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Wassat? Yeah, I never heard of it
either. In the dim recesses of my mind, I vaguely remember some mention
somewhere of a Japanese autogyro, but
the memory faded pretty quickly with more important stuff like P-47’s and
Bf-109’s pushing it further and further back into the darkness. Comes the 06
IPMS Nationals at Kansas City, and the “World’s Largest Hobbyshop” I
spotted the Fine molds kit and at a decent price, and I just had to have I, it
was so darned cute. Kinda looked like a mosquito or praying mantis. Spindly
landing gear, humped back and so forth. I Googled the thing, but couldn’t find
much in English. Some Polish stuff and some Japanese language stuff, neither of
which I can read. In any event, I cannot provide you with much data except it
was developed for the Imperial Army as a recon and army co-op bird. (Insect?)
Relatively few were actually built. Might only have been 1, but I did see a
photo of one with a small radial engine. The kit Gyro shows a v- 8 version.
How’s about we talk
about the Fine Molds model, okay? It
comes in medium gray plastic, neither too hard or too soft. The surface detail
is well done, with the fabric covered areas nicely done and moderately subtle.
There are of course, no locating pins, but gently sand down the edges of the
fuselage and match them up carefully,
and you can get a good match that will require little sanding. When you do get
to the sanding, take care with the simulated leather coaming around the
cockpits. I ended up sanding mine away, and replacing them with scratch built
ones made from Evergreen round stock. Before mating the fuselage halves, the
interior has to be built. It’s quite simple, with a floor, 2 seats, one stick
and pedals for the rear cockpit, although both crew areas feature a basic
instrument panel, but no decals for same. The fuselage insides do include some
basic cast on framing and control boxes which come off well if shaded and
highlighted. The landing gear is rather complex, with little to assist you in
their placement. Slow drying super glue is the ticket here, so that you can
place and adjust. You want port and starboard units to match through all dimensions, and the gear
to sit squarely on the ground, and not list to either side. The model when
finished measures 3 and 3 quarters inches in length, so any deviation is going
to show. I filed a little off the bottom of each tire to indicate weight. That
and hand made seatbelts were the only non kit modifications. The rest of the kit
built up rather quickly, with no wings or dihedral to worry about. Handle the
rotor blades carefully as they are very delicate once assembled. The 2 bladed
prop does feature a well cast front plate with attachment bolts nicely rendered.
Keep a good eye on your “carpet monster” while handling and placing the
minute clear windscreens, they are very tiny, but well done.
The kit instructions
are in Japanese, but moderately well illustrated. 3 different paint schemes are
shown, one in silver laquer finish, one in over all IJA green over light gray,
and the third like the second, but with a sandy brown splotch type camo applied.
Aside from the serial number in white, the only other markings consist of the
rotor warning stripes. A word about this interesting set up is in order. The
stripes are for both the upper and lower surfaces of the rotor blade, with 1 set
near the end of the blade, and the other set nearer to the rotor center. For
some inscrutable reason now lost to the ages, one blade features one stripe at
both locations, the next blade, 2 stripes at both locations, and the third
blade, 3 stripes at both sites. Sort of a rather interesting arrangement.
Naturally, the sheet carries hinamarus, being the white outline style.
Construction is basic,
and I’ve covered most of the take care areas above. I’d leave the rotors off
until the very last item, due to their fragility. It’s wise to also omit the
pitot tube located on the knee of the starboard gear,
until last.
So there it is, a
spindly model of a very rare and relatively little known Japanese autogyro. Oh,
and it runs about 15 to 19 bucks.
Have fun,
Hal
Compare the
mighty Jug to this wee offering.
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