Friday 23 December 2016

Richard Tool's 1/48 Mitsubishi Ka-14


Following on neatly from recent A5M Claude features Richard Tool has kindly shared these images of its Dad, the Mitsubishi Ka-14 prototype, in the form of his build of the 1/48 scale Fine Molds kit. This previously obscure prototype aircraft became more widely known as a result of the 2013 Studio Ghibli animated film 'The Wind Rises' by Hayao Miyazaki which dramatised the early life of the Mitsubishi designer Jiro Hirokoshi. Without this film it is unlikely we would have seen a mainstream kit of this prototype aircraft.


Richard built the model straight out of the box with the exception of thinning the trailing edges and adding Eduard IJN lap belts. The cockpit, cowl ring,  engine, reduction gear housing, wing tips and tail were painted in custom mixes of Tamiya paints. The main landing gear fairings were painted with Vallejo MetalColor acrylics whilst the rest of the airframe was covered with Bare Metal Foil Matte Aluminum to produce a fine looking model in appropriately seasonal colours of red and silver. A full build report can be found at the Aeroscale website  here


Fine Molds also released a 1/72 scale version of the kit but available only as a special issue with the January 2014 edition of Model Graphix magazine. In 2013 Shingishenka published a modelling guide to the A5M series "Mitsubishi A5M/Mitsubishi Ka-14 Plastic Model to Begin from the Beginning" which included an article on the Ka-14 with a 1/32 scale conversion feature based on the Special Hobby kit. This book includes serviceable 1/72 scale drawings of all variants and although the text is in Japanese it is worth obtaining for anyone planning an A5M family build and still available. Some confusion has arisen over the colour of the Ka-14 as a result of Studio Ghibli's depiction of the aircraft - and as shown in the Fine Molds box art - which looks white, suggesting a light grey paint, whereas the original was plain aluminium. 


Ka-14 was actually the Mitsubishi company designation for the experimental aircraft to be produced in response to the February 1934 Imperial Japanese Navy invitation to design a 9-Shi single-seat fighter to  a specification drafted by Lt Cdr Hideo Sawai of the Naval Air Headquarters Department of Engineering. The aircraft was completed within a year and began tests at Kagamigahara in February 1935, proving the cantilever wing in a fighter aeroplane suitable for the Navy. The design impressed although development and four additional prototype builds incorporated a succession of power plants in attempts to overcome various engine issues whilst the cranked wing was modified to a straight centre section from the second prototype. 


With special thanks to Richard for sharing these images of his splendid "Claude's Father" model and providing details of the build.

Image credit: Model and  box photos © 2016 Richard Tool; Box design © 2015 Fine Molds & Studio Ghibli

9 comments:

Ronnie Olsthoorn said...

Gorgeous silver finish!

Dan Salamone said...

Beautifully done, Richard!

Dan

Richard Tool said...

Ronnie , Dan -

Thank you both and best wishes for the Holiday season to you both as well

Richard

WD said...

Beautifully done! Also, thank you for the info on the book. I have the 1/72nd scale kit in the stash, and would like to obtain this book to help with this and other projects.

Warren

Vedran said...

Hi Nick,

it has been stated that the reason for grey paint in the anime and Fine Molds instructions was
"In Jiro Horikoshi’s book “Eagles Of Mitsubishi”, he makes reference to the completed prototype Ka-14 having a “quilted appearance” to the aluminum skin due to unskillful installation of the flush rivets. So the irregularities were filled with putty and smooth-sanded, and the aircraft was painted in ‘Navy Ash Green” and then polished."

Quote from http://www.modelingmadness.com/review/preww2/j/thomka14.htm

Seasons Greetings,

Vedran

Straggler 脱走兵 said...

Hi Vedran

Thanks for mentioning it. Jiro Hirokoshi did indeed write that - pages 21-22 in the English edition. Unfortunately the Fine Molds 1/72 kit instructions in Model Graphix magazine specify 'silver' and the Shingishenka book agrees - hence the confusion! The photographs of the type are ambiguous and could be either aluminium or a polished grey paint but they look similar to the typical appearance of the A5M. Either way it wasn't an off-white and the original was aluminium! See also Richard's build report where he mentions this in his first post.

Regards
Nick

Vedran said...

Hi Nick,

my copy of Fine Molds 1/48 instruction sheet says overall Mr.Color 128 Gray-Green or Tamiya XF-14.

Vedran

Straggler 脱走兵 said...

Hi Vedran

Which are for the grey-green of Army aircraft! Fabulous!

Regards
Nick

Ken Glass said...

Very fine work, Richard. Thanks for sharing.

Regards,
Ken Glass