1/48 Aichi D3A Val by Hasegawa(?)

September 1, 2013 · in Aviation · · 12 · 3.7K

The Val was Japan's naval dive bomber, comparable to the American Dauntless or Germany's Stuka. Vals were significant contributors to the expansion of the Greater Co-prosperity Sphere in 1941-42. As the front line bomber on Japanese carriers, she brought terror to the Pacific -- starting at Pearl Harbor, where Arizona experienced her wrath.

I found this kit at a local contest sans box, decals and instructions, but at a price I couldn't resist ($1). Construction was straight forward with only a few guesses. I decided to paint her in the scheme I found on the internet of a box art. Turns out this colorful aircraft was the flight leader on carrier Soryu. He wanted his squadron to have an easier time forming up on his plane, so while they were all grey-green, He was in Navy dark green with lots of pretty stripes. I painted all the markings except the blue stripe and the lettering on the tail (which came from my spares box). I later realized that the Hinomarus were out of round, some I applied the red disks Japanese Aeromaster decal sheet. I also found some help for the red flashes on the wheel pants.

I weathered this bird with a slush of Tamiya acrylic paint similar to the underside color I used my Model Master. This brought out the panel lines nicely, but some have suggested they are too prominent. I claim artistic license!

I was well pleased until I took these photos, and discovered I had not added the wing tip lights! I'll go find some forthwith!

P.S. Does anyone know how to tell if this is indeed a Hasegawa product?

Reader reactions:
1  Awesome

4 additional images. Click to enlarge.


12 responses

  1. Very pretty, Mike

  2. Mike,

    Very, Very nice. I love the scheme and I think you did an excellent job on this.

  3. could be fujimi...looks good

  4. It certainly looks like the hasegawa kit, right down to may details. (I've built this particular boxing & Markings) and you have done a Very Nice job with it. One point: Hasegawa' kit instruction state that the markings are from the Pearl Harbour operation, but they are not.
    Other references state it was active in these colours at the Coral Sea and Guadalcanal area.

  5. So if I'm getting this right, a pilot -- probably Japanese -- flew a plane -- probably a Val -- off a carrier in the Pacific -- or maybe the Indian Ocean -- and attacked somebody -- probably American. His plane was colorful, but maybe not these colors.

    Do I have it closer to correct now?

  6. yeah,she made aces out of a lot of u.s. navy pilots as well...

Leave a Reply