1/72d Airfix B5N-2 Type 97 ”Kate” flown by Lt Tomonaga off IJN carrier Hiryu

Started by Rick Wilkes · 15 · 7 years ago
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    Rick Wilkes said 7 years, 8 months ago:

    Okay with the Wildcat and TBD, seemingly in hand, time to start on my Kate.
    This is the second kit from the Airfix Kate vs Wildcat Dogfight Double kit. I've heard nothing but good things about this kit, so hopefully there won't be much for me to screw up..lol
    So without further ado, in a few weeks I hope to have something that looks like this.

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    Bernd Müller said 7 years, 8 months ago:

    The kit is a real gem, happy modelling with your Kate.

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years, 8 months ago:

    Very nice ! What color is the under surfaces ? Ame-Iro like on the earlier A6M Zero ?

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    Rick Wilkes said 7 years, 8 months ago:

    Hi Louis, to tell the truth I'm not completely sure, but I think is was INJ Light Grey Green. I haven't reaseached it in a while but I thought Ame-Iro was mostly associated with Zeros, but I'll allow that I may have that completely wrong.

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    Tom Bebout said 7 years, 8 months ago:

    Looking forward to seeing your progression on this kit. Have fun.

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    Rick Wilkes said 7 years, 8 months ago:

    Underway on the Kate. Using PollyScale Weyerhaeuser Green as recommended for Nakajima Interior Green. Since the crew will be aboard I doubt I'll put much effort into the cockpit. I'll work on them next.

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    Tom Cleaver said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    It's such a nice kit, the proverbial 10-thumbed moron would have a hard time screwing things up. the onlyh complaint is the canopy - if you want it open, the "double molds" of the open canopies is a pain in the posterior. Falcon does make a very nice vacuform canopy that solves the problems, but you have to buy it in a set of other canopies - all of which are good and could stimulate further projects.

    I have one of these kits in progress and I really like it.

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    Tom Cleaver said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    A better version of Nakajima interior green is a darker US Interior Green. I crawled into the POF Zero (Nakajima built) which recreated the original cockpit color, and darker US Interior Green is a good match.

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    Rick Wilkes said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    Saw your post to the POF Zero, I'll use a "version" of US Interior green on my next Nakajima project. By the time I'm finished sloping some Nun Oil wash and shoehorning the crew in, there won't be much of the interior visible anyway.
    I couldn't agreed more with your comments about the "pre-nested" open canopy section. They did the same thing with the 1/72 Stuka B-1. Maybe their heart is in the right place but it's an idea that needs to head off into the sunset.

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    Rick Wilkes said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    Being getting the interior, and mostly the crew done up for the Kate. The Pilot and Observer are finished other than a wash to give some depth to their features. The Pilot is from a PJ Productions set of 2 Japanese pilots, the Observer is from the kit


    What you might ask is that blob of blue tack on the gunners seat. First I cut and folded the back down on the gunners seat so he could face backwards. The blue tack is so I can experiment with his position once I put his MG in his hands.
    I'm still touching up his paint but here he is ready to fend off Cdr's Thach's F4F-4.



    He is the other PJ Productions Pilot, originally in the same pose as the front seater. I cut
    the right arm away from the body and repositioned as you see.
    And here's a quick look at how they will look in the fuselage.

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    Greg Kittinger said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    Looking good! How do you like PJ's pilots? I've bought several sets, and sometimes they seem a bit larger than scale. Obviously could be the aircraft they are going into...!

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    Rick Wilkes said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    Hi Greg, the PJ figures compare favorably with the kit figures in size, though I did perceive them as slightly smaller. I was surprised at how hard I had to look for seated Japanese aircrew, the Airfix figures being RAF or Allies. In that vein hopefully Hasegawa will release the figures from the new Emily as a separate set.

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    Tom Bebout said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    Looking good Rick, especially like the pilot and crew.

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    Craig Abrahamson said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    Late to the party, Rick (been super busy of late - won't bore you with details - but I'm looking forward to seeing this one completed. Sure is looking really well so far. I like it (even though it IS 72nd scale) 🙂

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    Louis Gardner said 7 years, 7 months ago:

    The crew members look really good ! Looks like you have made some headway... I don't have a B5N Kate built yet. I have several in my stash but they are the Hasegawa 1/48 versions and I have one of the old Nichimo kits.

    The Kate looks great Rick ... Thanks for the updates.