From Pearl Harbour to Calvary โ The history of Mitsuo Fushida closed in small model of plane
I met the character of Mitsuo Fushida for the first time while watching, not so long ago, quite old (but very good) movie "Tora Tora Tora". A slim man with a characteristic mustache with a sense of his mission. As it turns out, his biggest mission was to come many years later. Given that Commander Fushida was in command of the Pearl Harbor raid, it was obvious that it was only a matter of time before the model was built. I decided to choose the painting from the time of the so-called 8-day week, i.e. the time of training before the raid on Pearl Harbor and the cruise of the combined fleet towards Hawaii (the plane was painted in the familiar colors from the time of the raid - green and red tail, during the cruise). During the mission itself, Fushida commanded the raid and documented the entire raid and its effects with the aid of a camera. Therefore, he did not fly the plane during this mission. After the mission, it turned out that his B5N2 has twenty shots from anti-aircraft defense, but it did reach its carrier. In an interesting twist of fate, Mitsuo Fushida had an appendicitis attack during Operation MI, and remained on the carrier without taking part in combat. During the raid of the Americans, he saved himself by jumping from a burning ship, breaking his legs at the same time. For the second time his life was saved. Another amazing event was the fact that he did not develop radiation sickness while documenting the losses following the dropping of the Atomic Bomb on Hiroshima and Nagasaki. After the war, his life changed completely. As a result of various amazing events, he made contact with American Veterans, including Jimmy Doolittle, got baptized and became a preacher, spending the rest of his life preaching the Bible.
A few words about the model. This is a new Airfix product from 2013, which definitely improves the quality of this brand's products. Of course, it is not free from flaws, which I could learn about when folding the fuselage or adjusting the chassis. However, everything managed to lead to a happy ending. attention may be drawn, for example, to several available fairings in open, closed and partially open versions. I chose partially open for two reasons. Firstly, when fully closed, it did not fit well in the end section. There were gaps between the fairing and the fuselage. Secondly, when it was fully open, it unfortunately showed imperfections in the fuselage joint, which, despite long putting and sanding, were slightly visible. On the plus side, you can add a whole range of suspended armaments. I chose type 99 no 80 mark 5 - 800 kg armour piercing bomb, which contributed to the destruction of the battleship Arizona during the mission in Pearl Harbor itself. The Sakae engine and the possibility of making open shutters of the engine were very nice. I recommend the model to experienced modellers. It is definitely not a model worth making without building a few in advance. I would also like to add that after talking to my friend Ryan, I decided to make the engine casing and the front part of the fuselage in anti-glare paint, which was not included in the painting schemes included in the Print Scale decal set. However, in my opinion, an unpainted motor housing was unlikely and, above all, very impractical. I hope you like photos of Fushida's Kate. main paint was Vallejo Metal Color Aluminium. rest of paints was gunze. Crew was painted Vallejo and Tamiya (Red Brown). Also I used small PE set from Eduard, Ammo Mig rigging wire and Fine Molds metal Pitot Tube. For weathering I used Oli Wash Modelers World, and Weathering Master Set Tamiya A, C, H, F. Final coatnig with X-35 Clear.
Yeah, that Aurfix kit is really good - and you have gotten the most out of it with this project.
Lis, Very nice build, Love seeing a nice Kate in 1/72 scale. I really like the paint scheme you chose, and the your overall finish looks fantastic. Of course I look at the little things, and I must say the paint work on your canopy frames looks really nice, especially the sharpness in the corners.
Ditto. Sweet little build. Lis you and Airfix have created a happy ending. Roll credits and play the music. Followed by the out takes.
Two thumbs up.
Well done, Lis. Your crew figures are exceptional.
Very nice build! Hard to believe it is 1/72 till I saw the crew figures.
Nicely done Lis, I like the stripey tail !
Beautiful build, Lis.
The tail markings are indeed very nice.
Pilots are very detailed painted, well done.
What a wonderful result, out of the good Airfix kit, my friend @lis! You certainly out a lot of quality work there and I love the choices you made upon building it.
Your accompanying article was equally wonderful, a joy to read! Commander Fushida had quite some stories to tell! As I like to say (ungainly paraphrasing from Greek): if your time has not come, you will not die, no matter how hard you try!
I had the utmost pleasure to follow your build thread, through our beloved and very successful Empire of Japan (EoJ) Group build, which is still going strong!
Thanks for your contribution!
Looking forward to your next entry (to possibly accompany my 1/48 Saburo Sakai Zero, about to be started very soon!)
@tcinla @shoobiz @stephen-w-towle @j-healy @dbdlee @kalamazoo @johnb @fiveten Thank you! I hope I will start next project soon ๐ I wonder which plane to choose.
I was amazed to realize how many modeling options one has, regarding the Empire of Japan, @lis!
Looking forward to your choice!
@fiveten Kate's model was extremely difficult and demanding especially during fuselage assembly and painting. I was even thinking about doing something non-Japanese, but I don't know if Empire of Japan will be offended? Yesterday I got a pack of Spitfire Vc/TROP from Admiralty Islands. Maybe such a cutscene would be attractive? I was also thinking about the A6M2 AirFix (one of the livery was supposed to be the Saburo Sakai V-103, although I also considered the V-141 and the A6M2 X-183 Yoshiro Hasigushi). And also the Josef Priller Fw-190.
So many great choices, my friend @lis!
Of course the EoJ GB will NOT be offended! Will patiently wait for your next Empire of Japan subject, whenever you decide!
@fiveten For me to forget. I am also looking for a hit, which my cousin from Sweden, who bought at my request on the Swedish auction site D4Y Suisei AZ Model (very hard to buy!)
Yep, the D4Y would make for a wonderful entry, @lis!
@tcinla @shoobiz @stephen-w-towle @j-healy @dbdlee @kalamazoo @johnb @fiveten
I add two missing photos of undersurfaces of Kate (drilled exhaust pipes and bomb with metal finns).
Very nice build, Lis, and the figures are the icing on the Kate (sorry about that terrible pun), definitely liked.
@chinesegeorge Thank You!
@tcinla @shoobiz @stephen-w-towle @j-healy @dbdlee @kalamazoo @johnb @fiveten
PS. I will also add that the tilted rudders, which are optional for assembly, are an unnecessary gimmick, because it practically makes it impossible to put on decals.
Impressive work in any scale! Great job@lis! ๐
@garybrantley thank you! ๐
That's a nicely done Kate, and I also love the scheme you selected. Well done!
@gkittinger Thank you!
@tcinla @shoobiz @stephen-w-towle @j-healy @dbdlee @kalamazoo @johnb @fiveten
@gkittinger @garybrantley @chinesegeorge
I would like to clarify one more point regarding the open cockpit and the fact that the Type 92 machine gun is in the folded position (the shooter has his hands in such a position that it looks like he is just unfolding it). Well, in the first assumption, the model was to have a completely closed cabin. As a result of the analysis, it turned out that the better one would be open (due to better adhesion and the fact that the cockpit holes were well sealed with masking tape) and then I found that tearing off the finished, painted and glued machine gun was pointless.