Tuesday 3 April 2018

Opposites attract - a different interpretation! by Michael Thurow

The past contest, for which unfortunately I had no model to take part in, inspired me to look at the topic from a different angle. 'Opposites Attract' (or ‘Opposites Attack’) in my creative interpretation are two opposing fighters that may have encountered each other in the air at the same place and at the same time. For the community's entertainment I therefore present these two 1/48 models out of competition.
The Nichimo Ki-43-I was entered here already in contest 004 in April 2017.  It was the personal "Hayabusa" of Captain Anma Katsumi, 3rd Chutai Leader of the 64th Hiko Sentai.
The Curtiss Hawk 81-A3 (P-40C) is the vintage Monogram kit which I built in 1992.  It’s pilot was Flight Leader Charles H. Older of the AVG's 3rd Squadron ('Hells Angels').
Both combatants may have fought it out over Rangoon on December 23-28, 1941. Captain Anma finally fell victim to Hawks of the ‘Hells Angels’ on April 8, 1942. A fascinating aspect is the totally different approach in fighter technology between Nakajima and Curtiss. Nevertheless, taking their relative strengths and weaknesses into account, the pair met on equal terms.
I hope you enjoy my unusual contribution.
 
Michael Thurow - Germany

 
 
 
 

2 comments:

Mark Jahsan said...

I for one think it's great! I've had the same idea but haven't gotten around to it, well done sir...

Will Silk said...

Very well done! The pair also serve to represent the diametrically opposed thinking in terms of how aerial combat should be conducted. The Curtiss product was built heavy and meant to utilize a slash style attack tactic, where as the Ki 43 was more nimble and built to ideology that aerial fighting going into the Second World War would be conducted under largely the same premise as that of the Great War of 1914-1918. There's a lot that can be taken away from this pair of aircraft. Again, nice job!