on the morning of december 7 1941 353 a/c were launched from six carriers. the akagi, kaga, soryu, hiryu, shokaku, and zuikaku launched their first wave a/c 189 planes lifted and started the flight toward the american stronghold in hawaii. of these 189, 54 were the type d3a’s comonly known as the val. 27 from the shokaku and 27 from the zuikaku. when the final plane lifted the carriers began to launch the cover for the ships. more on this later. when completed the planes of the second wave were readied for launch, among them 80 vals. these comprised 18 from the akagi, 26 from the kaga, 18 from the hiryu, and 18 from the soryu.
this brings me to the update. the markings for my val are now in place. this a/c will represent one of the a/c from the carrier soryu that took part in the second wave. the decals went on ok but i did run into a bit of a problem. they wrinkled, badly. they were also overscaled. after application of the decals i let them dry so that i could trim them down to the size i wanted. i also used a blade to trim the wrinkles up. they appear as faded and slightly worn which is what i was looking for. enough of my gab. pics.
i thank all who view this thread. next up for my val. the weathering.
Your Val is looking very nice. I like how colorful that one is. What color did you use for the anti-glare panel, black or blue balack? Your hitory section is also very nicley done.
richard the anti glare panel is my own mix. i used model master metalic blue and put drops of black in until i got a color i wanted. thankyou for the kind comment.
Looking good so far Joe. Thats 1/72 scale right? Im guessing the yellow stripes around the rear fuselage are decals right? One suggestion. when applying decals to a round surface Ive in the past made small incisions in the decals to help the decal “wrap” around the model. This help prevent 'wrinkles" making the decal look more like fabric instead if paint.
Hi, Im Chris in Japan… I only build in 1/72 scale, and picked up the same plane in 1/72 scale for $5… I dont know why I put it down. But I will definately be going back today to get it… Yours looks great!
What really got me was your use of sprue trees and styrefoam to hold your models while you add the finishing touches! I’ve been looking for someting that would support my models in a ‘floating’ position without making a wooden jig. Serendipity is a wonderfou thing.[banghead][bow][bow][bow]
I second what didfal said… I am going out tomorrow and getting me a chunk of styrofoam and gonna make one of those… a great idea!
That is a good looking aircraft and think I will have to add one to round out my PTO collection that is building… I only have and F8F, SBD-5 and an upcoming SBD-2, along with a P-51… on the other side of the table is a N1K1, but that Val is mighty impressive… gonna have to add her to the list of 'to-do’s"
thanks for sharing Joe!
—edit—
offhand do you know of any decals for a Val from the shokaku? the sub credited with sinking her is down the street from me…
josh, stuka, eric, lodni, ed, daniel, chris, tweety, didfal, and tom thankyou. your words are too kind.
didfal the styrofoam base you see is with toothpicks. that was born about six months ago when i needed another pair of hands. it is efficient and cheap.
