Pearl Harbor Part IV

Aircraft from the Japanese Carrier Kaga

Eagle Strike Productions
 

Reviewed by Rodger Kelly

Eagle Strike's 1/48 scale Pearl Harbor Pt. IVis available online from Squadron.com

This is another sheet in Eagle Strike’s coverage of the IJN’s aircraft from the Pearl Harbour raid. This sheet also covers six aircraft, 2 A6M2 Zeros, two B5N2 Kates and two D3A1 Vals.

First Zero is that flown by NAP 1/C Yoshikazu Nagahama. Finish is overall Ame-Hiro with an aluminium spinner and blue-black cowling. Markings include national insignia in six positions, two red bands around the fuselage, red AII-109 tail code, white 109 for the cowling lip, black 9s for the main gear doors and the red and blue maintenance markings also for the landing gear door.

Next Zero is that flown by Lieutenant Yoshio Shinga. Same finish as the above aircraft. Markings include the two red bands around the fuselage – the second band has a cut-out. This cut out would have been the masked off identification stencil block. Unfortunately, no block has been provided so you will have to use the one that comes with the Haseagawa kit. Other markings include the white 101for the cowling lip, black 1s for the gear doors and the blue and red maintenance markings.

First Kate is that flown by NAP 1/C Tatya Sugihara, NAP 1/C Katuo Yamamoto, and NAP 2/C Yoichi Tanaka. Finish is dark green upper surfaces over Ame-Hiro under surfaces with a blue-black antiglare and cowling. Markings include national insignia in six positions; two red bands edged in white, around the fuselage, red AII-399 tail code, white 99 for the cowling lip, large black 99 for the undersides of the wings, and smaller black 99s for the main gear doors.

Next Kate was flown by Lieutenant Minimoro Suzuki, Warrant Officer Tunenori Moriata, and NAP 2/C Yoichi Tanaka. The finish is the same as the previous Kate. Markings include National insignia in six places, two red bands around the rear fuselage, two red bars for the tail, red AII-318 for the tail, white 18 for the cowling lip, large black 18s for the undersides of the wings and smaller 18s for the main gear doors.

The first Val is that flown by NAP 4/C Shinzaku Yamakawa and NAP 4/C Katuzo Nakata. Finish is overall Ame-Hiro with a blue-black antiglare and cowling. Markings include national insignia in six positions, twin red bands for the rear fuselage, red AII-256 for the tail, red flashes for the spats, black Japanese characters and -522 for the fuselage, further black Japanese characters for the fuselage sides, black stencil identification block for the fuselage with a further white one for the cowling (?), white 56s for the cowling lip and spats.

Next Val is that flown by Lieutenant Saburo Makino and Sueo Sukida (no rank given). Finish is as per the previous Val and the markings include national insignia in six places, twin red bands around the rear fuselage a further red band for the tail and two red blocks also for the tail, red AII-250 tail codes, red flashes for the spats (different style), white 50s for the cowling lip and spats.

As per Pearl Harbour Pt III, there are two separate sheets. The first one contains all of the markings for the individual aircraft with the second one holding a single set of national insignia for each of the aircraft type. The presentation of the placement guide and the packaging is the same as Pearl Harbour Pt III sheet. The decals themselves are printed in Mexico.

So far, Eagle Strike has covered the Hiryu (Pt 1 48-034), Akagi/Zuikaku (Pt 2 48-05), Shokaku (Pt 3 48-109) Kaga, (Pt 4 48-111) in their Pearl Harbour series. This leaves the Soryu, and the Hiryu still in the wings. Let’s hope that they continue their opus and provide a couple of sheets for the U.S. aircraft that managed to get off the ground on that fateful day to engage the raiding Japanese force.

Again, you won’t find better reference than Dave Pluth’s website at

http://www.j-aircraft.com/

Recommended.