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George Schembri
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1/72 Aichi D3A1 Val, Pearl Harbour GB

March 7, 2022 · in Aviation · · 21 · 2.1K

Finally got to complete this D3A1 Val as part of the 80th Anniversary Build of Pearl Harbour Attack, thanks to Lis (@Lis) for starting this GB.

Info indicated the markings are of L.Cmdr. Egusa's Val 'BI-231' from the Carrier Soryu with the 'Wild Horse' Flames flown during the second wave for that day.

This Mister Craft kit definitely wants to be a Fujimi kit, it had different sprue trees but the parts and engraved lines are almost identical to the Fujimi.

All flames and fuselage insignia were masked using kit diagrams as a template, sprayed with Tamiya XF-7.

IJN XF-12 for the Grey and X-18 for the Black with final coat of Micro Satin. Tail identification and wing roundels were decals.

Link to Build:

https://imodeler.com/groups/the-80th-anniversary-of-the-attack-on-pearl-harbor/forum/topic/aichi-type-99-pearl-harbour-d3a1-val/

Thanks for viewing

Reader reactions:
11  Awesome

5 additional images. Click to enlarge.


21 responses

  1. Excellent result on this Val, George @georgeswork
    The applied scheme turned out superb, especially the red 'flames' do make it look great.
    It was a pleasure to follow your thread, thanks for sharing the progress.
    Well done.

  2. Well done George! Another excellent result! Love the - literally - flamboyant scheme!
    A great build thread, as well.
    Congratulations!

    • Thanks Sipros (@fiveten),
      this scheme always caught my eye on past internet searches and I'm glad I tried it out.
      I had a decal sheet which almost fit the requirement but I figured masking would get me the actual scheme required.
      Thanks for following the build.

  3. Looks great, George. I like the red on gray.

  4. Nicely done George.

  5. George, Very nice looking Val !, I really like the paint scheme. I have to admit I'd never seen that before so thanks for the little history lessen !

  6. I'm impressed! very good work! I have one information about bombs. In Pearl Harbor used only one 500 lbs bomb for land tergets.

  7. What a neat little model. Well done sir. I do have the Airfix version as well as the Fujimi kits but have not built any of them. This is good motivation to build one.

  8. Very cool markings, and the model looks great. I may have to do one of these!

  9. Looks great, nice scheme!

  10. Great build George, I just read your build progress. This kit took some work and it came out looking great!

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