Admiral Yamamoto's Transport
Comments
Andrea MorrisPilot figures are painted including Admiral Yamamoto 🙂 Great kit, as to be expected from Tamiya, just some details to do before a varnish & wash.
Andrea MorrisThe figures, cockpit assembly are installed & glazing fitted. Now she's ready to be buttoned-up.
Andrea MorrisFuselage halves are together and wings n things are on. Seem sanding time before dealing with all that glazing!
James CNice work so far on this and have it in the stash as well. I'm 50/50 on the paint scheme though... Yamamoto's transport or camouflaged. Will be following. 👍
Andrea Morris@Jim C I figure that if the kit is Yamamoto's plane then that's how I'm going to paint it. If I wanted to do something different I would of bought a different version. 🙂
Andrea MorrisAs the kit comes with pre-painted glazing I can just tack in to place the un-painted glazing without having to mask at all! 🙂 And now primed she is ready for paint. Judging by the amount of primer I used, she is going to take a LOT of paint as she is a big bird.
James CLooks to be coming along nicely. Great job on painting the crew and Adm Yamamoto figure. 👍
My kit doesn't have the pre-painted glazing unfortunately.
Andrea MorrisCheers James! Anti-glare panel and silver underside are painted. A few touch-ups and I can move on to painting the insignia & other markings.
Andrea Morris@Daniel Thank you. The markings have been sprayed on, unfortunately the pictures are stuck on my camera as my PC has died 🙁
Album info
The Mitsubishi G4M (long designation: Mitsubishi Navy Type 1 attack bomber was the main twin-engine, land-based bomber used by the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service in World War II. The Allies gave the G4M the reporting name Betty. Japanese Navy pilots called it Hamaki ("cigar", lit. "leaf roll" ) due to its cylindrical shape.
The G4M had very good performance, especially range, which was achieved by its structural lightness and an almost total lack of protection for its crew, with no armour plating or self-sealing fuel tanks. These omissions proved to be its weakness when confronted with American fighter aircraft during the Pacific War.
When used for medium- to high-altitude bombing against stationary land targets like supply depots, seaports or airfields, it was much harder to intercept. Using its long range and high speed, the G4M could appear from any direction, and then it could be gone before any fighters intercepted them. The 20 mm cannon in its tail turret was much heavier armament than was commonly carried by bombers of either side, making aerial attacks from the rear quite dangerous for the Allied fighter aircraft. Sometimes, assuming they did not catch fire after being hit in the wings by flak from the ground or by machine gun bullets from enemy fighters, G4M's also proved to be able to remain airborne despite being badly damaged. For example, after the attack of the 751 Kōkūtai (air group) on the USS Chicago (CA-29) during the Battle of Rennell Island, three out of four surviving aircraft (of the original eleven) returned despite flying with only one engine.
