Tuesday, October 13, 2020

Nakajima B5N2 "Kate" paper model 1:33 scale

 This paper model kit from Maly Modelarz was a real joy to build. Artwork and fit are excellent and the finished model is very accurate in dimensions and proportions. The scale is 1:33. The flight deck base was a free download.




The tail marking identifies this as an aircraft from the Imperial Japanese aircraft carrier "Akagi," in the attack on Pearl Harbor. The red fuselage stripe and the aircraft number ("1") identify it as the torpedo-armed aircraft flown  by Commander Mitsuo Fuchida, who led the first wave of attackers at Pearl Harbor, in a flight of Kates. In all, 40 B5N2s armed with torpedoes and 103 B5N1s armed with bombs took part in that attack.








Once known for poor quality paper and "weird" color schemes,  Maly Modelarz has in recent years published a growing number of excellent, very detailed aircraft models in 1:33 scale. Their instructions are in Polish but newer kits (2002 and up) offer very good assembly drawings and diagrams.

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