Clear Prop Models 1/72 Curtiss Hawk 75-M

Another kit of related interest to be released next month is the Clear Prop Models fixed undercarriage Curtiss Hawk 75 presented as the Hawk 75-M with three (?) Chinese markings options plus an Argentinian example. But nearly thirty quid for a small single engined fighter - ouch!

Curtiss Hawk monoplanes for China were explored by AoJ back in 2013 here and here but I dare say the punditry has probably moved on since then. The kit appears to include options for the 'Hawk Special', also known as the 'China Demonstrator', NR1276, in natural metal finish with Republic of China Air Force markings and the Curtiss logo, '75' reportedly flown by Chennault and photographed in both a glossy, pristine condition and much weathered as depicted in the Clear Prop box art and by the superb built-up model, and another camouflaged Chinese example '2501' of the 25th PS. The Argentine subject is NR1277, also in natural metal finish with Argentinian roundels and rudder 'flag'. I hope the 'Chinese blue' is printed on the decals as shown in the profiles and not too light or, heaven forbid, too turquoise!

The fixed leg Hawks have infinite charisma and evocation in their Sino-Japanese air war guise as hopefully the two AoJ articles demonstrate and the Clear Prop presentation is to be welcomed. Previous kits of this variant and in this scale are by RS Models in resin and Special Hobby injection moulded plastic in limited edition format in 2003. 

Image credit: All © 2024 Clear Prop Models via HLJ 

Arma Hobby Announce New Hayabusa II Kit in 1/72 Scale

Arma Hobby has announced the release of a new tool Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa 'Oscar' kit in 1/72 scale, expected to become available in November. Two of the expected sprue frames are shown below. 

These suggest that both the outward facing and thrust exhaust pipes are included. The cowling appears to be multi part although the front rim and engine parts are not revealed. Initial markings options included in the kit are for three subjects as shown below.

1. Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa of 3rd Chutai, Hiko Dai 59 Sentai, New Guinea 1943-44. Presumed to have been flown by the Chutai leader Capt Kenjiro Kobayashi

2. Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa of 3rd Churai, Hiko Dai 54 Sentai, attributed to the Chutai leader Capt Hisashi Koshiishi, Paramushir, Kuriles 1944. (More on 54's wandering Chutai colours to follow!)

3, Nakajima Ki-43-II Hayabusa training aircraft of Hiko Dai 71 Sentai Hofu Airfield, Japan, late 1944. This unit was Hayate equipped but used the Hayabusa for training purposes during work up. The reference photo and caption for this aircraft in Model Art No.395 suggest that the Homeland Defence 'bandages' might have been overpainted.

Some renders from Arma Hobby are shown below.

Cowl flaps are shown open in these images but hopefully closed version parts will also be included. A new state of the art Hayabusa kit in this scale is welcome and surely a 1/48 scale release must follow (!). The clean cut 1/72 Hasegawa kit is now 42 years old and has the dreaded raised panel line detail whilst the Special Hobby kit is now 15 years old and attracts a mixed reception.

With thanks to Zbigniew Malicki and Arma Hobby for these previews.

Image credit: All ©  2024 Arma Hobby.

New Kits & Decals October/November 2024

For those who might have missed it the Hasegawa 1/72 P1Y1-S/P1Y2 kit as described here is being re-released in November. The Hasegawa P1Y1 kit (shown below) is also available, with  box art by Tadashiro Kato and decals for either 761 Ku's 761-25 in 1944 or 762nd Ku's 762-92 in 1945. The P1Y1-S/P1Y2 kit includes a white metal 30mm cannon and photo-etch radar aerial array. Both available for a reasonable price direct from HLJ.

In October AZ Models are releasing 1/72 kits of the Yokosuka K5Y1/2 'Willow' trainer in land and sea versions, each with three markings options, those for the K5Y1 designed by Rising Decals as shown below. Nice box art but the transformation from yellow to orange is interesting! 

AoJ does not often cover JASDF/JMSDF aircraft but also in October Wolfpack Design of Korea are releasing a conversion set with bits'n'bumps and a decal sheet to make a JMSDF R4D-6Q from the Airfix C-47 kit. The R4D-6Q was an electronic warfare version of the R4D-6 provided by the U.S. Navy to the JMSDF in 1958. Two sets of markings are provided featuring the two schemes it was flown in.

Shelf Oddity are releasing or re-releasing a 1/144 scale decal sheet featuring two yellow A6M2 trainers of Oita Ku. These Zeros have often been depicted as grey so the yellow schemes make an interesting change. Would like to see this sheet in 1/72 scale. 

Image credits: All images © 2024 Hasegawa, AZ Models, Wolfpack Design and Shelf Oddity.

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.