1:72 Aichi D3A1 Val part 3 - Japanese Imperial Army Air Service, Battle of the Coral Sea

May 1942, when the fleets never sighted each other

The Battle of the Coral Sea was the first naval engagement in history in which the surface ships of the two sides did not fire a single round at each other. All the work was done by the carrier airmen, and among them the Aichi D3A dive bombers. Less than a month later the same machines appeared over Midway, where the Japanese fleet lost four aircraft carriers and with them the core of its experienced air personnel.

Three machines on the sheet

The sheet gives the aircraft Bl-263 with the crew of Petty Officer Takeo Yamazaki, which operated from the aircraft carrier Soryu in the Coral Sea. The second marking belongs to the machine 35-201 of the 34th Kokutai, a unit used in the same operation. The third scheme points elsewhere: Al-208 took off on 4 June 1942 from the deck of the Akagi into the Battle of Midway.

The machine they called Val

You recognize the Aichi Type 99 by its fixed landing gear hidden in aerodynamic fairings and by the wing with conspicuously rounded tips. The code name Val was assigned to it by the Allies. In its day it was an agile and very accurate machine, but the fixed landing gear and weak defensive armament made it an easy target after 1942.

Working with the sheet in a small scale

In 1:72 the individual elements are small and easily damaged. It pays to cut them out one at a time rather than in groups, and to transfer them to the model with a damp brush instead of tweezers. The base should be smooth and glossy. On pronounced wave patterns and transitions between surfaces a decal softener helps, pulling the film down into the engraved lines.

What the delivery includes

The goods contain the markings only. The aircraft kit, the paints and the varnish have to be bought separately.