Uncarina Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 (edited) Thank you for the preview! Markings are primarily for Fuchida’s aircraft piloted by Lt. Mitsuo Matsuzaki and for the leader of the 1st Torpedo Attack Unit, first attack wave piloted by Lt. Cdr. Shigeharu Murata. However, it looks like you have the option to build other aircraft as well from the Akagi or Kaga, and possibly from the Soryu. Cheers, Tom Edited January 20 by Uncarina coogrfan and Martinnfb 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 (edited) 1 hour ago, Uncarina said: Markings are primarily for Fuchida’s aircraft piloted by Lt. Mitsuo Matsuzaki and for the leader of the 1st Torpedo Attack Unit, first attack wave piloted by Lt. Cdr. Shigeharu Murata. However, it looks like you have the option to build other aircraft as well from the Akagi or Kaga, and possibly from the Soryu. Indeed Border gave us the code A, code B and assorted numerals which permit us to do all the Kates from the 1st carrier division (Akagi, Kaga) and 2nd carrier division (Soryu, Hiryu). Should they give us an additional code E for the Fifth Carrier Division (Shokaku and Zuikaku), we could have covered every B5N2 participating in the Hawaii operation. And if in addition of the torpedo and the 800kg bomb (appropriate for the first wave of the bombing) they’ve given us 4 smaller bombs, we could have done the Kates participating in the second wave. From just ONE boxing, we could make just EVERY Kate in the Pearl Harbor operation. Talk of a missed opportunity. Cheers (all the same), Quang Edited January 20 by quang coogrfan, dennismcc and Uncarina 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dpgsbody55 Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 Not really my cup of tea, and not because of the scale, but I'll be following this anyway. It does look like a great model, and your builds are informative too. Hope it turns out well Cheers, Michael Uncarina and quang 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee White Posted January 20 Share Posted January 20 18 hours ago, Uncarina said: Thank you for the preview! Markings are primarily for Fuchida’s aircraft piloted by Lt. Mitsuo Matsuzaki and for the leader of the 1st Torpedo Attack Unit, first attack wave piloted by Lt. Cdr. Shigeharu Murata. However, it looks like you have the option to build other aircraft as well from the Akagi or Kaga, and possibly from the Soryu. Cheers, Tom Why would the Japanese use Roman lettering on their aircraft, instead of Kanji? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted January 20 Author Share Posted January 20 (edited) I don 24 minutes ago, Lee White said: Why would the Japanese use Roman lettering on their aircraft, instead of Kanji? I don’t know what the exact reason was. But here’s a concise explanation about how the Japanese plane coding system worked during the Pearl Harbor raid. Extract from Bert Kinsey’s excellent book ‘Attack on Pearl Harbor - Japan Awakens a Sleeping Giant’. Reproduced for info only. The Japanese began with the English alphabet to assign tail codes to its carrier-based aircraft. The First Carrier Division used A, which is the first letter of the alphabet. To indicate which ship in the division to which an aircraft was assigned, Roman numerals followed the letter. The Roman numeral I indicated the first ship, and II designated the second ship in the division. Therefore, the aircraft assigned to AKAGI, which was the first ship of the first division, had tail codes that began with AI, while KAGA, the second ship of the division, had tail codes that began with AII. To further indicate the division and ship, fuselage bands were applied to all aircraft. Red was the color used by the First Carrier Division, so as the first ship in the division, AKAGI’s aircraft had one red fuselage band. KAGA’s planes each had two red fuselage stripes. For each plane, a three-digit number followed the letter and Roman numeral to indicate the specific aircraft. The first of the three digits indicated the type of aircraft with 1 being used for a fighter (Zero), 2 for a carrier bomber (Val), and 3 being assigned to a carrier attack plane (Kate). The last two digits were the individual aircraft number. Hope this’ll help you understand the markings on your Kate. Cheers, Quang Edited January 20 by quang HB252, Brock, Lee White and 5 others 5 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Borsos Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 On 1/20/2024 at 10:03 PM, Lee White said: Why would the Japanese use Roman lettering on their aircraft, instead of Kanji? As far as I can remember the Japanese navy aviation was heavily influenced by the British in the 1920ies. That would be my explanation. coogrfan 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DugyB Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Is it just me or what, but are those rivets throwing shadows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 2 hours ago, DugyB said: Is it just me or what, but are those rivets throwing shadows? Haha! Absolutely. But don’t let it put you off. These modern digital cameras (even the rudimentary ones as my 10-year old iPad) uncannily capture everything, even details not discernible by one’s naked eye. This is why so many people think details on new kits are overdone ( and oversized) just because they’re looking at macro-sized pics. To the extent that regularly I take pictures of the kit instruction sheet to discern details that my ancient eyes cannot. What I see… What I SHOULD see… Cheers, Quang Martinnfb, scvrobeson, dennismcc and 6 others 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brock Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 I'm stoked you to see panels with bent or textures of individual panel plates of fitted and riveted in place very good rendering of visual effects, I hope this can be kept while painting is applied and not to cover up those effects or is what I'm seeing a shadows of the camera? Has this kit seen any aftermarket photo etch sets or resin upgrades? Was this plane ever based on islands or strictly for carrier base? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PEYSSON Gilles Posted January 22 Share Posted January 22 Hello Quang I'm impressed by the quality of the injected parts. Is there a big difference between 1/35 and 1/32? I wish you an excellent assembly. Gilles Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted January 22 Author Share Posted January 22 (edited) 6 hours ago, Brock said: I'm stoked you to see panels with bent or textures of individual panel plates of fitted and riveted in place very good rendering of visual effects, I hope this can be kept while painting is applied and not to cover up those effects or is what I'm seeing a shadows of the camera? Has this kit seen any aftermarket photo etch sets or resin upgrades? Was this plane ever based on islands or strictly for carrier base? I’ve read somewhere that Nakajima used on the Kate a special alloy which was lighter than usual and also more prone to distortion. Hence the wrinkles on the aircraft skin. Now that I get more familiar with the kit, I noticed that the positioning of these wrinkles is NOT random at all. The people at Border must know something we don’t. Of course, the resulting visual effects can be enhanced or reduced at the painting stage. The kit is fairly complete and IMO doesn’t need any aftermarket enhancements but of course it’s only me. The only enhancement I can think of is some smaller bombs with the appropriate rack to configure the Kate later in the war. Apparently Border is planning to do KEB306, the radar plane captured in Saipan and intensely tested by the US troops. How do I know? The respective holes for the antennas are already present in the current release hint, hint! 6 hours ago, PEYSSON Gilles said: Is there a big difference between 1/35 and 1/32? Not big but noticeable Cheers, Quang Edited January 22 by quang coogrfan, patricksparks, Martinnfb and 10 others 13 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee White Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 On 1/22/2024 at 10:13 AM, PEYSSON Gilles said: Hello Quang I'm impressed by the quality of the injected parts. Is there a big difference between 1/35 and 1/32? I wish you an excellent assembly. Gilles It would be like standing a 6’ (1.83m) guy next to a 5’6” (1.66m) guy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PEYSSON Gilles Posted January 23 Share Posted January 23 5 hours ago, Lee White said: It would be like standing a 6’ (1.83m) guy next to a 5’6” (1.66m) guy. A significant difference indeed !!! Thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quang Posted January 23 Author Share Posted January 23 (edited) THE BUILD STARTS … A caveat here, there and everywhere during this build: one needs to study the drawings on the instruction sheet VERY carefully. The consensus is that current kit instructions are generally bad. They’re not! It’s the kits which are getting more and more complex. More details, more tiny parts (and general carpet monster fodder) add to that most of the current kits are generated by 3D CAD which methods are utterly different from the ‘classic’ way. Instruction drawings nowadays are VERY accurate since they’re mostly generated from the same CAD files used to manufacture the kit. One has to look at every tiny detail to make sure that the parts are in the correct position. More than often, the drawings are so small that they need to be enlarged so that they can be ‘read’. Also beware that two following sequences do not necessarily mean that the drawings are done from the same view point. One can show the assembly front to back and the next can show the same assembly back to front! With all these caveats in mind, let’s proceed to the first stage: the engine. Once the sub-assemblies are done , here are the main components. The Sakae 11 out of the box. Painted and washed. The wiring will be added later. Assembling a multi-part cowling has always been a nightmare to some. Yet it went smoothly for me as I slavisly follow Border’s part sequence. I first put the corresponding number on each part and dry-fit in-and-out with masking tape. Contrary to Border’s instructions, I added the inner front ring to secure the assembly. The masking tape is removed and green Tamiya super thin cement flooded in the joints. The resulting bond is strengthened by the inner ring. Leave overnight to harden. Front ring added. Cowling interior painted with my own brew of Aotake. Engine completed. That’s it folks. Comments and questions are welcome. Until next time. Cheers, Quang Edited January 23 by quang HB252, Martinnfb, Uncarina and 15 others 18 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uncarina Posted January 24 Share Posted January 24 Go Quang go! Nice start. Cheers, Tom Martinnfb 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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