1:35 IJN Carrier Crew Pilots & Officers

Imperial Japanese Navy carrier deck personnel 1:35 - Border Model

This item is not a model of an aircraft or of a ship, but a set of figures in 1:35 scale. The subject is pilots and officers of the Imperial Japanese Navy together with the men who served on the flight deck of aircraft carriers. The figures are intended as an addition to a scene in which you already have the main model or a diorama base, and on their own they replace no vehicle or aircraft.

The real subject

Work on the flight deck of Japanese aircraft carriers in the Second World War followed a firm order. Pilots came out in a flying suit with a vest and a helmet, officers moved about in service uniform, and the deck crew in working clothes that allowed quick movement between the parked machines. The contrast between an officer standing calmly and a hurrying deck party gives a carrier scene its characteristic atmosphere - and that is the main reason why human figures are added to naval dioramas at all. Without them the viewer has no sense of scale and the scene feels empty.

Tips for painting and placing in the scene

The figures come out best if you paint them away from the base and only set them in place once they are finished. Faces are helped by working from a base skin tone through a darker wash into the shadows and on to light highlights on the raised areas. On fabric, work mainly with the shadows in the folds, because it is those that give a small figure its volume. Think the arrangement through in advance: pairs who look at each other or pass something between them feel more natural than figures set out separately across the area.

Who the set is for

• Modelers who build dioramas and vignettes from the war in the Pacific
• Anyone interested in Japanese naval aviation of the Second World War
• Those who want to add human scale to a static model
• Figure painters who enjoy working with skin and uniform tones