The Little World

I’m not sure if I should leave money on the mantlepiece. I’ve just had my moment of pleasure and it’s all over. But I don’t regret it at all.

Lets face it – building a Hobby Boss fighter plane is never going to be a case of long-term employment. Unless you pace yourself, you’ll find that you’re gluing on the undercarriage and looking for the varnish bottle within a very short time – but I did not realise that I would be in on Saturday afternoon and out on Monday morning. And did not expect as good a result as has occurred.

The CLAUDE is a sweet machine that has had little actual coverage. I remember once in the ninth grade repainting a 1:48th Boeing P-26 Peashooter to represent a Mitsubishi A5M but I cannot tell you why I did it. So the discovery of this $ 17 kit was a real blessing. And finding that the Chinese manufacturer took the whole thing seriously and put out a superb little kit was endorsement of it as a model.

The basic structure was easy – and this time I decided to use Mr. Color lacquer paint throughout. My local hobby shop has received new stocks of the brand and I do not need to hoard the colours I’ve got. The silver is Super Silver and the cowling colour is a specific mix for Japanese aircraft bottled and labelled as such. Red is…well…red.

The makers were coy about the lettering seen on the sides of the fuselage and the port wing – showing the exact position of it but not detailing it on the colour call-out. An internet search has shown it as a feature on an aftermarket set of decals and supplied the following information about W-101:

Houkoku 260 – W 101 – Fujisawa Go.

Flown by Tamotsu Yokoyama of SORYU Fighter Group. November 1939.

I still suspect the lettering has a political message and has been suppressed in the presentation of the model. Interestingly enough, the box art has it removed but the same model but with an image that includes the lettering – is available in the USA from an internet supplier.

Never mind – they can waltz around each other as much as they like – this has turned out very well. It’s a contemporary of the Brewster Buffalo in USN yellow wing and I think I’ll search out a Soviet I -16 as a companion piece.

Technicalities: The decals were put down over the bare paint – but as it was gloss silver lacquer I didn’t expect any silvering of the decals anyway. The HB decals are slow to release but apply well. An overnight coat of Micro Sol was all that was needed. Clear coat was Mr. Top Coat gloss.

Addendum: The port wing has ” Hokoku ” as the insignia – a Shinto shrine in the grounds of Osaka Castle. It was also the name of a Japanese merchant ship that functioned as an auxiliary raider until HMIS BENGAL succeeded in sinking it in 1942. But I’m betting the inscription refers to the shrine – and they are cagey about it getting out in the Asian area. The side inscription is numbers and a reference to the spirit animal shachihoko – a half tiger-half fish.

Not as much fun as pinup girls but but at that stage of the game the Japanese weren’t into anime…