jeaton01
Well-known member
Here's another one for this group build, an airplane that participated in the sinking of the Repulse on December 10, 1941. Haruki Iki was a Lieutenant commanding the 3rd Chutai of the Kanoya Kokutai, based near Saigon. Doing research for this build I came across an excerpt from a book on the Java Sea campaign, and it looked good so I bought it and read it. Rising Sun, Falling Skies, by Jeffrey Cox. It had a very detailed account of the attack on the Repulse and Prince of Wales. There was not much good news on the Allied side during that phase of the Pacific War! It might have been better if we had been as successful acquiring the Long Lance torpedo as we were later on finding the Zero in the Aleutians.
Although Iki's airplane is one of the subjects of the decals in the Tamiya 1/48 kit, the number in that set is K-310, and apparently that has been found to be in error, the correct number being K-331. I painted all the markings and made a stencil for the numbers using a vinyl cutter.
I did some weathering on this one, some oils and a silver Prismacolor pencil, along with rubbed in aluminum powder in places. The whole thing got rubbed down with a Q-tip followed by damp paper towels, all in the direction of airflow That subdued the white some because the rubbings from the dark green and red brown carried across them. I like that. There are no clear coats on this model, as there are no decals.
I had on hand some of the Uschi thread and I used the super fine on the antenna above the cockpit. It's probably just about scale thickness, and therefore its also almost invisible. I can only see it against the blue background in the photos, and I don't think anyone will be able to see it in the display case.
I think I will build a stand or a trolley for the torpedo, as no one will see it tucked up in the bomb bay. Anyone know what that should look like? Needs a Kurogane and some figures, too, I think. Shudder, figures do not come easy in my workshop.
I noticed in one of the pictures that a mask was left on the tail gunner's transparency. Well, missing one of about 100 isn't too bad I guess. Eduard masks were used, along with others made at home to cover the windows on the inside while painting the interior of the fuselage. The eyebrow windows on the cockpit were a poor fit so I replaced those and one or two others but for the most part they were very good.
The fit on this kit is very good. The wings are not glued on, they just fit the fuselage that well and are locked on with pins on the bottom of the wing at the root. Some of the inset windows are not as flush as I would like, but if I had worked a little harder that could have been fixed. Next time. I did adjust some of them to good effect.
Although Iki's airplane is one of the subjects of the decals in the Tamiya 1/48 kit, the number in that set is K-310, and apparently that has been found to be in error, the correct number being K-331. I painted all the markings and made a stencil for the numbers using a vinyl cutter.
I did some weathering on this one, some oils and a silver Prismacolor pencil, along with rubbed in aluminum powder in places. The whole thing got rubbed down with a Q-tip followed by damp paper towels, all in the direction of airflow That subdued the white some because the rubbings from the dark green and red brown carried across them. I like that. There are no clear coats on this model, as there are no decals.
I had on hand some of the Uschi thread and I used the super fine on the antenna above the cockpit. It's probably just about scale thickness, and therefore its also almost invisible. I can only see it against the blue background in the photos, and I don't think anyone will be able to see it in the display case.
I think I will build a stand or a trolley for the torpedo, as no one will see it tucked up in the bomb bay. Anyone know what that should look like? Needs a Kurogane and some figures, too, I think. Shudder, figures do not come easy in my workshop.
I noticed in one of the pictures that a mask was left on the tail gunner's transparency. Well, missing one of about 100 isn't too bad I guess. Eduard masks were used, along with others made at home to cover the windows on the inside while painting the interior of the fuselage. The eyebrow windows on the cockpit were a poor fit so I replaced those and one or two others but for the most part they were very good.
The fit on this kit is very good. The wings are not glued on, they just fit the fuselage that well and are locked on with pins on the bottom of the wing at the root. Some of the inset windows are not as flush as I would like, but if I had worked a little harder that could have been fixed. Next time. I did adjust some of them to good effect.
Wait! Where are the floats? How come it's not shiny?
