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Seattle Chapter IPMS/USADecember 2007

PREZNOTES

In This Issue

Eduard Ki-115 3Revell HLF 20/16 5Holiday Gift Giving Opening 6Pegasus Hobbies V-1 72007: A Model Year 8Hasegawa Fw 190A-4 9Dinah With the Fine Linah 10No Model Left Behind 12I-400 Book 13Valom YFM-1 14

Just what in the world am I going to dowith a 1/18th scale V-1??!? There it was, ina Pegasus Hobbies box at the local hobbyemporium, saying buy me, buy me! I’dnever even heard of Pegasus before andnow I’m buying one of their kits? It’s noteven my scale. Well, at least the price wasright, around $20 or so, and the kit is theessence of simplicity with a grand total of12 parts, plus a decal sheet. My resistancebeing particularly weak that day, it endedup in the back of the truck. It appears to bereasonably accurate based on examinationof numerous photos in the MonogramPubs book on V weapons. I haven’tconsulted with our resident V-1 guru as yetbut that will be forthcoming. I’m undecidedas how I want to finish it, however. Ithought about modifying the kit by addinga canopy and doing one of my “reel”planes - the manned version that appearedin the opening sequence of the movieOperation Crossroads. Then I thoughtabout building it as a JB-2 Loon, some ofwhich were quite colorful and some ofwhich were air launched from under thewing of a B-17. Unfortunately, there is no1/18th scale B-17 to attach it to. I alsothought about doing it in German mark-ings, but Jill won’t let me build an 1/18thscale launching ramp in the house. JonFarrelly sent me some weird “French”thingie that defies description, but it has aV-1 attached to it. It’ll probably be one ofthe few 1/18th scale kits I’ll ever buy,unless someone announces a B-17 in thatscale. If that ever happens that’ll probablybe the last model I’d ever buy!

This Saturday’s meeting is Spitfire Day atIPMS Seattle, as presented by JacobRussell. Finished or not, everyone that hasworked on a 1/72nd scale Spitfire for thisevent should bring them to the meeting.Jacob has done an outstanding job for thismini contest and it should make for aninteresting look to our model displaytables. Oh yes, prizes will be awarded. So,bring all your Spitfires!

And don’t forget to bring goodies and(non-alcoholic) drink to the meeting, forour traditional holiday bash!

See you at the meeting,

Terry

Remember tobring food,drink, (and

Spitfires) to theDecembermeeting!

SEATTLE CHAPTER CONTACTS

President: Vice President: Treasurer: Editor:Terry Moore M. Keith Laird Spencer Tom Robert Allen3612 - 201st Pl. S.W. 1825 South 330th St. F-201 318 N.E. 81st St. 12534 NE 128th Way #E3Lynnwood, WA 98036 Federal Way, WA 98003 Seattle, WA 98115 Kirkland, WA 98034Ph: 425-774-6343 Ph: 206-491-0096 Ph: 206-522-8414 Ph: [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

IPMS Seattle Web Site (Webmasters, Norm Filer & Tracy White): http://www.ipms-seattle.org

Public Disclaimers, Information, and Appeals for Help

This is the official publication of the Seattle Chapter, IPMS-USA. As such, it serves as the voice for our Chapter, and depends largelyupon the generous contributions of our members for articles, comments, club news, and anything else involving plastic scale modeling andassociated subjects. Our meetings are generally held on the second Saturday of each month, (see below for actual meeting dates), at the NorthBellevue Community/Senior Center, 4063-148th Ave NE, in Bellevue. See the back page for a map. Our meetings begin at 10:00 AM, exceptas noted, and usually last for two to three hours. Our meetings are very informal, and are open to any interested modeler, regardless of interests.Modelers are encouraged to bring their models to the meetings. Subscriptions to the newsletter are included with the Chapter dues. Dues are $24a year, and may be paid to Spencer Tom, our Treasurer. (See address above). We also highly recommend our members join and support IPMS-USA, the national organization. See below for form. Any of the members listed above will gladly assist you with further information about theChapter or Society.

The views and opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the individual writers, and do not constitute the official position of theChapter or IPMS-USA. You are encouraged to submit any material for this newsletter to the editor. He will gladly work with you and see thatyour material is put into print and included in the newsletter, no matter your level of writing experience or computer expertise. The newsletter iscurrently being edited using a PC, and PageMaker 6.5. Any Word or WordPerfect document for the PC would be suitable for publication. Articlescan also be submitted via e-mail, to the editor’s address above. Deadline for submission of articles is generally twelve days prior to the nextmeeting - earlier would be appreciated! Please call me at 425-823-4658 if you have any questions.

If you use or reprint the material contained in the newsletter, we would appreciate attribution both to the author and the sourcedocument. Our newsletter is prepared with one thing in mind; this is information for our members, and all fellow modelers, and is prepared andprinted in the newsletter in order to expand the skills and knowledge of those fellow modelers.

IPMS Seattle Chapter Newsletter

Upcoming Meeting DatesThe IPMS Seattle 2007 meeting schedule is as follows. All meetings are from 10 AM to 1 PM, except as indicated. To avoidconflicts with other groups using our meeting facility, we must NOT be in the building before our scheduled start times, andMUST be finished and have the room restored to its proper layout by our scheduled finish time. We suggest that you keep thisinformation in a readily accessable place.

December 8


Eduard 1/48th ScaleNakajima Ki-115 Tsurugi

by Terry D. Moore

In 1944, the Pacific war was not going wellfor the Empire of Japan. It was decided thatdesperate measures were needed. TheSpecial Attack Corps, the Divine Wind, orKamikaze, was created as a measure todelay the advance of the Allies toward thehomeland. In January of 1945 Nakajimawas ordered by the Imperial JapaneseArmy to develop an aircraft that wassimple to build and could be flown on itsone way mission by pilots with littletraining. The result was the Ki-115 Tsurugi(Sabre), an aircraft that could be builtusing non strategic materials by semi-skilled workers. It was designed to beflown using a variety of engines, althoughthe production aircraft used the 1,150 hpNakajima Ha-35 radial engine. The fuselagewas constructed of steel formers and steelskin, the cowling was made of tin, the tailsurfaces were of wood with fabric cover-ing. The wings were aluminum. Theundercarriage (can’t call it landing gearbecause the aircraft was not designed toland!) was made of tube steel and hadabsolutely no shock absorbing ability.

The first flight took place only a fewmonths after it was ordered by the Army.The aircraft did not handle at all well onthe ground due to the lack of shockabsorbers (some aircraft were later fittedwith a rudimentary shock absorbingundercarriage). In the air it was difficult tofly and the inexperienced pilots that wouldhave been assigned to the aircraft wouldprobably have not fared very well.

Nakajima completed 104 aircraft but nonewere used operationally before the warended. One aircraft survived and it’s nowin the possession of the National Air &Space Museum, in an unrestored state.

I’ve always had a fascination for thisaircraft as it certainly was less well knownthan most other types flown by Japan

during the war. I even had a 1/72nd scalemaster nearly complete when I wasproducing my own line of injection moldedkits back in the early 1980s (but that’sanother story for another time).

When the Eduard kit showed up out of theblue at the local hobby shop I just had tohave one (or two in this case). Uponopening the nice stout box, you find threewrapped sprues molded in dark grey, aclear sprue with the canopy parts, sepa-rately wrapped, plus small photo etch fretwith painted seat belts, and a set of Eduardmasks. Panel line and rivet detail is finelyengraved. On both my examples I found nosink marks and the ejector pin marks wouldnot be a problem. There are some minormold line issues especially with some ofthe finer parts, of which there are a lot, butnothing an average modeler can’t handle.In both my examples the decal sheet waswell printed and there were no registrationproblems. The instruction sheet is eightpages in addition to a full color paintingguide for three different aircraft. I foundthe instructions quite easy to follow frombeginning to end. There is a parts diagramand color callouts for a variety of differentpaints (Gunze Aqueous, Mr Color, Tamiya,Testors, Revell, and Humbrol). Theassembly drawings are of the explodedview type.

I followed the instruction sequence inorder and had no problems at all except Isaved attaching the undercarriage andpitot tube as the last steps to finish eachmodel due to the fragility of those items.Parts fit was quite good all aroundalthough I needed to do some trimming fornearly all of the individual exhaust stacksbecause of the mold lines. The cockpit iswell done and considering there’s notmuch to it, doesn’t require any additionaldetailing. The side wall details are moldedin fairly deep relief and with carefulpainting really stand out. I painted thecockpit with Alclad steel as the interiorwas left unpainted. I used a burnt umberwash to make the formers stand out. Theseat, control stick, throttle handles were allpainted a light wood tone. I used the PEseatbelts provided. The instrument panelwas painted black and dry brushed withwhite to bring out the details. A decal forthe instrument panel is provided but I didnot use it. The headrest consists of threepieces which, for this rather ham handedmodeler, is probably a bit of overkill, but atleast I did not send the parts off to thecarpet monster. I painted the headrest adark leather color and the headrestsupports an interior green. The deckbehind the headrest I left in natural steel.The fuselage went together without anyproblems once I glued the cockpit to one


half. The engine assembly fit right on thefront of the fuselage without any prob-lems. Care must be used when gluing thecowling halves together as there is notmuch mating surface, even with the finestalignment pins I’ve ever seen on a model. Iended up having to putty part of onecowling as when I set it down to dry, itsomehow misaligned itself (more hamhandedness from me perhaps?). When it isdry it was a perfect fit to the engine mount- no glue required. The fuselage requiredonly a minor amount of putty along the topseam. The wing halves went togetherwithout a problem and only required someminor sanding and filing to remove theseam. However, the biggest glitch with thiskit is mating the fuselage to the wing. Thefuselage is slightly wider than where itmates to the wing and it’s also hard toalign. I used CA to attach the fuselage tothe wing whilst pinching together thefuselage halves. The fit wasn’t perfect butit’s not noticeable to the point where Ineeded to use putty to fill the gap. Thelower wing/fuselage joint needed someheavy filing & filling, as did the join aheadof the wing. Fortunately I was able torestore some of the rivet details on thelower fuselage using my microsaw blade.The tail surfaces fit without any problems

although the stabilizer support strutsbroke when I tried to clip them from thesprue (some more of those really fineparts). I had to replace the struts withsprue and attached them after the modelwas painted.

At this point it was time to paint the model.After I primed the model with a greylacquer, I painted the fuselage of thenatural metal aircraft with Alclad steel, thewings with Alclad Aluminum, and the tailsurfaces with Alclad Duralumin (it was theonly other Alclad color I had left). I paintedthe lower surfaces of the camouflagedaircraft the same colors. The greenuppersurface I used Tamiya ? green. Idon’t know the real color as the labelwasn’t on the bottle. All I know it lookslike a Japanese Army green. I then maskedthe upper fuselage and sprayed the blackantiglare panel using Testors flat black.

I decided to use the kit decals and theyworked OK with Solvaset. They didn’tquite snuggle down over every rivet and Ihad to use my X-acto to cut the decals atthe panel lines but they turned out OK. Ithink the red is probably a bit too brightbut when I oversprayed them withDullcoat it seemed to tone them downsomewhat. I hand painted the “do notstep” characters on the flaps by hand as itwas quicker than using the decalsOnly then did I attach the undercarriage. Itis also quite fine and amazingly I didn’tbreak any of the parts removing them from


the sprue or trying to remove the mold line.They really are quite fragile until they areattached to the wing. I also replaced thepitot tube with sprue as well.

As a final touch I used a bit of rust coloredpastel chalk to the fuselage seams andpanels as most of the aircraft were exposedto the atmosphere, whether they wereflown or not. I did no other paint chippingor aging. And since the planes were neveroperational I chose not to add either bombto either aircraft.

These are the first Eduard kits I’ve builtand I have to say Ki-115 is really a nice kit.There are a lot of parts, perhaps more thanI’m used to in a small kit, and some of themreally finely molded (I had to replace afew). The model compares very favorablyto my references and drawings and I wouldrecommend this kit highly, especially sinceit’s such an obscure subject. It’ll certainlystand out at the next model meeting ordisplay.

References

Japanese Army Aircraft Colors & Mark-ings Of World War II, Don Thorpe

Japanese Aircraft Of The Pacific War, RJFrancillon

Broken Wings Of The Samurai, RobertMikesh

Japanese Aircraft Code Names, RobertMikesh

Aireview Japanese Aircraft Of The PacificWar

Revell Germany 1/24thScale Schlingmann

HLF 20/16

by Carl Kietzke

Schlingmann is one of the largest fireapparatus manufacturers in Germanytoday, specializing in heavy duty classequipment. Their line includes first attackunits all the way up to large capacitypumper tankers. The kit before us is anHLF 20/16 Rescue Pumper. This unit ismounted the Mercedes-Benz Atego1529AF 4X4 chassis. It has a 2,000 l/minpump and a 1,600 litre booster tank. Thiskit appears to represent the DIN standardHLF Rescue pumper.

This kit comes in a very large, sturdy, andcolorful box (if I could have figured how topack it, I would have bought one inFrance). Upon opening the box, you aregreeted by a large decal sheet, aSchlingmann sales sheet, a 76-stepinstruction book, and a veritable plethoraof parts. Twelve silver sprues, four blacksprues plus frame, three clear sprues, onered sprue plus the cab, and one in chromemake up the contents.

This kit scales perfectly with publisheddimensions from Schlingmann. It looksright and appears to sit right, so I’ll call itright. Everything on the 1:1 unit inside andout is included, either as a relief molding orseparate assembly. Markings are includedfor four different fire departments, plus thefactory demonstrator. All provided

departments do have Schlingmann HLFson their rosters.

A massive pile of parts, of which I shalladvise of the total count in the upcomingbuild article, means this is not for begin-ners. Revell lists it a skill level 5, whichmeans more than 150 parts and advancedmodeling skills. This is sort of short, butbased on prior information from RevellGermany; I was not quite ready for thesheer number of parts and level of detail.This is going to be quite an interestingbuild. Oh, and at $71.25 list, it is a fantasticbargain for what you get. I have beeneagerly awaiting this kit since first an-nounced in 2006, and I am not disap-pointed.

I would like to thank Emil at Skyway ModelShop for busting his buns to get this kit intime to take a quick look before holidayshopping time.


Hurricane Bookshelf:Holiday Gift-giving

‘Opening’!

by Scott Kruize

Exactly as I promised in the last issue, Itook an hour off my building time atHalloween and watched It’s the GreatPumpkin, Charlie Brown! It was asenjoyable as ever. I was already hooked onairplanes and modeling before the premierein 1966, when the World War I FlyingAce’s trials and tribulations were seenanimated for the first time by millionsacross the country, and eventually acrossthe world. How many of them would knowof the sacrifices of World War I—or haveeven heard of the Sopwith Camel—but forthis cartoon treatment?

It’s Christmas time, and as we shop for ourchildren, our children’s children, andchildren of relatives and friends, we mightremember that we ourselves becameinterested in modeling the vehicles ofhistory way back during our own child-hoods. Something inspired us; somethingset off the spark. We should try to do thesame for the young ones today, and notstand idly by and allow them to sinkforever into the bottomless pit of stereo-phonic Active-X 3-D video games…

Obviously, we can give simple vehicle toysor models, but a roving watch for booksand magazines should provide some ideas,too. Despite the Internet and Cybercul-ture—such as it is!—print isn’t dead.

A very young one would enjoy DrummerHoff, even if you have to do the reading for

the recipient. Here’s warnings of thedangers of militarism and military hard-ware, but also inspiration to do figuremodeling, particularly those fabulousNapoleonic-era uniforms.

Some writers out there still try very hard toboth entertain and educate. This bookcaught my eye while browsing Half PriceBooks, and between my niece and—Heaven help me!—seven grandchildren,this is certain to find a new home. It’s fullof all kinds of inventions to inspire abudding young modeler, whether to gowith figurines, ships, airplanes, cars, trains,or space vehicles. Come to think of it, howmany of you can answer the questions onthis Quiz page, opposite, right off the bat?

And there are always paper airplanebooks. No one is too young—or too old—to enjoy folding up an ordinary piece ofpaper into something that really flies, andthereby inadvertently pick up a littleknowledge of aeronautics.

Themes and pictures we can use crop upin the oddest places. I was returning somematerials to the library recently when abook on the return cart caught my eye. Iremember this clever little book, mostly oldEnglish nonsense verses, selected andillustrated by Wallace Tripp. Ken Murphy,whose natural ‘eye’ for graphics got evenmore cultivated as we attended theUniversity of Washington together,brought it once to our Reading Circle get-together. The title poem and openingsequence of illustrations are hilarious, andcry out for being made into a diorama. And


Thoroughbred

look at this illustration of a ditty towardsthe end of the book: a slightly differentperspective on the trials and tribulations ofyour typical World War I Flying Ace!

“Dickery, dickery, dareThe pig flew up in the airThe man in brown soon brought himdownDickery, dickery, dare”

So keep watch this year, as you’re outshopping. Some young person out there’sjust waiting for you to introduce him or herto the pleasures of our hobby. What betterway to help, than to provide that firstmodest entry onto a fledgling’s “HurricaneBookshelf”!

Pegasus Hobbies 1/18thScale V-1

by Terry D. Moore

As I suggested in my Preznotes column,this kit came in completely under my radar.The model is moulded in a dark brownplastic and consists of 12 parts plus asmall decal sheet. Putting it mildly, it’s yourbasic plain Jane model kit. The parts arethick and heavy. The surface finish isslightly rough but I would think that a littlebit of light sanding will take care of that.

What surface detail there is nicely scribedbut due to its scale you can probably addquite a bit more (my preference will be tobuild it out of the box). It looks like a V-1when compared to photo references so I’llleave it at that. I have yet to consult withour resident V-1 guru, Steve Gallaci, to gethis opinion on the shape of things. Itshould be an easy thing to convert it to aJB-2 Loon, which was almost a direct copy,and which had some very colorfulschemes.

It’s a nice simple kit that you couldprobably build in less than an hour. Addanother hour or so for painting and decalsand you’ve got another model for thedisplay case. This could be one of thoseone day projects that you used to be ableto do those many years ago.

Print Reference:

V-Weapons of the Third Reich, MonogramAviation Publications


2007: Now THAT was aModel Year!

by Tim Nelson

We occasionally hear some amongst uscomplain that our hobby is dying, we justcollect kits, no one is building anymore,etc., etc. I’m not so sure...

In January, we installed a display of TerryMoore’s “Aircraft of the Movies” collec-tion in the Museum of Flight lobby. It wasextremely popular, and has led to subse-quent displays on space exploration, BlueAngels aircraft and SeaFair, and WW 2(currently on display). These displays,organized by Stephen Tontoni, havegenerated tremendous enthusiasm amongMoF staff, volunteers, and visitors. Wehave opened a lot of eyes among MoFmanagement regarding the possibilities ofmodel exhibits.

In February, we put on what was likely thelargest model show ever in the PacificNorthwest, with over 2,000 models ondisplay at the NorthWest Scale Modelersshow. Huge crowds attended all weekend,exposing our hobby to folks of all ages.Museum of Flight President/CEO andformer astronaut Dr. Bonnie Dunbar gave awonderful presentation at our request, andsigned autographs alongside the models.

In April, our annualSpring Show was arip-roaring success,capped by MikeMillette’s JastaSchweinhimmelproject. This groupbuild generated awonderful collectionof creative WW 1models, and demon-strated again that noone tops theinnovative streak ofNorthwest modelers.

In August, a largecontingent of us trekked to Anaheim andhad a great time despite chaos in the landof Disney. We staged a group entry of ourrecent 1949 Schneider Trophy project with52 of the racer models on display. I’mpleased and proud to say that not a singleone was damaged in transit.

In September, the Museum of Flightunveiled the Holtgrewe collection of over400 models which represent every majoraircraft type which flew in WW 2. I wasprepared to be disappointed by it, but it isin fact a first-rate collection, well dis-played, with an impressive computerizeddatabase to go with it. If you haven’t seenit yet, go do it. It’s between the Yak-9 andthe P-47 in the Personal Courage Wing.

Also in September, NorthWest ScaleModelers signed aMemorandum ofUnderstanding withthe Museum of Flighton development of apermanent modeldisplay case in thelobby. StephenTontoni has been thepoint man to see thisproject through, andwe are now in thefinal stages of casedesign. This willprovide a permanentvenue for themedmodel displays on a

quarterly basis, forever. (If you have anidea for a future display theme, let’s hearit.)

As you read this, many are feverishlycompleting work on 1/72nd scale Spitfiresfor Jacob Russell’s special competition atthe December meeting. This promises to begreat fun, adding an extra element ofexcitement to the always enjoyable“SugarFest” meeting.

In between the major events, we had theusual camaraderie, exchange of ideas,good humor, occasional disagreement, andfun that makes a hobby much more thanjust something to occupy the hands andpass the time. We also have the continu-ous stream of new kit releases in all scales,of subjects we never dreamed we’d see.

As 2008 stretches before us, we willexperience the resurrection of“Modelfying”, i.e., building anything youcan imagine using parts of a declared kit(1/72nd scale Antonov An-2 this time). Inever did one in the past, but I now have atwisted idea in mind and am eager toembark on it - once my Spitfire is complete,that is.

Is the hobby dying? Perhaps, but in themeantime, I’m having a lot of fun. Eat,drink, and be merry - this must be what a“Golden Age” feels like!


Hasegawa 1/48th ScaleFocke Wulf Fw 190A-4

by Hal Marshman, Sr

I have built a couple of Tamiya Fw 190s,but had not tried the Hasegawa offering.Wanting an A-4, I purchased theHasegawa kit shortly after its release. Myretired status, and the higher prices thatthese kits demand, makes new kits a caseof “Will I build it, or just add it to thestash?” Simple answer, “Only buy whatyou know you want to build!” Thus,shortly after purchase, I started the kit.

This is basically the same kit as the A-3bird, with a separate upper portion for theantenna mount area of the fin, includingthe mast type mounting. I found this insertto be dimpled on both sides. This was theonly difference I noted from their A-3 kit.The plastic is the normal medium graystyrene we’re used to seeing from thismanufacturer. Surface detail consists ofwell-done engraved panel detail, withsunken rivet detail where necessary. Therewas no further dimpling, nor were thereany release pin marks on visible surfaces.

Fw 190s had a sparse interior, butHasegawa has done a good job in the‘office’. All that was really necessary waspainting it RLM 66 Black/Gray, adding a

black wash in thenooks and crannies,and then a light graydry brushing to pickup the raised areas.This treatment alsoincluded the largeexpanse behind theseat, which is nicelydetailed. I added aset of my own tapebelts with sheetplastic buckles.

The engine is abeautifully cast one-piece unit, but whendone is hidden behind the cooling fan.Such being the case, I only painted,washed, and dry brushed it. Lookingcarefully into the finished cowling,between the blades of the cooling fan, youcan see just the faintest suggestion of theengine, so no need to wire the ignition as Ido normally.

The basic airframe assembly is normal, andgoes together rapidly, with very little needfor filler. The cowling features separateparts for the bumps just below mid-cowl. Iwould imagine that is to accommodatetropical filters on the Trop versionHasegawa will no doubt release later. Thegun panels on the underside of the wingare separate pieces also, indicating that

different panels will be used for laterversions. Matter of fact, they’re already onthe sprues, so choose carefully, to cater tothe version you’re building.

Ah, now we come to that famous weird 190landing gear. The wheels are OK, but Iused True Details wheels for my bird. Thegear legs are pretty nicely done, and I usedfine wire here for brake lines. The foldingmechanism is somewhat bulky, comparedto the Tamiya ones. Hasegawa hasprovided inner doors for this version, and Iused them. The instructions for thisassembly are lacking, and I ended upmodifying the doors to fit. The actuatingmechanism is provided, but I found thatalso to be somewhat clunky. Outer geardoors are provided as individual parts forthe wheel cover itself, and the gear legcover. They work out pretty well. The tailwheel is a well detailed one-piece unit.

Clear parts are well done, featuringseparate parts for windscreen and canopy.Two canopies are provided, one straight,and the other blown for later type birds. Inaddition, the different head rest andbracing units are provided for both earlyand late versions.

Decals are given for two different aircraft,both Tunisia based, one flown by Oblt.Fritz Schroter, the other by Oblt. ErnstRudorffer. Typical Hasegawa quality, butthe white IS white.

Continued on page 16


“Dinah with the FineLinah”

or Fun in the Fast FramesLane

by Ken Murphy

I like to consider every build as a learningexperience, an experiment in trying out newtechniques and new ideas. Sometimes anidea or technique is the reason I try acertain build, not just because I like thesubject.

One of the big challenges for me withWWII aircraft is doing the canopies. I’malways in awe of Jim Schubert’s or TerryMoore’s fine canopy work (I could go onand on here, as so many of you do suchfine work). I’m always asking questions,trying out new ideas. I’ve tried quite a few:hand painting, placing decals, paintedstrips of Scotch tape, or strips of metal foil;masking with Tamiya tape and bare metalfoil…the list goes on and on, but now Ihad something on hand I hadn’t triedbefore: “Fast Frames”. These are die-cutvinyl peel-off and apply sections for aspecific kit. In my case, I had several Ipicked up at the American Eagles close-outsale and among them was a set for the 1/48th scale Tamiya Hyakushiki Shitei III(usually referred to as the Ki-46 Dinah). Asmany of you know, “the Dinah wasproduced throughout the war; the aes-thetically beautiful Ki-46 III flew almostunmolested until 1945 when allied fighterswere finally able to intercept this highflying reconnaissance speedster.” A keyelement of her beauty was the largesweeping half-glazed nose and observer’scockpit. Therein lay the problem. I’d hadthe kit for some time, but hadn’t thecourage to tackle the canopies. But now Idid - Fast Frames to the rescue! Justairbrush the interior color over the wholesheet, then the same for the exterior color,peel and stick – what could be easier? Sooff I went…

As for the kit itself, it is everything theTamiya line has been famous for. Excellent

fit, fine panel lines, great detail, no need forputty or filler here. You can pour in theglue, a dash of paint, and a dab of decals.The box can be shaken (not stirred) andpresto! Out would pop an award-winningmodel. Unfortunately, it’s me doing this, soit was going to take a bit longer.

I started out with the engines, whichcomprise a grand total of two parts each(three if you include the vinyl washer tohold the propeller). Despite the small partcount, the engine is beautifully moldedwith excellent detail which I carefullypicked out with my 00 brush. I then gavethem a wash of burnt sienna oil paint,which I’m just beginning to learn how todo. It really made the detail jump out. I wasso proud of the results, that I broughtthem to a NWSM meeting to show themoff. Of course, when I later installed themin the cowlings, and put on the props with

their large spinners, all hope of seeinganything of the engines was long gone.But as they say, “Because God sees!” Seethe attached picture of the engines: they’rethe only evidence I have that there issomething holding up the props.

The interiors were next. The kit includesplenty of detail, on which I was able topractice some of my newly learnedtechniques, such as dabs of Future on theinstrument faces to simulate glass, drybrushing, oil washes and finally, harnesseshand-made from Tamiya tape and tiny bitsof lead wire. As you can see from thephoto, it turned out rather well for anapprentice builder. I was so please in fact,that I was unprepared for the mental crisisthat would strike next.

Oh no! Oh no, I thought. This is all goingso well. Could it be? Could this be my bestbuild ever? Could this combination of agreat kit and my slowly emerging skillslead to a personal best result? Dang. Youknow what that means. It means I can’tscrew this up. The rest of this build mustlive up to what I’ve accomplished so far,and that means getting the seams right,getting the paint right, getting the canopyright. Shoot, there goes the “experiment…”


Now I was going to have to do “research.”And “ask for help.” What kind of hobby isthis? So I researched – and I asked, andyou know, it wasn’t so painful. Ourmembers are always happy to help. Thefirst thing I needed to know about was theDinah’s wheel wells. For all its detaileverywhere else, the wheel wells in the kitare surprisingly detail-less. So in front ofGod and everybody at the NWSMmeeting, I asked if anyone had anyinformation and here I’d like to thank ChrisGenna and Jim Schubert, for within days Ihad pictures, and links to the RAF CosfordMuseum in England, where the onlysurviving example remains. Also, while I’mthanking, I’d like to give special thanks toWill Perry for loaning me – almost indefi-nitely – his copy of Mitsubishi Ki-46Dinah by Martin Ferkl (yes, that’s thecorrect spelling), Revi Publications of theCzech Republic, ISBN: 80-85957-11-6,Copyright 2005, www.revi.cz. This must bethe definitive last word on the subject,with its photos, color profiles, engineeringdrawings and extensive history (inEnglish). A must-read if you have any

interest in the subject. It certainly filled inmany details, such as the reference alludedto in the title of this article: “The Alliesencountered the Ki-46 from the verybeginning of the war and all its variantswere known to them by the codename‘Dinah.’ RAF pilots in Burma jokinglycalled her ‘Dinah with the fine linah’referring to her aesthetically pleasingstreamlined appearance.” The book alsosolved another mystery (once the particu-lar passage was pointed out to me by JonCarr Farrelly). Why was it that everywhereI looked, the plane was referred to as theMitsubishi Ki-46, yet on the box andinstructions, it’s referred to as theHyakushiki Shitei III? And the answer was:“…Japanese pilots knew the type as‘Shitei’ or ‘100 Shitei’ (read as HyakuShitei). The name was actually an abbre-viation made up from one of its officialnames – the 100 Shiki Shireibu Teisatsuki(Type 100 Command ReconnaissanceAircraft).”

Everything was going together so nicely, Ididn’t even think about the canopies until

I had the model almost completely fin-ished. No matter, I would just apply theFast Frames and…and…uh, these thingsdon’t work! Seems you can’t take a flatframe and bend it around a compoundcurve without buckling. I stretched, pulled,pressed and squeezed it every way Icould; it would not stay down! And thetwo-dimensional parts of the frames thatwould stay down, didn’t quite fit. What adisaster! So much for this experiment.(Here I must interject – it was my firstattempt at using this product. Maybe I wasdoing it wrong, maybe if you had a canopywith reasonably flat sides, they wouldwork just fine. If you are a satisfiedcustomer, please let me know how you didit). Now what? After I had peeled off thenot-so-Fast Frames, the canopy was amess. I soaked it in Future and decided totry Terry Moore’s technique – Tamiya tapemasks. I cover the canopies with tape, andusing a new blade, began to cut. Only oneproblem:the corners of the frames arerounded. No matter how carefully I tried tofollow the curves, the tape would pull and/or I gouged the plastic. After hours offrustration, I peeled off the tape to reveal ascratched-up mess. What now? Back tothe Future! I re-dipped the canopies threeor four times to fill in the damage. This timeI cut the tape into thin strips and placedthem alongside the frames until I hadeverything covered. Finally something thatworked, all it took was hours and hours.The second to last part of this tragedy wasblending the canopies into the fuselage.Since I had inexplicably already paintedthe rest of the model, I had to glue on thecanopies, mask off as best I could andrepaint half the model. What an ordeal!Heed my warning, friend: don’t play withloose women or fast frames.

Finally, I was down to the last step. Justglue on the mast and string the aerial andI’m done. Here history itself intervened toprovide the last tragic event. I glued theTappet line to the mast, put it in a box andwas off to the NWSM meeting to show offmy finished product. When I pulled it outof the box, the mast had a 30 degree list tothe stern. At this point I was beginning tofeel just a bit cursed. Later attempts to re-

photo by James Tainton


glue it proved futile, but in this case it wasart imitating history. It seems that the verytall mast of the real plane was a problem aswell. They frequently snapped or brokecompletely off. Ground crews would cutdown the masts or even saw them com-pletely off. So I decided to take a lessonfrom history and just cut the bugger off. Iattached the aerial to the side of thefuselage – as they did, and called it good.Actually, I think it looks better. But forthose of you who must have the mast, BillOsborn suggested to me using a brasstube and anchoring it to the bottom of thefuselage. Now he tells me…

In the final analysis, I took a great modeland turned it into an Experiment from Hell.So what have I learned from all this? Well,there is no shortcut to good canopyframes. Those pie-in-the-sky, easzy-schmeazy, one step does it all solutions arenothing more than a pipe dream. If youwant good results, ya just gotta do thework.

Also, that our friends and fellow clubmembers are an invaluable resource. Whatgreater testament to the value of our club,than the response one gets from anyinquiry? Without the help and encourage-ment of those mentioned above and of ourmembers in general, I would probably havegiven up on this project. Instead, despiteeverything, it actually turned out to be adecent build and with the encouragementof Ed Pinnell, I took it with us toVancouver where it won First Place (!) at

the Vancouver Show in the 1/48th AxisTwin Prop with Bad Canopies and MissingMasts category. So you see, it takes avillage…

No Model Left Behind!

by Don Conrard

The creativity of Seattle-area modelers willbe on display in a big way during theannual Northwest Scale Modelers show atthe Museum of Flight. Slated for 10 a.m. to4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, February16-17, in the museum’s Great Gallery, theshow promises to be the largest modelexhibit in the PacificNorthwest. Last year, itattracted nearly 2,000scale aircraft, armor,ship, and figure modelsfrom as far away asVancouver, B.C.

“We’re hoping theshow will be evenbigger this year,” saidTim Nelson, one of theexhibit organizers.“With more than 104tables to fill, we’reasking modelers tobring everything they

have. My mantra this year is: ‘No modelleft behind!’”

As a show not a contest, there is no entryfee, no prizes, and no pressure. It’s simplyand opportunity to dazzle the thousandsof people with the quality of your work,and perhaps bring a few new faces into thehobby. Everyone who brings a model willreceive free admission to the museumalong with a 10 percent discount at themuseum store. This is in addition to theregular 15 percent member discount.

The models again will be displayed(mostly) by modeler, which makes for easylogistics.

Jon Carr Farrelly is compiling a list ofmodel exhibitors in order to make first class


table signs. Please let him know if you planto participate in the show. His e-mailaddress is [email protected].

With the theme “Model Madness,” theshow will feature a special exhibit high-lighting the creativity of Northwestmodelers as they mix and match parts ofdifferent kits to create their own wild andwhimsical creations. The museum showwill be a chance to preview the upcoming“modelfy” category at the IMPS SpringContest next April.

This year’s show will feature not one, buttwo free “Make and Take” model buildingworkshops – one on Saturday and one onSunday. Sponsored by Galaxy Hobbies inLynnwood and the Skyway Model Shopnear Renton, the workshops will givechildren age 6 and up an opportunity tobuild a scale aircraft model under theguidance of skilled volunteers. Modelerswilling to volunteer 30 minutes or more oftheir time to help are asked to sign up theday of the show.

As an added attraction, Jim Goodall willpresent a talk on the “Blackbird” family ofaircraft from their secret origin with theCIA until their retirement in the late 1990s.

He also will give an update on the restora-tion of the Museum’s De Havilland Comet4C jet airliner. Goodall is a renownedaviation historian, author and airplanerestorer. Both presentations will besupported with photographs fromGoodall’s personal collection. Goodall’stalk, which is free with museum admission,is scheduled for 2 p.m. Saturday in theWilliam M. Allen Theater.

More information on the show will appearin the February issue of the Seattle IPMSChapter Newsletter. In the meantime,questions may be directed to Tim Nelson([email protected]) or StephenTontoni ([email protected]).

I-400 - Japan’s SecretAircraft Carrying Strike

Submarine byHenrySakaida, Gary Nila, and

Koji Takaki

review by Terry D. Moore

This is a very interesting book from HikokiPublications concerning the building andoperations of the Imperial Japanese giantsubmarines, I-400, I-401, and I-402 (the I-402 was completed but never sailed). Thesubs were as big as a destroyer and theycould carry three M6A Seiran aircraft each.They had a terrific range, capable ofreaching the east coast of the U.S. withoutrefueling. Their final (and only) missionwas to attack and disable the PanamaCanal. At the last minute the mission was

changed and the two subs and their sixSeirans were to attack the U.S. carrier fleetanchored at Ulithi. Whilst enroute, Japansurrendered. Both boats were taken andeventually were sailed to Pearl Harborwhere they were examined extensively bythe U.S. Navy.



Valom 1/72nd Scale BellYFM-1 Airacuda

by Gerry Nilles

Business-wise the Airacuda was probablyBell Aircraft Company’s most important,and successful project despite the fact thatof the dozen or so built none becameoperational. The simple fact is that Bellmost likely would have failed as a com-pany if it had not been for the interest theUSAAF had taken in this very innovative,and technologically ahead of time aircraft.

Larry Bell’s vision of establishing his ownaircraft manufacturing company could nothave come at a more difficult financial time.The year was 1935, it was in the middle ofthe great depression and what little moneythe military had was being spread betweenthe giants of the industry such as Boeing,Consolidated, Curtiss, and Martin just toname a few. Bell, who had been an execu-tive with several of these major aircraftmanufactures prior to going out on hisown, managed to scarcely stay afloat withsubcontract work. However, and fortu-nately for Bell, at this time the hint of warin Europe was starting to become aconcern to American military planners,

especially the potential of attack fromlong-range bombers. As a response to thisthreat, the Army Air Corp put out a requestfor proposals for a combined long-rangebomber destroyer/escort. Bell knew that ifhe were going to get the attention of theUSAAF he would have to come up with aconcept that was so ahead of its time thatit would be impossible to ignore.

Teamed with the young and gifted aircraftdesigner Robert Woods, Bell’s ideas for astate of the art bomber destroyer tookshape. Designated the XFM-1 (FMstanding for Fighter Multi-place) the

Airacuda prototype (also called theTigerfish) rolled out of the Bell factory inthe summer of 1937 with its first flighttaking place a few months later on Septem-ber 1. Per the design requirements theplane, when compared to contemporaryfighters, was indeed uncharacteristicallybig. Its wingspan was greater than either aB-25 or a B-26 and it had a crew of five.The fuselage was both sleek and slenderwith a tandem arrangement for the pilot,co-pilot/navigator/top gunner combinationand the rear side gunner. Two wingmounted Allison V-1710 twelve cylindersliquid cooled engines, using a shaft drivenpusher configuration, powered the aircraft.

Mounted above the wings, the enginenacelles were exceptionally large in thatthey also served as forward facinggunner’s positions. Each of these winggunner’s positions were equipped with acombined 30cal machine gun and 37mmcannon while the fuselage positionsmounted 50cal machine guns. As a sidenote, the final version of the YFM-1 designwould also incorporate tricycle landinggear. Overall, the Airacuda was unques-tionably a unique looking design, of whichmany of its advanced ideas would obvi-ously make their way into Bell’s next bigproject, the P-39.

As noted above the Airacuda never wentinto operational service and as such waslimited to a handful of test and evaluationmodels. The reason for this is that at thetime the Army Air Corp felt that many of itsdesign features was just too revelatoryand untested to risk putting it intoproduction. This decision, in hindsight,would show to be the correct one. How-ever, many of these advanced ideas weresubsequently applied to other aircraft asthe technology progressed.

This multi-media kit includes injectionmolded medium gray and clear plasticmajor airframe assemblies with both resinand photo-etched detail parts. Panel linesare nicely engraved and do not appear tobe overly heavy or light. Of special note isthe fact that the individual panels have afinely engraved rivet pattern on them.Considering that this is a natural metalaircraft, extra care during the assemblyprocess, especially around seams andjoint, is a good idea. A close inspection ofmy sample showed that there are no sinkmarks and that the need for parts clean upis minimal. The clear parts likewise look tobe of good quality, although the embossedframing seemed to be just a tiny bit heavy.The resin and photo-etched parts, whichincludes both the pilots and co-pilotsinstrument panels as well as individualseat belts, also looked to be of goodquality. Overall, the interior detail issufficient if built out of the box. However,if inclined toward super detailing a very


nice series of illustrations, of all theaircraft’s visible areas, come with theinstructions. These illustrations have whatamounts to a photographic quality aboutthem.

As to the kit’s accuracy, I should first notethat I used as my reference the excellent18-page article on the Airacuda thatoriginally appeared in volume 1, No.1(Sept. 1971), of the magazine Airpower.This article included over three dozenphotos of the aircraft as well as a very nicecolor profile drawing which also happensto be the subject of the kit’s markings.That said I find that the overall shape,including side and top views, whencompared to numerous photos and the fewdrawings I have, looks to be correct.Dimensionally, when measured against thepublished specification, again it is correct.

However, one area, that I noticed, thatdeviates from my references is the arrange-ment of the engine exhaust system. The kithas the engine exhaust pipes molded asdoglegged half-rounds on either side ofthe wing nacelles, when in reality it is onlydoglegged on the outboard side. Inaddition, both sides of the exhaust systemtaper out from the forward facing part ofthe engine and are almost flush with theside of the nacelle. Last, the inboardexhaust pipe comes straight back and thencurved over the engine and then downwhere it joins the outboard section of theexhaust at the top of the dogleg.

Fortunately, my description of how thisshould look is not necessary in that boththe kit’s box art and the painting andmarking guide clearly show the exhaustsystem’s correct arrangement. Of othernote is the fact that the fuselage halves areobviously common to other versions ofthis aircraft and as such include the nosewheel bay and the nose wheel parts usedfor tricycle landing gear. However, do notbe tempted to use these parts in that thisparticular kit is uniquely the tail draggerversion, which has a completely differentmain gear setup. The main gear on thisaircraft retracts to the rear, very similar to

the P-40, whereas the tricyclelanding gearversion hadmain gear thatretracted to theside and inboardlike the P-47 andP-51.

As I notedabove this kitcomes with onlyone set ofmarkings. Thisparticular YFM-1 is the 27thPursuit Squad-ronCommander’saircraft as itappeared inJune of 1940.According to kitinformation, thisaircraft was ondisplay at thetime at the NewYork World’sFair. However,of note is thatthe 27th PursuitSquadronoperated fromHamilton Field,California in1940. As for thedecals them-selves, theylook to be ofgood qualityand correctcolor.

This is a veryinterestingbetween-the-wars subject.Overall, the kitlooks very nice,with the only



Meeting Reminder December 810 AM - 1 PM

North Bellevue Community/Senior Center4063-148th Ave NE, Bellevue

Directions: From Seattle or from I-405, take 520 East tothe 148th Ave NE exit. Take the 148th Ave North exit(the second of the two 148th Ave. exits) and continuenorth on 148th until you reach the Senior Center. TheSenior Center will be on your left. The Center itself isnot easily visible from the road, but there is a signpostin the median.

In addition to the above, my completedmodel has scratch landing gear indicators,dorsal antenna, vinyl covered paper clipguns, and MV lenses for the navigationlights. Antenna cable is 2 lb. test monofila-ment.

All in all, it’s a pretty decent effort byHasegawa. My model was decorated withdecals from Kagero, from one of their littlebooks, depicting the machine flown byMaj. Fritz Losigkeit, Kommandeur of I/Jg-1..

Hasegawa Fw 190A-4 from page 9

The book goes into great detail about lifeaboard the boats, their ultimate fate, andincludes interviews with surviving subcrew and air crew members. There is a largenumber of photos, many never beforepublished, taken by the U.S. prize crew onthe voyage to Pearl. The book alsocontains quite a number of drawings ofboth the subs and the Seiran aircraft. Ifyou have the new Tamiya I-400 kit, this isprobably the most valuable reference youcan have. Highly recommended.

I-400 from page 13

visible discrepancy a correctable exhaustsystem. As always, being a first lookevaluation, it is hard to judge fit, but fromwhat I could see it should be no problemwith little filling needed. Finally, themarkings look to be of both good qualityand correct color.

I wish to thank Valom for the sample copythey provided for review.

[Thanks to Chris Banyai-Riepl andwww.internetmodeler.com for permissionto use Carl’s and Gerry’s articles. - ED]

Valom Airacuda from page 15

seattle chapter news€¦ · thingie that defies description, but it has a v-1 attached to it....

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