SeaVenom

Interesting. So it looks like we either stick with the provided muzzle or get a donor kit such as an M26. I'll probably stick with the kit muzzle though as it looks a bit similar anyway. One other thing I noticed is none of the tanks in the film appear to have the turret machine guns. Just the mount.

Movie vehicle replica's seem to have grown in popularity over the past few years. As for the muzzle brakes yes I noticed the same thing. I think the closest to the ones in the film are parts G53 and G54 in the Takom kit. The other ones don't look to me like the ones in the film at all. here's a good shot of the movie muzzle........ https://www.google.com/search?q=m47+++battle+of+the+bulge&hl=en&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjVvKTbmOD1AhWvgVwKHdOLBVQQ_AUoAXoECAEQAw&biw=1024&bih=612&dpr=1#imgrc=rGkTC2tcqvl_xM

I was hoping they were all metal but looks like I'll have to paint over the metal finish I sprayed. Probably paint the rubber parts a very dark grey then add mud etc.

These tracks from Bronco seem to confirm it..... https://www.hannants.co.uk/product/AB3566?result-token=sW47u

I'm building this Takom M47 https://www.themodellingnews.com/2017/07/in-boxed-new-35th-scale-m47-patton-from.html as a Battle of the Bulge movie version. I thought at first they were all metal but now I'm not so sure. In the film they look more metal but it's hard to tell seeing as they're pretty much covered in mud.

Ok just read that article again. It takes me a few attempts sometimes to take all the info in but I think I've got it now. So basically the Tamiya scheme is not accurate but this scheme is probably accurate?......... http://arawasi-wildeagles.blogspot.com/2018/07/nakajima-ki-84-hayate-frank-decals-and_16.html If that is the case though....why did Watanabe do the scheme Tamiya copied in the original article especially as he was a mechanic and a graduate of 15 Shonen along with Naito?

Thanks for those.

So that model's accurate except for the overall colour which should be olive brown instead of the green and the black anti glare is probably correct?

Yes the paint flaking can make things difficult. Here's the only actual photo of a Frank with the square Hinomaru surrounds I could find..... https://boxartden.com/reference/gallery/index.php/Aircam-Aviation-Series/Nakajima-Ki-84a-b-Hayate/29-Nakajima-Ki_84-Hayate_Page_36-960 which appears to be this Hasegawa version....... http://www.blitz72.com/2011/10/hasegawa-ki-84-hayate-pre-shading/ the modeller's painted the black anti glare paint but on the real life photo it looks to me like it's all green.

Thanks all! Ok quite a bit of info to look through there so I've copied and pasted the most relevant parts........... Naito's aircraft had three kill markings which comprised of a white star with a blue circle in the center and a red tail and represented one B-29 shot down and two probables. The bomber was shot down on January 28, 1945 over Shirahama, Chiba Prefecture, the other two were on February 7 over Choshi, Chiba Prefecture, and on March 6 over Oshima. The propeller, spinner and wheel covers were in red, the color of the "Kurai Unit". The yellow corresponded to the "Yamamoto Unit" and the blue to the "Tokoro Unit From March until May the "Hayate" of Corporal Naito got a personal marking, a hare. The upper surface were repainted in glossy noryokushoku(dark green) and all the hinomaru got a white square surround. This appeared for the first time in the September 1990 issue, no. 549, of Aireview magazine. The 12-page article features 21 extremely interesting and detailed photos (before you ask, the magazine is ofcourse out-of-print) which will not be reproduced here due to copyright restrictions. As mentioned above when that first article came out it made waves among surviving 1 RenHi veterans who protested that the "Hayate" with the kill markings was not Naito's but definitely Kurai's. The family of the later even had a piece of the uniform sleeve with the kill markings. As a Class 15 graduate, Naito started training in the 1 RenHi from the end of December 1944, so it is unthinkable that he was able to shoot down B-29s in January or even February. The "Hayate" of Corporal Kuroiwa with the 1 RenHi marking and the eagle carrying a bomb is also suspicious but less than the "hare". The eagle/bomb marking is associated with toko units. It is not clear who exactly and how many graduates of the 1 RenHi joined toko units. There are two conflicting but also agreeing sources. Model Art #451 mentions that Shonen Hikohei of 14 and 15 classes from 1 RenHiwere first assigned to Akeno Kyodo Hikoshidan and from there to the 57 Shimbu-taiwhich was equipped with "Hayate". On March 30, 1945 the shimbu-tai moved to Shimodate airfield in Ibaraki Prefecture and received their first aircraft on April 10. Training for toko missions was over on May 17 then reached Miyakonojo airfield, Miyazaki Prefecture in Kyushu, on May 24. On the next day they flew their last mission. From the 11 members of the toko unit, seven were originally Shonen Hikohei; their names are known and Corporal Kuroiwa is not among them. Corporal Yamashita's "Hayate" has an eagle with a bomb on the fuselage sides (see FAOW #19, p.79). And while these decal sets can be excused for being old, Montex released in 2016 a set of masks in 1/32 for both the Naito and Kuroiwa "Hayate" perpetuating inaccurate and suspicious markings. so am I correct in thinking that the Tamiya colours are correct to a large extent? From March until May the upper surface was gloss dark green, the hinomaru's did have the white square surrounds, the prop/spinner was red (but there's some dispute whether the wheel covers were red). There's also some dispute about the kill markings on Naito's aircraft and the yellow hare?

I'm finishing off my Hasegawa !/32 Frank and I'd like to paint it in this scheme.... https://www.hyperscale.com/features/2000/frankcb_1.htm One of the reasons I like it is because it doesn't have the usual black anti glare paint on the top of the front fuselage. The Tamiya instructions say to paint it overall dark green. I've got a tin of Tamiya XF70 dark green (IJN). Anyone know if that would be ok? Or should it be painted dark green XF61.....or should it be Tamiya AS17 dark green (IJA)? XF61 looks wrong to be but XF70 looks like a good match. Also I've seen 1 or 2 people paint the black anti glare on this scheme so is there a chance Tamiya got that wrong? I can't find any photo's of the actual aircraft.

JWM's done a nice job on it on the previous page but yes it's definitely light years ahead of the Maquette kit and I'm glad we've got it. The Maquette kit looks like a bit of a dog. Mind you the real test will be when I build the Bat kit. I've got the TWA version and I can't see any engine covers so it looks like it is only Pan Am that used them as you said. I've got a Revell B17 but I don't want to use those as I want to build a B17 obviously with the engines. One question though. I know I said the panel lines aren't the best I've seen but I gave the forward fuselage a light dusting with Halfords Volvo silver car spray and it doesn't look too bad. Why are you going to fill most of the panel lines in?

Well I finally got this kit as an Xmas present. Overall it's not bad but it's definitely a bit rough in places. The panel lines range from fine to too fine which will disappear under a few coats of paint. The panel lines are also themselves slightly rough in places and not Hasegawa like. The engines are probably the worst parts and have pretty indistinct, blobby detail.

Great news. I was always surprised Hasegawa didn't at least do a new tool one in 1/72.

That's not loading for me. Do you have any other links?

Yes I think you're right there. I still can't understand how Revell made such a botch job of theirs. A car that's easily available to measure up yet they get the roofline too low and the tyres too small. The mind boggles!

Looks a bit rough in that video and with painted rather than chrome parts but obviously it might not be the one they might release. Can't be worse than that awful recent Revell kit though (hopefully).

Your picture isn't loading for me Fifer. I've had a break from this for a few weeks hence me not going back to this thread but now I'm nearly finishing it. One last thing (hopefully) I need a bit of help on is in step 13. I'm fairly sure I know where part A38 fits onto H2 but parts A14 and A19 don't look right together when I glued them as they're both angled downwards. The only parts I've seen resembling those parts in photo's of the real nose area look like they're not angled downwards and are on the opposite side to what's in the kit?

Here's an interesting (and slightly annoying) aspect for anyone building this kit too. When I came to building the undercarriage I noticed that the only way to build it is with the wheels pointing inwards. I immediately thought .....that ain't right as they should be straight. I looked at as many photo's of the SU11 as I could find but even though the undercarriage looked straight it was still a bit hard to tell. Anyway this build seems to confirm my suspicions....... http://workshoprecord.blogspot.com/2017/02/building-trumpeters-148-sukhoi-su-11.html Bizarre mistake by Trumpy but we all know the way they can mess up a kit. If anyone does find a photo of the wheels pointing inwards then let us know.

There's a lot of sprue attachments on the wings though. Hopefully they'll be small.

Luckily I remembered that Su cockpit colours are a different colour to the Mig ones before I posted this thread so I did a search and decided to use Tamiya light grey which is grey but has a slight blue tint to it. I don't know how correct it is but I've painted the various panels flat black.

I'll look into that. As for the Maiden if I see any photo's I'll post them.

That certainly seems to be the case. That drawing should be helpful though, thanks!

I'm building Trumpeter's 1/48 Fishpot Su11 but I can't find any good photo's of the real cockpit.... only simulations. I've read the Trumpy kit isn't totally accurate but was wondering if anyone can post some good colour pics of the cockpit.

I hope they do parts for a MK1.