“Evalina” captured P-51

[Dansk]

I have ordered the new 1/72 expert set from arma hobby for this build.

If online reviews are to be trusted it promises to be exquisite.

(images from arma hobby below)

 

 

I’ve also ordered some AM (which will please our gratious GB leader @trickyrich  eduard wheels, a yahu IP, some 3d printed exhaust stacks and a reference book. 

 

 

The kit comes with some nice extras too…

 

 

and among others, markings for ‘Evalina’. 

 

 

Here’s Arma hobby’s write-up of the airframe’s story…

 

’A P-51C with the charming name “Evalina” was the first and, as it turned out, last fully airworthy North American Mustang to be captured by the Japanese. Intensive tests followed by demonstration flights at combat units convinced both veterans and commanders of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force that their most recent “acquisition” was a truly fantastic aircraft – the fulfilment of every fighter pilot’s dreams.

The North American P-51C-11-NT Mustang with registration number 44-10816 (manufactured at the Dallas plant in Texas as 111-28949) was the personal aeroplane of First Lieutenant Oliver E. Strawbridge. At the turn of 1945, the fighter was stationed in China with the 26th Fighter Squadron, itself an element of the 51st Fighter Group. The unit’s combat trail had started in India and proceeded through Burma and China, ending in French Indochina, a territory that comprised present-day Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

But by the time the war drew to close, “Evalina” had not been flying with the unit for months… A rather unfortunate event had led to its capture by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force.

“EVALINA” ENDS UP IN JAPANESE HANDS

In truth, the circumstances of the incident have still not been fully clarified. We do know that on 16 January 1945 the pilot landed “Evalina” on the Chinese airfield of Suchin, which was still held by the Japanese. While the Americans concluded that this was the result of a navigational error, Japanese sources mention an emergency landing – and then muddle the story still further. Namely, some maintain that the aircraft belly-landed in a rice paddy near the base, but according to others the fighter made a normal landing necessitated by a technical fault.

Practically all historians reject the former version of events, logically assuming that Japanese ground crews would have been incapable of repairing damage sustained by an Allied fighter during a wheels up landing made in difficult terrain (especially as there are no extant documents suggesting that such repairs had actually been performed). This would appear to be supported by the fact that later, when “Evalina’s” tail wheel leg suffered only slight damage, it was simply left locked in the down position. Whatever the case may have been, the chance acquisition of a virtually brand-new and fully functional Mustang was a godsend to the IJAAF. It was no surprise, therefore, that the aircraft was collected and flown to Japan, where it underwent detailed testing, by one of the leading aces of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force – Major Kuroe.

At the beginning of the war, Yasuhiko Kuroe was a pilot with 47 Dokuritsu Chūtai (47 Independent Squadron), which flew prototypes and pre-serial production variants of the Nakajima Ki-44 Shoki (Tojo) fighters over Malaya. After the campaign drew to a close, however, he did not return with his unit to Japan; instead, he was transferred to Burma, to 64 Sentai, on the insistence of its legendary commander, Colonel Tateo Kato. Fate tied him to 64 Sentai for nearly two years, during which time he achieved the majority of his 51 aerial victories.

In the spring of 1944, Kuroe was ordered to return home, where he was assigned the role of air combat instructor and test pilot. He flew many Japanese aircraft, captured Allied aeroplanes, and even Bf 109E-3/4 and Fw 190A-5 fighters received from the Third Reich. He also carried out intensive tests of “Evalina”, and went on to demonstrate the Mustang at a number of fighter units of the Japanese Homeland Air Defence (Hondo Boei Butai), giving detailed presentations of its strengths and weaknesses, and outlining optimal battle tactics. Numerous veterans of 3, 18 and 59 Sentai later recalled that his lectures and displays helped them get out of the firing line of enemy P-51s, basically saving their lives.

Although he was shot down thrice and thrice wounded, Major Kuroe survived the war in good health. Counts made on the damaged aircraft which, somehow, time after time got him back to base determined a total of more than 500 bullet holes. After the war he became an ardent proponent of the recreation of the Japanese Air Force, and following the establishment of the Japan Air Self-Defense Force (JASDF) he was appointed commander of No. 3 Squadron, which operated Sabre jets; soon after, he was promoted to the rank of Major General. His colourful life came to an end on 5 December 1965. He drowned during a fishing trip, a favourite pastime of his, under circumstances that have not been fully explained to date. Major General Kuroe was just 47 years old.

 

 

THE RIDDLE OF “EVALINA”

The final act of our story took place several dozen years after the end of the war. In the nineteen eighties and nineties, growing interest in the wartime activities of the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force led to the publication of numerous press articles and monographs. “Evalina” also became rather widely known, both among World War II history buffs and modellers.

Strangely – albeit in a sense logically – it was taken for granted that since the aircraft had been regularly flown by Oliver E. Strawbridge, he must have been the leading protagonist of the whole unfortunate event. Whereas… Around the mid-nineties, First Lieutenant Strawbridge’s granddaughter, Sara, finally shed some light on the riddle. Namely, she stated that although she had never met her grandfather (due to family reasons), she knew with absolute certainty that he had not been the pilot of the Mustang on that fateful day of 16 January. Furthermore, she informed that her grandfather had served in the USAAF until the very end of the conflict and had never been a Japanese POW. From what she recollected, he had died in 1987 in the USA. The name given to the aircraft, “Evalina”, was that of his then girlfriend. Their love fizzled out, however, and after the war First Lieutenant Strawbridge married a woman by the names of Ruth Anne.

The topic was taken up by a few historians, with the renowned Henry Sakaida first and foremost among them. Finally, it was determined that the Mustang had been piloted by First Lieutenant Sam McMillan, Strawbridge’s friend from the 26th Fighter Squadron. Captured and imprisoned by the Japanese, he survived the war and returned home. When this research was being conducted, First Lieutenant McMillan was still alive, living in his hometown in Connecticut. However, due to his age and state of health, he did not assist in clarifying the circumstances of the incident. Sakaida published his conclusions in “Flight Journal” magazine sometime around the year 2000 (although it would seem that they are not widely known today). “

 

 

 

maybe i should build it with the barrel at the rear end ( see above ) 

This is a tiny kit compared to my usual builds and scales, I’m looking forward to the challenge of building so small.

I’m a serial project starter. Hopefully this one reaches full fruition. 

[modelling minion]

Really nice choice Paul, I built "Evalina" using the 1/72 Academy P-51 years ago, she's a great subject.

 

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[Dansk]

Just now, modelling minion said:

Really nice choice Paul, I built "Evalina" using the 1/72 Academy P-51 years ago, she's a great subject.

 

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Thanks Craig. That’s interesting. Did you have a build thread for it?

[modelling minion]

26 minutes ago, Dansk said:

Thanks Craig. That’s interesting. Did you have a build thread for it?

No mate, it was way before I joined BM, in fact it was before BM even existed!

 

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[trickyrich]

Welcome along Paul with a fine and unusual choice, I don't think I've ever seen pictures of a captured Mustang in Japanese markings.

 

The background story is fascinating and really interesting.

 

That's a nice looking model, pity it's in tiny scale.

 

Good to see you're throwing extra AM stuff at her..... makes Uncle Richie very happy! 

 

good luck with the build, look forward to seeing he completed. 

[Dansk]

On 4/10/2022 at 11:11 PM, modelling minion said:

No mate, it was way before I joined BM, in fact it was before BM even existed!

 

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Well I’m sure it was a corker. 

 

On 4/11/2022 at 2:02 AM, trickyrich said:

Welcome along Paul with a fine and unusual choice, I don't think I've ever seen pictures of a captured Mustang in Japanese markings.

 

The background story is fascinating and really interesting.

 

That's a nice looking model, pity it's in tiny scale.

 

Good to see you're throwing extra AM stuff at her..... makes Uncle Richie very happy! 

 

good luck with the build, look forward to seeing he completed. 

Thank you rich.

I’m looking at the scale thing and the project as a whole as a positive challenge:

This is a quality modern kit with 1/48 scale levels of detail in 1/72 scale, (with a bare metal finish to boot).

 

Jenesis did a good review of it.

mmm… satin finish plastic 😎🤗

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Looks like a superb little kit Paul, don't think you need to add any aftermarket to get a good result from this if you didn't want to.

 

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[Dansk]

11 hours ago, modelling minion said:

Looks like a superb little kit Paul, don't think you need to add any aftermarket to get a good result from this if you didn't want to.

 

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Should be interesting to try this kit Craig.

The Aftermarket was just to please @trickyrich. (You know that he gets a tingle in his nether regions when he sees aftermarket.)

[modelling minion]

27 minutes ago, Dansk said:

The Aftermarket was just to please @trickyrich. (You know that he gets a tingle in his nether regions when he sees aftermarket.)

Oh yes, I believe we're all aware of this particular fetish of our Rich. 

 

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[trickyrich]

Uncle Richie loves AM & resin!!!  

[Dansk]

yay, the postman delivered my package finnnnaaaallllyyy today.

 

 

@trickyrich you've probably heard this phrase a lot from girls but  -  Jesus it's so tiny!!! 😉

 

 

 

but the detail is utterly amazeballs at 1/72!

 

 

 

 

easily as good as the best 1/48 kits and some 1/32

 

i bought tiny aftermarket wheels but the kits are awesome almost as good.

 

 

i realised i need new sharper nippers with such a small precise kit. so i hope to pick some up tomorrow.

meanwhile construction has started.

 

 

decals look thick but i think thats because they are so small. great that there's stencils at this scale.

 

 

the only one bad thing is the sink marks on the sb fuselage -

 

this is gonna be tough but really fun at such a small scale.

im not used to dealing with something so small (again a phrase you'll have heard rich) 😘

 

 

 

 

[trickyrich]

hahaha!!!!  I'm not the one wearing the Peppa Pig bandaid!!!   

 

Uncle Richie likes all the AM extras, so he'll forgive you.........for now!! 

[Dansk]

some progress guys...

 

its so small, i'm loving the challenge of the scale

 

a chair.... (minus peppa pig band aid)

 

some tiny tiny stuff ready for priming, the camera really doesnt show just how small this stuff is

 

some monster ejector pins that now have been eliminated (with a my little pony band aid applied with love by my 5 year old daughter)

 

some minor construction and a lot of priming (done really delicately to avoid filling in subtle detail)

 

its so much fun with the detail and scale. i think its forced me to be more focused.

 

it's a greaf ref book by the way..

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Looks like a very nice kit indeed Paul, as tiny as those parts might be (back to Rich again!) they are very well detailed.

Though it would seem that 1/72 is a dangerous scale for you to work in, if you get any more "boo-boos" you will have to get your daughter (we all know they are yours really) some more plasters, perhaps some with characters from Disney's Planes would be appropriate.😁

 

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[Dansk]

The thumb is healed and Peppa is no longer at the modelling desk fellas.

 

After priming lots the little mustang has been given some ak xtreme metal...

 

 

then some bits need to be zinc chromate. so some tedious 1/72 scale masking was required. 😳

the infini cutting board is a great help though for the correct width strips.

 

 

however it WAS tedious and it this point I was losing the will to live.

But we got there in the end...

 

 

and unmasked...

 

its not brilliant but it'll be ok with a dark wash and a little touch up here and there.

i've hairsprayed the cockpit area and seat etc so i can attempt to chip it after the interior green is applied. 

not sure how well chipping will work at this scale but we shall see.

 

 

 

 

 

[modelling minion]

Really nice work Paul, I don't envy you the task of that masking at all but well done to you for sticking with it.

Good to see an update where no plasters were required.😉

 

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[Dansk]

thanks craig 👍

 

some more adventures in miniature - check out the size of the photoetch fret....

 

 

heres some of it in action together with green interior and chipping now.....

note the radiator housing is fitted now too.

 

 

ip

 

 

washes were given this evening...

i can see i need to fill in some more zc below, i couldnt see it was not aligned in the flesh. 

 

 

[modelling minion]

That looks really good Paul, I struggle with etch in 1/48 never mind 1/72.

The instrument panel looks very nice.

 

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[Wings unlevel]

Very fine work so far!

[helios16v]

That cutting board looks the biz.  Really nice looking detail so far.  Hard to believe it's 1/72.  

[Dazzio]

That's looking really good, I never knew there was a kit for this Mustang in 1/72, I do have some aftermarket decals floating around somewhere which I plan to do at some stage - just like the rest of our stashes huh?

 

I did built this version in one of the Mustang GB's a few years ago but in 1/144 from a Sweet kit.  The canopy painting is just terrible... actually it's very shocking.  I love the star inside of the Hinomaru, I am not too sure how accurate that is though.

 

 

Looking forward to seeing more of this build.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dazz

[monsjmse]

Nice work! Great detail for 1:72. I'm impressed with your eyesight.

[Dansk]

On 5/10/2022 at 9:55 AM, modelling minion said:

That looks really good Paul, I struggle with etch in 1/48 never mind 1/72.

The instrument panel looks very nice.

 

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thanks mate

 

On 5/10/2022 at 10:53 AM, Wings unlevel said:

Very fine work so far!

thank you 🙏

 

21 hours ago, helios16v said:

That cutting board looks the biz.  Really nice looking detail so far.  Hard to believe it's 1/72.  

cheers chris 👍

the infini board took a while to source but i love it

 

 

21 hours ago, Dazzio said:

The canopy painting is just terrible... actually it's very shocking.  I love the star inside of the Hinomaru, I am not too sure how accurate that is though.

 

the build looks great. to be honest at that scale the camera accelarates any imperfections to a huge degree. but maybe a mask could help there.

love the overlayed japanese markings over the US too.

 

20 hours ago, monsjmse said:

Nice work! Great detail for 1:72. I'm impressed with your eyesight.

my eyes burn doing this. i cant do it without a dentist style magnifying glass.

 

 

heres some more work on the pit today. its crazy small.

still some way to go but etch, decals and chippping has been pretty sorted and most of the wash.

dry brushing and matt coat next i thInk? gonna wire up those batteries too. even they have little decals on think you can just make it out.

note rear gear is in.

 

and some chair chipping here

 

[modelling minion]

I am seriously impressed with what you are doing with this kit Paul, and with the kit itself as there are lots of larger scale kits with far less detail than this.

 

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[Dansk]

1 minute ago, modelling minion said:

I am seriously impressed with what you are doing with this kit Paul, and with the kit itself as there are lots of larger scale kits with far less detail than this.

 

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thanks mate. my phone camera cant handle the detail at all.

but this arma kit is easy as detailed as the eduard 48, which is super finely detailed at 1/48 and up there with 32 kits too.