SHIZUOKA 2013 - pt. 1

The 52nd SHIZUOKA HOBBY SHOW was held on the 16-17-18 and 19 of May in the traditional "Twin Messe Shizuoka". Nothing had changed since last year regarding the organisation except improvements in the public transportation to and from the show, so what we wrote on this blog last year (HERE) is valid for this year’s show too.
The first big hall and about half of the second were reserved for the 77 plastic model, radio-control, car and railway modeling companies as well as the small number of publishers and bookshops.
The number of visitors this year was spectacular with every inch of the halls filled with fans trying to squeeze to get a glimpse of the makers’ booths. Not a particularly pleasant experience but definitely a sign of a successful event that more than 50 years later still attracts great interest.
What was unfortunately not interesting was the total luck of new Japanese aircraft releases in any scale by the "major companies". Absolutely nothing from Tamiya, Hasegawa or Fine Molds. Nada. Zilch.

Tamiya celebrated the arival of a restored Zero in Japan with a small booth.

Fine Molds had only a few previous released models and their belt series.

Sweet had a rather big desplay of their very popular Zero-sen series in 1:144.

Only Hasegawa is re-releasing in July their popular A6M1 Zero prototype and A6M8 in 1:48.

Various interesting releases were waiting for us in the BEAVER Corporation booth including:

CMR Douglas DC-2 in “Japanese Civilian Service” in 1:144

Yokosuka K5Y1 “Willow” and the seaplane version in 1:72 by AZ Model.

A new Nakajima C6N “Saiun” (Myrt) in 1:72 by SWORD

And various after-market sets by BEAVER.

The other new release was by TOMYTEC and GIMIX. Zero-sen Model 52 in 1:48, ready-made and painted with interior details that can be presented any way you want, undergoing maintenance or ready for action. There will be four different kits including a night-fighter Zero-sen, each with different figures. Release date is also July.

But the most pleasant surprise was in the tiny booth of ZOUKEI-MURA. A brand new Mitsubishi J2M “Raiden” (Jack) in 1:32, originally announced last year, is ready for release in a couple months. Price will be between US$90-100. We were happy to have a short conversation with very friendly Monden-san of Zokei-mura who revealed that releases for the immediate future will (unfortunately) include more non-Japanese aircraft subjects.

Stay tuned for an extensive coverage bonanza with A LOT of photos of the dozens of the modelers' exhibits. Coming up tomorrow. Need sleep.

“Scale Fest 2013”

IPMS North Central Texas 

“Scale Fest 2013”

May 11, 2013 Mesquite Convention & Events Center - Mesquite, Texas

Every May, modelers from all over North Central Texas converge on the Mesquite Convention Center to show off their creations, browse the vendors, and connect with those who share the same passion. Squadron also had a presence at the show as well as having their “open house” at their mail order facility, with plenty of good deals to be had. However, the main focus here is Japanese aviation.
While the turn-out for those who like hinomaru was a bit on the light side, there were some nice entries on the contest tables.

In 1/144th scale, there were a pair of N1K2-J Shiden-Kai and a Mitsubishi A7M Reppu. All well done for such a small scale. The first two are PLATZ kits, I believe, the latter I'm unsure of.

For those who like X-planes, there was a Ki-64 in 72nd scale. The kit manufacturer is unknown. (MPM?)

In 1/48th scale, there was a rather nice Mitsubishi A65M2 “Zero”, the Tamiya kit with added rivet details and painted on hinomaru.

Lastly, for the “what-if” fan was something I have yet to identify! Does anyone have a guess what the basis of this strange looking plane is?
If you see your model pictured, please leave a comment!

Thanks!
-D. Chouinard-

Vintage Modeling

Training of new IJNAF cadets especially those of the "Shonen Kokuhei" programme included modeling, to familiarise the teenagers with the basics of aviation. Those days it was wood and everything was completely scratch built.

Arawasi will be in the Shizuoka show this Saturday. Expect a lengthy and detailed report on everything regarding Japanese historical Aviation. New releases, the booths of the model makers and many many photos of Japanese aircraft models.
Stay tuned!

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.