Pete resting on the beach...by Panagiotis Koubetsos - DONE!!!

Hi all!

Here are some photos of my finished 1/48 Mitsubishi F1M2 'Pete' diorama. I thoroughly enjoyed its 8-month-long build! Making the water for the first time was a real pleasure as apart from other things I had to look at hundreds of exotic South Pacific beaches on the Internet to get some help!!

I'd also like to thank my friend George Eleftheriou for giving me lots of helpful tips all these months!

Cheers,

Panagiotis

 

 Thank you too Pano for sharing photos of your amazing diorama with our blog.

Check for past WIP: here1, here3, here4

Visitors - The New Zealand Connection

Sir Francis Charles Chichester was a brave aviator from New Zealand who visited Japan in 1931. His aircraft was a de Havilland Gipsy Moth, fitted with floats, registered ZK-AKK and named "Madam Elijah". With this small aircraft with an engine of only 100hp he set out to circumnavigate the world departing from Sydney on July 3, 1931. On the 17th he arrived in Manila having flown over New Guinea and then proceeded to Taiwan and Shanghai. From Shanghai he flew to Kagoshima arriving on August 13, a distance which normally took 5-6 hours but in his case it took more than 10. This caused some concern to the Japanese authorities questioning the flier as to his whereabouts and demanding him to describe in detail the cause for the delay. The suspicious pistol with the 17 bullets he had in his possession didn't help either. But once cleared Sir Francis flew to Katsuura harbour, Wakayama the next day, arriving at 15:30. On August 15 he set out to continue his attempt flying to Kasumigaura, taking off at 9:50 but while flying at a low altitude the port wing hit some telephone cables, cutting two but also loosing the port float which caused the aircraft to lose balance and fall in the sea. Sir Francis was seriously injured and had to be hospitalised at the city's local hospital for at least 40 days while his aircraft was completely destroyed thus giving a rather unfortunate end to the bold attempt.

RACCOON MODELS Pt. 2

Master Modeller Saito Hisao sent us photos of his exquisite Raccoon Army Type 88 Reconnaissance or Kawasaki KDA-2 in 1:48 that he built 20 years ago.
The subject is Aikoku #28 (Tokushima-go) which was donated by the citizens of Tokushima, in Shikoku, the hometown of Saito-san. The donation ceremony was not done in an airfield, since there was none in the area but on the banks of river Yoshinogawa.
After some time the model started to melt and deform and was ultimately discarded. Saito-san commented that parts of Raccoon models have just the basic shape and need a lot of work to resemble the real thing. Especially biplanes need extra strengthening of the wings.
 



And here is a photo of the real aircraft.

RACCOON MODELS Pt. 1

In the 80s-90s a series of most interesting home-made models was released under the name Raccoon Models, based in Kagamigahara, Gifu prefecture. Most were in 1:48 resin with some metal parts and included many aircraft, especially Japanese X-planes, that have not yet been released in that scale. Interior details were non-existent, the quality of the resin was so unsatisfactory that if you left the model under the summer sun it melted and deformed but they are so highly sought after that they are usually sold at very high prices when, if ever, appear on Ebay. In Japan some of them are fairly easy to find and at reasonable prices. They are those that have been released as injection by major manufacturers like Tamiya. The rest if they ever appear on the Japanese Ebay are sold between 100-300$US or more, depending on the aircraft type.
Below is an almost complete list of all the Raccoon Models in 1:48.

48-1 ~ Aichi M6A1 "Seiran"
48-2 ~ Aichi M6A1-K "Nanzan"
48-3 ~ Aichi B7A1 "Ryusei"
48-4 ~ Nakajima "Kikka"
48-5 ~ Mitsubishi A7M "Reppu"
48-6 ~ Aichi E16A "Zuiun"
48-7 ~ Aichi 10-shi Experimental Observation Seplane F1A1
48-8 ~ Nakajima Ki-201 "Karyu"
48-9 ~ Keihikoki Mita, Type 3 Glider
48-10 ~ Kawasaki XT-4 Trainer
 

48-11 ~ Mitsubishi G4M1 Model 11
48-12 ~ Ryan NYP "Spirit of St. Louis"
48-13 ~ Kawasaki Ki-78
48-14 ~ Mitsubishi J8M "Shusui"
48-15 ~ Nakajima J1N "Gekko"
48-16 ~ Kawasaki Ki-108
48-17 ~ Nakajima Type 91 Fighter NC
48-18 ~ Kawasaki Type 92 Fighter KDA5
48-19 ~ Nakajima Type 90 Carrier Fighter A2N
48-20 ~ Saab 91B Safir X1G1B

48-21 ~ Fuji T-1A
48-22 ~ Finland VL Pyörremyrsky
48-23 ~ Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.Mk.2
48-24 ~ Kawasaki Ki-64
48-25 ~ Nakajima Ki-87
48-26 ~ Hawker Sea Hawk F1 Mk 101
48-27 ~ Yokosuka E14Y1
48-28 ~ Nakajima B6N "Tenzan"
48-29 ~ Tachikawa Ki-36 / Ki-55
48-30 ~ Kayaba Ka-Go

48-31 ~ Mitsubishi B5M1
48-32 ~ Kawasaki Ki-88
48-33 ~ Kawanishi J6K "Jinpu"
48-34 ~ Tokyo Koku Ki-107
48-35 ~ Kawasaki Ki-60
48-36 ~ Kawanishi E15K "Shiun"
48-37 ~ Nakajima Ki-4
48-38 ~ Kawasaki Ki-119
48-39 ~ Mitsubishi Ki-21-II
48-40 ~ Beechcraft T-34A

48-41 ~ Nakajima J5N "Tenrai"
48-42 ~ Aichi S1A "Denko"
48-43 ~ Yokosuka R2Y "Keiun"
48-44 ~ Army Ko-4 Fighter Nieuport 29C1
48-45 ~ ?
48-46 ~ ?
48-47 ~ Mansyu Ki-98
48-48 ~ Kawasaki Ki-10
48-49 ~ ?
48-50 ~ Army Salmson 2A2 Otsu Model 1

Please note that none of the above kits is immediately available from our on-line store but feel free to send us your want-list and we can keep an eye for you.

Hansa Brandenburg W29 by Thilo-Arndt Möller Pt. 4

It's been a long time since the last posting but last weekend I did the maiden flight from water. It flies as I expected. The only thing that I have to change is the CG. The Hansa was too tail heavy, 25 gram in the float tip will be added.

Thanks Steffan for the in-flight pictures.

-Thilo-Arndt Möller-

Danke Thilo for the latest report. Personally I don't think it can get more beautiful and realistic. AMAZING!

Check 1, 2, 3 for Thilo's past WIP reports.

Mitsubishi 2MR8

Nothing much to add except that this a photo of a Type 92 Reconnaissance Aircraft or Mitsubishi 2MR8 is from a vintage publication. For more about the type HERE.

Kawasaki Ki-61 "Hien" by Steve Diederich

Hasegawa 1:72 Ki-61 I, (105 Sentai, 3rd Chutai) built in 1978. It was brush painted and, as you can see, the kit supplied fuselage band decal has yellowed. All other decals were by MicroScale. Paints used were Pactra enamels and Tamiya acrylics.

-Steve Diederich- 

Mitsubishi 3MT2 - Tateyama Kokutai

Navy Type 13 Carrier Attack Bombers or Mitsubishi 3MT2 (here) of the Tateyama Kokutai as indicated by the katakana "タ" on the tail.
The unit was organised on June 1, 1930 in Tateyama city, Chiba prefecture to patrol the areas near the coastline of East Japan. Equipped with carrier fighters, bombers, attack-bombers, patrol seaplanes and flying boats. On December 15, 1944 all the Eastern Japan patrol kokutai, including Tateyama Ku, were merged into the 903 Ku.
A second Tateyama Ku was organised on May 15, 1945 with carrier attack-bombers and patrol seaplanes.