Fear not cliff, I won't tell Aaron.

AZKevin

  One of these days I'm going to build one of them as one of the 2 'prototypes' carried aboard the Soryu at Midway.  I got interested in building an example after reading "Shattered Sword" by Parsall & Tulley.  They mentioned two Judy's being carried for long range reconnaisance, but one was somehow damaged during some manuvers by the carrier (maybe avoiding attack ? - I can't remember).  And I'm not sure if the other ever took off, but I believe it went down with the ship.

Anway, I thought it would be kind of cool to build one with the markings of the Soryu.

One of the prototype Judys was launched to locate the US carriers at Midway. It found them but could not report their position in a timely manner due to radio failure. It returned to Hiryu to report their position via dropped message, just prior to Tomonaga launching for the afternoon torpedo strike on Yorktown. But the updated position of the US carriers was passed on to the wrong pilot and resulted on the second strike on Yorktown rather than on the undamaged Hornet or Enterprise. That Judy recovered aboard Hiryu after Tomonaga's launch and went down with Hiryu the next morning. Yes that would be a great build and addition to any Midway collection. Like a Midway Marauder, an aircraft rarely assocaited with that battle.

Gamera, your Judy is a beauty indeed! Very nice work all the way around on her.

Nice zero starting Jay

Cliff i like the santa claus modded version

Jason: Hey great jobs on both! Love the new kit, it's going together smooth as silk but the older kit ain't half bad either!

I hope Aaron doesn't bust me on this but I wanted to send all you guys a Japanese model for Christmas:

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE!!!

Lookin' great so far Jason!

okay here are the better pics

the first are of the older kit and now the newer

Jason

Well since Sun is christmas and I feel like this is a present here are some wip pics

these are of 2 Hasegawa zeros both are type 52

this is an older kit

and this is the newer

The myrt is drying in the paint shop so I'll get more pics after the weekend

sorry they aren't the greatest will work on them and better ones up

Jason

Thanks guys, you're all too kind!

Kevin: Sounds like a cool idea, I've read about the two Soryu Judys but don't know much about them beyond what you stated. This is the 1/48th FineMolds kit. It's early D4Y1 version which would probably be closest to the prototype. Hobby Link Japan has it listed as out-of-stock which means they can get in a month or so. I didn't see a 1/72nd kit listed for FineMolds, I think someone here mentioned a kit from someone else though I can't remember who now.

Gamera,

Very nice job on the Judy!!  I have 2 Fine Mold kits in my stash (in-line & radial versions).  One of these days I'm going to build one of them as one of the 2 'prototypes' carried aboard the Soryu at Midway.  I got interested in building an example after reading "Shattered Sword" by Parsall & Tulley.  They mentioned two Judy's being carried for long range reconnaisance, but one was somehow damaged during some manuvers by the carrier (maybe avoiding attack ? - I can't remember).  And I'm not sure if the other ever took off, but I believe it went down with the ship.

Anway, I thought it would be kind of cool to build one with the markings of the Soryu.

Once again - very nice build!!  Did I miss your mention of whaose kit this is?

Happy Holidays, kevin

not understood the real problem with the judy canopy but even to me seems good, and again magnific finished judy

Cliff that is one masterfuly done Judy, it looks excellent.!!! I would'nt beat yourself up about the canopy it looks fine. I would be proud to have that in my display cabinet!

tigerman

Cliff, in my Manny impersonation "I love your Judy and want to dive it into American carrier in a flaming ball of fire".

                       ha ha

Cliff, in my Manny impersonation "I love your Judy and want to dive it into American carrier in a flaming ball of fire".

Jason: Thanks man!

John: Thanks! Yeap, Very happy to live out in the country with a good sized yard. And a ride on mower, it would take forever to mow with a push model. We've gotten a decent amount of rain recently so things are still mostly green, normally we have a sorta brown Christmas

Excellent build cliff ...

Despite the canopy issue's , she looks great and I like the pre-shaded panel lines .

BTW , is that your back yard in the back ground on photo 6 you posted ; I wish I had that area for my back yard  ...........(do you have a ride on mower) ?

                               John

That is a great job on the Judy

Jason

OK! Cloudy and overcast today but the wind died down and I got photos!!!

I think she looks better in photos than in person, you can see the canopy problems some here but but I think it looks rougher when I look at it. If anyone hasn't seen Femis's excellent build of the radial engine version he's using a vac formed aftermarket canopy- which maybe I should look into.

As I said I skimped on the weathering since these planes were either being quickly shot down or going on one-way suicide missions so I didn't figure they had a chance to get beat up much.

Helo H-34

Hi Cliff ;

My appoligies on not having made any progress on my builds . My motovation dropped away for about a month or so but I'm slowly catching up again  , so hopfully soon , I'll post some more WIP's .

                  John .

John: Hey no big deal, nice to see you're getting more stuff done over on the Korean GB. As I said I really to get those photos taken even if Judy blows away. 

Hi Cliff ;

My appoligies on not having made any progress on my builds . My motovation dropped away for about a month or so but I'm slowly catching up again  , so hopfully soon , I'll post some more WIP's .

                  John .

Kevin, thanks for the information on the plane.

LOL remember me when take pictures of harrier of gannet, the planes try to gain the sky.. risk to reach the bobbom of my house

Ah no, not off the bottom of the page!

Guys, sorry I keep slacking on the Judy photos. Started to try to take them outside the other day and the wind blew away the poster board I was using for a base. Since then it's been dark and overcast every day. If things don't get better soon looks like I'll have to rig something inside.

Rick: Hey cool kit there! That same kit was one of the first Japanese models I ever built! Think she's still around somewhere as a paint mule. Looking forward to seeing what you do with her.

Kevin: The Kate sounds really cool! Love that off-the-wall stuff you picked up. I've seen the AZ Models 'Lilly' at shows but I was always priced more than I wanted to pay.

Don't know if anyone here is Jewish but Happy Hanukkah if you are!

I like amodel for the strange subjects thety have ,till now only one finished and win also have lots of unique kit for russian subjects . Again in stand by for this GB waith to clear more kits from workbench and will return in full japan immersion

potchip

Probably last ship for the year.

Kongo class battleship Hiei, a training ship for the IJN, and having hosted the emperor on multiple occasions, a symbol of IJN navy and one of the more luxurious fitted ships around.

Will finish as her 1940 config when the emperor of Japan coordinated a navy drill with full ensigns.

Note the resemblance to the tower of Yamato, this Hiei's super structure was built as an experimental config for the eventual Yamato class. 

Officers greeting the emperor.

as i say in australian forum your 1/700 ships skill is awesome

Potchip,

  Very nice indeed!  Wish I have more space to tackle a ship every now and then.  And the $$$$,  some of the newer Hasegawa ship kits are really cool, but a bit pricey.

Looking forward to seeing more.

Kevin

Hi bsyamato,

It is a nice subject and I rather enjoy the challenge of something that doesn't just 'fall' together.  I have not built any A Model kits yet (but might have to look for a few).  I like the more unusaul subjects, but like the standard Japanese aircraft as well.

I did just recieve the MPM 1/72 Ki-64 'Rob' ($8.00) and it looks about as challenging.  I also have a Planet Models resin Nakajima Type 94 Floatplane and the AZ Models 1/48 Ki-48 Lily that aslo look to challenge my skills a bit.

Finally, I did just find (and order) the 1/72  A+V Models resin Ki-94-I.

I think my next build here will be a bit more relaxing Nichimo 1/48 B5N2 Kate with the brown and splotchy green camo.

Kevin

AZKevin

..

There are 2 kits in the box, 27 pieces each, plus 2 canopies, and 2 sets of decals.  Low pressure molding so large sprue gates and ejection towers (see lower wing).  Anyway, lots of clean up, not to much flash, but LOTS of test fitting, filing,test fitting, sanding, test fitting. seam filling, test fitting - did I mention TEST FITTING??

..

The parts for one kit plus both decal sheets.  See what I mean by ejection towers on the lower wing?  And large sprue gates?  Did I mention this kit needs some test fitting??

 

 

Kevin

LOL yes you did  

this sound like my Amodel kit

Nice subject

Hello tigerman,

  Yes the plane was real, but no never made it into production as a fighter.  First designed in 1938 (I was wrong earlier) to attempt to break the world speed record.  Only one plane was actually built and flew.  According to Rene Francillon's 'Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War', it was very difficult to fly, very small wing area (11.0 sq. meters), high take-off speed (205 km/h or 127 mph) and landing speed (170 km/h or 106 mph).  It did reach 434.9 mph at 11,539 ft ( 699.6 km/h @ 3,527m) on 12/27/1942.  But never acheived its goal of 528 mph so development was suspended after 32 flights on 1/11/1944.

Next to my 1/72 Ki-94-II (which is a larger airplane) this looks like a 1/144th scale kit - it's that small!

Actually it is about .75 m shorter than the Ki-61-Ib, 1 m shorter than the Ki-61-I KAI, and 1.1 m shorter than the Ki-61-II.  Also all of the Ki-61's had a wingspan of 12 m, the Ki-78 had a wingspan of just 8 m.  The Ki-78 was also only 8.1 m long.

Ok, probably more info than you wanted, but hey I'm a History PhD ... so ask a question and you'll automatically get the long answer. 

Kevin

Kevin, was that a real plane? I mean did it hit production? I can't say that I ever heard of it. Very interesting and looks a bit like a Tony on roids.

Gamera,

I think this plane (orininally built in 1939 for an attempt at the world speed record) used an imported DB 601-A.  I think a production version might have used the Atsua Type 31 in line 12 cylinder.  Not sure when they started trying to develop this into a fighter.  No real evidence of guns anywhere except through the spinner(?).

  I was thinking of the first scheme as well, although masking the red around the tail plane will be interesting.  When you look at the fuselage the stub area where the tail plane joins also needs to be red.  Also there is no decal for the blue stripe, so either mask & paint (around the radiators), or use some blue decal film.

 I am also thinking of the green splotchy camo for the second model.