Fujimi Aichi Type 99 – Completed!

Decalling and weathering were finally done last Thursday.

Some touch-ups were done later on the propeller and the landing gear.

The decals were extremely thin and took a long time to detach from the paper backing.

I have used the EI-235 decal instead of EI-232 decals as I had previously intended.

The fuselage band needed some tender loving care as well as all the rest of the decals.

Next time…

Stuka Ju 87G-1 on the Eastern Front flown by Hans Rudel.

As you are reading this, I have already started building it.

Intermission – A little help from my friend…

As I was starting to add decals, I found that there were no instructions on how to place the decals on the top of the wings.

So I had this idea of revisiting Plane Dave to figure out where to place them…

I know I can’t go wrong unless the 20 year-old decals don’t cooperate.

Fujimi Aichi Type 99 – Painting canopies… and much more

I have used the same technique for painting the Fujimi Aichi Type 99 canopies.

It was easier this time since the canopy frames were thicker making it much easier to scrape the excess paint.

The results was quite good and a little touch up will be done later.

The front canopy was glued with liquid cement and not with clear acrylic paint. The fit was very good.

I will let everything dry before adding the rear canopy. After the antenna and the pitot tube will be added as well as the propeller.

Update

More progress has been done after I took those pictures. In fact the only thing left for me to do is adding decals…

Fujimi Aichi Type 99 – The Guadalcanal Campaign – 24 August 1942

Building with a purpose…

The First Team and the Guadalcanal Campaign

Excerpt

Richard Chick Harmer had a close call when an Aichi Type 99 Val from the Shokaku charged up his F4F’s tail…

Its pilot riddled the F4F’s fuselage and cockpit with sixteen to twenty 7.7-mm slugs and severely wounded Harmer in both thighs and left ankle. More bullets bounced harmlessly off the armor plate behind the seat. Hurt and flying a battered airplane about to run out of gas, Harmer veered southeast towards the Saratoga.

Japanese D3A dive bomber being shot down over USS Enterprise
during the Battle of the Eastern Solomons,
24 August 1942 (Source United States Navy)

Akimoto Tamotsu and Koitabashi Hiroshi flying their D3A
carrier dive bomber (foreground) returning to carrier Shokaku
after attacking USS Enterprise during Battle of the Eastern Solomons,
24 August 1942

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Progress report?

Started painting and more…

Fujimi Aichi Type 99 – 24 August 1942

You would not be reading this if it were not for AmateurAirplanes who was instrumental with my decision to start writing My Forgotten Hobby.

Yesterday’s post was about another blogger who was spot on about what I have been doing since December 2013.

This is my next project. I am building Fujimi Aichi Type 99 and this is how want to paint the Val…

I will be using this as a reference.

More reference here…

https://imodeler.com/tag/d3a/

Richard Harmer was wounded when he attacked a Shokaku Aichi Type 99 on August 24, 1942.

To be continued…

Next project? How about two projects?

I will follow Jeff’s advice…

Pierre, your vote is the only one which counts. Build what you want. Nothing kills the mojo like a half-completed model you really don’t want to finish.

Then this is what I want following Jeff’s advice…

I will go with both these kits… Two infamous WW II dive bombers.

Aichi Type 99…

And Ju 87G-1 for my brother whose birthday is next January.

I will start first with the Aichi Type 99 and read what other modelers have to say about it.

First…

https://modelingmadness.com/review/axis/j/jnaf/presval.htm

Next…

http://www.j-aircraft.com/main/newkits/reviews/fuj31014.htm

Last one…

https://imodeler.com/2015/08/fujimi-148-aichi-d3a1-val/

Next time…?

When I opened the box I found out that the figurine had fused with the tailplane!

A little delicate surgery was needed using a razor saw…

A little filing…

Rescribing lost details…

Then I could not wait and I started building…