Scale: 1/72
Kit Number: 72111
Price: $14.95
Media: Short Run Injected Plastic with vacuform canopy and brass etched parts
Decals : two versions; lt. grey with red tail , and green/grey camo
Date of Review: 28 Dec, '96
Comments: The Glen's one claim to fame is that it is the only Japanese aircraft to bomb the US mainland. This was done in Oregon where the bombs set afire a section of forest. It also scouted Pearl Harbor a week after the attack in 1941. It was able to do this as it was a submarine-launched aircraft. The wings were removed and the aircraft placed in a cylinder on deck. When needed, it was unshipped, assembled, then capapulted off. Unlike US and German submarines, Japanese submarines were huge and quite capable of carrying large numbers of people and other items like aircraft or midget submarines. Japanese subs also did not attack merchant ships feeling it was against the Bushido code of the warrior; attacking only warships, and that with little success.
The MPM kit is what I have come to expect from this Czech company. They offer great subjects, but you have to work at getting a decent result. The brass is mostly for the interior with only the rudders, antenna and engine ignition ring outside of the cockpit. The rest of the kit is in a light grey and somewhat brittle plastic. This brittleness was to cause me some grief during construction.
The biggest problem I had was with alignment of the main floats. While I did get them to finally fit, I fear that they are just a bit off. Were I the kind of person who did these things, I would highly recommend a jig of some sort. I would also not use the brass flap hinges unless you cut slots in the flaps and wings to embed these items. I did not and it really helped construction. It is tough to handle the kit without handling the flaps since they are full span. Other areas of construction problems involved the rather brittle plastic. I must have broken the float struts at least three times. Rather frustrating, but that is the price one pays for doing limited run kits. I also found the brittle plastic difficult to cut with the hobby knife, often breaking pieces off that I was trying to carve. Be forewarned =0)
I chose to paint my kit as the one that scouted after the Pearl Harbor attack. This kit is in either aluminum with a red tail or light grey with a red tail. My resource "Japanese Naval Air Force Camoflage and Markings of WWII" by Thorpe, was unable to tell me which was most prevalent in late 1941. I chose the grey vice the aluminum and it works well. Had it been a kit of a floatplane from 1939 or early 1940, I would have gone with the aluminum.
The finished kit looks a lot better than it did during construction and is sitting on a shelf with other Japanese floatplanes including the Serian, 'Jake', 'Pete', and 'Rufe'. I have a kit of 'Rex', 'Alf' and 'Dave' awaiting construction. All that I need now are kits of 'Paul', 'Norm', and 'Slim' to complete all the floatplanes of the JNAF during WWII. I don't think there are kits in 1/72 of the last three unless Aoshima has a 'Paul' in its ancient inventory and I doubt if 'Slim', a training floatplane, will ever be kitted.
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