Hasegawa's Hayabusa ~ Supplementary

As requested here is  a view of the Aeromaster decal sheet and instructions included with the 1994 issue kit of their Hayabusa. Of interest is the 20th Sentai example with dark blue uppersurfaces. The use of this colour, the subject of much debate, has now been confirmed by veterans from that unit. It was applied to a few aircraft engaged in long haul sea search and convoy escort duties in the Phillipine Islands. Aeromaster's instructions suggest a match of FS 35050 for the Dark Blue. I'm not sure about that but I have added it to the scan of the instruction sheet just for interest.

Image credit: © Hasegawa Seisakusho Co Ltd & Aeromaster Decals 1994

Hasegawa's Hayabusa ~ Part One

First announced in their 1978 kit catalogue with a well known photograph of a Ki-43-II Kai, Hasegawa's 1/72nd scale Hayabusa kit was not issued until 1982. Kit # B17 in the "blue flash" box was molded in dark green plastic with optional decals for a 50th Sentai aircraft flown by controversial JAAF ace Sgt Satoshi Anabuki in 1943 and an anonymous 64th Sentai machine flown by the 1st Chutai leader in 1944. Surprisingly the kit featured raised panel detail, whereas earlier Hasegawa kits such as the Ki-44 and Ki-61 had engraved detail. The kit offered alternative parts for what were then known as Ki-43-IIa early and late versions and a Ki-43-IIb. Attractive box art by a nascent Shigeo Koike featured Anabuki's Hayabusa climbing steeply over a B-25 gunship. 

In 1987 the kit was re-issued in a larger, deeper box as # 501. The original Koike box art was re-formatted and cropped to display a larger image of the Ki-43. The kit was still molded in dark green plastic but the decal options were changed and a new style instruction sheet included. The 64th Sentai option had been deleted and instead, in addition to Anabuki's machine, the markings for the Hayabusa of 59th Sentai ace Sgt Major Hirohata were provided. These included his distinct black 'bird of prey' fuselage marking.

In 1992 the second re-issue of the kit retained the Koike artwork in cropped format but was now numbered as AT1 (02501). The design and colours of the box labeling were revised and included a colour photograph of the made up model on the side of the box. The kit was now molded in light grey plastic with the same markings options as for # 501.

In 1994 a special edition of the kit with Aeromaster decals was issued as SP130 (51630). The box design was the same as AT1 but had a black "flash" added in the top right corner on the front of the box advertising the inclusion of the Aeromaster decals. The additional Aeromaster decal sheet was contained inside a ziplock bag with its own instruction sheet and provided optional markings for 4 aircraft:-

'White 15' of the 25th Sentai Hombu (HQ Shotai)

'Red 725' of 2nd Rensei-Hikotai

11th Sentai Commander

20th Sentai, 1st Chutai

The first option was incorrect in depicting a blue tail stripe for the 25th's Sentai Hombu. Aircraft # 15 was actually flown by Sgt Major Koshiro Otake of the 2nd Chutai and the tail stripe should have been red, a mistake that would be corrected in a subsequent special edition of the kit (q.v.). 

This kit included the standard Hasegawa instruction sheet and decal sheet from the previous issue.

In 1999 the kit enjoyed its fifth re-issue in a new white box, still with the original Koike box art, although this had again been re-formatted, and now numbered as A1 (00131). Markings options were unchanged from AT1. This version of the kit appears to be still in production and generally available.

In addition to these "standard" issues, Hasegawa have also released the kit in limited editions with different box art. We'll look at those special issues in Part Two.

If anyone knows of any other issues featuring this box art (not the limited editions with different box art) please let me know by sending an email or making a comment, thanks.

Images credit: Hasegawa Seisakusho Co Ltd., © 1982, 1987, 1992, 1994 & 1999.

Zeke, Hamp & Hemp ~ Part 2

Here are the colour swatches for BS 481 # 389 Camouflage Beige aka "RAF Hemp" together with the closest standard Munsell and RAL values.

With grateful appreciation to Ken Glass for assisting with the Munsell fractional values.

Image credits: Rendered colour chips © Straggler 2008; RAF Nimrod images web

Zeke, Hamp and Hemp

It may seem odd to examine the colour of modern RAF aircraft on a blogsite about Japanese aviation but please bear with me!

The RAF camouflage popularly known as 'Hemp', now officially 'Camouflage Beige' BSI 381c # 389, was developed from a compromise for a suitable camouflage to protect aircraft on the ground in dispersals and in the air. The original choice for a low reflectivity scheme was a brown, like Dark Earth, but eventually the colour chosen as most suitable was matched to the Munsell value 5 Y 6/2 from the BS 4800 'Specification for Paint Colours for Building Purposes'. The approximate Munsell value from this colour standard is 4.8 Y 6.0/1.8.  This should be of some interest to us as 5 Y 6/2 is the same Munsell value which has been cited for the extant paint colour on some Mitsubishi Zero artifacts.

Many enthusiasts will be familiar with the actual appearance of 'Hemp' on the RAF's Nimrod and Canberra, and the way the colour can appear differently depending on the lighting conditions. Sometimes more yellow, sometimes more grey, sometimes more green. In fact these aircraft provided a useful "living" demonstration of the Japanese Zero colours and many photographic images showing their subtle changes in reflected appearance may be found on the net. Usefully a number of hobby paint ranges offer 'RAF Hemp' and modellers may like to experiment with them on a Zero model.

As the colour was originally chosen from a commercial paint standard the various proprietory names for the paints are illuminating:-

'Lava'

'Lizard'

'French Grey'

'Fawn Grey'

'Trout Grey'

'Wallaby'

'Eddystone'

'Pumice'

'Cotswold Tile'

The closest RAL colour match to Munsell 5 Y 6/2 is 7034 Gelbgrau (Yellow Grey) at 3.09. The closest FS 595b match is 33303 at 3.26, but it is too brown. (less than 2.0 = a close match).

Image credits: Internet pics

On His Hobby

One of the curiously disconcerting things about the communication of information via the internet is the astonishing diversity of the approach to "accuracy". To some it is a driving imperative they agonise over and to others a slightly disagreeable nuisance, to be avoided if at all possible. In between are many shades of grey.

Those who scorn accuracy often astonish further by participating in online discussions about colour with a vehemence that borders on fanaticism. There is the odd article, both online and in magazines, where the model builder who has decided to "plough his own furrow", instead of doing just that, rails against those who prefer accuracy and those who provide information to that end, usually using that time-honoured phrase "No-one really knows". The bit they usually omit to add to this is "but I'm going to give you the benefit of my opinion and it must be worth something (even though no-one really knows) " 

Having spent many hours researching a particular subject from primary source records in the National Archives it astonishes me that, when sharing the fruits of that research, there are those who would rather scorn it and rely instead upon their earnestly held opinion, preference or prejudice. Nothing wrong with that of course, each to his own. But when they enter into public debate from that viewpoint and, perhaps more worryingly, attempt to pass of their opinion, preferences or prejudices as something based on more than a wet finger held aloft, some real confusion can result. 

"Ah, but . . . " they write, "specifications were only for guidance. We all know that in practice they were ignored and anything went." Do we?  But even if we did should we embrace a kind of modelling anarchy of anything goes? Unfortunately the same proponents of this "crew-chief with a tin of any old paint" philosophy,  are often the same ones who jump in with both feet when the debate has very little to go on, and weave the most miraculous arguments based on everything from the radiated luminance of thousands of digital pixels on a much scanned "colour" photograph to the "educated guess" based on a pre-conceived determination, usually where the few facts that are known are assembled together to fit the conclusion in a dubious concoction, rather than t'other way around. Is it really that bad to write "I don't know" and actually, if you don't know, to refrain from posting what amounts to an opinion at all? Apparently it is.

Sometimes the online fire-fight abates and is replaced by the rapid but silent drumming of the email jungle telegraph as allies are sought and "facts" checked. There is one particular character type who never responds to an online statement about aircraft colours, but immediately alerts the members of his clique to its appearance and checks in with his tame guru so that the opinion, preference and prejudice in that tiny, mean pea-brain may be re-assured and reinforced, usually resulting in an oblique post by one of his messengers on another forum. 

I think the problem is that for all the ignorance about certain things, the colour of Grooster Gnu interiors for example, there are those who like to think they "own" certain aircraft types. They are enthusiasts for the Gnu, have every book about it, examine closely every black & white photograph of the type, pontificate long and loudly at the modelling club about their latest miniature creation of the Gnu Mark 18, that field-modified one with the non-standard gun turret and the dampened exhausts. So, when a question about the Gnu comes along for which there is no known answer, they feel that they ought to know and that, being Gnu experts their opinion is worth something more than that wet finger held aloft. It is at these darkest before dawn moments that the much-maligned specifications may be dusted off and trailed out, no longer a matter of scorn, but used to prop up a questionably relevant hypothesis that really boils down to a distillation of personal opinion, preference or prejudice.

But the greatest consternation is reserved for those occasions when someone has the audacity to cite evidence that flies in the face of said opinion, preference or prejudice. It seems that the most vigorous challenge has to be raised against that evidence rather than against the more tenuous opinion, preference or prejudice. Then out comes the old "specifications are for guidance only" bollocks and the shaky appearance of that tiny colour "photograph".  Much hot keystrokes and much ado about nothing usually, but you can guarantee that the mere mention of a particular hot topic, Grooster Gnu interior colours for example, will attract a lengthy thread from the "usual suspects", often including myself - even though I know I shouldn't! 

After its long dormancy I hope to add something meaningful to my SEAC blog to get it going. The subject of SEAC colours and markings is obscure and there are lots of interesting things to explore. The colour of Grooster Gnu interiors will not be one of them.

Airfix Dinah Reprise

As requested, here are images of the decal sheets included in the second and third re-issues of the Airfix 1965 veteran. If anyone does know the exact year the second re-issue appeared please let me know, thanks. One thing to watch out for with the third re-issue is that the Hinomaru borders are more often than not out of register! Note the inclusion of trestle markings, prop blade markings and instrument panel with this sheet. The tiger is also a better likeness to the originals.

One of the things I like about this kit, in addition to the fine shape and simplicity, is the fact that the fuselage halves are molded in one piece. Both the LS and Hasegawa kits have separate nose halves and a separate upper fuselage, clear in the case of the latter, that require careful assembly and filling, risking the destruction of some of that very fine detail.

To round off, a trio of images of a veteran Airfix Ki-46, completed in 1975 by Ken Glass, demonstrating just what an attractive model she makes. Ken used the 19th Hiko-Dan tail markings from the LS kit to complete this model.

Images Credit: Decal sheets © Airfix (Hornby Hobbies Ltd); Ki-46 Model Photos © Ken Glass 2008