Category: Japanese aircraft
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Aichi Val – Part Two – Not Quite Tamiya
I was a bit premature in my assessment of the Fujimi kit of the Aichi Type 11. It is closer to Monogram than Tamiya. The flash encountered was not too bad – nothing that knifing and sanding could not deal with. The location pins were in the right places. Yet the fuselage halves fit only…
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Airfix Vintage Val – Part Two – So Far, So Good
The last couple of plague days were very productive – and the Airfix Aichi Val was coming along splendidly. Fuselage seams needed progressive assembly but in the end little filler would be needed – so little that it would probably be only thickened undercoat. So far a victory over the Fujimi product. Wings needed no…
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Fujimi Aichi Val – Part One – Oh Boy Oh Boy Oh Boy
I finally got to build a model of an airplane my uncle Jack shot at on Dec. 7, 1941. Fujimi kits are thin on the ground here in Western Australia at the best of times and these aren’t the best of times. But a shelf of them turned up at the local shop and I…
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Airfix Vintage Val – Part One – Comparisons
It is said that comparisons are odious – or in the case of British cinema chains, Odeons. Be that as it may, I intend to contrast and compare the Airfix vintage classic kit of the Aichi Val dive bomber with the Fujimi example that I built earlier. The prices are rather similar, so it was…
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Isuzu TX-40 – Part Three – Now You Don’t
But the Isuzu is there in full glory. And the people at Hasegawa have been thoughtful enough to provide a hand trolley and two ground crewmen to push it, plus 5 fuel drums. This has been one of the best little mojo builds I’ve encountered in a long time. Every part went on it and…
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Isuzu TX-40 – Part Two – Now You See Him
Yoshi is a driver for the Imperial Japanese Army on Lakanuki Island. He is in charge of the refuelling truck. Always impeccable in his freshly-pressed uniform, he wheels the Isuzu TX-40 around the airfield servicing army and navy planes as they land and take off. Everyone else on the island is dressed in rags and…
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Isuzu TX-40 – Part One – Fuel For The Empire
You never think of the more humble vehicles in war – the dump trucks, re-fuelling trucks, and dustcarts. Yet they were manned by service personnel just as dedicated as the tankers and aircrew they served. I always leap on 1:76 service vehicles when I find them in the hobby shop. This Isuzu showed up at…
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The Big Local Scale Model Exhibition – Part Five – The Quest For Novelty
One of the charms for me when I attend the doll-house ladies’ exhibition, or that of the model railway enthusiasts – is the novelty of the models and exhibits. I preserve this freshness by attending only one of these per year – one year it will be the doll-houses and next the trains. Every time…
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Kawanishi George – Part Three – George of the Jungle
Watch out for that tree! The Kawanishi George is complete, after a week of delight. I have never spent $ 5.00 better, and that is truly all that came out of my pocket for this fighter. Not a scrap of filler anywhere, scraped seams, and no weathering needed. It is a museum piece after all.…
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Kawanishi George – Part Two – No Colour Known To Man
I am always intrigued by the colours of the styrene plastic that kit makers choose to mould their little fighter airplanes. I’ve seen silver in early Revell kits, red, blue, oliveish-green from Aurora, and a vile yellow from Monogram. Matchbox outdid them all choosing greens, browns, and greys for their kits. And even went so…
The Little World 