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Hello Gents, I was up to have some outside pics but Ciaran decide to stay a bit more in Belgium.... High winds and rain, again... and again.... By luck, there is just a bit of rain in betwee the squalls.... As Axl told it, cold November rain it is.... It mean pics in the living room with poor lighting.... with a cell phone.... So I apologize for the poor quality of the pics..... Enough whinning.... Let's go to Pyongtaek in 1952... and guess what ??? There was a lot of rain...and mud.... Creating miserable working conditions for the Marines..... There will be a lot of silvering to be corrected when I look at the pics.... And I am in bad need of new specs.... be reassured, the canopy is clean...it is just an effect from the light...or the lack of it.... Sooo, here I am again with VMF(N) 513, the famous "Flying nightmares" Lt Campbell used this cab oftenly for night interdiction.... Paint is AK Nato black over X-tracrylic navy blue and Life color YZC.... The kit was the Hasegawa F4U-5 reserve dully modified to portray a F4U-5N from the Marines.... Different antennaes and electronic gear.... Once again, sorry for the poor quality pics.... On we go for some poor family pics ??? CC

This is a model I've long wanted to make ever since seeing it a book about aggressors I got back in the early 90s. Luckily, Fightertown Decals finally obliged! Here's the finished article in all its late 80s USN glory!

🤔 pram (br.) = stroller (am.) 😉 My model of the Japanese Type 97 motorcycle was used by the Army Air Force to rush senior pilots from the pisto (stand-by area) to their waiting aircraft. The Type 97 was a perpetuation of Harley-Davidson's VL series, adopted by the Imperial Army after field-testing several foreign designs and produced by the Rikuo Nainenki KK as from 1937. It was powered by a 1272 cc V-2 engine of 24 hp and had a selectable wheel drive for the sidecar. The Hasegawa kit contains two complete bikes plus sidecar, several driver figures and comprehensive decals for Army, Navy and civilian versions. It assembles easily but lacks refinement (a PE set would be desirable). I removed the over-sized pin holes from the frame and added a few details, most noticeably wire wheel disks from Eduard (48505) and - for its special mission - a parachute pack instead of the rear seat. Now let's hurry along to get airborne... Michael References en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Type_97_motorcycle motos-of-war.ru/en/motorcycles/rikuo-type-97 U.S. Motorcycles of WWII - Walk Around, David Doyle, Carrollton, 2008

Great to start a new GB subject, Hasegawa's 1/48 EA-18G in RAAF Markings with a few extras - Aires seats, Quinta Studio cockpit and Reskit wheels and exhausts. Still waiting on the decals. I am heading back to Australia (at last) the end of the month and hope to pick up the subject decals from Ronin. That being a reprint of the RAAF Centennial markings in the usual grey scheme🤞. All the rest is ready to go and I will need to make a good start over the next couple of weeks as little modelling will get done when back home. Then it will be apply the decals on return and hope to finish in time make the gallery. Let's see. I'll start cutting plastic tomorrow. Ray

Colour footage was recently discovered in the estate of a hitherto unknown Japanese war correspondent who passed away in the late nineties. The stills, blown up for detail studies, show a Ki-61-I Tei of the 56th Sentai being readied for a mission... Engine and guns are inspected Extra fuel will be needed The Kawasaki Ha-40 is warmed up Taxiing out for take-off Kawasaki's Ki-61-I Tei, the 'long-nosed' Hien, was introduced into combat in the summer of 1944. The fuselage extension forward of the wing root allowed for the installation of two 20 mm Ho-5 cannon in lieu of the 12.7 mm Ho-103 machine guns. Apart from this modification there was no difference to former Hien variants. Established in March 1944, the 56th Hikō Sentai was one of the earliest recipients of the Army Type 3 Model 1 Tei fighter as this version was known in JAAF terminology. At the time of my model, in March 1945, the Sentai was based at Itami near Osaka. As part of the 11th Hikō Shidan (Air Division) it was assigned to air defence in the Central Army Command area. The presumably yellow spinner tip of c/n 4693 identifies the squadron leader of the 3rd Chutai. This Hasegawa kit of 1993 proved ideal for my plan to present the model with either open or closed engine and gun compartments. I used plenty of aftermarket items* to upgrade the build and, although most were meant for the later Tamiya kit, all worked very well. The engine top cowling is conveniently molded as a separate part on the Hasegawa kit, but I was a bit frightened of cutting the lower panel to expose the bottom section of the fine Aires Ha-40 engine. In the end I found a workable solution for the covers by combining and adapting pieces from three different sets. Hien leaving the factory in natural metal (before 1945) were presumably painted ash-green inside (Millman 2021). I used a worn version of the colour that I mixed for my Ki-10 (here). For the aluminium finish I sprayed Mr Color #8 Silver from the rattle can as a first coat with Tamiya PS12 second which was wet-sanded with micro-finishing cloth 2400, then polished and sealed with semi-gloss acrylic. The 56th Sentai symbols and numbers are home-printed. I hope you like my model and the background information. Thank you for visiting. Please follow this link to join me in the Kawa-mania. ハッピーモデル構築 - Michael * AFTERMARKET PARTS AIRES 4017 RESIN COCKPIT AND MACHINE GUN DECK (for Hasegawa) AIRES 4714 RESIN ENGINE SET (for Tamiya) BRENGUN 48083 PE MODEL ACCESSORIES (for Tamiya) EDUARD 49822 PE UPGRADE SET (for Tamiya) EDUARD BRASSIN 648433 RESIN FUEL TANK AND SHACKLES (for Tamiya) EDUARD BRASSIN 648317 WHEELS (for Tamiya) EDUARD BRASSIN 648321 RESIN GUN BARRELS (for Tamiya) FINEMOLDS AC48 METAL PITOT TUBE QUICKBOOST 48311 UNDERCARRIAGE COVERS (for Hasegawa) SQUADRON 9561 VACU CANOPY (for Hasegawa - only sliding portion) REFERENCES ARMY TYPE 3 FIGHTER “HIEN“, FAMOUS AIRPLANES OF THE WORLD NO.17, TOKYO, 1989 KAWASAKI ARMY TYPE 3 "HIEN" & TYPE 5 FIGHTER, MECHANIC OF WORLD AIRCRAFT 2, JAPAN, 1994 I.J. ARMY KAWASAKI TYPE 3 & 5 FIGHTER, MODEL ART NO.428, TOKYO, 1994 JAPANESE AIRCRAFT INTERIORS 1940-1945, ROBERT C. MIKESH, STURBRIDGE, 2000 HIEN FIGHTER GROUP - A PICTORIAL HISTORY OF THE 244th SENTAI, TAKASHI SAHURAI, TOKYO, 2004 KAWASAKI KI-61 HIEN / KI-100, KAGERO MONOGRAPH 18, LESZEK A. WIELICZKO, LUBLIN, 2014 IMPERIAL JAPANESE ARMY AIR SERVICE ILLUSTRATED - FIGHTERS EDITION, YUKINOBU NISHIKAWA, TOKYO, 2015 KI-61 AND KI-100 ACES, NICHOLAS MILLMAN, OXFORD, 2015 CORRESPONDENCE WITH NICK MILLMAN, JANUARY 2021

Finally finished the 892 build...This is the 1/48 Hasegawa Phantom FG.1 in the markings of 892 NAS, circa 1978. This particular aircraft, XT859, had participated in the record breaking trans Atlantic race in 1969. Used MRP paints throughout, weathered using oils, decals came from many sources - the side and wing codes were sprayed on. The crew access ladder came from Flightpath, seats were from Aires, cockpit details and chocks were scratchbuilt - plastic card., wire...

By all accounts a superb fighter the Type 5 was a Ki61 modified with a radial engine after the factory producing the Ki-61's engine was destroyed. To quote one of my references, 'despite the sudden lash-up, the result was a staggeringly fine fighter, easily the best produced in Japan.' Picked this up cheap on a certain auction site to feed my increasing appetite for all things Japanese. OOB withe exception of Tamiya tape seatbelts and Lifelike Decals in combination with some kit decals. Finished with Tamiya paints. A great kit, and a fine looking 'plane.

Happy Christmas, All! Trying to get a couple (read several) projects running during my winter break. I had pulled several longtime denizens of the stash down, one of them being the 1/48 N1K1 George, which I had done a little noodling on - cleaning parts etc. Started it in earnest when I discovered I had the Hasegawa kit of the same subject in the stash as well. So down the rabbit hole I go! Cockpit colors are my interpretation and I believe the instrument panels were actually black, but here's the action so far: Tamiya cockpit Hasegawa cockpit:

Done for now , may weather later.---John

This is the last 109 build for me for a while, still have a G-14 but I am saving that for a future group build and I really need to finish up my airliners. This is OOB except for EagleCal decals for white 6. Here is the start.---John

The A6M3-22 is just about done so I decided to start this one. I am going to get after market decals as the markings for the one plane I liked are incorrect. Q-122 should have red tail numbers with white outline not black with yellow outline. If I can't find those I will find another subject in overall ameiro color. The early Hamps were an overall ameiro, tannish color, until the orders came out to camouflage the top surface with dark green.---John

All done, on to Saburo Sakai's A6M2 Model 21 V-103 in Bali next.---John

I won't start this until next week or later, probably when the A6M3 is done. I am using the kit decals for a Korean War Corsair of VF-193 Ghostriders. The kit is nice but a lot sparser than the Tamiya kit and zilch for weapons, just 2 drop tanks. I have some rockets donated to me so I will use 4 5" HVAR rockets per wing. I also noticed on my Tamiya 1/48 kit some rocket stubs, I am building that as an F4U-1A of Boyington's. So I need to find out where these Tamiya parts will go on my Hasegawa wings. Unfortunately I already have the Tamiya wings assembled and painted, little did I know.---John

I just purchased Hasegawa's old kit 09125 and there is no weapons at all. Do they make a 1/48 weapons set for WWII-Korean War era with rockets and bombs, it would also need the pylons. Thanks---John

Here’s my latest build - MRP paints used throughout, weathered with oils and black basing. Decals in the main are from Airdoc, although the kit sheets provided some minor details. Seats, Intake blanks, RBF tags and ladder were aftermarket. Sidewinder acquisition round was made up from plastic rod. SUU-23 gun pod came from one of the Hasegawa weapons sets.

I started this back in March and set it aside. I am going to now finish it while I wait on my F-4B Phantom project now stalled out. This plane will be a 2 tone scheme, gray over green. The "gray" is actually more of an aotake color, a tannish color. I am using the kit decals and will leave the canopy open. I have the bottom painted and am now finishing up masking to do the upper dark green color. Here is how the kit evolved to now.---John

One of my favorite WWII aces. I read his book Samurai. He was an excellent pilot and very humane. I am doing his plane from late summer in 1941 China. I will use the 1/48 Hasegawa kit with decals for tail number 3-116. Here is the start.---John

This is my latest F-4EJ, using the 1/48 Hasegawa kit, it depicts an aircraft belonging to 306 squadron, 1982. Andrew

Hi, here's my latest, another CF-104, but this one wears the final scheme worn by the type. The decals came from various sources - Leading Edge, Canuck and Belcher. The wings, MN-1A (practice bomb container) and Canadian style flight helmet came from the incredible DACO detail set. Andrew

Hi there! I know You are all waiting for my flanker, but I've decided to get this build done after 4 years that spent in the box. So here we go. Aires c-pit still looks ok after 4 years... There was some extensive filling, sanding, regraving and riveting done, especially on the nose section. Tailbooms ready Wheelbays done. There are still some minor bits missing Almost ready for black primer.

Hello all, Here is my recently finished 1/48 Hasegawa F-14D Tomcat in the markings of VF-31 'Tomcatters' during the last F-14 cruise in 2005/6. Extras used included an Aires cockpit, Quickboost seats, Wolfpack F-14B/D update set, Steel Beach FOD covers, Master pitot tube, Steel Beach bomb racks, VF Decals and Royale Resin fuel tanks. GBU-12, 38 and AIM-9 are from the spares. Build thread is here And alongside VF-31's other 'Colour' jet from the last cruise: With one of VF-213's 'colour' jets: The gang, minus four that are due to be refurbished: Comments welcome, thanks for looking. Dave

wrong way... now good! finito... the next 4 engines 60cm

Hi Folks. Has anyone built one of these. Is there anything to look out for while building. Tony.