I'm glad to see this kit has made it into production!
The kit comes with 8 sprues molded in light grey and 1 sprue of clear parts all packaged in the same bag as typical for Hasegawa. Fortunately, they did include the clear parts in a separate bag.
Sprue A: Fuselage, engine and outriggers
Sprue B: Upper wing, struts, arms and legs of figures
Sprue C: Lower wings, tail planes, engine cowls
Sprue D: fuselage parts, cockpit, main float
Sprue E: Bombs, IP panels
Sprue F: clear parts
Sprue G: beaching Trolly
Sprue K: Front engine cowl and upper wing generator
There looks to be very good detail in the kit parts, no flash, no sink marks that I can see that will be visible when complete. I haven't tried the fit yet but I imagine that it will be good with it being from Hasegawa.
Main Float
The decals look nice and register looks good. They give you an option of 2 aircraft, BI-3 from the battleship Kirishima (1938) and 5 55 from the seaplane tender Kamoi (1938). They also supply a number of decals presumably for other seaplanes of these two ships so you have some choice there.
two complaints I have, and these have been pointed out by other reviewers of this kit, are:
1. there is no clear rigging diagram provided but one should be able to figure it out from the box art
2. there is an optional detail set of etch parts that includes PE rigging but it also includes a rudder for the main float that is part of the options for the second plane 5 55. No plastic equivalent rudder part is included with the kit. So, the builder either has to buy the PE, scratch a rudder or simply not build that option.
Overall, if you're a sea plane nut like me or just want something different, i think it will be a good build.
I'd like to thank Hasegawa for taking the plunge to produce this kit! Now lets see if they will take the challenge of a new Jake, Paul, Alf, Glen and Norm!!!
