Tora Tora Tora! or Jap bomber trio

 

Yes I know these are all Army 'planes but who could resist the title?  Here are the completed bombers.  From the front - Ki-30 and two Ki-32.  I think they look rather smart.

Kawasaki Ki-32

Having need of at least one Japanese Army light bomber I naturally ended up with three!  As well as the Ki-30 mentioned earlier I picked up a pair of these Ki-32.  Unusual among Japanese aircraft in having an inline (rather then radial) engine, the -32 looks to me very 'late thirties.'  The fixed undercarriage was used as it was felt that the simplicity and strength outweighed the drag issues.  In fact the Ki-32 was faster than it's contemporary, the Fairey Battle.

Like the Ki-30 kit, these needed a lot of taping and holding parts in place.  The panel gaps would be issues for proper modellers but you know by now that my standards are reassuringly low!

Unusually for a 1/72 kit, the wheels have separate rubber tyres.

Paint.  I'm doing one in overall pale grey and the other in this early pattern three-colour camo scheme.

Mitsubishi Ki-30 part 2

More progress with the Ki-30 now. Having left the glue to dry on the wings and tail a base coat of pale sand was applied. There are plenty of paint options but I’m sticking with an early version. 

Mitsubishi Ki-30 - part 1

A relatively unknown aircraft as it was very much yesterday’s news by 1941, the Ki-30 was in widespread use by the Japanese Army in the late thirties. 

This AZmodel kit looked pretty good on the sprues and the parts moulding was crisp. 

Fit was OK but wings, elevators and undercarriage legs had no locating slots or pins. So everything needed holding in place while the glue dried. Sadly I didn’t do too well at this as the wings are a bit squint.  Ah well, them being ‘gull’ wings helps to hide this! 

Nakajima Ki-27 - part 2

 I posted part 1, covering the build back in May 2019 but forgot to post photos of the finished models. 

The enormous decal sheet offered lots of options. These are from 1st (left) and 27th Flight Regiments. 

They’re neat little things, and like the P-26 Peashooters I recently completed, very much of their era. Expect to see them (and the P-26s) in a game later this year. 

Island Life: Guadalcanal 1942 - part 1

This was a WW2 played last month in Sheffield.  Five of us gathered to push toys around.  I  had very loosely based the scenario on bits of the Guadalcanal campaign but disguised this in the payer briefings.

Thanks are due to all the players (Russell, Pete, Diego & John) for making it such a great game and to the first three for the use of their photos.

Doug wasn't here but I have the figure so it seemed only reasonable to have him striding ashore. 

Japanese briefing

Following Japan’s attack at Pearl Harbor last December, our glorious forces have rapidly

extended the area under Imperial control. Recently the Imperial Navy has constructed an

airfield on the obscure island of East Pitkerro – part of the Mearns group. This will threaten

the supply route between the USA and Australia.

The American landing on the island a few days ago has seized the airfield approaches.

Retain or re-capture the airfield and expand the perimeter in order to make it useable for

Japanese forces.

The Jap forces amounted to a reinforced infantry regiment.

US briefing

Following Japan’s attack at Pearl Harbor last December, Japanese forces have rapidly extended the area under their control. Intelligence has been received that the Japanese Navy has constructed an airstrip on the island of East Pitkerro (part of the Mearns group). This would threaten the supply route between the USA and Australia. It has therefore been decided to carry out a landing in reinforced division strength on the island. The landing will be facilitated by a large US fleet and a flotilla of specialized landing craft. The Japanese will be defeated by overwhelming force, using a combination of courage and technology.

Capture the airfield and expand the perimeter in order to make it useable for US forces.

US forces comprised a 2-battalion Marine regiment plus some supports.

Me taking photos while John lurks in the background

Japanese aviation gathers

A US battalion: 3 companies, 2 MG platoons, mortar plt, Assault detachment, HQ.

The action opened with a Japanese air raid

Initially all units were represented by cards and only revealed as they became visible.  Further cards were used to determine the order of play.

Japanese 70mm Infantry Guns

These tiny guns were widely used by Japanese forces for fire support.  Being too mean to buy an expensive and fragile plastic kit and too impatient to order a 3D print I decided that scratchbuilding was the way to go.  In the end I built three of them and gave one to PHW.  

The crew for this one were adapted from the Tamiya Japanese Infantry set - often to be found startlingly cheap at under £1 a figure!

The second crew are cut-about Aitfix figures, complete with sword-waving officer!

The pre-paint photos give you a better idea of the construction.  Wheels were an issue but I had a (20mm) metal kit of a WW2 German 15cm field howitzer.  The gun wheels are wider then those of the limber but I can live with that. (The third gun had wheels from another such gun).  Barrels are plastic tube, trail legs bambo skewers, everything else random bits of plastic card.

Dreadful Dinah?

Bringing to an end - at least for now - the epic tale of plastic, dust, glue and heroism that is Bassett’s  Broken Bits Box is this Airfix Mitsubishi Ki-46.  I’ve not yet built one and as this was in good shape I’ve not even had to rebuild one.  It’s a lovely ‘clean’ design so,I opted for a fairly plain finish and added decals from stock.  I like it.  

Contemporary Airfix box art. 

CTS Type 97 medium tanks

These were painted some months ago but for some reason I never got round to posting the photos. They are simple plastic models - no assembly required - by CTS in about 1/35 scale.

Mitsubishi L3M1 Nippon Go - part 3

Here is the completed kit - serving as a military transport.  As well as the usual 'in flight' photos, I couldn't resist one with the G3M1 bomber.

Mitsubishi L3M1 Nippon Go - part 2

It's built and - rather predictably - painted silver. Markings and varnish still to come.

Mitsubishi L3M1 Nippon Go - part 1

I actually completed this models and took the photos back in May so here at last it is! Bought at the same time as my G3M1 bomber, I picked up this version as it was both different  - but similarly cheap!

Both civil and military markings are provided on the enormous decal sheet.

The build was very similar to the bomber.

Type 95 at Tankfest

Clearly intimidated by my 1/35 scale Japanese tanks, John managed, while visiting Tankfest last weekend, to find this larger example. Well slightly larger. It is a real Type 95 light tank, the owner of which had enlisted a splendidly attired re-enactor to raise the tone still further.
My thanks again to John for allowing me the use of his photos.