Mark Smith's Otaki Ki-44 and Anthrazitgrau

Here are a couple more images of the 1/48th scale Otaki Ki-44 built by Mark Smith and mentioned in the review of Lifelike Decals Shoki sets here. The amazing thing about this lovely model is that all the markings are painted on as at the time it was built there were no aftermarket decals available. Mark still really likes the Otaki Ki-44 for capturing the lines of the Ki-44.  He remembers comparing it with the Hasegawa kit when that one came out and concluding that whilst the Hasegawa kit is better overall, certain shape aspects are still better captured in the older kit - the fin and rudder for example. The model has a vacform canopy and scratch-built cockpit, new cowl flaps and some extra detail added to the landing gear and engine.  The natural metal finish is SNJ which Mark recalls as being a lot of trouble and smelling really dangerous!  The 246th's 'umeboshi' (梅干 dried plum) tail emblem was made with a stencil and airbrush, whilst the landing gear doors were painted with a brush. The model was built before anyone offered resin parts for it, and as Mark recalls the only etched metal that was available at that time and pertinent to WWII planes were Waldron seatbelts (applied to the model) and placards.  

Some puzzlement over my description of the greyish-black paint on Lt Inayama's Shoki as 'anthracite'. I meant it in the sense of the German anthrazitgrau which was a military primer paint that came into use around 1935 and was also used by the Luftwaffe as 4/840/R Fliegerblaugrau (RAL 7016). Blue-grey? Yes, a very dark blue-grey where the blue can be fugitive as it is introduced to the reflectivity from the blue shade carbon black pigment in the paint. Counter-intuitively the paint also contains chrome yellow which provides a degree of anti-corrosive protection and the combination results in a subtle colour shift of the greyish-black, dependent upon illuminant, from slightly blueish to slightly greenish, exactly similar to the JAAF # 3 paint colour Hairanshoku or Hai-Ai-iro (灰藍色 literally ash indigo colour), which was introduced as a primer paint and cockpit interior paint colour in 1936. The Munsell value for RAL 7016 is 7.7 B 3.0/0.8 but there is a usefully close FS 595B value - 35042 @ 0.82 (where < 2.0 = a close match) which also provides a reasonable impression of the colour. If you examine 35042 and find it hard to imagine that such a very dark blue grey contains chrome yellow bear in mind that the FS 35042 paint colour also contains that pigment, as well as phthalocyanine blue (green shade). As a general primer paint # 3 was widely used and might well have provided the greyish-black paint that was applied to Lt Inayama's Shoki.     

Image credits: Model photos © 2012 Mark Smith; Rendered colour chip © 2012 'Straggler'

Chinese Photo Lightnings ~ A Wandering Tale

This blog post about Chinese Lightnings is going to stray off-topic so if you come here as a diehard Japanese aircraft enthusiast please indulge it! The mysterious photograph above shows a line-up of apparently new P-38J Lightnings in Republic of China Air Force (RoCAF) markings evidently before delivery. And a delivery that might never have followed. According to the Angelucci/Bowers "bible" only 15 P-38 aircraft were provided to the Chinese nationalists during the Second World War. Wings of China records only the receipt of the photo-reconnaissance 'F-5G' by the RoCAF, re-designated RF-38 in 1948 and remaining in service until 1953. The image below shows a RoCAF 'F-5E-4' photographed at Barrackpore, India during the Burma campaign but the exact date is unknown. The finish appears to be standard olive drab over neutral grey with the blue and white RoCAF tail stripes but P-38 photo-recce finishes are tricky and for those who might wish to delve into them in more detail I recommend Paul Lucas' article on the subject in the September 2007 issue of Model Aircraft Monthly (Vol 6 Iss 9). 'Photo Joe', a well known USAAF F-4A photographed during the Burma campaign, was finished locally in a non-standard scheme of polished Medium Green 42 over a mixed Sky Blue, possibly the one eighth of a pint of Specification 3-1 Blue No 307 to one gallon of white mentioned by Mr Lucas.

The RoCAF assigned their operational P-38 photo Lightnings to the 12th Reconnaissance Squadron and used them successfully during the Chinese Civil War. There is a personal account of training and flying the Chinese photo Lightnings by Jude BK Pao here. According to Mr Pao the Chinese took over about 50 P-38's left over by the USAAF after the war, mainly at Nanking. The 12th operated 18 F-5E and F-5G but the remainder went into storage or were cannibalised for parts. The photo Lightnings were fairly immune from interception until during one sortie in the winter months of 1947/48 when a Chinese recce pilot reported being pursued by two "very fast" single radial-engined fighters. The P-38 was eventually able to outdistance the mysterious interceptors, one of which broke away fairly early whilst the other doggedly followed for many miles but unable to gain. The first La-9 Russian fighters were not received by the Red Army of China Air Force until late 1949.

Several decades ago it was a family tradition to make up Christmas stockings for all the members of the family and my mother always included in mine a slim paperback on an aviation subject - fact or fiction (they were more common then - with a whole shelf full at W.H.Smith) and an aircraft kit - usually one of the 1/72nd Revell small black-ended boxes with the "brass" name tag on the box art. In fact I received the Kawasaki Hien (then pronounced "Hine" in our ignorance) for two years running and it became something of a family joke. In 1970 I received Alfred Coppel's "Order of Battle" - "A Novel of World War II" and was soon immersed in (as I remembered it) a surprisingly compelling story about P-38 pilot Lt Mark Devereaux of the 903rd Fighter-Bomber Group based at Bourneham, England in 1944. It was inspiration enough to seek out and build a model of Devereaux's "Fork-tailed Devil".

Lightning kits were thin on the ground then. The Airfix P-38 was pretty poor, being the very old kit from 1958 and I don't remember it even being available at that time.  Hasegawa were marketing the Frog P-38 - their own P-38 was eight years away - but their kits were not easy to find in the UK. Revell's P-38 was still seven years away. So Frog's 1967 P-38 - still readily available in my local model shop (it was issued from 1967 to 1974) - was literally the only game in town. It was chunky but honest, easy to build and looked good (to me) when done. My hastily constructed model ended up as Devereaux's imaginary olive drab P-38J with its red nose and spinners. The  Frog kit offered a RoCAF variant on the decals - supposedly a P-38L - quite an innovation at that time, but such exotica was ruthlessly disregarded by an imagination already hooked on Devereaux's wing, stalking trains and skirting flak towers through the rain clouds over a grey Nazi-infested Europe. There was perhaps more to the choice of Frog kit than necessity though, because the cover of Mr Coppel's book featured models of the P-38 that looked suspiciously like the Frog kit too.

That book was long lost in my travels as youthful imagination collided with military reality but I often recalled it fondly and more recently in an act of determined nostalgia decided that I wanted to read it again. I couldn't even remember the title or author. Internet searches under "P-38 Novel" and various other permutations brought nothing. Forum queries went unanswered. Then during a sort out of old books at my mother's house I came across a paperback version of Alan Morris' 'First of the Many' - the story of Independent Force RAF during the First World War. The cover featured three Revell models of the Sopwith Camel and the style looked familiar. It was published by Arrow Books.  "I wonder . . . " I thought and began searching for Arrow book titles which soon zeroed me in on the long missing book. I bought a used copy and re-read it. Far from being disappointed at my youthful naivety I thoroughly enjoyed it and still rate it as an unsung classic of air war fiction.

Frog's Chinese P-38L was perhaps based on the photograph at the top of this blog post (?) but during the 1970's Aircam Aviation No.10 also featured another Chinese P-38L profile on its cover (above). Inside the book were two more profiles of RoCAF photo Lightnings and several photos of F-5E and F-5G in Chinese markings but no further explanation about them.

Image credits:- Peter M Bowers Collection via A Shennan; Osprey Publications Ltd; Arrow Books; Frog (Rovex Industries Ltd).

John Coverley's Japanese Aircraft Models

John Coverley very kindly sent me these images of some of his Japanese aircraft models. The USMC captured and flown Ki-61 above is from the 1/48th Hasegawa kit which John built after reading about it in 'Aeroplane' magazine. 

The 244th Sentai Ki-61 was built last year from the Hasegawa 1/32nd scale kit. An Eduard exterior etched set was used on the model and John tried using alclad laquers for the first time, also using a double-action airbrush for the first time. Mr Color laquer was used for the propeller and the Hinomaru were painted on as were the yellow IFF wing leading edge markings. 

The 64th Sentai Ki-43 Hayabusa is also a Hasegawa 1/32nd scale kit. John added a few Eduard etched details such as seat belts and undercarriage doors, but otherwise it was built OOB. The paint used was Tamiya acrylic with decals as provided in the kit.

This Ki-84 Hayate was built about a year after the Ki-43, also from a Hasegawa 1/32nd scale kit. Again John added some Eduard parts and painted the model with a mixture of Mr Color, Lifecolor and Tamiya acrylics. The yellow fuselage bands and white Homeland Defence "bandages" were painted. John was inspired to try his hand at these Japanese aircraft by seeing other peoples models and hopes that these images will encourage others to have a go at something different. 

Image credits: © 2012 John Coverley

Greetings fellow inmates. If you are reading this you will have managed to find your way here despite the best efforts of technocrats and geeks to render this blog invisible. I, the eternal luddite and dinosaur, have managed to work round their labyrinthine "systems", faceless bureaucrats, uncontactable contact processes and Alice in Wonderland logic to bring back the blog.  In 2 or 3 days the domain name will become www.aviationofjapan.com and you should then be re-directed to the site automatically when you use the blogspot link. Please update your bookmarks thanks.

One of the inevitable changes will be that links in the blog posts to previous posts on this site will be lost but the older posts will still remain accessible via the archive sidebar. I may or may not update the links depending upon the phases of the moon and whether there is more lurking than commenting.

Lifelike Decals ~ Ki-44 Shoki in 1/48th Scale Part 3

Lifelike Decals third set of markings for the Ki-44 Shoki 48-038 offers four very interesting aircraft. First up is a Hei from the 23rd Sentai's 1st Chutai which was also illustrated in Osprey's Ki-44 Aces. A photograph of T/Sgt Yoshiji Okazaki standing in front of another Shoki from this unit suggests that it should probably have the front half of the spinner painted white. As part of the unit's "tokko" ramming flight WO Kobayashi's aircraft was probably unarmed with the cowling apertures faired over and possibly painted red. The second option on the sheet is for an 85th Sentai Shoki with unusual camouflage which has been featured in a Hasegawa kit. Here the Kana character on the tail has been depicted correctly as "Ha" (は) rather than the incorrect character included on the kit decals. 

The third aircraft is very well known from previous profiles and kit decals, the 85th Sentai commander Major Togo Saito's aircraft. Although not profiled there are three photographs of this aircraft  in Ki-44 Aces. It has been interpreted in various ways and Lifelike have chosen a plain, weathered dark green over natural metal whilst mentioning that it has also been depicted with green and brown camouflage on the upper surfaces. The distinctive Kanji characters painted on the drop tank represent "geki metsu"(撃滅) meaning to attack and destroy. The Sentai Hombu markings are cobalt blue and perhaps a little dark for my taste but they might look differently when applied. The colour shown on the profile in the sheet appears more typical.  The last option is a real corker, the rarely illustrated Shoki of the 70th Sentai commander Major Atsuyuki Sakado with three distinctive B-29 victory markings and blue Sentai tail insignia; the same comment regarding the shade of blue, appearing rather dark on the decal but of more typical hue in the profile illustration. This is an unusual choice but a very attractive one, and would make a model a little different from the "herd".

Another excellent Lifelike Decals set and again my wish is to see these available also in 1/72nd scale. 

Image credits: © 2011 Lifelike Decals

Lifelike Decals ~ Ki-44 Shoki in 1/48th Scale Part 2 & Mark Smith's Otaki Ki-44

Lifelike Decals second set of Ki-44 Shoki markings in 1/48th scale includes two well-known machines from the 70th Sentai which have been depicted and modelled incorrectly for years. The elaborate victory adorned aircraft of Capt Yoshio Yoshida and WO Makoto Ogawa are usually shown with yellow Sentai tail markings, but Lifelike's new sheet provides the correct red markings (but for one aircraft only). Thanks to Lifelike's owner these markings were also able to be depicted correctly in Osprey's Ki-44 Aces. Again the narrative captions are comprehensive about this and also tackle the thorny question of the position of Ogawa's sixth victory marking. The B-29 victory markings, often crudely represented in previous sheets and kits, are especially well done. The fin leading edge flash on Yoshida's aircraft is shown as black with good cause whereas in Ki-44 Aces we depicted it as red.

The third subject on the sheet is a less well-known 70th Sentai Shoki, as flown by Sgt Sadao Miyazawa with a victory tally commemorating his successful combat with a Hellcat on 17th February 1945. The colour of the tail marking is unknown but Lifelike provide a yellow option. The fourth and final option is for a heavily weathered 9th Sentai Shoki in China. The sheet includes white Homeland Defence "bandages" but again stencilling and yellow IFF strips are provided for only one aircraft. This is another excellent sheet for Ki-44 enthusiasts.

After mentioning both the Arii (ex-Otaki) Ki-44 and the colourful 246th Sentai machine included in Lifelike Decals first sheet in yesterday's blog, Mark Smith very fortuitously and kindly sent me some photos of his "old" Otaki Ki-44 model displaying the very same markings from the same convincing interpretation of colours. Not only do they make for a very striking model but the photos illustrate just how this "old" kit still shapes up well, no doubt due in no small part to Mark's skill and expertise. Thanks Mark! For those with the Arii or Otaki kit in the stash the Lifelike Decals offer the opportunity to dress her up very nicely.

Image credits: © 2011 Lifelike Decals & © 2012 Mark Smith