B5N2 Kate, formerly IJN 931st, green cross of surrender, 1945 - 1/144 F-Toys

[Tim R-T-C]

 

Hello friends,

 

While working on my GB project, a B5N1 in 1938 scheme, I used painting instructions from the Airfix kit via Scalemates (as the China war example was unsurprisingly not included in this kit aimed at the Japanese domestic market). I noticed the Airfix club boxing of their 72nd scale kit had surrender markings and found a photo online to back this up.

 

 

I thought this would make a very good use of the pre-painted model F-Toys as it would provide an authentially green base for the roughly applied white paint. Although this photo has limited detail, first hand account of these aircraft describe hastily applied white paint with the original markings often quite visible underneath.

 

Interestingly the Airfix Kate has partially scratched out Hinomaru which are definitely not visible on this photo and I have seen it represented elsewhere in model form as a bare metal bird. I'm going to stick with the white and base it on the photograph.

 

For more details on the origin of the kit and some lovely interior detailling, see my other post:

 

 

On this model I skipped most of the interior detail - very little is visible and I don't plan to try and open up the canopy either on this one.

 

 

I did paint the cockpit seats and sides in appropriate green, then sealed it up with Tamiya ET. Some filler was applied and I overpainted this with green from the AK 3G set - not a perfect match for the F-toys greens, but sufficient for this project.

 

 

Next up, the decals. In a way these were the motivating factor to get this build moving along so quickly. The F-Toys decals are notoriously thick - making them easy to handle but they don't like panel lines or curved surfaces and on my last build - a P-40N - I had to peel them off and start again.

 

Therefore before risking my carefully painted B5N1, I applied these decals to the N2 and fortunately they generally behaved with some panel line conformity and those on the fuselage sides remained in place too.

 

For the scheme, I don't have a reference for the underlying scheme or even the unit to which the white Kate belongs. The kit I chose had markings for the 931st Naval Air Unit which, accord to limited info I found online, operated from 1944 until the war's end from Kushira Air Base in southern Japan and appears to have operated from several islands including Saipan - so it is not unreasonable that one of their Kates might have been used after the surrender to convey a dignitary or just for a US pilot's joyride perhaps?

 

Next job, a little paint chipping to reflect a late war-worn model and varnish before starting with the white.

[Col.]

Nice subject choice Tim

[Tim R-T-C]

 

I splashed a little metallic on with a stippling brush and coated in varnish during the week, then today brushed with washable white paint.

 

 

To make the crosses, I had some RLM70 decal strips for canopy work, which functioned very well for this purpose. Just need a slight touchup at the edges where they were not cut completely straight.

[Col.]

Tidy work Tim.

[Tim R-T-C]

 

Canopy and wheels fitted with no dramas

 

 

Sizing up the vignette base, a 10x10cm canvas is my normal format looks like it will work fine here too.

[Grandboof]

Great paintwork . looks the part 

Martin H

[Tim R-T-C]

 

The base was painted with texture paints, a variety of pigments and some static grass, then I added a strip of PSP.

 

 

This comes in nicely detailed but clunky squares, the same style as Sweet's carrier deck elements so presumably intended for side by side display. For my purposes I cut off the depth and sawed a wedge.

 

 

The base was unmasked and the PSP wedge glued in place with a little weathering of its own. No rust though as this is meant to be very recently placed following the US capture of the island.

 

 

For the vehicle I made up a resin Clarktor from Heroes Models of Italy (who do a superb range of 1/144 accessories and resin aircraft kits) but switched the crewman for this lovely 3d printed figure from 3djson on eBay (who does a good range of figures in a variety of smaller scales).

 

A little paintwork and addition of some accessories and this should make it in before the end of the GB.

[Col.]

I've always admired your dioramas Tim so delighted to see you're working on one for this subject. The inclusion of at least one figure into the scene adds a sense of scale and human interest.

[Tim R-T-C]

On 4/13/2023 at 12:48 PM, Col. said:

I've always admired your dioramas Tim so delighted to see you're working on one for this subject. The inclusion of at least one figure into the scene adds a sense of scale and human interest.

 

Thank you, really appreciate the comment. I always like to add context to my aircraft, helps to illustrate the historical setting and justify the level of weathering. Also makes them stand out on model show display tables!

 

 

Just some final details to add now.

Edited April 21, 2023 by Tim R-T-C

[Tim R-T-C]

And the completed photos, also in the gallery.