The Little World

I puzzled a bit at the Tamiya box for this float-plane. No Allied code-name. Normally they give that to let people know what it was called – but this one wasn’t called anything…I suspect the Allies never saw one flying.

It was meant to be an attack bomber carried by a very large submarine – possibly to attack US naval bases or the Panama Canal, or perhaps to fire-bomb the forests of the US and Canadian west coast. That was tried by other means and failed.

So this Tamiya model is primarily intended – as were many Hasegawa and Fujimi kits – for the home market in Japan. I’m glad it escaped to Australia as it has proved a wonderful build.

The only flaws seen were introduced by me in scuffing on the upper wing surface – I put pressure on a clear coat too early in its curing cycle. Fortunately I could quickly spritz a small spray of the clear back over the scuff marks and they have disappeared. I need more patience.

Would this sort of thing ever been more than a weapon of desperation? No. It is another prime example of the Japanese Naval Command’s misunderstanding of its own role and the nature of the enemy it stirred up. Like the YAMATO and MUSASHI it was wasted effort and time.