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The Yokosuka MXY-7 Ohka "cherry blossom" was a Japanese rocket-powered kamikaze suicide aircraft employed against the US ships towards the end of the Pacific War. The Americans nicknamed the flying bomb "Baka" or idiot. The biggest drawback of the very fast Ohka was that it usually had to be launched first from the slow Mitsubishi "Betty" bombers and they were an easy prey for the US fighters. According to the US statistics the Ohkas only managed to hit six ships of which the destroyer USS Mannert L. Abele was sunk and another destroyer, USS Hugh W. Hadley was damaged beyond repair. The cruel fate of the kamikaze pilots was sealed when they entered the cockpit since the hood was then closed in with bolts. Untill the end of WWII a total of 852 Ohkas were manufactured. I built my model from a 1/48 scale kit manufactured by the Czech company Brengun. It's a limited-run kit but in my opinion of good quality. The number of parts of this small kit was understandably low but the molding quite accurate. The kit also contained a small fret of photoetched parts. For painting the cockpit window frames I bought a Montex masking set. Unfortunately not a great deal of the cockpit is visible from the outside. I painted the model with Xtracolor X354 Imperial Japanese Navy Grey and used Vallejo and Humbrol paints for the trolley and smaller details. There was an unfortunate issue with balancing the Ohka. The instructions advised to insert weight to the tip of the plane and I did put in quite a lot of metal, lead sinkers, etc, but apparently not enough. When my model finally rested on the trolley the whole thing landed on its tail. I didn't want to make a hole in the rocket to increase weight but since it's attached to the trolley by hooks at the wing roots it was enough to increase weight to the trolley itself. Thus, the trolley does not totally look ok since there is a bit of extra ballast.

Hello, I haven`t done a build recently, so decided to join with the Revell boxing of the Hasegawa Mk9 Spitfire in /48th scale using a Brengun resin and etch conversion of a MkVII along with the DK decals. I haven`t decided on a scheme yet but have always liked the medium sea grey and PRU blue scheme for high altitude operations. So will undoubtedly go with one of those. Either MD120 "Spirit of Kent" or coded "PB". Thanks for looking... Grahame

Brengun Yokasuka MXY7 OHKA model 22 1/48 This is about as simple a 1/48 kit as you are likely to find, and could be done relatively easily in a weekend, but it took me ten days (I'm captain slows more cautious cousin). 🐌 I'm in a 'back to basics' mood at the moment, but the kit detail in the cockpit is a little too basic, so a little scratch was required to make it look less stark. There isn't much in the way of reference material for this model, so I won't post a photo in case someone is foolish enough to think I know what I'm doing and follows suit. Although a tiny photo etch sheet is included (if something the size of a small stamp can be called a sheet) there' isn't a seat belt, so mine is from Eduard. Other improvements are brass tube for the pitot and I cut the canopy to enable it to be posed open. It such a basic aircraft, the only other thing that could be added is an American aircraft carrier directly in front of it. It does make you stop and think what would it have been like to be strapped into what is really a missile? Bravery, brain washed, or peer-presure? I kept weathering to an absolute minimum, if one of these were to last long enough for it to get weathered, doubts would have been cast over the pilots suitability for the position. I tried @stevehnz 's 'Future/Pledge' method for applying decals, and it worked very well, so thanks Steve. I'll be playing around with this method on many more builds to come. I don't normally post WIP pics on RFI posts (although it annoys Ratch apparently, so I might have to start doing it more often ), but as I didn't do a WIP, I just want to point a couple of things out if you are intending to do this kit. From looking online, the wings should have quite a pronounced dihedral (from root to tip approx. 5mm) which isn't mentioned in the instructions and the parts aren't moulded to make it obvious. I cut some guides out of card so they would dry in the correct position as the wing-root fit is a bit loose. Be prepared to use plenty of putty. Also, I would advise you to fit the photo etch in front of the cockpit, AFTER the centre-line decal is applied. The red centre-line decals are hell to get completely straight (I failed). In hindsight I should have painted instead. Thanks for taking the time too look and comments are, as always welcome. Gorby