Sunday 24 September 2017

Alexander Sibirev's 1/144 G10N Fugaku


Alexander Sibirev's splendid and impressive build of the Fujimi 1/144 Nakajima G10N Fugaku (Mount Fuji) kit, photographed by Pavel Bruk, has been kindly shared with Aviation of Japan via Dmitry Korolkov. Thanks to all of them for this visual feast but those with an aversion to "what if" splendour should look away now or hide behind the sofa.  


The model is painted and finished to represent an aircraft of 752 Kokutai at Kanoya airfield in 1945, using acrylic paints from the Vallejo Model Air standard range:-

Top surfaces - 71.022 Camouflage Green
Bottom surfaces - 71.050 Light Grey             
Propellers - 71.080 Rust                      
Undercarriage - 71.063 Silver                       


The clear parts were improved with a coating of Future. The size of the model - and projected aircraft - is indicated by the 1/144 I-16 model in the image above. The kit is larger than some 1/72 bombers.


Fujimi's model appears to be based on a Shorzoe Abe illustration (above) reproduced in Richard  M Bueschel's seminal 1959 series of articles on Japanese Navy Aircraft 1940-45, which credited an impressive list of Japanese contributors, including those from the wartime aviation industries and services. The aircraft was described as being based on a Nakajima private venture for a joint Army-Navy "Project Z" long range bomber. According to the article the design was extensively tested in wind tunnels and accepted for production, with scale model testing completed and production jigs under construction when the war ended.



With special thanks to Alexander, Pavel and Dmitry for these images of the model. 

Image credits: Model photos © 2017 Alexander Sibirev and Pavel Bruk; Monochrome illustration © 1959 Shorzoe Abe via Richard M Bueschel and Rolls House Publishing Co.Ltd.: Box art © 2014 Fujimi Mokei Co., Ltd.; 

6 comments:

Stefan Sjöberg said...

Impressive, to say the least!

All the best/
Stefan Sjöberg
Sweden

Michael Thurow said...

A terrific build, very well performed regarding size and scale.
There is a nice 4-aspect drawing in Japanese Secret Projects by Dyer which displays more square edges on the wings and empennage and middle engines that extend forward of the other two in order to avoid prop interference. I wonder how much original documents have survived and what they show. But I wonder even more how the JNAF believed it could sustain such a huge project in view of material and fuel shortages and dream of committing it to combat...

David S. said...

I'm not doing what-if myself, but this doesn't diminish the quality of your build! A nicely executed model without any doubt.

Unknown said...

Perfect! This beast goes instantly to my wishlist on Scalemates.

Thanks for sharing.
Karel

Ronnie Olsthoorn said...

Even at this diminutive scale it's big! Great build.

Ken Glass said...

Thanks for sharing, Alexander.

Regards,
Ken Glass