Hi Jeremy @jmillan!

What a nice entry! And I can see you've done quite a bit of progress already!

This looks it is going to be a great build and I can sense it will be a quick build too!

I personally love old kits (with all their "problems", of course). Kind of satisfying me bringing them on.

I am very fond of Saburo Sakai, too. In fact, I have the 1/48 Hasegawa version of one of his planes, intending to build it for this GB, so your build will be sort of my guideline.

I didn't know about his book, now it's a priority for me to get it.

P.S. I like the "tightening" pliers at your next to last pic. Seem very helpful, so, If you don't mind, I steal this idea.

Waiting for your progress, my friend!

That is one sharp looking office you built there @jmillan.

Hello Jeremy ! @jmillan
This is another great addition to our every growing Empire of Japan group... Thank you very much for starting another build for our group.

I have a few of these older Tamiya kits started in another build journal elsewhere on the Imodeler website. My build journal was for the Operation Vengeance / Yamamoto last flight. Just as you have demonstrated, they go together quick, and look very good once completed. Even though it's an older kit, it's still a nice one. Saburo Sakai's A6M Zero is definitely on my build list.

Years ago I got to meet Martin Caidin, and got to walk through his Ju-52 when I was a teenager.

The work you have done on the cockpit is very impressive ! Where did you get the seat harness ? It looks exceptionally nice.

I'll be watching for another update. Thanks again.

Jeremy, @jmillan
Yes it was a very special day. On a Thanksgiving weekend back in the late 1970's or early 80's going from memory. I grew up near a small fly in community and we could always watch the planes as they flew in from our house... That weekend we noticed there was a bunch of Warbirds flying in. So Dad and I hopped in the car and drove over. When we got there we were greeted warmly by the group. I saw all kinds of cool planes that weekend flying. Mustangs, T-6's, a T-33 jet, DeHavilland Beaver, some Pitt's Specials and Great Lakes biplanes , and even a Messerschmidt Bf-108 Taifun was there flying that weekend.

But the real "Stars" of the show was Harry Doan's F4U-1A Corsair, which had just been restored to airworthy condition, and Martin Caidin's Ju-52. Both were flying on various occasions. Martin's Ju-52 was painted up in the typical Splinter scheme 70/71 over 65, with yellow cowlings and rudder. He had his plane set up so that you could walk in and out of it, and we had free roam up to the cockpit area. I met him as my Dad and I were looking at his plane that day. I didn't recognize his name until my Dad said "This is the man who wrote the story about the $6 Million Dollar Man, and the Bionic Woman". Back then they both were a popular weekly TV series that ran a new episode each week...
He was a cool guy. His Ju-52 was named "Iron Annie" and he demonstrated a short take off in it that weekend. I was amazed at how quickly it became airborne. It looked as if it almost leaped into the air. He would rev all three engines up to max power and release the brakes. Then it was a matter of seconds and the plane was in the air... It was a very cool sight to see, especially as a kid.

Now I hear that his Ju-52 is flying in Europe and is wearing Lufthansa colors. I think they have a fleet of three Ju-52's that are all similarly marked. Here's a picture I took of the Corsair from that day. If you look closely at the photo you will see my shadow on the taxi way.

I have pictures of the Ju-52 in our old family photo albums over at my mom's house. I'll see about getting some of our old photo albums from her the next time we visit. This virus has kept us from visiting her regularly for obvious reasons.

Thanks for letting me know about the Eduard seat belts. They look very good and I will have to check into getting several sets for my A6M's that are underway.

@lgardner Wow! Such a cool story Louis. Thanks for sharing. And @fiveten your right, the shadow in the pic is priceless! Great memory right here. 🙂

Looks great Jeremy @jmillan! Nice result on your scribing too!

Thanks Spiros. And Erik you are right they are a little deep. I hope the paint will fill them in a bit. I need more practice.