quang

Like Thierry and Max, I never bin. I put them to sleep. Many times after completing and painting the cockpit and doing the necessary structural corrections, I’m facing the issue I hate the most: engraving new panel lines and riveting. For some reason, I’ve never finished a Special Hobby kit even if I started quite a number of them. So no Shelf of Doom for me. Rather a cemetery of sleeping beauties waiting endlessly for a Prince Charming to wake them up.

Hey you cheater! So this is NOT your first Kate

These were from authentic ( and erroneous) B-17 crew reports. What you called Brit bashing was generally Yanks bashing as there was a real animosity among British male population seeing young, healthy, well-fed boys coming from overseas to woo their spouses and fiancées. Call me a spoiler but there’s a hint of this oft-disregarded issue in the very first episode where you see women working in the fields with no man in sight. Don’t mind the cgi. There’s much more to the eye in this series (and the previous two) than one thinks.

Looking forward to seeing the double contra-rotating propellers of Type 91 torpedo IN ACTION, no less!

Hello Jack, I know how you feel. Sometimes you just need a snooze and come back when skies are clearer. Nothing lasts forever.

Obviously a movie is not a book

Myself I was not originally too fond of Japanese aircraft. I bought the kit because I was curious about the new technology of model-making and wanted to discover the shapes of things to come. But then I became gradually infatuated. Like they said in a famous song, ‘if you cannot be with the one you love, love the one you’re with’. @zaxos345 Thanks John! Glad you like it. Trust me Dennis. The interior is just an appetizer. The main course comes with the exterior, camouflage and weathering. The Kate is one of the airplanes who wears her backstory on her skin. The same Kate in PH will look different whether she’s in the Ceylon raid or at Midway some months later. Specialists are still battling among themselves. Hey, what would we do without temptation? A glimpse of what’s in store… Cheers, Quang

INTERIOR DONE! The 3-crew stations are detailed and painted although I’m well aware that much of them will NOT be visible through the narrow openings. As I don’t know yet what would be visible and what would’t, I gave it the whole treatment. At least I can sleep with both my eyes closed. Without much ado, here are the pics… The main assemblies Stock IP painted with kit individual decals and glazed bezels Side panel arrangement Spare m.g. clips. Note the trailing antenna spool below them. Stored Goertz type10 bomb sight I made the oxygen bottles for the crew from scratch… … and painted them black as per the IJN regulations. Pilot’s station. Seat belts from included PE. Shoulder belt added from tin sheet. Note the 3 red bomb and torpedo release switches on the left. Observer and gunner stations Gunner/ radioman station. Note scratch-built morse code transmitter at his right (with wood base). Interior installed. A side profile showing all the elements in place should be helpful to every Kate builder Left fuselage panel added Fuselage closed. I was a bit apprehensive concerning the fit but my fears were unfounded. Every joint followed the natural lay-out of the original panels and is invisible if the assembly is done right. Also as predicted, not much of the interior is visible through the narrow openings… Bottom view of the assembly. Note how the parts fit together. That’s all folks. As always, comments and questions are welcome. Thank you all for looking. Cheers, Quang

@Borsos To my knowledge, no shop in Europe has got the kit yet. I wonder what’s happening. Also available: the Akagi deck alone (without the Kate).

I waited and waited in vain for Domino. In the end I decided to try my chances at the Far Eastern equivalent of Amazon . I got it in 12 days.

Where did you order it?

Thanks Jari. I already knew of that article. Very concise and add much interest to an otherwise ignored subject. In particular the role of the crew which I unashamedly ripped off to include in my WIP.

It’s the reason why the AK 3gen are interesting. You can use them both for spraying AND hand-brushing.

Brilliant rendering of the PCM kit, Mike

Apparently Ernst’s model is the wrong scale: 1/27?

@Finn The Border interior looks uncannily like the 1/48 Hasegawa and doesn’t include the bottles. The recent 1/72 Airfix includes 3 bottles but not in the same position as the 1/72 Hasegawa. Airfix gives a colour code white to the bottles while for the Japanese, black is the colour for oxygen. Quite a dilemma This is what I initially had in mind. Maybe these bottles had something to do with operating the torpedo and were only carried during a specific mission? While waiting for a definitive answer, I made the bottles from scratch and include them in my build. I can always remove them afterwards if needed. Thank you both for your input. Cheers, Quang

Oh no! GREEN line this time

Hi guys, As I’m currently building a B5N2 Kate model, I wonder about the use of the 3 oxygen bottles located on the port side of the observer’s station. Are they related to the torpedo operation or something else? Were they present in which ever mission, torpedoeing or bombing? Which colour were the bottles? I searched the internet with no result and hope that you can help me in that matter. Thank you, Cheers, Quang

Three months ago, most people on this forum didn’t know what MOTA stood for. And when they finally knew, quite a few didn’t spare the scorn and sarcasm concerning the quality and credibility of the series. Add to that the fact that it takes a bit longer than 3 months to design and produce a large scale kit. Furthermore if Border wanted to do a ‘cash grab on MOTA’, they would be as smart as to release a B-17F instead of a B-17G with a Cheyenne turret. Ah but hell, what do I know?

What do I know? What struck me are the impeccable sculpting, the natural stance, the facial expressions, the treatment of the folds, etc. Add to that these are the first 1/35 bomber crew bar none. And furthermore they’re affordable. What else do you need?

Like desperados waiting for a train… 1/35 crew is ready.

Just asking…

You understand now why Max @mozart is not around.

Shades of the Shepherd?

It’s the magic of storytelling. That is what makes a movie great, NOT the mock-up nor the cgi (or lack of).