1/48 Hasegawa B5N2 Kate 

by Alfredo García

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  Pearl Harbor Anniversary 2006 

 

Hi everyone, here's another model in 1/48 scale, the B5N2 "Kate", personally I find beautiful all the Japanese airplanes, and the Kate is not the exemption.

This model represents the alleged Kate that sunk the USS Arizona in Dec 7th 1941, flown by Warrant Officer Sato Haruo (pilot), Airman First Calss Kanai Noboru (observer), and Airman Second Class Hanada Yoshikazu (radio operator), from the carrier Soryu in the first attack wave.

Click on images below to see larger images

  

The model is built completely out of the box, except for the gunsight in the rear gun. The colors used were Alcald white and dark aluminum for the lower part, and Testor's IJN dark green with dark earth spots for the upper side (Im always wanted a mottled Kate), I added also a thin layer of white thinned paint, to "fade out" the upper paint, and some touches with silver color to "peel out" the paint. The kit instructions says that the bomb to be painted Green Nakajima, which is not correct, the Imperial Japanese Navy painted all their bombs light grey, unlike the Japanese Army which painted their bombs black. I have a very interesting document that describes very well all the weapons used by Japanese Navy in Pearl Harbor and the colors used, to everyone interested in that document....e-mail me and I will gladly send you the document.

Hope you liked it and we are in contact! :-)

Alfredo 

Photos and text © by Alfredo García