American Aircraft for the RAF (and others!)

Just a heads up 'to those who may be interested' that in response to the recent Arma Hobby P-39/P-400  kits in 1/72 and 1/48 scales posting has begun again at this blog after a long absence. A series of planned P-39/P-400 articles have long been in abeyance but there is much collected data to share, including on colours which have been badly served in recent publications and products. The last blog post was in November 2022. It's a membership only blog but I suspect most members have gradually abandoned it. 

https://amair4raf.blogspot.com

New Fine Molds A6M5 Zero Model 52 in 1/48 Scale

Hat tip to Woody for alerting to the surprise announcement of a bold new 1/48 scale Zero 52 to be released by Fine Molds in December this year. Company blurb as shown below. 

The kit will be available in two releases as FZ01 (heading image) with decal options for two 381 Ku aircraft 81-161 and 81-163 and FZ02 (below) with decal options for 320-85, a carrier borne 652 Ku aircraft on Junyo, and 8-24 from an unknown unit on Saipan, addressing differences between Mitsubishi and Nakajima variants in both colour scheme and airframe details. According to the blurb the kits will retail for ¥4.950  (approximately £26) but are currently available to pre-order from HLJ at ¥3,600.

The breakdown of parts is innovative, if not revolutionary, and designed for ease of assembly, similar to the Fine Molds magazine special Ki-43-I in 1/72 scale. The kit is split into complete forward and rear fuselage sections, each moulded as a single piece. The canopy frame and transparent panels are also separate to ease painting. From the blurb the wing also appears to be moulded as one piece? (Post blog edit: No, it is in two parts - complete single piece top and bottom wings).   

The Tamiya 'new tool' A6M5/5 Ko dates from 2008 (seems like yesterday!) and there are (were?!) planned A6M5 kits from Eduard. The prototype Fine Molds model (below) looks good and I'm all for ease of assembly and an avoidance of build complications from over engineering in construction design.

Image credit : All © 2024 Fine Molds Corporation

Vic Hobby Paints

This Vic Hobby range of Japanese made water based paints came to my attention via Hobbylink Japan. They are relatively cheap compared to other brands and currently on sale. Although the pots are quite small at 12 ml compared to Humbrol tinlets at 14 ml, they are less than half the price. For example the CA046 Mitsubishi Dark Green is currently selling for 95p. The pots are plastic with flip top lids which also unscrew. The HLJ blurb about them is here and worth checking out. The paints are advertised as suitable for both airbrush and paintbrush application with water clean up. They are reported as having a 'weak gloss' finish and there are matt and semi-gloss clear coats in the range.  

Having recently been checking out some lacquer based paints I'm pleased to report that the Vic Hobby paints are almost odourless. I'll be reporting further on them as I try them out and make swatches for comparison purposes (and try to reduce that stash). Currently their Japanese wartime aircraft colours include (with my comments on their liquid appearance only):-

• MH012 Metallic Cyan (Aotake - very nice - interestingly the Japanese label on the pot is 青竹色 - 'blue bamboo colour' - aotake iro )
• MA040 IJA Sky Grey  (quite a rich greenish colour)
• MA041 IJN Black Green Nakajima (almost a dark grey with green undertone - I like it)
• MA042 IJN Gray (quite a bright blueish grey)
• MA043 IJA Dark Green (a darkish, slightly olive green)
• MA044 Cockpit Nakajima (greenish buff)
• MA045 Cockpit Mitsubishi (a rather deep sage green)
• CA046 Mitsubishi Dark Green (a dark blueish green - nice)
• CA047 ??? (not bought) 
• CA048 Japan Propeller Brown (reddish brown - not as dark as the Gunze paint and might be suitable for IJN H2)
• CA049 Mitsubishi Cowling Black (a dark purplish grey black - very nice)

The IJN greens are promising, the IJA colours perhaps less so. I also bought MH006 Aluminium (greyish and slightly grainy) and MA069 RLM02 Gray (a warm greyish green). I had no problems with postage of these paints from Japan to UK and they arrived well packaged and in perfect condition. Pigmentation and colour saturation appear rich but they do advise the use of their proprietary primer paints which are available in grey or white and come in 50 ml plastic bottles. The range as shown at HLJ can be confusing as they seem to be listed there at random rather than in subject or number sequence. You will need to explore! 

Many paint ranges now are designed for airbrush use, saving the manufacturers on pigment cost, and subsequently impossible or difficult to apply by brush without multiple coats. We are a long way from stirring a tin of Humbrol Authentics paint and applying a single, smooth, self-levelling coat direct from the tinlet to plastic with a paintbrush. Painting, whether by airbrush or paintbrush, has become a complex of uncertainties and technocracy, as forum discussions reveal. I am hoping that these Vic Hobby paints might offer a simplicity to the procedure, but time will tell and so will I.  

The range includes other metallic colours, colours for Japanese armour and IJN warships as well as subject specific colour sets for JASDF, etc. There are also subject specific Luftwaffe, RAF and USN colours in the range. The generic colour range is extensive and some of those would also appear suitable for Japanese aircraft models, for example the two Olive Drab colours (perhaps OD 1 for # 7 and OD 2 for # 43) and no less than five different Khaki colours. The range strikes me as potentially suitable for those who may have limited room or facilities for modelling and/or who are constrained for airbrush use or who prefer to brush paint, avoiding the time, fuss, clean up and odours with airbrushing.

Note: Paints were bought at my own expense and this is not a sponsored review.

Image credit: © 2024 Vic Hobby via HLJ       

McLents RAoCAF Hayate in 1/48 Scale

McLents has kindly shared these images of his 1/48 scale Hayate in unusual Red Army of China Air Force markings, built from the 1973 vintage but still good looking Otaki kit (subsequently re-released by Arii in 1986). The RAF pilot figure from the 1/48 Tamiya Buffalo was included for scale but is a long way from Malaya!

Decals were from the Kora sheet NOT 48011 for a Hayate in 'Chinese Peoples Liberation Army Air Force' (PLAAF) markings whereas the insignia is actually that of the preceding Red Army of China Air Force in its nascent stage of utilising several ex-Japanese Army aircraft types. The insignia consisted of the character Zhōng (中middle - from middle country or China Zhōngguó 中國) within the points of a five-pointed star set on a red bordered white roundel. The possible use of Hayate by the RAoCAF is mysterious and the fate of those 104th Sentai Hayate captured and photographed by the Soviet Union murky. During one Nationalist Chinese F-5 photo Lightning sortie during the winter months of 1947/48 the pilot reported being pursued by two 'very fast' single radial-engined fighters. The F-5 was eventually able to outdistance the mysterious interceptors, one of which broke away fairly early whilst the other doggedly followed for many miles but was unable to gain. The first La-9 Russian fighters were not received by the PLAAF until late 1949. They had originally requested Yaks and considered the La-9 inferior to the P-51 Mustangs they had been using, of which more anon. 

Photographs show a line-up of at least seven intact Hiko Dai 104 Sentai Hayate in Russian hands but they are not listed amongst the ex-Japanese aircraft recorded at the North-East Aviation School in Chinese communist use. There has been a deal of misinformation published about the 104th and the 25th Chutai. The latter is sometimes attributed with Ki-44 fighters but in fact operated the Ki-45, the Type 2 designation for both having been confused. The 25th originated in early 1944 as the 'Composite twin-seat Fighter Squadron' under the 15th Air Brigade HQ as part of the air defence at Anshan, Manchuria. The Composite title referred to the unit being composed of both Japanese and Manchurian personnel, the latter going on to operate the Ki-45 in their own units. The 25th was activated  in August 1944 and based at Liaoyang whilst the 104th, activated in November 1944, was based at Anshan, both under 15th Air Brigade HQ.   

There is a photograph of a Hayate in RAoCAF markings in 'Japanese Aircraft in Foreign Service' Vol.1 by Jacek Jackiewicz and Seweryn Fleischer, published by Atelier Kecay in 2012, and that can be seen in the review of that book here. The authors speculate that the photo is faked but it seems to be the basis of the Kora presentation. According to this book the Hayate were captured at Changchun airfield, also known as Dafangshen, which was later used as a training field by the Second Aviation Academy of the People's Liberation Army Air Force from the establishment of that force in 1949. However according to Japanese staff records the 104th ended the war at Anshan and Changchun was used as a Manchukuo Air Academy satellite training camp. The Hata, Izawa & Shores book also has the 104th at Anshan, with a Chutai detached to nearby Tanggangzi. That might be a confusion for an earlier deployment of a Type 4 fighter 'squadron' (later air regiment) at Anshan with a Type 4 'platoon' detached to Choushuitzu for the air defence of Dairen (Dalien) in October 1943. That would appear to be the nascent 104th Sentai being built up from Chutai to Sentai strength at the end of 1944. Choushuitzu was subsequently identified by the CIA as a Soviet operated airfield in 1948 (diagram shown below).

Minoru Akimoto recorded that the 104th was organised at Ozuki (Shimonoseki, Yamaguchi Prefecture, Japan) in August 1944 with secondary organisation completed by 30 November 1944 and based at 'Fen Tian' (Fengtian) and Anshan. 

The North-East Aviation School at Tonghua, Jilin Province, was one of three PLAAF roots initiated in October 1945 when the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) sent a team into Manchuria to establish a flying school and to secure Japanese aircraft. By the end of the year about 120 aircraft had been collected at Tonghua of which only about 40 could be deemed operable. The majority were Tachikawa Ki-55 'Ida' advanced trainers from the Japanese Dai 5 Kyoiku Hikotai, Dai 23 Kyoiku Hikotai and the Air Academy. In addition members of Dai 26 Kyoiku Hikotai commanded by Maj Hayasi Yuichiro, a training unit engaged in advanced flying instruction for officers, including Maj Yuichiro himself, agreed to remain in China to assist in the refurbishment and maintenance of the aircraft and in flying instruction, many of them not returning home until 1956. All these units were under the command of the 101st Air Training Brigade. 

According to Lü Liping ('The Road To The Sky', 1989) the 26th supplied 46 aircraft, 17 pilots, 96 ground crew and 188 other personnel. Japanese staff records list the unit as operating 20 Type 1 fighters (Ki-43) and 50 Type 2 Advanced Trainers (Ki-79), with 40 officers, 95 NCOs and 495 enlisted personnel about 10 August 1945. In fact the aircraft were captured and collected from various locations in North-East China. In addition to 30 Ki-55 advanced trainers of which six required repair the Tonghua School had three Kawasaki Ki-45 Toryu 'Nick' fighters, four Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa 'Oscar' fighters, of which three required repair and two Mitsubishi Ki-46 'Dinah' recce aircraft. Three Ki-44 Shoki fighters were also listed although there are no known photos of them in communist hands. Ki-84 Hayate fighters are not listed amongst the ex-Japanese aircraft at Tonghua. Initially used for air combat training with the Ki-43s, the Ki-45s and one Ki-46  later formed the 1st Squadron of the RAoCAF Air Combat Group. The Ki-46 was operated as a 'fighter' and reportedly armed but the details of armament are unknown. It was intended to use the Ki-43s as fighter bombers together with the P-51s to support the crossing of the Yangtze river in 1949 but the support operation was cancelled as circumstances changed. 

The other two roots of PLAAF aviation were secondly the Xinjiang connection where the CCP established a military academy at Dihua, the capital, in May 1937. The local warlord Sheng Shicai, sponsored by the Soviet Union, established a flying programme at Dihua which included 43 Red Army personnel selected for training as pilots under Russian instructors. These students were taught on U-2 trainers, moving on to I-15 and I-16 fighters. Xinjiang operation of the I-16 has been discussed here. The communist presence at Dihua was ultimately purged when Sheng threw in his lot with Chiang Kai Shek and the Nationalists but a proportion of the trained pilots subsequently made their way to Tonghua and joined the North-East Aviation School. The third root of the PLAAF was an aviation engineering school established in 1941 in Yan'an, the HQ of the CCP from 1935 to 1947, which taught aviation theory, engineering and armament but without any aircraft. The only future PLAAF pilot to graduate from this school was Liu Yüri who went on to claim ace status flying the MiG-15 during the Korean War. Yan'an was also the main destination for defecting RoCAF personnel who, by June 1949, had flown in with 20 aircraft including a Ki-54 and B-24, and 54 pilots.

The first P-51 Mustangs were mainly acquired through defections and formed the 2nd Squadron of the Air Combat Group, but by October 1949 113 aircraft, 1,278 engines, over 4,000 tons of equipment and 2,267 aviation personnel had been acquired by the communists. In May 1949 six Mustangs had formed an air defence flight over Beijing after attacks by Nationalist B-24 bombers. A total of 21 are recorded as captured, of which 11 required repair. Nine of the P-51s performed a formation flypast over Tienanmen Square in Beijing for the first national parade of the communists on 1 October 1949.  Reluctantly replaced with the Soviet La-9 in 1950 the P-51s served as fighter trainers at the Aviation School until 1953.

References

Red Wings Over The Yalu by Xiaoming Zhang, Texas A & M University Press, 2002

Military Aircraft in the Chinese Civil War, Taipei, 1992

Japanese Monograph No.151 Air Operations Record Against Soviet Russia, Lt Col Katsuo Sato, Staff Officer, Second Air Army, 1952

Image credit: All model photos © 2024 McLents; Decal set © 2017 Kora Models; Choushuitzu diagram via net

Japan Aircraft Standard 8609: Aircraft Paints, Standards by Colour of Feb 1945; Part 2

JAAF paint colour # 7 Ohryoku Nana go Shoku (Yellow-green no.7 colour) was directly superseded by paint colour 1-1 in the 8609 standard. Prior to this and in the late summer of 1944 the # 7 paint colour had been designated as the standard colour for all Army aircraft, inside and out, to be applied at factories which had been ordered to resume painting before delivery. Note that some aircraft, like Hien and Hayate, were in continuous production runs before and after this order, which affected the schemes they appeared in, a fact still not understood by some kit and decal manufacturers, as well as some modellers, who sometimes mix up the before and after component colours or cite non-standard designations for them, such as 'olive green'. Army Depots began applying the # 7 paint colour to aircraft received in natural metal finish some time before the factories got underway with painting which resulted in variations.

In publishing the measured L*a*b* values of the 8609 1-1 swatch the Japanese Aeronautic Association Aviation Heritage Archive (JAA) state that 'as indicated by the a* value no green tint'. The a* value representing red-green chromacity, runs from negative for green to positive for red and in this case is 0.06, so barely red from green. This makes the 'yellow-green' description puzzling, but it is a low saturated yellow-green in the same family of colour as WW2 British Army khaki drab battledress (re-runs of 'Dad's Army' on TV will assist in clarifying this perception!). The b* value, representing negative blue to positive yellow is 6.41. The published facsimile swatch does have an apparent faint green undertone and appears exactly similar to US Dark Olive Drab. Rendered in sRGB the green undertone is not so apparent. FS 34086 is deemed 'close but distinguishable' and was the same FS value compared to 1-1 back in 1975. But curiously it was also then compared to Munsell 2.5 GY 3/2 where the green is more apparent. The Munsell colour has a negative a* value of -4.378 which explains it, but the apparently inconsistent comparison might be rooted in subjective green vs brown perceptions, always difficult with low saturated olive drabs/browns.  

Observer metamerism or observer metameric failure occurs because of differences in colour vision between observers. The common source of observer metameric failure is colour blindness, but it is also prevalent among ‘normal’ observers, especially when it comes to subjective colour matching. In all cases, the proportion of long-wavelength-sensitive cones to medium-wavelength-sensitive cones in the retina, the profile of light sensitivity in each type of cone, and the amount of yellowing in the lens and macular pigment of the eye, differs from one person to the next. This alters the relative importance of different wavelengths in a spectral power distribution to each observer's colour perception. The inconsistency in comparing 1-1 by. presumably, a single observer, is harder to explain!

The # 7 swatch (above) that the late Bill Leyh created is slightly lighter in the red and green of sRGB than the measured 1-1 swatch, but the latter has probably darkened and 'browned' slightly with age.

JAA also note the similarity of 8609 paint colour 2-2 to 1-1. The new colour 2-2 directly superseded Army paint colour # 43 but was categorised as a 'Gray' despite the earlier colour being designated 'Earth'. A low saturation grayish brown with exactly the same a* value as 1-1. This dark colour, described contemporaneously as 'yokan iro' (a kind of dark brown sweet), has been associated with overall schemes on the Ki-45, the Ki-102 and has been identified on a Ki-100 artefact. It was evidently important enough to transition from the earlier standard to 8609 and has been associated with night fighters, but official purpose remains obscure.

Post-blog note: This article is about the JAAF paint colour standards # 7 and 1-1 and the perceived matches to those colours by various researchers. It is not about the applied paints supposed to be matched to that standard which will be addressed in a future blog article. Nor is it about the vagaries or appearances of US Olive Drab, which have been argued about on modelling forums ad nauseum.

Image credit: All, © 2024 Aviation of Japan.

Revell's 1/72 Ki-21-I Ko

The new Revell 1/72 Mitsubishi Ki-21-I Ko 'Sally' kit # 03797 is now to hand for comparison to the ICM first release kit of the Ki-21-I Otsu released in 2022 and the Ki-21-I Ko released in 2023. The Revell kit advertises 186 parts but there are some blacked out parts on the instructions. Both ICM kits state they have 163 parts.

ICM Kit # 72203 of 2022

The Revell kit is rated at level 5 for the skill needed to build it - 'complex model kits for experienced model builders. In-depth know-how and skills required' - and comes in a larger end opening box which always seem flimsier. Mine was sent in a plastic bag protected only by a thin cardboard wrap around which did not prevent it from being squashed, fortunately with no damage to the parts. 

Revell box art (heading image) by Egbert K L Friedl is technically competent but rather bland and does not evoke much excitement, lacking any hint of action of course (because anything shown opened up and firing or dropping stuff would not represent the kit itself and the modern litigious might pounce) I sat looking at it, considering the kit's presentation as a whole, and felt a bit sad remembering Revell's original multi-option presentation from 1975. More imaginative and better value for money with its multiple variant parts and options, but now fatally flawed.

The Revell instruction sheet is a colour coded booklet of 27 pages with 71 stages of construction, including the mind boggling printed masks for the multitude of transparent panels. The ICM instruction booklet is 16 pages with 70 stages of construction. The blacked out parts in the Revell kit are those for the tail, tailplanes and elevators on sprue frame B and parts 2 and 12 on the clear sprue frame E in the original kit. A sprue frame F containing new tail, tailplanes and elevators appears to be the same as that included in the ICM Ki-21-I Ko kit # 72205 released last year (box art shown below). The other parts appear identical to the ICM Otsu release. Confused yet? I have been, presuming that the Ko would have been released before the Otsu.

ICM Kit # 72205 of 2023

ICM Kit # 72206 of 2023

A third ICM Ki-21-I Ko kit featuring Royal Thai Air Force options was also released in 2023 (box art shown above). This was rather splendid in offering both white elephant and roundel insignia with markings for six different aircraft in three schemes. All three kits have slightly differing lower nose and beam transparencies which require care in selection as some are marked not for use. Although designated Type 97 heavy bomber by the Japanese (Kyu Nana Shiki Juh Bakugeki-ki - 九七式重爆撃機 or Kyu Nana Juh-baku -九七重爆 ) 'Sally' was more equivalent to Allied medium bombers like the Wellington.

Revell Ki-21-I Ko Decal Sheet 

For a kit selling for nearly forty quid the Revell decal sheet options are disappointing. Whilst the 64th Sentai example is interesting it cannot be considered representative of a Sally bomber unit and the only other option is for a 60th Sentai aircraft in overall grey-green with yellow and red tail band which was one of the four options in the original ICM kit. The sheet does include instrument panels and seat belts but at the price a more extensive decal sheet with other subjects might have been expected. Perhaps Revell's bean counters cynically considered that the aftermarket to pick up their slack was already up and running in response to the ICM releases. Having noted all that the Revell kit is one to build because there would be no delight in keeping it as treasure, it is not a dragon to hoard and it reflects the times. 

Revell suggest their matt enamel # 59 'Sky Blue' for the overall grey-green but that paint is actually listed in their paint range as 'RAF Sky' so they are off down the Airfix rabbit hole. To be fair it's probably the closest in the Revell enamel paint range. I found the painting instructions shown throughout the construction stages a little confusing but most of the interior is suggested to be finished in Revell 79 matt Blue-grey (matched to RAL 7031 Blue grey) with some parts in matt 57 Grey (matched to RAL 7000 Grey aka Squirrel Grey). The upper surface dark green of the 64th Sentai option is suggested as 42 Yellowish Olive (no RAL equivalent). Unfortunately that particular paint is not to hand to comment on.    

It has been mentioned that the Revell kit contains a bomb sight missing from the ICM kit. In fact the ICM kit contains the bomb sight and has it in the same deployed for use rather than stowed position. Will there be a full crew compliment like the Hasegawa Emily or the neatly moulded Zvezda aircrew with their alternate heads? Probably not. The rather nicely moulded twin guns for the dorsal position can't be deployed without modification because the long canopy is in one piece and closed. And no bomb bay despite Revell's early marketing spiel.

You can probably tell by now that I'm somewhat underwhelmed by the Revell kit's presentation which is not meant to detract from the ICM originals, but interest has probably moved on to the 1/48th scale ICM release. Can we expect a rash of the old Revell kits appearing on eBay, blinking in the sunshine from their stash confinement? Now where's that Mania Ki-48?    

Image credit: Box art and decal sheet © 2024 Revell (Carrera Revell Europe GmbH); ICM box art © 2022 & 2023  ICM Holding.