Kates over Pearl

Salut modellers!

I have noticed that japanese aircrafts are a little underrespresentated in this section. So let's change that!

My first model in 2008 was this Nakajima B5N2, one of my favourite WW 2 bombers, which I built within 6 weeks between December 2007 and January 2008. It's a 5 years old limited edition (No. 09593) from Hasegawas well known 1/48 kit. I mainly used Tamiya colours IJN Grey XF12 and IJN Green XF11. Brown and Red come from Revell No. 87 and No. 37. The only problem I had were the 2 white ribbons around the rear fuselage. They were on the decal sheet but in wrong shape and so too short to wrap around. So I had to airbrush them after the whole model was nearly finished. A bit tricky, but I'm quite satisfied with my work. For that I used IJN Grey from Agama. You can now easily see the difference between Tamiyas and Agamas IJN Grey. I personaly prefer Tamiyas colour, which is more precise for my point of view. The canopy was painted seperatly and the last 2 sections were cut with a resin saw afterwards to match with the picture on the box. As usual for me the kit is built out of the box with no extras and it's also not weathered.

The original aircraft was based on the carrier "Zuikago" and flew in the 2. attack wave. I'm quite sure that the aircraft survived this raid, as the japanese had only little losses during the Pearl Harbour Raid and there are some good pictures in Burindos "Famous Airplanes Of The World" which show the aircraft with empty bomb racks probably on return to its carrier. Hasegawa gives the pilots name with Ensign Kazumasa Kaneda.

Okay, enough of talking, let picutures speak. Hope you enjoy my little walk around.
Black Widow

.... you want some more pictures? Okay, here we go!

.... and 3 more! As you can see on the last picture the aircraft carried 2 x 250 kg bombs in combat. Your comments are welcome. And before I forget .... the little ground plate is from mark58. Thanks Marc!

Happy modelling!
Black Widow

Extra

Great models and nice pictures !

Superbe Good


A+fredo

Hi Blacky
Another nice model, and the pictures are top !
Can you tell us what painting reference Hasegawa give for the brown color ? It seems not correct on your Kate, too light and too "beige" in French (I did not find exact translation for this color). Japanese brown color is close to RAF brown.
You write "Zuikago" : is it the German translation for ZUIKAKU ?
Best regards, and so long.

an extra little wonder you show us there!!
i have nothing to add to what has been already said, except that your high quality shots reflect the real beauty of your model, and the painting is good!
well, congratulations for this admirable assembly!

A+
Alex

Merci beaucoup, Thank you very much, Vielen Dank for your comments. Please don't make me blush!

@Archiane
The brown colour is a little darker on the model than here on the photos. But you are right, it is a little too light because I thought that Revell No. 87 Couleur Terre would be darker. I was quite surprised in the first moment when I noticed my mistake. But now it is too late to change it and I like the aircraft anyway with this kind of "personal note". Hasegawa gives the colour reference as "Earth No. 133" from Mr. Color with no aquivalent to Gunze Sangyo. We don't get Mr. Color here in Germany and on the other hand I don't use Gunze. And the Gunze colour card is also not really helpful because the printed colours are mostly darker than the real varnish. If I would build this aircraft again, I would use a darker brown. The only refernce I have is 2 b/w photos of the aircraft in Burindos book. I don't think there exist colour photos of "Kates" in combat in the internet, at least I didn't find one. The carriers name is "Zuikaku", I just made a mistake in writing.

@alaf905
There is nothing magical about my pictures. I use a Canon PowerShot SX 100 IS. The pictures are taken on the kitchen table with a photo wallpaper in the background and the shining through the windows. I reduce the photos to 800 x 600 pixels before upload to Tigers Wings. The final coating on all my models (since I use airbrush) comes from "Satin Varnish 51 P" from Agama. But I work with airbrush only since May 2006, before that all my kits were painted with brush (pinceau in french?). Thanks for your compliments.

Au revoir
Black Widow

thanks a lot for your explanations Black Widow!
you have no reason to blush as your work is impressive!!
just be proud of you, really proud!

A+
Alex

Because I named this thread "Kates over Pearl" and not "Kate over Pearl" there must be another one somewhere, right? Well, here it is!

This is the ordinary Hasegawa 1/48 kit (JT76) which you still get at your local hobby shop today. I built it somewhere in 2004 and fancied the 2. version because it's more colourfull. The colours I used back then came from Humbrol and Revell Enamels. Don't ask me what colours I used. I'm getting older now and forgetful. I painted the whole aircraft with the good old brush (=pinceau?) and for the brown patches I used Microbrush Superfine. That was a lot of work! The picture were also made in 2004 with a different camera.

The original aircraft was based on the carrier "Soryu" and flew in the 1. attack wave. On the 2. photo you can see, that the aircraft carried only 1 x 800 kg bomb in combat, compared to the other model with 2 x 250 kg. Unfortunatly I have no photo of the underside of the wings but it is silver instead of IJN Grey. Hasegawa gives the pilots name as Warrant Officer Sato Haruo.

Well, I hope you like my little walk around.
Black Widow

.... and the last 4 ....
Oh, before I forget, there are still 2 more "Kates" waiting in the box to be build one day ....

your kate it's beautyful

Nice technic with brushes and original colours !!
Congretulations for your models !!

Black Widow a écrit:

I don't think there exist colour photos of "Kates" in combat in the internet, at least I didn't find oneBlack Widow

Yes, of course, and certainly no more for any other japanese planes. But if you get the Osprey Imperial Japanese Navy Aces 1937-1945, you can see two A5M2a profils with the correct japanese brown color. And Henry Sakaida, which supervised the book, is thrustworthy.

For BI-318, I acknowledge that it does not be easy to paint a mottled camouflage with brush. So felicitations.

Your second Kate is... Wouhaouuuuuuuuu !

It' s very nice!!!



Congratulations



A+
galm

Thank you again for your comments! If someone of you happen to be in Nuremberg at the "German Model Masters" next weekend (24./25.05.), you can see one of my Katies live there.

@Archiane
Thanks for the hint. I have that book and now that you told me, I had a closer look. I didn't think of looking into the "Aces" book, because I was building a bomber. Well, better luck next time ....

Black Widow