Hasegawa Kawanishi N1K2-J Shidenkai

[dennismcc]

Just now, Neo said:

So i just learned something super usefull!! 

 

Thank you for sharing your amazing trick of cutting the mask, getting the placement and marking it with tamiya tape. Ive struggled on many occasion to get placement correctly of masks.

This is so simple and perfect !!! I shall use this technique from now on. 

 

 

Loving the progress amazing work

Thank you Neo and I am glad that I have helped you, it is very easy to get masks wrong but the guide tape works really well.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Miloslav1956]

7 hours ago, Shiba said:

Hi, Dennis and Miloslav,  Sugita Shoiti  (杉田 庄一) was sharing the 343-11 with Kanno Naoshi (菅野 直) and

Matsumura Seiji (松村正二)

 

Here is a list of 301Hikoutai  A/C and Pilot name assign to each A/C

                                                     

They never designate the same number to 2 A/C,  If so it will be so confusing to pilot  ground crew and book keep.

 

I don't know where the Montex got the idea of these themes from .  They are totally fictional !!

Only picture proof we have shidenkai with any type of form or color of stripes on shidenkai is only this Kanno's 343-15

 

If someone has picture proof other than this  I LOVE TO SEE IT PLEASE

 

Regards

Matsu.

 

 

The white numbers in Hinomar were painted in washable paint, for training purposes. The photo is from training times.
Everything is very well described in the book: Genda's Blade Japans Squadron of Aces 343 Kokutai.
I enclose a scan of two pages, from this book, which deal with this issue.

 

 

 

Edited August 21, 2020 by Miloslav1956

[Alex]

Now THAT'S a specific answer!  And a book I'd like to own.  Need to go shopping...

[Miloslav1956]

I can very recommended this book.

[dennismcc]

Thank you for that Miloslav, lots of very useful information there, I will have to lookout for that book.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[Shiba]

Hi,   1 飛行隊長 Flight captain  2 中隊長 Company commander  3小隊長 Platoon leader                                                                                                                          

 

Regards,

Matsu.

Edited August 21, 2020 by Shiba

[dennismcc]

1 hour ago, Shiba said:

Hi,   1 飛行隊長 Flight captain  2 中隊長 Company commander  3小隊長 Platoon leader                                                                                                                          

 

Regards,

Matsu.

 

Thank you very much for that Matsu, my all things Japanese education continues.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Edited August 21, 2020 by dennismcc

[TwoHands]

On 8/21/2020 at 7:14 AM, dennismcc said:

Hi Alex according to Aero Details 26 the numbers were there for identification purposes during training but many examples were seen bearing them through to the end of the war.

The Montex masks do have the 15 in the Hinomaru, it's just a bit faint in the diagram but it is there in the masks.

 

I had quite a panic yesterday as I looked for my trusty Thorpe book on IJN colours to see if it could shed some light on the subject , it was not on the section of shelf that I keep all (not many) Japanese books on, I searched all day for it and could not find it, so I looked online to see if I could replace it and was shocked at the prices I saw, luckily in the end I found it sandwiched behind and between two other books.

 

I've checked a load of profiles of A1343-11 and a lot of them agree with the Montex version, in fact the Hasgawa instructions for the 1/48 scale kit do say that the fuselage stripe could have been before or behind the fuselage Hinomau.

 

However I will carry on looking, the only clue that I did find was a diagram in a book I have on Camouflage and Markings of Imperial Japanese Navy fighters in WW2, it shows three versions of the stripe, double before the Hinomaru, single before the Hinomaru and single behind the Hinomaru. It is a Japanese text book (Model Art 272) so I do not know what the description says. See below.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

 

 

Edited September 6, 2020 by TwoHands

[dennismcc]

Not much in the way of modelling has been happening as I've been busy on outside jobs which need to be done while the weather is good, but I have been plodding away. First up was to get some paint on the undersides which was NMF on the real thing, I can't imagine that it was polished so I went for an aluminium colour, in the end after airbrushing some samples I settled for Xtracolor High Speed Silver (X038) and was pleased with the finish. It does not show up very well in the photos though.

Next up was some careful masking and making a handle on the undersides so I could hold and move the model while I was airbrushing it.

For the upperside colour I got in touch with Nick Millman who suggested DI Black Green would be the one to go for so I settled on Sovereign Colourcots ACJ01 Black Green which Nick reckoned was a good match for D1 when he reviewed the Colourcoats Japanese paints.

The result was a very dark green, but then again it is called Black Green.

I did remember to paint the frames on the canopy but forgot to paint the cowling, never mind it won't take more than a couple of minutes

 

Cheer

 

Dennis

[Alex]

Looking good!  That is a dark green but I think you are right to go with what the guys who research this stuff think.  All of our eyes are biased by decades of whatever color the model kit box illustrators decided to paint with.  Same deal with the pale gray Zero that is so common in illustrations and never existed in fact.

 

I'm not looking forward to those outside jobs - the season starts in a month or so here and I'll lose 2 or 3 weekends to picking up leaves and clearing out the garden for winter.  Once it starts snowing, more modeling time will be available...

[dennismcc]

Thanks for that Alex, the colour did throw me for a moment but the evidence for it is there in the references and I really trust Nick's research.

As to outside jobs, I think I got there in time, unfortunately there are all sorts of family indoor jobs like decorating to get on with, which in truth I really enjoy doing but it does cut into my modelling time.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[MikeMaben]

Nice progress Dennis 

[Shiba]

Hi,  Dennis good see you back !!   I was hoping my post was not interrupting your thread...  

 

 

I really like dark green you used on her and looks good on late Japanese naval AC.

 

BTW,  I was researching some more 343 ku and friend of mine in Japan told me there are some more pictures other than I posted,  When they are training at Matsuyama 松山.  BUT those pictures have never been published 

 

 

I've been living in my backyard lately, but not fun as modeling   

 

Regards,

Matsu.

[dennismcc]

2 hours ago, Shiba said:

Hi,  Dennis good see you back !!   I was hoping my post was not interrupting your thread...  

 

I really like dark green you used on her and looks good on late Japanese naval AC.

 

BTW,  I was researching some more 343 ku and friend of mine in Japan told me there are some more pictures other than I posted,  When they are training at Matsuyama 松山.  BUT those pictures have never been published 

 

I've been living in my backyard lately, but not fun as modeling   

 

Regards,

Matsu.

Thank you Matsu and what a great reference photo that is, hopefully I will finish this one soon as it is coming together nicely now.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

[dennismcc]

This is the stage when I am impatient to see some results, so it was off with the masks, just one small paint job to do. In the begining I painted the fuselage sides white and applied the white bordered Hinomaru mask in it's entirety, so now I need to remove the red section of mask and airbrush the red, for this I take no chances and thorough mask everything off.

And then rip off all the take and masks to reveal this.

 

Which I am very pleased with, just got a couple of places to touch up and I can start adding all the bits and bobs.

 

Cheers

 

Dennis

Edited September 24, 2020 by dennismcc