Tora Tora Tora!
This build took roughly a year to complete and features 3 Imperial Japanese Navy aircraft involved in the assault on Pearl Harbor.
I discovered this kit from Hasegawa around the fall of 2022 and had a pretty rough time tracking it down. It is a limited kit and had a very small run. Fortunately though, my wife was able to score one off Ebay and surprised me with it. I was initially drawn to the kit having all three planes in one. Especially the B5N2 Kate with the torpedo. At the time of discovering this kit, I had also been wanting to build an A6M2. The D3A1 was icing on the cake as I have a bit of nostalgia from using that plane in the video game Battlefield 1942 as a teenager.
Additionally, I purchased Eduard detail sets and mask for all three planes.
Since I just finished the A6M2 Zero this post will also feature glamour shots of it alone. The A6M2 was the final plane I needed to complete to call this build done.
A6M2 Zero:
Interior:
Engine:
Carrier deck photos - These forced perspective photographs were taken on a 1:48 replica of the IJN carrier Hiryu (24”x36”) that I made. Background images were photoshopped in.
Completed build for D3A1:
Completed build for B5N2:
WIP build log for all three:
Overall, I am satisfied with this offering from Hasegawa and am happy to have it on my display shelf. My one major gripe would be the decals provided. Majority of them are rather thick and brittle. I used all the decals for the B5N2 Kate, but decided to move away from them on the D3A1 and A6M2 when possible. Specifically I painted on the Hinomarus, and any type of stripe.
~Excellent builds! You have a very thoughtful wife. Thanks for posting this article, with lots of great pix.
Thank you @marvin. I appreciate the compliment, and yes she is quite a catch!
Excellent jobs, Keith! You made the most of the triple Hasegawa offering!
Thank you Spiros @fiveten. Thanks for following along for all three builds over the past year.
That is an awesome display of great scale modeling! 🤩 And, something to really be proud of! All three are stunning models, Keith @greenterroz. 👍 Your carrier deck also looks great; man, what a fine article all together! 🏆
I appreciate the kind words @garybrantley
great work on these 3! Excellent results, thanks for sharing!
Thank you David @dbutlr
Very, very nice
Appreciate that George @blackadder57
Models all super. Carrier deck photos quite convincing. All good.
Thank you @bails
Beautiful job on All.
Thanks @gwskat
A superbly build group of IJN aircraft, Keith @greenterrorz
Excellent work on the interior details.
Pictures are amazing as well, especially the ones taken on the Hiryu deck.
Thank you for the kind words John. Also, I appreciate you following my build logs over the past year for this build. @johnb
Excellent work on that trio. They look good sitting on that carrier deck.
Thank you for the compliment @chasbunch
That's a beautiful treio of WW2 Japanese airpower. Really outstanding job in all three. Your carrier deck and photography really add to your build, top notch Keith!
Thanks @curtisshawk. I’m glad you enjoy the photographs. My main goal is to present a realistic looking scene/build
Mission accomplished! 👍
Nice work, Keith. I really miss Hasegawa new aircraft releases. They were always solid kits and represented good value.
Yeah it doesn’t seem like much new stuff comes out. Thanks for the kind words @j-healy
Fine result. I love the trio of kits in one box!
Thank you. I love how Hasegawa included all three in one box as well. @embersonfedders
Superior work on the IJN aircraft Keith. All three make for a great looking diorama, which would be a hit at any local model show.
Thank you Tom. I’ve actually never been to a show, but would like to one day. @tom-bebout
Now you just need an F-14 to display with them ! Nice work on the three of these models
1 attached image. Click to enlarge.
Thank you @ssgt. I’ll do an F-14 one of these days and maybe place next to the Zero on my display shelf lol.
Really a superior effort. I admire all of the work you put into this project. What was your technique on the rivets and panels shading on the Zero? Looks amazing.
Thank you @markhedrick. The rivets were applied using a riveting tool. The panel shading was done by painting the whole plane black, and then carefully airbrushing in the IJN Grey-Green where I wanted highlights. This technique leaves behind dark areas when done correctly.
Fantastic project successfully completed, very well done.
Thank you for the compliment and for following along on my builds @chinesegeorge
G’day Keith (@greenterrorz),
What a marathon effort for three excellent builds. Well done.
It was great fun following the build log.
Liked!
I appreciate the kind words Michael. Also, thank you for following along on the build log @michaelt
Impressive presentation, Keith.
Thank you Rafi @blackmopane
That is a very impressive display , great job.
I appreciate that Mark @gelleb18
Job well done! An awesome effort. @greenterrorz
Thank you @jdtruby
I'm blown away Keith (@greenterrorz) 🙂
Very well done sir!
I appreciate the kind words @scottiya
Keith (@greenterrorz)
All of these turned out very well. I especially like the extra details that you added to the engine like the plug wires. However, the thing that really makes your pictures stand out is the photo base you made. The carrier deck is like icing on the cake.
Thank you for letting me know how you built yours step by step. I will be making one of these very soon for some Japanese planes I have underway. I have plans to make an American version for the same reason.
I have another question for you. How did you get the background added to the pictures ? The sea / sky combination with some clouds looks spot on.
Thanks in advance, and for sharing these beauties with us. You have done an outstanding job with these, and I made sure to click on several of the various "like" buttons.
Well done. So what is going to be your next project ?
Thank you for the compliment and you’re welcome @lgardner
As for my next project - it is going to be a similar scale build. It is an
Eduard Fw 190 A-7 & Eduard Fw 190 D-9 Diorama. Here is a link to the WIP if you wanna know more -
https://imodeler.com/groups/work-in-progress-aircraft/forum/topic/eduard-fw-190-a-7-eduard-fw-190-d-9-diorama/?topic_page=1&num=15#post-8
For the background, I used photoshop to change it. If you have access to Discord, I can stream on there one evening and show you how to do it if you have photoshop. It is a bit complex. I learned on YouTube, but still had to do a lot of my own learning. Here is the YouTube video I watched - https://youtu.be/8fyTNkfZVi0?si=IKLyMNdc9iZ-m8YX
All three are beautiful models! Fantastic project - well done!
Thank you @gkittinger