Yokosuka K5Y-1 Willow
Here’s my Yokosuka K5Y-1 type 93 Willow in 1:48 by Otaki. An old kit that’s been around awhile, but still builds up nicely with a little extra effort. I especially like the Japanese subjects offered by Otaki, Nichimo, and Arii. This one got an enhanced instrument panel and cockpit details and stainless flat wire rigging.
The Yokosuka K5Y Type 93 was derived from the earlier Type 91 Intermediate Trainer built by Yokosuka, which was found to be a little too much like the combat aircraft then in use with similar speed and aerobatic capabilities, and it it had some peculiar stability problems. It might have been an effective fighter but was deemed unsuitable as an Intermediate Trainer. The stability problems led to a redesign by Kawanishi in 1933 and it entered service as Navy type 93 Intermediate Trainer in 1934. The K5Y-1 was a land based trainer, followed by the K5Y-2 floatplane with twin floats and the K5Y-3 floatplane with a more powerful engine. Due to the bright orange paint scheme applied to all Japanese trainers for visibility, it was known as “aka-tombo” (Red Dragonfly). After Kawanishi produced sixty aircraft production was continued by other manufacturers (556 by Watanabe, 60 by Mitsubishi, 1,393 by Hitachi, 75 by First Naval Air Technical Arsenal, 24 by Nakajima, 2,733 by Nippon, 896 by Fuji, and 75 by Dai-Ichi Kaigun Kokusho). It was the most popular and most widely produced Japanese training aircraft and remained in production from 1933 to 1945. A K5Y-1 of the Kamikaze Special Attack Corps, 3rd Ryuko Squadron was credited with sinking the destroyer USS Callaghan on July 28, 1945. It was the last US warship lost to a Kamikaze attack during the war.
This is really nice. I have yet to build an Otaki
A well-done biplane, Chas Bunch (@chasbunch). I think Otaki kits are a lost treasure.
Excellent Willow, Chas!
Congratulations!
Nice build, Chas. Very striking.
To paraphrase Billy Crystal, that looks mahvelous; it really does!
Love it! Well done.
A fine build, Chas @chasbunch
Well done.
Chas- Your Willow does look marvelous. Otaki kits are real gems. I've never seen this one.
Chas, this is a great build and it's an eye catcher!
Nice one, Chas!
@chasbunch
Thanks for the comments, everyone.
Nicely done, those older kit s are fun to build.
Very nice!
Can you give any info about how you did the flat wires? I bought flat vape wire in sizes for 1/48 and 1/72 but I have never figured out a way to tension them.
Also, the decals...from the kit or aftermarket or?
Thanks for any help, I'm looking at one that's for sale right now 🙂
Thanks, Michael. The rigging wire was flat stiff stainless wire from RB Products, which is apparently no longer available. I located the wire attach points and drilled holes before assembly, then cut each wire to proper length and inserted the ends into the pre-drilled holes after assembly and painting. No need to tension anything.
The hinomarus and tail markings are kit decals, the numbers on the top of the wing were painted with my home made mask. Hope this helps, have fun with your build!
Thanks so much Chas. The 2 spools of vape wires I have are perfect sizes for 1/48 and 1/72.
But definitely not stiff enough unfortunately.
Great job on the mask for the top wing, those markings are one of the things that really make the kit.