Geoffers Airfix 1/72 NakajimaB5N2 “Kate” (Club Edition)

[scottie3158]

Geoff,
Off to a great start, I will follow along. I had never heard of the surrender markings before.

[Geoffers]

Geoff,
Off to a great start, I will follow along. I had never heard of the surrender markings before.

Cheers Scottie, to be honest neither had I before I saw this kit :tears-of-joy:

Geoff.

[Waspie]

Wow, just read the article in Geoff's link. I never knew about the 'surrender' aircraft/markings. Really interesting piece of history.

[Geoffers]

Wow, just read the article in Geoff's link. I never knew about the 'surrender' aircraft/markings. Really interesting piece of history.

Thanks Doug :thumb2:

Geoff.

[The Smythe Meister]

Hello Chaps,

I’m about to start the build but firstly as promised here’s the plastic. X5 runners of grey plastic and x1 clear. The plastic seems a bit crisper than a lot of Airfix kits so hopefully should be good to work with.

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These have also arrived to spruce up the cockpit.
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I also said I would explain about the
surrender markings.

After the second Atomic bomb was used on Nagasaki the Japanese finally agreed to unconditional surrender.

As part of the surrender process Japanese envoys had to travel to various locations across the Pacific to offer their formal surrender to the local allied commanders.

For this they used aircraft which had been ordered by the Allied Supreme Command to have the the camouflage painted over with white paint and green crosses painted over the Hironamu.
This was so that they would not be mistaken for potential Kamikaze aircraft and be shot down.

I’ve added a link to a more detailed explanation:

https://www.vintagewings.ca/stories/green-cross-to-bear

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n1204295[/ATTACH]
I’ve managed to find a picture of. “Kate” in surrender markings, looks like it has been dumped among some other captured aircraft.

So on with the build which begins surprisingly not with the cockpit but the wings :surprised:

There are options for wings to be folded/unfolded and also holes drilled for the various weapon loads. None of which were needed for this build so it was a simple matter of cementing the wing halves together and building the cockpit up on top of the upper wing.

Progress so far :smiling:
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That’s it so far, another update soon.

Thanks for looking :thumb2:

Geoff.

Excellent update Geoff
The kit looks really well detailed,hard to believe it's braille scale.... and all 3 aircrew provided, that's a refreshing change.
Good, steady progress underway.
Great bit of info regarding the surrender scheme too,a very interesting read.
Top stuff mate!!

[stillp]

Looking good, and thanks for the explanation of the markings.
Pete

[Ian M]

Every day is a school day. I learn something most days on here!

[Mickc1440]

Nice start with the internals

[Geoffers]

Excellent update Geoff :smiling3:
The kit looks really well detailed,hard to believe it's braille scale.... and all 3 aircrew provided, that's a refreshing change.
Good, steady progress underway.
Great bit of info regarding the surrender scheme too,a very interesting read. :smiling3:
Top stuff mate!!

Cheers Andy :thumb2:

Looking good, and thanks for the explanation of the markings.
Pete

Thanks Pete :smiling4:

Every day is a school day. I learn something most days on here!

Glad you found it instructive Ian :smiling:

Nice start with the internals

Thank you Mick :thumb2:

Geoff.

[Geoffers]

More progress

The cockpit has been painted, I used Tamiya XF 71 cockpit green as Nakajima apparently used a colour very similar to this.
One dry the various kit transfers were added along with the KitsWorld seat belts.

Apart from a quick dab here and there with Tamiya Panel Liner to grubby it up a bit this is as far as I am going with the cockpit because disappointingly once buttoned up hardly anything can be seen :anguished:




The fuselage has been glued together and cemented into place and the various elevators and flaps have been added.




There is optional parts for dropped flaps but I’m trying to keep it as close to the reference picture I found hence the raised versions.

A few of the seams will probably need a bit of a clean up then it will be more or less ready for primer.

Another update soon, thanks for looking :thumb2:

Geoff.

[adt70hk]

That's coming on very nicely Geoff. These newer Airfix offerings really are the business.

And like the others thanks for the history lesson on the markings.

ATB.

Andrew

[Geoffers]

That's coming on very nicely Geoff. These newer Airfix offerings really are the business.

And like the others thanks for the history lesson on the markings.

ATB.

Andrew

Thank you Andrew :thumb2:

Yes Airfix have certainly upped their game now. Only disappointing thing about this kit is the fantastic cockpit which can hardly be seen :anguished:

Geoff.

[Tim Marlow]

Excellent stuff. Yet another one here that had not heard of the surrender markings. The kit looks as good as most 1/48ths to be honest. Looking like it will be a fun trouble free build.

[papa 695]

Looking good, coming along very nicely Geoff.

[Allen Dewire]

Still with you here Geoff! I fell a little behind and really like how this is coming along. Love the seatbelts Sir!!! I haven't even started my Peggy yet...

Prost
Allen