Wild Goose Chase - building FineMolds’ 1/48 Karigane

Base done -
Here it is with ground work base done with Durham’s mixed to a heavier trowel consistency-


Pre shading done -

Pavers sprayed with Vallejo IJN Ash Grey - this is a nice color for concrete/sone - then washed with Payne’s Grey oil . If you can only have one tube of oil paint this is the one to get .

All done - turf area base painted with Tamiya Flat Olive green then Woodland Scenics cement and fine turf in Burnt Grass , Green Grass and Yellow grass …

If we look between Mr Churchill’s legs in this photo taken at Croydon in 1937 we can see a cover plate of some sort -

Couldn’t resist adding one to break up the field for interest. This actually a round drum magazine from the spares box …

Thanks for looking -
RT

6 Likes

Base looks great! Looking forward to 1/48 scale Winston as well :grinning:

1 Like

Very nice build so far, thanks for sharing it with us.

1 Like

Short post till tomorrow - model is done but I haven’t had time to take final pics - family arrives shortly for Turkey day .
In this pic we can see a suitcase and travel bag stuffed in the central canopy between the cockpits.
It would seem that Kamikaze did not have a baggage compartment.


… so here are a suitcase and travel bag scratched out of styrene for the suitcase and epoxy putty for the travel bag . Wine bottle foil for straps and handle …

More tomorrow- Happy Thanksgiving !
Richard
Edit -

6 Likes

Such a great and well thought out project. Love it :smile:

1 Like

Thanks all for the interest and kind words.
Here it is all done - in addition to pilot Masaaki Iinuma’s and navigator Kenji Tsukagoshi’s luggage I made up chocks for the wheels and the antenna.
I replaced the kit mast with one filed out of brass for more strength. Antenna itself is fine fly tying nylon monofilament colored with a silver marker . The beauty of this material is it can be made taut if needed by lighting a match and then blown out and the match head passed under the monofilament.










The Allied military would have done well to pay more attention to Japanese aviation capabilities in the days leading up to the Pacific war - here is an excerpt from a 1937 aviation report -

“Contrary to expectations, this Mitsubishi monoplane (which, incidentally was completed toward the end of March) and its engine do not appear to have built under direct licence from any American firms. Its type name is Karigane , or Wild Goose. It is reminiscent of the well-known Northrop series of single-engined mailplanes, but the resemblance is largely superficial and might apply to any machine built on the same lines and for the same purpose. The radial engine—a Nakajima Kotobuki III giving 550 h.p. (normal) at sea level and designed for a fixed-pitch airscrew, has points of similarity with the P. and W. Wasp and earlier Wright Cyclones, but is obviously of Japanese design. Superior people would not find it difficult to discover similarities—and to talk of “copying”—in the case of such a machine built anywhere. Two additional aircraft of similar type, but with various improvements are being built for Asahi

Western myopia and prejudice cost them dearly in the early stages .
This was a fun project and as stated earlier, these current generation FineMolds kits are excellent.
Thanks again all for the interest and compliments.
Cheers- Richard

8 Likes

This is so frickin’ SWEET!!! Such a clean assembly and love the shoe as a reference for the pavers. Your efforts are to be commended Richard.

1 Like

Thanks Joe - given that this was a brand new aircraft at the time of it’s record flight and immaculately maintained it gave me an excuse to do it up clean and shiny - just like a car modeler does !

2 Likes

That’s turned out really nice.
I like the neat paint job, aircraft of that era always look good when pristine and polished.
And it’s always good to learn a new story in aviation history.

1 Like