Fukuryu

Embarrassingly late to the party (in my defense, I was without a personal computer for the best part of two months...) but I can't miss a build that has a lot of my favourite things: Navy Bird Japanese aircraft 1/72 Punk Rock!!! My younger self used to play bass mostly in Dark bands, but on occasions I played guitar with a friend's heavily punk influenced band; I even broke strings on stage, so I think that qualifies me as a rocker! (I even managed to break the E string on a bass!) The Kikka looks splendid, Bill. I must confess I never thought much of that kit, but you have brought the faith back to me. Of course, in the remote case I were able to match your skills...

Glad to see your site back, @Phantome

Who, by the way, is a member here: @Terry @ Aviaeology, although he hasn't been around for a while now.

I haven't had any kind of problem (at least to my country) with water-based acrylics (Hataka's Red and Blue lines, AK's 2nd and 3rd Gen. Acrylics), using FedEx, DHL and EMS. Truth to be told, I always kind of hold my breath until the packages are delivered.

I am not familiar with most of their colour recommendations, but based on the pictures of the completed model their research seems to be a few decades behind. Unless there is something very wrong with my Retina monitor that bluish grey is totally unconvincing, and aotake in the wheel wells is wrong: they even quote it as a Mitsubishi-built aircraft in the profiles (as every Pearl Harbour A6M was), so underside colour would the correct choice (also for the interior of the wheel covers).

Sorry if I misinterpreted you, Graham. In fact never thought you were recommending Sky, my disagreement was mainly with the "pistachio" school of thought for early IJN overall colour. Were I pressed to use only Humbrol enamels (something out of the realm of possibilities for me since I have to mail-order my supplies from abroad, which implies water-based acrylics only), I'd go with @Nick Millman's recommended mix in his "Painting The Early Zero-sen" monograph; since he hasn't discussed it publicly I won't do it either but we can follow through PM if you wish. Once again, if forced to use Humbrol enamels and this time just one colour, then I agree with you, Hemp would be the least offensive. Sorry all for the derailment, I promise I will behave from now on.

Heller is no longer a French company: Heller Hobby GmbH Erlenbacher Str. 3 42477 Radevormwald Germany

I disagree, Graham. Sky is far from the more accepted olive-tinted grey, my avatar serving as a quick reference. Maybe IJA #1 Hairyokushoku can be considered close and being and Army colour, appropriate for a Ki-46. But not on a Navy aircraft.

Please don't! According to the Frrom site, "Release expected in April/May 2023".

If you can be a bit patient there is a new one coming next year: http://www.frrom.com/index.php?page=frrom-fr0046-2 There is also a thread going on in the Rumourmonger section:

@Terry @ Aviaeology is a member here. Perhaps he will get the notification he has been mentioned.

Believe me, is no picnic either in the middle of a heat wave! According to the doctor I am having one at the moment (I have been on sick leave all week) and staying in bed shivering while the air around me seems to be boiling is not something I wish on anyone. Turning the AC on only make thing worse. Hope you're feeling better by now.

Sorry to hear about your health issues, Bill, and hope you get better soon. In the meantime, I will be waiting here at the back, sipping a porter (it's late spring here, and we are enjoying 100F temperatures... Don't want to think about the summer). While the subject matter is not one of my favourites, at least it has a propeller and is in the right scale. And above all, it's a Navy Bird build! Those are always a delight, not to mention a great source of tips and tricks.

Hasegawa's Ki-15-I is an ex-Mania mould, no the very nice LS one, which is still available under the Microace brand and still cheap as dirt. They mould all the variants to boot.

I've read it described as "winged leopard" also; still no pictorial proof of that particular bat (there were bat insignia but they were different and well documented).

Given in the same spirit as yours. For specific questions, I'm at your disposal.

I think is about time to let this myth die.

I've never seen photographic evidence of a bat decoration on Egyptian's MiG-15 or -17 (I am not saying it doesn't exist, just I haven't seen it), but my theory is that the sphinx in the pic below (scanned at low resolution and cropped from Osprey's "Arab-Israeli Wars 1947-1982") has been somehow confused for a bat and the mistake repeated ad nauseam. I'd be glad to be proven wrong!

Not much into special schemes (or Rafale), but I like the 75th Anniversary one:

https://www.europeanairshows.co.uk/news/80-years-normandie-niemen-rafale

This is the pic @captnwoxof was referencing above: HTH.

I lost access a while ago and haven't been able to recover it, and I tried everything. I eventually gave up. 😕

You are right:

Also Mania:

No good pics yet but look at this article by Ryan Toews in J-Aircraft: https://j-aircraft.com/research/ryan/a6m2_and_a6m3_secondary_markings.htm, particularly the "No Step/No Push/Step Here Markings" section and illustration nearby. According to the article that marking is Mitsubishi-specific (so correct for a Pearl Harbour aircraft) but the position is wrong in the Revell instructions.