Yokosuka MXY7 "Ohka" Model 22 in 1/48

[Einar]

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.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Hamiltonian]

Oh-ho. That's the mysterious aircraft that's been puzzling me, on display in the IWM atrium in recent episodes of "Secrets of the Imperial War Museum"!

 

It's looking good. (And jeez-o, the CoG must have been incredibly far forward in the real aircraft. I can see why you had trouble balancing the kit version.)

[Einar]

1 minute ago, Hamiltonian said:

Oh-ho. That's the mysterious aircraft that's been puzzling me, on display in the IWM atrium in recent episodes of "Secrets of the Imperial War Museum"!

 

It's looking good. (And jeez-o, the CoG must have been incredibly far forward in the real aircraft. I can see why you had trouble balancing the kit version.)

Thank you for your comments,

 

Einar

[RMCS]

Excellent 

[billn53]

On 1/16/2022 at 10:09 AM, Hamiltonian said:

… jeez-o, the CoG must have been incredibly far forward in the real aircraft.

The result of having a 1,300lb bomb in the nose!
 

 

(The photo above is, I’m guessing, an Okha Model 11, whose warhead was even larger than that of the kit’s Model 22).

[Whofan]

What a cracking build of this unique little plane.

 

I built this model last year - no, wait -I think it was 2020 - and I thought it was one of the best kits I've made. Yours, with its lovely crisp canopy painting (I cut my own masks) makes mine look a touch rough.

 

I used Mr Hobby IJN grey, which to my eye looks slightly more grey than yours.

 

I also had the same CoG problem, but despite closing the OHKA with about 20gm in at the tip, I ended up with a tail sitter; I solved the problem by putting some blue tack on the front wheels of the carrier.

 

Incidentally, did you notice in the kit's brief description of the Ohka that the Japanese built several 2 seat trainers?

 

I mean, a suicide plane that you could have lessons in flying? I confess that made me both chuckle and shake my head at the futility of it all.

[Tomcat101]

Looks neat.  I knew the Okha was rocket powered for the final stages of the attack but did not realize how prominent it was. Nice job.  

[Einar]

7 hours ago, Tomcat101 said:

Looks neat.  I knew the Okha was rocket powered for the final stages of the attack but did not realize how prominent it was. Nice job.  

Thanks Tomcat!

 

Einar

[Einar]

7 hours ago, billn53 said:

The result of having a 1,300lb bomb in the nose!
 

 

(The photo above is, I’m guessing, an Okha Model 11, whose warhead was even larger than that of the kit’s Model 22).

Thank you for the interesting picture. It's incredible what man can invent😱

 

Einar

[Einar]

7 hours ago, Whofan said:

What a cracking build of this unique little plane.

 

I built this model last year - no, wait -I think it was 2020 - and I thought it was one of the best kits I've made. Yours, with its lovely crisp canopy painting (I cut my own masks) makes mine look a touch rough.

 

I used Mr Hobby IJN grey, which to my eye looks slightly more grey than yours.

 

I also had the same CoG problem, but despite closing the OHKA with about 20gm in at the tip, I ended up with a tail sitter; I solved the problem by putting some blue tack on the front wheels of the carrier.

 

Incidentally, did you notice in the kit's brief description of the Ohka that the Japanese built several 2 seat trainers?

 

I mean, a suicide plane that you could have lessons in flying? I confess that made me both chuckle and shake my head at the futility of it all.

Thank you very much for your comments and info. You're quite right about the human mind. Totally incredible😱!

 

Cheers

 

Einar