Here's something fun ...

Took one of the pencil drawing drawings, added some colour, resulting in a possible alternate badge.

regards,

Jack

Sounds good guys!

Put down your Hasegawa Ki-84 Pete and put you down as TBA Jack.

I would like to join in with an aircraft, but will decide later as to what specifically.

In the stash is Hasegawa's A6M2b, and Choroszy's 1/72 A5M2b.  If a decent price can be found, Choroszy's  Nakajima A4N1 could be another contender.

Merry Christmas!

regards,

Jack

Merry Christmas to all!!!

Pete: You'll enjoy it, the Hasegawa Ki-84 is a great kit.

Happy Holidays-

Well no need to worry about whether or not the aftermarket cockpit I bought will fit the Tamiya kit or not as I scored a Hasegawa Ki84 off eBay. So my contribution to this build will be that.

Cheers!

PeteG

Since we're talking about Japanese airplanes, can somebody give me some background as to why the Japanese airplanes have nicknames like Frank, Kate, George etc? Were these given by servicemen? The Japanese themselves?

These were code names assigned by an Allied Intelligence comittee to aid and speed in naming aircraft types for Intel purposes. Once an aircraft type was identified, it was given a name by teh commitee along the lines mentioned above- fighters and recon/observation seaplanes were male names, pretty much all other types were female names, some trainers received tree names-These were the predecessors of the NATO names given to Communist aircraft types in the Cold War and post Cold War era.

Here is a link to the Wiki article on the story. Take it for what it is worth.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II_Allied_names_for_Japanese_aircraft

The IJN also used a system symilar to the USN pre 1962 system using numbers and letters to designate the aircraft manufacturer and type. Example: B5N- Bomber, 5th Design, Nakajima the Kate or Type 97; B6N- Bomber, 6th Design, Nakajima- the Jill, etc.

The IJA used a seperate aircraft designator system- Ki followed by a numeral Ki-29, Ki-43, Ki-44, Ki-61, etc. that did not differntiate between aircraft type- fighter, bomber, transport, etc.

To add more regarding the code name's by the allies. From what I understand the allies found the Japanese designation system awkward, since each airplane had two names. The manufacturers alphanumeric project code, and the second one being the official military designation. So the Mitsubishi A5M was given the name Type 96 Carrier Fighter. The 96 meaning the imperial year it entered service in 2596 or 1936. Adding to the confusion. The Aichi D1A enterted service the same years as Type 96 Carrier Bomber and the G3M as the Type 96 Land Bomber.

So I can see why the code names would come in handy. I guess I'm on the opposite end of you Gamera I don't find the German aircraft names confusing. But after years of modeling and reading I still get confused with the Japanese aircraft names

And if I'm wrong on any of the above, feel free to point out any errors I haven't done a lot of research on Japanese aircraft something I'm trying to fix.

To elaborate on GreySnake's explanation apparently a US officer came up with the system and it was adapted by Britain, the Commonwealth and the other Allied powers as well.

I never really saw too much of a point to it - I mean is Nakajima Ki-44 any harder to understand than Messerschmidt Bf-109? To me German names are just as hard as the Japanese ones, but I guess I am of the whole generation reared on Godzilla and Japanese video games etc.    

Pete, they were Allied code names for the Japanese aircraft. Most of the time fighters had male names and bombers,transports, recon and gliders female names.

Since we're talking about Japanese airplanes, can somebody give me some background as to why the Japanese airplanes have nicknames like Frank, Kate, George etc? Were these given by servicemen? The Japanese themselves?

Sure, you're in!

Count me in with a Platz Mitsubishi F-1 and a FineMolds Ka-14.

Paul: It's good to have you aboard again!

I'll third that the Otaki/Arii kits were excellent kits in their day and still hold up well today. I haven't built many but was very pleased with the ones I did. I remember then having somewhat spartan cockpits but the exterior detailing and fit was great.

Good idea on the sub Paul,  I wish I'd thought of that.

The Otaki kits were also marketed by Arii and some of them by Airfix after Otaki were done with them. I think they date back to the seventies but were great kits for their day. I'd still build them if I were doing 48th. I did the P-47, Tony and Corsair years ago and found them to be very buildable, and produced a nice looking model with reasonable detail.

Cheers

Tony

Thanks for the heads up. If it looks like it's gonna be a bear, I'll put the Tamiya kit aside and grab something else. Anybody have any history on Otaki kits? I have a few of them in my attic.

Hi guys,

I would like to yoin in. You can note me for an I-400, Sairan and a Zero. The sub is 1:350 and the planes are 1:48, all Tamiya

Cheers,

Paul

Yeah, Ajd3530 is right here, I've never built the Tamiya Ki-84 but I've seen on several websites that it's closer to 1/50th. I'm not sure either how much work it would be to get the parts to fit.

Pete, the only thing I would worry about the Tamiya Ki-84 and using anything designed for a hasegawa kit is that the Tamiya Ki-84 actually scales out to like 1/50-1/51 scale. I read that somewhere and had to see for myself, and lo and behold when I pulled mine out of the stash, it doesn't measure up to exactly 1/48. I don't know how much of a difference that would ACTUALLY make with parts that small, but it is something to keep in mind.

Gamera,

Sorry about the bar,  but I can blame the 190 group build and the WWI GB, I never built anything like this until I went into those GB's. And everyone can be in this GB

John

Thanks for input. I'm going to grab the resin kit for the Tamiya 1/48. Once I get started, I'm sure I'll have tons of questions. Right now I'm getting started on the Encore version of the F-102A for the Vietnam Group Build. I may just have to try and work on both kits.

The Tamiya Frank is a pretty old kit. The only AM available will be for the newer Hasegawa kit. I would say they could be made to fit the Tamiya kit pretty well with a little trimming and sanding. Most Aires sets fit like crap even in the kit they are designed for, lol!

John: Looking great!

Pete: I wasn't able to find any AM parts for the Tamiya kit either, but you might want to consider buying this resin set. It's designed to be used with the Hasegawa kit, but it should fit the Tamiya kit as well (with a bit of trimming). I have the Tamiya Hayate in my stash myself (i got the motorized version at 50% off) and the molded cockpit details look horrible IMO. There is also a pretty large gap at both sides of the cockpit floor and the seat looks really bad (wrong shape, no lightening holes). Replacing the thick clear parts of the kit with a vacuformed canopy is probably a good idea as well. The overall fit of this kit is pretty good though... Just my 2 cents...

Gamera-Thanks for the warm welcome. Count me in. I've narrowed my choices down to two kits. One is a Ki-84 -IA (Frank) from Tamiya and the other is the 1/32 Oscar from Hasegawa. I'd like to stick with 1/48 (Tamiya), but I'm not finding any after market PE etc. Eduard does have stuff for a 1/48 Hasegawa. Does anyone reading this think I could grab that and use it on the Tamiya kit? If no aftermarket is available for the 1/48 Tamiya, then I'll go with the 1/32 Hasegawa.

First world problems, right?

Cheers,

Pete

Hey John, that's beautiful work, I think I saw her over on the Pegasus thread while on my phone and then forgot to comment when I got an actual keyboard in front of me.

Only complaint is you're setting the bar pretty high there- note to everyone else you don't have to be that talented to join the GB! 

Ok this plane doesn't count but I thought I'd post it anyway, then I can start my A6m5.  This is also posted over in the Pegasus thread for snap together models.

just practice for the next one.

John

Oooops, that post should have been in the Japanese Group Build Part II! I`ll repost it there, sorry folks.

Let me get straight to where I am at the moment with my other GB entry – the Tamiya Dinah. First let me say that i`m only using the True Details resin set №48462, all other additions to the model will be scratched.

I`ve glued the resin inserts by TD and put some different gauge wires on the right side of the pit. I`ve scratched the missing rear section of the main fuel tank, replaced the moulded hydraulic pipes, also made the reserve hydraulic pipe from fine solder. In the observers compartment i`ve erased the moulded pipes and wires and started replacing them with wire, fine solder and bras pipes from Albion alloys. Then I turned my attention to the main wheel wells. There`s a nasty seam right in the middle of the wells which I tried my best to erase but it`s not perfect. The wells are completely empty while there should be a whole bunch of details so i`ve started adding the piping and actuators that are clearly visible on the real plane. The other major detail that`s missing in the kit is the back of the engines which are visible from the wells. I`ve tried to replicate some of the details using different materials. The end result isn`t close to the original but is better than nothing. I also made some adjustments to the wells which were open from behind but actually they were boxed so I replicated this using leftovers from vac plastic sheets. Everything on the photos is primed with Alclad black primer.

That is all for now, hopefully there will be an update on the models soon. Now for some pics!

Pete: Welcome back! We'd love to have you. As long as it fits the rules on page one you're in like Flint. Just as long as the plane is unassembled or light assembly and Japanese- WWII, Cold War, or modern you're good!

Clemons: Fantastic! I knew the 1/32nd kit comes with a lot of cool stuff the 1/48 doesn't- though I'm not complaining! That scheme is pretty cool too, does the Shinden appear in that anime? I've seen a little but don't know much about the genre. Still the blue and white scheme looks almost as nice as the real scheme.

BTW: We'd always had two badges. I was going with Wayne's entry and one with the mascot too.