Akagi Zero-sen diorama WIP#8 by Panagiotis Koubetsos

This is my Akagi Rei-sen diorama finished..It took me more than a year to do but I enjoyed it a lot, especially the island scratchwork!

WIP#1, WIP#2, WIP#3, WIP#4, WIP#5, WIP#6, WIP#7

Mitsubishi G3M "Soyokaze"

Three photos today from a vintage publication of the transport Mitsubishi G3M "Nell" named "Soyokaze" (Breeze), registered J-BEOA. On April 9, 1939 took off from Tokyo's Haneda airport reaching Tehran on April 15 after brief stops at Taipei, Guangdong (Canton), Bangkok, Kolkata (Calcutta), Karachi, Basra and Baghdad. Pilot was Matsui Shogo and passengers included Minister of Communications Okubo Takeo, LCDR Eguchi Hozumi and diplomat (at the time, after the war ambassador to the UN) Tsuruoka Senjin and an (unnamed) official from Dai Nippon Koku. The occasion was the (second) wedding ceremony of the Crown Prince Mohammad Reza Pahlavi (later Shah of Iran) and Egyptian princess Fawzia Fuad that took place in the Marble Palace on April 25, 1939. On that day "Soyokaze" flew in formation above the palace escorted by Iranian aircraft followed by Italian, Turkish and aircraft from other countries.

On May 27 "Soyokaze" returned to Japan by the same route.

Tachikawa Ki-54 "Hickory"

A set of Tachikawa Ki-54 "Hickory" photos from a vintage, October 1944, publication of rather poor quality but interesting nonetheless. It features a transport Ki-54c most probably previously belonging to a civilian school as indicated by the civilian J- registration. Although it is not fully visible the only possible one, according to the civilian registration register, is J-BNOZ. Note the red-white-red stripe indicating civilian aircraft.   

Festiwal Modelarski- KRAKÓW 2015

Our good friend Zygmunt sent over photos of Japanese aircraft models participating in this year's Model Show organised by IPMS Kraków and "Group B". It took place in the Muzeum Lotnictwa Polskiego w Krakowie on June 6 and 7. This year, due to a long weekend, there were only (?!) 600 models.

My favourite is the Fine Molds "Kikka" in 1:48 by Andrzej Smoliński (thank you Mr. Pilarski and Anonymous).

Dziękuję bardzo Zygmunt!

 

ARAWASI INTERNATIONAL Magazine Issue #12 - OUT NOW!!!

After a long hiatus the new issue of our magazine is now out. Fifty pages with one hundred photos, colour illustrations and more. Most of the photos have not appeared in print before and we hope you will enjoy the original article subjects that stayed off the beaten path of "Zero", "fighters" and "aces".

Contents:
-JAPANESE STAGGERWINGS
 The Story of License Built Beech Aircraft C17Es in Japanese Service
 Text: John A. Godwin & The Arawasi Team / Illustrations: Devlin Chouinard & Zygmunt Szeremeta

 

-HUMAN BOMB OHKA PILOTS READY FOR TAKE OFF!

 A first hand account of a Japanese veteran pilot who flew seaplanes, Zero fighter and Ohka.
 Text: Saeki Masaaki

 

-THROUGH FURNACES AND FREEZERS
 Kumakawa Ryotaro's Stinson Reliant & Messerschmitt Bf108 "Taifun"
 Text: The Arawasi Team / Illustrations: Zygmunt Szeremeta

 

-6-SHI - The Experimental Fighter That Wasn't Good eNAF

 An article on a rather obscure experimental IJNAF fighter design accompanied by a set of photos that appear in this issue for the first time in print.
 Text: The Arawasi Team / Illustrations: Zygmunt Szeremeta

 

-TACHIKAWA Ki-36 ACCIDENT REPORT

An official accident report accompanied by original photos featuring a Tachikawa Ki-36 "Ida" with a new unit tail marking.
 Text: The Arawasi Team / Illustrations: Zygmunt Szeremeta

 

-Model Commentary - Experimental 11-Shi Special Reconnaissance Seaplane (E11K1)
 Bill Sanborn's excellent A+V model in 1/72.

 

For more information, check HERE.

Shizuoka 2015 #8 Best of the best

And now the best Japanese aircraft models of the show.

An exquisite little diorama by Ishizuka Makoto of Mokei Bishu Club Minami Shibu. Fine Molds 1/48.

The 1/144 model collection of Kanbayashi Yasunori of Project 144 was really something else. Very original subjects brilliantly done in this tiny scale. We hope to present better Kanbayashi-san's models in the future.

 

 

 

 

 

This year Master Modeller Saito Hisao of Tokushima Modellers Club treated us to an incredible Nakajima Ki-43 Model 2 late model "Hayabusa", Hasegawa 1/48. As always Saito-san didn't use any decals. You know...you walk down the isles with thousands of nice models and suddenly you stop and admire. Simple us that.

Terashima Hideyuki of Hamamatsu Shofu-kai presented two unbelievable scratch built models in 1/48. The first was a Blackburn Swift T.1 Mk-2 and the other a Sopwith Cuckoo T.Mk2.

And finally one more vintage Japanese aircraft. I just couldn't stop staring in bewilderment at the Type 10 Carrier Torpedo Bomber or Mitsubishi 1MT built by Tanaka Yoshihiro of Stall. The rare Marusan 1/50 kit looks absolutely fantastic! Bravo!

There you have it guys. Hope you enjoyed the photos of this year's show. Hopefully next year the quality of the photos will be much better.

Check HERE for many more photos we took of non-J. plane models.