Thanks Nathan… Me too, The “Frank” in my opinion was one of the cleanest looking aircraft that the Japanese developed and used, engineering wise. I also like the “Nick” too, which I think with a bit more power (a lot actually) could have caused much more trouble for the alies.
Cliff, I thought that was odd too, about the skins and will try to relocate the passage in the book I read it in, but it kind of figures, that Japan, being an island with next to no natural resources has to import everything. And aluminum at the time wasnt scarce but not as abundant as it is now. It stated in the chapter that most everything (imports) were stopped at the on set of hostilities (a little before actually) and the Empire had to make do with what it had at hand, since their expansion into greater Asia, was only marginally sucessful.
I found one of the passages I had seen in the book…JapaneseAircraft of the Pacific War, by Rene J. Francillon It reads on pgs 234 & 235To save on the dwindling supply of aluminum and alloy steel, The KI-84P was abandoned in favour of the KI84-R Built on a standard KI-84 I airframe and partially built of wood,steel,carbon steel for cockpit section, ribs and bulkheads, and steel sheet skinning.
I’ve seen this in other sites and books and think as stated more an act of desperation.
Wow, steel. That can make for a real heavy bird fast. I would think even steel was tough to come by for Japan during that time, and what raw materials they did get from the Indonesia, china, was almost impossible to ship back to the mainland due to our Navy and subs harrassing everything that moved.
Exactly Nathan… They had nearly total control of the oil fields of Burma but could barely take advantage of it, I don’t think they had counted on us snspping back so fast and with such a vengance at heart. My wife is Filipina and there are still areas there where you can see rusting wrecks and hulks of armor and aircraft left by the Japanese. When I fully retire, I want to go on an expidetion to some of the sites there.
That would be quite an adventure Doug. I was just watching a documentary on such an expedition to recover remains of a USAAF twin of some sort. B-25 or P-61 in the 80s? It was high in up in the jungle of the Philippines, and the parts had to be airlifted out by helicopter. During that time, one of the workers got bit by a snake and died…talk about dedication…
Doug: Sorry didn’t mean to come like I was doubting you or any such. Just saying I hadn’t really thought about it but what you’re saying makes perfect sense.
Not at all… Sorry if I gave you that impression. I had never heard of such an action and was kinda thinking like you, I just went back and re-read just to be sure. I had posted the info to see if any one else had heard of such a thing. Cliff I’ve found in my researching that just when you think you have it figured out something comes along and makes the puddle even muddier!
Yeah, I’ve always thought of the Japanese as a pretty methodical people and have been amazed at how many Zeros they built and today no has any sure evidence of what colour the early models were painted.
As to the lack of supplies in ‘Genda’s Blade’ they comment on digging up pine trees and boiling the roots to make a turpentine like substance to use for aviation fuel. This stuff was really low octane low performance and was such a dirty sludge they had to pretty much stripe the whole engine and clean it after every flight but that’s all they had.
That reminds me of something I read in an “Aviation History” article on the zero: that some of the aircraft skins were so thin they would wrinkle and bend in flight like paper. One pilot said it was quite a noisy ride and disturbing.
As to the low octane fuel the author of ‘Genda’s Blade’ relates a story after the war of US technical people deciding to take a N1K1 Shiden back home for study. They chose two planes and Japanese pilots familiar with them to fly them to an airstrip close to a port where they’d loaded on ships. Four F4Us were assigned to escort the Japanese. Watching the ground crew load the two Shiden’s full of high test aviation gas one of the Japanese pilots came up with a plan. When forming up with the Corsairs the two Shiden pilots rammed their throttles to the firewall and shot off leaving the F4Us unable to keep up. After leading them on a short but merry chase they then dropped back and settled into formation. Several of the pilots commented on this story on how many of the late war Japanese aircraft never operated at anywhere near their capabilities due to poor quality fuel and maintenance. Poorly trained pilots didn’t help either.
Moving along pretty good now, Man, All but tail markings were Tamiya, and that is the one thing about the Tamiya thats tough to work with.The decals finally did like they should but it took alot of work with the micro sol… They just wouldnt soften, and I had to work them with a micro sol and a soft bristle brush to get the air out from underneath.Eventually they did lay out where the microset could be applied. Dull cote applied now amd should be able to finish up today.
Jmart --I have a plank in my working room where the models stand, for now. This year I’m going to build a special display cupboard/shrank in my living room where my Audio/video equipment is in and lots of room for my big models. For instance, in the box: 1:350 Vayrag and ICM König, Airfix 1:24 SPitfire and a Revell Vostock 1. I allmost forget an 1:96 Revell Constitution, what I swapped for a Revell 1:24 DAF truck…
