Wednesday 6 February 2013

Recent 1/72nd Scale Releases


There seems to have been a recent flurry of new Japanese aircraft kit subjects in 1/72nd scale - so many that it has been difficult to keep up with them all and I have had to don my special new release review equipment and fire up Gordo to recycle mail order boxes. Modellers generally have never had it so good and Japanese aircraft modellers can join in with kits that could hardly be dreamed of in the supposed golden years. Airfix are resurgent, with kits already released and planned of innovative and classic subjects. A Fine Molds "magazine issue" A6M3 Model 22 is on the way, which was a logical prediction and let's hope it doesn't put Mr Tamiya off. The publishing of a Bunrin-do FAOW on the Army Type 97 Heavy Bomber (Ki-21)* perhaps bodes well for the possibility of a new Japanese kit of this much needed type and the yen price is down...   


Following on from the release of a family of Kugisho D4Y Judy kits by AZ Model to their 'HQ' full quality mould technology a couple of the kits have now been examined. A full review and comparison with the Fujimi kits will be blogged in due course. First impressions are excellent, especially the surface detail which is a little more substantial than the Fujimi style and there is more cockpit detail, although not especially more accurate. One thing to note is that the actual kits in the boxes are all the same, with the optional parts for each version on the sprues, only the boxes and decals being different. So plenty of spare parts.


From Sword comes a Ki-44-I with striking box art showing Capt Kuroe of the 47th Dokuritsu Hiko Chutai "dancing" with an RAF Buffalo in a particularly evocative and beautifully illuminated scene. The kit includes a new sprue with lower wing, wheel covers and conical spinner but disappointingly the annular oil cooler matrix is no improvement on the old Hasegawa kit and could - perhaps should - have been done in photo-etch. The kit contains resin parts for the engine and pilot's seat but otherwise is all plastic. Decals are included for an example from each 47th DHC Shotai plus a late production Ki-44-I from the embryonic 47th Sentai in Japan with Homeland Defence "bandages". The painting guide might confuse the unwary as the colour profiles on the reverse of the box show brown camouflage but don't say so whilst the instruction sheet has monochrome profiles with the camouflage keyed as green! Both are shown as solid finishes too. The box art shows the correct appearance of a very dense mottle.


Also from Sword, and again with strikingly dramatic box art, a surprising B7A2 Ryusei Grace which looks lovely in the box. The approach to the bomb bay is impressive, with realistic multi-part doors to be fitted in the open position if desired and a representative bomb load. There is also optional torpedo armament. Again the kit is all plastic except for - curiously - the radio D/F loop and the wing cannon barrels. The canopy is multi part and interior detail is again superior to the Fujimi kit. I have a hunch this one will look impressive all opened up. Markings options include Yo-251 from the Yokosuka Ku and two from the 752nd Ku - with tail codes 752-24 and 752-53. The rear of the box has colour profiles as a painting guide. At last there is a good stab at the warm grey under surface colour but the green is much too light and olive. Grace colours have been blogged here

Then from Amodel a family of Tachikawa KKY series light aircraft with inline and radial engines, including a civil example KS-1 registered as J-AARD and operated by the Bureau of Railway Construction as a photographic survey aircraft. This had a large open camera window and mounting in the port fuselage which Amodel rather extravagantly provide as an extra fuselage half. There was also a camera window in the lower fuselage, not incorporated in the model, the exact location and size of which is unclear. Amodel suggest the colour scheme as light grey but photographs strongly suggest that the original aircraft was finished overall in aluminium dope.

Those familiar with Amodel kits will know that they can appear daunting but I have found with their I-16 kits that if care is taken in preparing and fitting the parts a good model will result. The Tachikawa KKY is a little like a large biplane Auster and is an interesting if somewhat arcane subject.


In 1932 the Japanese Army had contracted for a light ambulance aircraft with the Ishakawajima Shipbuilding Company's Aeroplane Factory, which was to become Tachikawa Aeroplane Company in 1936. The design by Ryokichi Endo, assisted by Moriyuki Nakagawa, drew on aspects of the imported De Havilland DH 83 Fox Moth light aircraft and was designated KKY for Kogata Kei Kanja Yusoki (小形型患者輸送機 - literally 'small type patient transportation machine'). The aircraft was crewed by a single pilot and a medical orderly with provision to carry two stretchers (included as a single piece in the Amodel kit) and various medical stores as specified by Yoshinobu Terajii, the Army Senior Surgeon. With STOL capability it could operate close to the front lines from improvised airstrips and like the Ki-27 had provision to be fitted with low pressure tyres for this purpose. 


The prototype flew in 1933 but the type was not accepted for service by the Army until 1935. At first powered by a Cirrus Hermes Mk.IV inverted inline engine with metal prop as the KKY-1, this was replaced in 1938 with a Gasuden Jimpu 150hp 7-cylinder radial engine with a wooden prop and the modified variant designated KKY-2 Kai. A total of only 23 machines was built from 1933 to 1940 with 17 of them built during 1938-39. Many of these were Aikoku aircraft purchased by subscription and carrying dedication legends on the fuselage side. The KKY-1 kit contains markings options for two such aircraft # 97 and # 125. The KKY-2 kit offers a plain camouflaged example with no unit insignia or identifying numbers and a captured example in Soviet markings - presumably from Nomonhan. The KS kit has provision only for the single example registered J-AARD, although there were at least two such machines used by the Bureau.


I like these - an interesting little kit offering a challenging build and the opportunity for some neat dioramas.

* Does anyone else hate the new HLJ site interface and search engine? With their old system it used to be so easy to check what was new by company and now by the time you find what you were looking for it is probably sold out...

Image credits: All © 2013; AZ Model; Sword; IBG Models (Amodel); KKY-1 postcards author collection.










10 comments:

Dan Salamone said...

Hi Nick, in reference to HLJ, when they started this new system I actually sent Scott Hards an email about it. He did respond and said that most people loved it so.....

Glad it's not just me that hates it!

And by the way, though happy for my fellow modelers getting 1/72 releases, nothing new in 1/48 is getting really old! ;-)
Dan

A.H. said...

Dear Agony Aunt, While perusing a recent roundup of new 1/72 releases of Japanese subjects, I became severely depressed - even more than usual. I build 1/48 and am feeling cruelly ignored lately for quality kits of Japanese subjects. Cruelly. I've been reminded by some of all the nice ones already in my closet and not yet built, but besides being a low blow that is cold comfort.

I know you have mentioned your Uncle Straggler before (to be exact, "Scotch and airplanes, nothing but Scotch and airplanes..."). Indeed it was his blog where I saw the 1/72 roundup and the feelings of anxiety returned like a bad chalupa. I hope you will forward this to him, and he can let people like me know whether anything is in the works in my scale. (The AZ / Legato Ki-15 doesn't count - it was announced five years ago and they are no longer in my Circle of Trust). Sign me,

Anxious but Hopeful
Krakamalarki Archipelago
Shortland Islands



Jerry Boucher said...

Glad to hear that you like the Sword box art!

Harold K said...

Further on the Judy series, from Petr of AZ Model.
Posting on Robert Rensch's "72nd scale aircraft" site, Petr states that an accurate (unlike the old Fujimi boxing) D4Y4 will be released later this year.
I await that particular one eagerly.

R. Vieira said...

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the detailed note on new kits of Japanese aircraft.
Btw, I also hate the new HLJ site interface, to the point that I no longer visit the place so often, at least not as often as BEFORE they "upgraded" the thing...

@ Jerry: your artwork is superb as always. I too loved the Ki-44-I air duel box art!

Ruy

Straggler 脱走兵 said...

Please don't shoot the messenger! (I concede that apart from Hasegawa re-treads it does look a bit barren on the 1/48th front!)

Harold - I think you have been led astray by comments at Hyperscale! There is more up to date research on the subject of the D4Y4 - and drawings - in the recent book from Kaiga. I hope that AZ have invested in that!

Regards
Nick

Straggler 脱走兵 said...

On the subject of the HLJ interface it used to be very easy to check regularly and quickly for any new or future aircraft releases, Now it isn't! Sometimes, even if I know a kit is already out it takes me ages to find it on the site. Case in point is the FAOW Ki-21 - resists all attempts to find it via the search engine.

Regards
Nick

Harold K said...

Cheers Nick. I haven't been on HS, to be misled, in ages :o)
What I meant about the old Fujimi "D4Y4" was that it was no more nor less than a re-boxed -3. No RATO units under the fuselage nor place for them.

Straggler 脱走兵 said...

Harold, I'll have to have a look at the Fujimi "DYD4" when I compare the kits. I refer you to the Asahi Journal Vol 4 No 3 pages 5-6 for details of this version's actual characteristics which extend beyond just RATO units. These details are endorsed by the recent Kaiga book. Not all D4Y4 actually in service had all of these intended features.

Regards
Nick

Ken Glass said...

Thanks for the notice on the new kits, Nick.

Regards,
Ken Glass