1/48 B5N2 Type 97 Bomber Pearl Harbor Torpedo Attack

Description

This is an injection-plastic aircraft model kit.

Limited reissue of the Hasegawa 1/48-scale B5N2 kit with decals to mark it as either of two torpedo-armed “Kates” that participated in the attack on Pearl Harbor: AII-356 flown by Lt. “Mitsumori” (correctly Mimori) Suzuki off the Kaga and BII-322 off the Hiryu.

Note that the brown camoflage on BII-322 described in the English instructions as “extremely unremarkable” is meant to be “very lightly painted, almost invisible.” It is also widely believed that this was not actually “brown” paint, but rather the entire airplane was first painted in a grayish khaki or “concrete” color, and then hastily overpainted with green in a semi-translucent coat. As a result, some of the underlying “concrete” color was not completely covered and remained visible as “spots” through the green paint. As such, the lower surface color should be this grayish-khaki, not “silver” as called for in the instructions. See box art for marking details.