Five Down No Glory

OT for AoJ but the 2016 (edition) Naval Institute Press book 'Five Down No Glory' is an exceptionally well written and interesting account of 'Frank G. Tinker, Mercenary Ace in the Spanish Civil War' by Richard K. Smith and R.Cargill Hall. Tinker, (1909- 1939) a former US Navy and US Army officer, flew the Polikarpov I-15 and I-16 for the Republican cause in Spain, so perhaps a tenuous link to interests here are the insights to both machines that were also flown by Russian and Chinese pilots against the Japanese in China. 

Tinker flying I-16 CM-023 by Richard Goh

This hard cover book only came to my attention thanks to Ken Glass and consists of 402 pages with reference notes, appendices and index. It is no hagiography. The less attractive aspects of Tinker's personality are documented warts and all. There are numerous photographs throughout the book, printed on the page paper and not as separate glossy sections, plus seven maps illustrating the ground battles relevant to Tinker's sorties. There is a monochrome reproduction of a painting by Richard Groh of Tinker aloft in his I-16 'CM-023' (shown above) but some of the aircraft photographs are generic rather than specific to the ace. The book concludes with four Appendices, the first being a chronology of highlights of the Spanish Civil War. The second on Military Airplane Markings of the Spanish Civil War, which disappoints as just two brief paragraphs describing the identification markings displayed by each side. An opportunity was lost here to provide profiles of Tinker's aircraft, even as simple tone drawings. The third Appendix lists the various books and magazine articles Tinker wrote himself in 1938 and 1939 after returning to the USA. The final Appendix is a list of Tinker's aerial victories, eight claims for Nationalist aircraft shot down plus one probable, consisting of five Fiat C.R.32, two Me 109B, one Heinkel 51 and a probable He 112. 

Tinker attempted to return to Spain, unsuccessfully, and when found dead in his hotel room in June 1939 a letter of acceptance from the Chinese Air Force was in his possession. His death was deemed to be suicide but there were several odd aspects about it, including the absence of any note.  

Another tenuous link to the war in China is Ajax Baumler (Maj Albert John 'Ajax' Baumler 1914-1973), fellow Republican pilot and friend of Tinker, who later flew with the American Volunteer Group (AVG - 'Flying Tigers') in its later days as a seconded USAAF pilot and subsequently with the China Air Task Force (CATF). Their relationship and some of Baumler's own experiences are described, as are those of other American pilots flying for the Republic such as Harold E. 'Whitey' Dahl (1909-1956). One of the interesting features of the book is an Epilogue which records the subsequent lives and fates of many of the personalities mentioned in the text, including the Russian pilots, as well as locations and even buildings. Both Tinker and Baumler came to rather sad ends. The book is full of other interesting real life characters including pilot José Sellés, nicknamed 'Chang', with a Spanish father and Japanese mother, who was eventually shot as a Japanese spy for the Nationalists.  

It is always a challenge to breathe life into a sequence of air combats but the authors manage that admirably, creating a flowing and interesting account, inclusive of the Spanish and Russian ground crew and even the Spanish women who cooked and cleaned for the pilots, which is both revelatory and a pleasure to read. Recommended to all aviation enthusiasts.

Image credit: Book Cover © 2016 Naval Institute Press; Painting © Richard Goh via Encyclopedia of Arkansas 2023       

New Kits

Several new kits of Japanese subjects have been announced for release this year or early next year. Platz in Japan are releasing the Eduard 1/48 A6M2 in Pearl Harbor guise (above) with images suggesting they are following the latest fad/theory in terms of Zero colour, of which more anon. The kit subject is BII-120 and I have enjoyed the privilege of examining and analysing actual extant paint strata on parts from BII-124 (courtesy of Bob Alford) so will have something to say about that. The side image of the model (below) looks a little odd too.

Another A6M2 Zero kit, this time in ground pounding 1/35 scale by Border Models, is due for release in January by and will feature impressive interior cockpit and engine detail together with bomb armament. The box art (above) depicts a bomb carrying A6M2 special attacker of the 5th Shichisei-tai, Kyushu, April 1945 with Genzan Ku tail code ケ-113 (the subject of one of the profiles featured in Desperate Sunset), but another of the decal subjects in the kit appears to be Tainan Ku 'V-103' shown in 'grey green' finish, of which also more anon.

   

FineMolds are re-releasing both their 1/48 Sam kits - A7M1 and A7M2 - whilst in December Hasegawa are re-releasing their 1/72 Mitsubishi G3M2/G3M3 'Nell'. Ordinance in the kit includes torpedoes, eight 60kg bombs, and two 250kg bombs. New decals are included for Miyazaki Ku  'Miya-302', and Hsintake Ku 'Shin-307'. Also from Hasegawa a re-release of their 1/48 scale Kawasaki Ki-61-Tei kit in Major Kobayashi garb - again - this time 'Blue 24' and 'Blue-62'.

From Mikro-Mir a 1/32 scale kit of the Yokosuka MXY7-K1 Ohka (shown above) is due which should attract interest. And finally from Kora and already available this month something more arcane in the form of 1/72 scale injection moulded kits of the Nakajima Ki-6 with Bristol Jupiter engine and Nakajima C2N1 with Kotobuki engine, but not cheap at more than £40 each.

Not new but worth mentioning here is the Ushi 1/72 resin and 3D printed kit of the IJN Experimental Interceptor Nakajima J5N Tenrai as shown below. The kit offers optional 1st to 4th prototype configurations. Basic airframe components are resin with other details 3D printed and a vacform canopy. Again not cheap at over £40.

Image credits: All © 2024 per manufacturers listed.

Aerocraft Undercarriage Sets for Zoukei Mura Shinden

Richard Cullen has got in touch to provide details of an initiative to improve the undercarriage parts of the Zoukei Mura 1/32 J7W1 Shinden (back in stock this year). Over to Richard then: 

The Zoukei Mura 1/32 J7W1 Shinden (SWS 01) was the first kit released by the company and was generally well received. There was one glaring issue however that became clear over time, and that is the stalky undercarriage with the undercarriage main legs having an extreme rake of around 60 degrees forwards. The very slender kit nose gear comes in two halves with a length of wire that is to be inserted between the parts to provide some strength/stiffness. The main gear however has no such strengthening and from observation of Zoukei Mura shop displays, plus reports on modelling forums it has a high likelihood of failure due to either being knocked, or just creep of the plastic over time.

ZM instruction

This issue was addressed to some degree by Zoukei Mura themselves when they released the white metal undercarriage set (SWS01-M04). This set however was never easy to obtain, quite costly, and at least in the UK sold out quickly. Aerocraft have addressed the issue by releasing a brass and 3D printed set which provides direct replacements so that no kit modification is required. The kit has now been re-released and is ecoming available again in the UK. Please note these are not just cast copies of kit parts and were entirely redrawn in CAD.

CAD

The 3D resin parts consist of the anti-shimmy damper, oleo scissor link, and retraction jack on the nose gear, plus oleo scissor links on the main gear legs which are brass. The kit brake lines can still be used as per kit instructions.

Resin parts fitted

Fitted to kit

Included in the set are a set of the anti-strike wheels fitted to the aircraft after bending its propeller on the first abortive flight test (1 set). They are very delicate but will enhance this area in a very subtle way.

Anti strike wheels

The kit wheels can be used, but Aerocraft also provide a set to replace them which provides main wheels with separate brake hubs to assist in aligning the subtle flat correctly to the ground. They also have a tread pattern that is partially represented on the kit parts but would be lost during when joining them.

Wheels set

Finally, a set in 1/48 scale has also been released as well, which has separate parts as per the 1/32 set, whereas the kit and Zoukei Mura metal parts have moulded in details. Only brake lines will need to be added by the modeler using their favourite method. This set makes a very significant difference to the appearance of the finished model, achieving more finesse.

1/48 scale nose gear

Fitted to kit

These sets are available directly from aerocraftmodels.com:-

• 1/32 Undercarriage Set  ACM32073  
• 1/32 Wheels Set         ACM32080
• 1/48 Undercarriage Set  ACM48064

With thanks to Richard for kindly providing this information to AoJ.

Image credit:- Box art © 2024 Zoukei Mura; Other images © 2024 Richard Cullen and aerocraft models

Ki-61-1 Tei 'Black Crow' in 1/72 Scale by Francesco Borraccino

Far too long in abeyance in AoJ's dusty and cobweb shrouded waiting room but appropriately following on from a Desperate Sunset is the 1/72 scale Ki-61-I Tei model made from the superlative Tamiya kit by Francesco Borraccino. The model represents an aircraft of the 110th Shinbu-tai 'Keppu-tai' (血風隊 - 'Blood Wind unit') flown by 3rd shotai leader 2nd Lt. Toshiro Kubokawa who noted that his assigned aircraft, a new Hien, Aikoku # 7436, donated by Mr Etsutaro Ichihara, was painted matt black like a crow on the upper surfaces with plain red hinomaru. The characters for Keppu-tai are painted on the fuselage and the pilot's name applied vertically beneath the cockpit, grimly preceded by the character 故 meaning late or deceased. 

This special attack unit of 12 Hien was formed from the 5th Rensei Hikotai in China, conducted special attack training at Xī jiāo airfield, Beijing and on 25 May 1945 transferred to Chiran airfield in Japan to participate in attacks against US vessels off Okinawa. The 'crow black' Hien crashed and overturned after failing to take-off on 26 May. 2Lt Kubokawa was injured but survived. 

Francesco judged the Tamiya kit as fantastic with perfect fit, engineering and remarkable detail, a pleasure to build. He limited extra detailing to adding hydraulic circuit cables to the landing gear, covers to the cowling and wing gun apertures as armament was removed, and the antenna wires (with great difficulty!). 

The only drawbacks to the kit in his opinion were the absence of underwing racks and drop tanks, a surprising omission as the 1/48 Tamiya kit has them included, and the decals which he found to be thick and not conforming to detail. 

The underwing racks were taken from a Finemolds kit whilst the drop tank and bomb came from the Arma Hobby Ki-84. 

After some consideration he decided to represent the black as the anti-glare colour, mixing Tamiya X-18 Semi-Gloss Black with Gunze H-5 Gloss Blue, H-13 Matt Red and H-39 Purple Gray to represent the colour # 32 Koku Ran Shoku (黒藍色 - Black Indigo Colour), The Kanji characters on the model were hand painted with white enamel but Francesco had to use the Hinomaru decals from the kit as he did not have a compass cutter which could produce the correct diameters to paint them on as he would have preferred.

With special thanks to Francesco for sharing these images of his very fine Hien model, distinctive and different from the usual Kobayashi Tei kit presentations.

Image credit: All photos © 2024 Francesco Borraccino