Hi everyone!

Now my Val is almost finished, the EoJ GB addiction has forced me to start another project, the 1/48 Eduard Ki-115 "Tsurugi".

This was an astonishing suicide machine, built mainly of non strategic materials (steel, wood, fabric etc). It was to carry a bomb that was secured under the belly, unable to be released from the pilot. The landing gear was to be jettisoned after T/O, for it to be reuseable...but not the rest of the plane, including the pilot...Strange machines of strange days!

I bought this kit in 2004. It was one of Eduard's great releases back then, creating quite an impact to the modeling world.

The kit looks lovely. It is a profipack version with some nice photoetch. (just look at those ignition harnesses - IF I will be able to implement them at the nicely detailed engine).

I had the usual experts examining it... The younger one moaned a bit about the beige styrene colour, but I finally was cleared to GO!

Started gluing the wings, cockpit and engine to have an initial feeling...NOT BAD at all!

Keeping you posted.

All the best, Great EoJ GB!

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Thanks Louis @lgardner! Starting to experimenting for the depiction of the wooden: floor, front bulkhead, control stick etc. This is fun (though the plane's reality wasn't).

Cockpit detailing in process.

Drilled 6 oval holes to the seat to look like the real one.

There's a lovely photoetched dual cable exiting the throttle box and going forward...let's see if I will manage...

Cleaned the propeller and glued the hub.

The two bombs looked very detailed, so I decided to build them. As don't normally hang bombs, I might present them by the plane (diorama-ish style).

Engine painting and weathering still in process - just look at the tiny exhausts on the left, still attached to the sprue.

Wing flaps assembled (on top of the exhausts - also still attached to the sprue), need to be cleaned after glue curing.ftinghere a lot of thin and/or tiny bits molded. There is some mold shift that, combined with the brittle-ish plastic, makes things a bit graphic at times. But nothing too bad.

Wood depiction attempts still going on.

Still reading whatever scarce and at times contradictory info I can find about this extraordinary no-turning-back-after-takeoff machine (104 built - none used operationally).

I love this built!

All the best EoJ GB!

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Those PE magneto cables look great! Good idea to display the bombs along the plane - with the drop-off gear and no wheel-wells etc it will be cool with a clean wing.

Thanks my friends!

Pedro @holzhamer: This kit had risen some interest when it was introduced back in 2004. To my knowledge, not a lot have been built since then.

Many of the PE parts ARE microscopic, so I need all the luck I can get! I even have to wraparound two of them at each bomb!

Erik @airbum: somehow Imanaged to save the engine harnesses, neatly bent them into place. They subtly enhance the look of the engine.

Glenn @glenn73: Chilling to say the least! I currently collect every scarce info I can find. No wonder there's no history provided in the Eduard instruction sheet!

As for the progress:

Fuselage glued together, then the assembled wing under it. Fit was bad! But It may have been my fault.

Tail section glued, fit was perfect.

Engine harness cables bent into place and engine glued at its backplate - minus the exhausts.

Plastic was trimmed where fit was bad, so as to start the sanding session tomorrow.

All the best!

4 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Doing loops of sanding and applying putty to the wing-to-fuselage joint at the front, to obtain a passable result. Today the right side was the star of the loop show...

Hey Spiros, another great pick for the GB - Eduard from 16 years ago! And never operational! That's pretty obscure! Love it! And as ever you are taking it all in your stride - great work, again!

Thanks Mike @mlicari!

Thanks Paul @yellow10!

Thanks Erik @airbum!

What looked like an simplistic conventional plane, turned indeed out to be a crazy idea materialized in the most simple and together most desperate manner.

I love building it, even if it represents one of the darkest aspects of aviation.

Thanks for your commenting support, my friends!