Beautiful work.
Your usual beautiful job! Love the pre-shading and weathering!!!
[ht]
Wow! That’s just plain gorgeous. Maybe someday, when I’m old… Oh, wait, I am old now! Anyway…
I just have to say this: I am certain that I am the only Finescale forum member, certainly the only Canadian-American of British descent, who can truthfully say that I am a relative by marriage to Mitsuo Fuchida, the leader of the Japanese Navy’s attack on Pearl Harbor. Seriously. If my family were to have an reunion of my (and if Fuchida were still alive) he would be not be out of place, although he might not be welcomed by everyone, especially my Uncle Phil, who spent three years in the South Pacific during the Second World War.
This is how Fuchida and I came to be members of the same extended family: Fuchida had a daughter, Miyako. Following the Second World War, Miyako travelled to the United States to attend the California College of Arts and Crafts in Oakland. While attending school she met Harrison James Overturf, a U.S. Marine. They were married in 1963.
Harrison James Overturf was the grandson of Harley James Overturf, a brother of George Edwin Overturf, the paternal grandfather of my wife, Susan Overturf Ingraham. Those two branches of the Overturfs had had a falling out in the 1930s when Susan’s grandfather begrudgingly loaned money to Harley and scolded him for not paying better attention to his financial affairs; the money was repaid, but they never spoke again. The families only reconnected when my wife’s Aunt Sue saw an article about Miyako in a San Francisco newspaper. At that time (three or four years ago), Miyako was still living in San Francisco.
Bob
Bob, that’s facinating! I wish more Finescale members with stories like that would share them. Has anyone reached out to her since?
Thank you
Thanks bud
Wow Bob, thanks for taking the time to offer that information. I agree with Britt that we need more of this input. His Kate was one of the kit options. I almost built that one, I still might actually.
I myself haven’t had any direct contact with Miyako, but I did help a Japanese journalist contact her, and my wife’s aunt has communicated with her by email.
Bob
@lawdog114: Are you saying that Fuchida’s Kate was one of the kit’s optional builds? That would be cool.
I am drawn to building models of planes, ships, or anything else, really, that I’ve had either personal or virtual experience with. That’s why my first four models have included three aircraft and one ship that I know a lot about:
• A plane that I crashed in in 1962 (a T-34B Mentor trainer).
• A helicopter that evacuated me to a hospital ship (a Sikorsky UH-34 after I was wounded in Vietnam in 1966.
• The hospital ship itself (USS Repose).
• An Handley Page HP.52 Hampden bomber, which I learned about while researching the death of a Royal Canadian Air Force observer, Joe Hicks, who was killed in April, 1942 when his bomber crashed in Denmark following a raid on Rostock, Germany. I have photographs of the crashed bomber taken by the Germans, and got an “inside” tour of the Hampden that’s on display at the Canadian Museum of Flight in Langley, BC, in the Fraser Valley southeast of Vancouver.
I’ve been working, slowly, on an F-86 Sabre model, but I just can’t get enthusiastic about it. I’ve never even seen a Sabre!
In my stash I have a Grumman TBM which I plan to build as a slurry bomber like the one I was trying to photograph when my plane crash happened. Unvelieveably, that TBM is still flying, and several photos of it are available on line. I’d like build a Twin Beech like the one that transported two volunteer smokejumpers to crash site of the T-34B. I’d also like to remain in reasonably good health for enough more years to complete these projects! Wish me luck!
Bob
What a fascinating story. All because someone posted a model on this forum. Thanks for sharing Bob.
Like Bish — I think it’s Bish — my other hobby is philately, and among my particular interests is the Second World War. Among the Second World War stamps in my collection is a commemorative issued by Japan in 1942, a year after the attack on Pearl Harbor. The design is based on a photograph taken from one of the attacking Japanese planes; I’ve wondered if the photographer was Mitsuo Fuchida, my distant relative-by-marriage who led the attack. Here’s the photo and the stamp:
Now here’s an idea that would take model building far beyond my skill level but might interest some diorama artists: How about a diorama showing (below the viewer) a Kate flying high above the harbor, which of course would resemble the photo/stamp’s design?
An interesting note: American historians date the day of the attack as December 7, 1941, but to Japanese historians it occurred on December 8, 1941. Both are correct: it was December 7 in Hawaii and in the States, but it was December 8 in Japan, which of course is west of the International dateline.
Anyway, even if Finescale members aren’t into dioramas, I thought that the photo and stamp would be of interest.
Bob
Yes it was. The first option. Sounds like you have your plate full there Bob. Best of luck to you!
Nice picture! That would be an interesting project. I’m sure there are diorama builders lurking in here.
Joe somehow I missed this. Fantastic. If you haven’t started the VAL yet you’re gonna love it. over last winter I found a seller on the local Marketplace here that was parting out her late husbands stash. I picked up quite a few Japanese kits for good prices from her.
[:|] wow! Now that is a score. There is a few in there I would probably build immediately.
…oh yeah, now that I picked my jaw off the floor, thanks!
Well done, I have one when carry bomb not torpedo 
amazing work
excellent work!