Does anybody remember those bicycles that you could pull out the pin in the frame and fold in half to throw in the trunk of your car or stick in the corner of the garage? Well, this is the WW2 Japanese aircraft equivalent. The "Glen" was designed to be folded up and stuffed into a tube on the upper front deck of the Japanese fleet submarines, and "unboxed" to provide long range observation while on the surface..

It may also be remembered as the only Japanese aircraft to actually "bomb" the U.S. mainland, being launched from it's parent submarine off the west coast and dropping it's small incendiary load in an Oregon bush in a failed attempt to start a large forest fire.

This 72nd scale early MPM short run kit includes a vac canopy and photetch details (both of which are my bane..)

It will challenge me to complete this in the time frame alotted. I am looking forward to it...

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Thanks Spiros...I also think we will see some real neat stuff...

This is a model I haven't seen built yet either. I know the Japanese had a late war Aichi Seiran that was designed to be stored in tubes on top of a submarine just like this one you chose. There's a surviving example at the Smithsonian. Tamiya made a nice 1/48 scale model of it too. It didn't see combat to my knowledge. There were plans for the Japanese to use them in an attack on the Panama Canal, to disrupt shipping headed to the Pacific Theater. The attack was called off since the War had ended just after the submarines set sail.

Thanks for sharing the story behind the model you are building, and how it was used. History is my favorite subject. I'll be looking forward to seeing your next installment.