OTDAEABT Contest-Yokosuka "Judy"

[dansls1]

Looking very nice indeed!

[Tbolter]

Coming along...slowly, these last bits of detail seem to take a long time, working a Maly "Mosquito" in too but it's got some problems so that build may have to "fly" from the basement ceiling, it's not shaping up to be a shelf model.

Sprayed the Judy with Krylon to bring up the colors and increase durability, still need to add the canopy, spinner and several other little details to complete.

Looking forward to the next build from the kits I got from Old Troll, thinking about the Huey and doing it as a "Slick" with some weathering...maybe a bit too much, looks very challenging.

[member_3]

The Krylon spray did a nice job on the colors and the overall appearance. Was that a satin or matte spray?

[Tbolter]

Ron, I use Krylon matte before I start, a light to medium coat, the colors are a little washed out at this point from the matte. Then later, after assembly, 3-4 light to medium coats of satin to bring the colors back and add a little gloss

The Krylon spray is not as fine as a Testor's or other paint made for models so the finish at that point is a little blotchy (is that a word?), I then mist a light coat of Krylon matte on and that evens out the gloss.

For a really shiny finish Krylon Clear Glaze (this is all Walmart stuff) will build a gloss coat fast however the glaze is tricky to use because this type of spray requires really wet coats to work and must be sprayed right up to the point where it is about ready to run.

Steve

[lee4752]

For a really god looking gloss coat that won't yellow (like Testors and most of the other enamel and lacquer finishes) I like to use Future Floor finish through an airbrush. I of course never have used it on paper, but once you have a coat of something else on the paper, you're covering that something else. Future is an acrylic formula that doesn't need to be thinned for the airbrush. Applied in light coats, it dries in about an hour and dries completely in 24 hours. It has a crystal clear, high gloss finish that can be cleaned up with water and a little windex if necessary. In extreme cleanup cases you may have to use ammonia. The glossiness can be taken down by mixing in Tamiya Acrylic Flat Base. Experimentation may be required to determine how much flat base to add.

[member_3]

I've used both Testor's and Krylon on my wargaming miniatures but have yet to try spraying (before or after) on paper. Perhaps a trip to Michael's is in order and some testing on printed paper. "Judy" is turning out to be a hot little number!

[member_3]

I have also used Future (thinned 1:10 with water) as a protective coat on miniatures, brushing it on. I'd be a little hesitant to use it on paper unless, as you indicated, the paper had been sealed with something else.

[lee4752]

If you try Future straight on the paper I can pretty much guarantee that your ink will run.

[Tbolter]

Future is good for brush applications over a single color and formed plastic canopy dipping however its not good right over inkjet multicolor parts.

I find that Future dries very fast, almost too fast, maybe there is some type of retarder that can be added to give us old slow folks a little more time to mess with the finish...need to talk to a floor care chemist.

[Don Boose]

Tbolter -- Your Judy has turned out to be a very pretty airplane, especially with your clean and meticulous build and the added detail. I’ve very much enjoyed seeing your assembly photos and also to see the way you lay out the parts, your tools, and your work space (I noticed the PBY Catalina in an earlier photo – presumably the Marek model you referred to?)

I’ve been tied up with other projects, but today I went back over this thread and my penchant for trying to identify Japanese airplanes forced me to start looking through my references and clicking around on the Internet.

Bottom line up front, and admitting that my knowledge of this is rather slim, I would tentatively identify your airplane as being one that belonged to the 151st Kokutai in the Central Pacific in the 1944-45 period.

And here is what leads me to this TENTATIVE conclusion:

When you started, you said there wasn’t much information provided on the plane, identified on the kit cover as a D4Y4, the suicide version of the D4Y.

Donald Thorp includes a photo of what looks like the very airplane that you are building (Tail Number 57 with a light-colored flash at the top of the vertical stabilizer) on page 169 of his Japanese Naval Air Force Camouflage and Markings (Fallbrook, CA: Aero Publishers, 1977). The photo is identified as a Navy photograph, but there is no indication of where it was taken. Thorp suggests that it was assigned to a special attack (suicide) unit based on the markings.

However, Rene Francillon (Japanese Aircraft of the Pacific War, New York: Funk & Wagnalls, 1970) includes a different photo of the same aircraft, but he identifies it as a D4Y3 Suisei Model 33, c/n 3957, assigned to "a land-based unit."

The Japanese-language book, Sekai Ketsusaki [Famous Airplanes of the World], No. 44, Kaigun Koku Gijitsusho Kanjo Kogekiki “Suisei” [Naval Technical Arsenal Carrier Dive Bomber “Suisei”], Tokyo: Bunrin-do, December 1973, has several color side views of D4Y4s and D4Ys in markings similar to your airplane.

On page 73, there is a D4Y4 with a brown spinner and the number “73” on the tail in the same style as your airplane. It is identified as aircraft No. 73 of the 151st Kokutai (Air Group). This suicide version has no external gunsight scope.

On Page 35, there is a D4Y3 with a brown spinner, a gunsight scope, the number “57” in the same style as your airplane, and a white flash at the top of the vertical stabilizer, just as in your airplane. It is also identified as an aircraft of the 151st Kokutai.

The centerfold illustration (pp. 42-43) is of a D4Y3 (Suisei Model 33) with a brown spinner, gunsight scope, white fin flash, and the number “50.” Again, it is identified as being from the 151st Kokutai.

I know very little about the 151st Kokutai.

One site identifies a D4Y1 (c/n 330) of the 151st Kokutai that crashed in August 1943 and was recovered from off Batua Point on the island of Choiseul. (“Pacific Wreck Database,” available from http://www.pacificwrecks.com/aircraft/d4y/330.html accessed February 9, 2008.) Of course, the D4Y3 entered service in mid-1944 and the D4Y4 in late 1944, but this is an indication that the 151st Ku was operating in the South and Central Pacific.

One flight simulation website that appears to have well-researched information identifies the 151st Kokutai as based at Truk in June 1944 and was equipped with 20 D4Y Suiseis (“Japanese Squads in the CAW 1944,” available at http://mogggy.org/TheGen/viewtopic.p...6eb34586529b56, accessed February 9, 2008).

So, that’s what I have so far.

Whatever and wherever the airplane was during the Pacific War, the Maly version of it has in your hands become a superb model.

Don