Kyou Kuriosities from Rising

Another recent release from the prolific Rising Decals in their 'Unknown and Lesser Known Units of the Japanese Imperial Army and Navy' mini-series is this interesting and intriguing sheet of aircraft found at Atsugi post-war, all bearing the character 'Kyou' as a tail code with various suffix numbers. Sheet RD72096 contains decals for four subjects as follows:- 

• 教-511 - a P-40E depicted in original US finish of olive drab over neutral grey with over-painted stars still visible and the tail code in orange yellow. The Special Hobby kit is recommended but doubtless the decals could be adapted to other kits including the classic Hasegawa.
• 教-241 - an Aichi D3A2 'Val' in standard finish with an over-painted previous tail code '213' speculatively depicted here as YoD-213 on the basis that aircraft from that unit were found at Atsugi. This aircraft had a replacement port aileron with remnants of a larger hinomaru catered for in the sheet. The Fujimi kit is recommended.
• 教-1303 - a Mitsubishi G3M 'Nell' in unusual camouflage suggested to be dark green over brown. The tail code was presented on a dark band presumed to have covered a previous code, possibly belonging to a transport unit. Only the rear part of the aircraft is visible in the reference photo so the remaining painting of a model must be conjectural. No kit is recommended but the Hasegawa and Arii (former LS) kits are contenders.    
• 教2-202 - A Mitsubishi G4M1 'Betty' in standard but well-worn finish. Again no kit is recommended but the venerable Hasegawa appears to be the only game in town, long overdue for a more detailed kitography here.   

Kyou (教) means teach, faith or doctrine and Rising speculate that it refers to Kyouiku (教育) meaning education, schooling, training or instruction, which seems a reasonable conclusion. Exactly what kind of teaching or training involved these aircraft is unknown and one possibility is the Sagami Ku engaged in aircraft maintenance training but the inclusion of a captured P-40 is interesting. Only hinomaru for the P-40 are included and national insignia for the D3A2, G3M2/3 and G4M1 must be sought elsewhere, either from the recommended kits or from generic hinomaru sheets. The decals are sharply printed with good colour saturation and there is provision for the over-painted but still visible markings which will make for interesting and unusual models - with plenty of scope for weathering techniques. 

Rising continue to produce useful and interesting decal sheets for both IJN and IJA aircraft subjects offering alternatives to the kit decal sheets and also suitable for dressing up older kits. Long may it continue. With very special thanks to Mirek for the review sheet.  

Image credit: All © 2021 Rising Decals