Tamiya 1/72 Aichi M6A1-K Nanzan

TAMIYA 1:72 AICHI M6A1-K NANZAN [SEIRANKAI]

Reviewer: Carlos Giani (carlos_giani2002@yahoo.de)
Kit Review submitted: 21 June 2008

Kit Details:

Aircraft History:

At the outbreak of the Pacific War, many large-sized submarines of the Imperial Japanese Navy were equipped with catapults and small observation-type aircraft designed to attack harbors and to bomb the U.S. mainland. Acknowledging the success of former attacks, at the beginning of 1942 it was decided to plan a surprise attack mission to the Panama canal by special submarine-borne aircraft. This role was going to be undertaken by the single-seated floatplane Aichi M6A1 Seiran, designed exclusively for this one exceptional mission. It was in May 1942 when the Aichi Aircraft Company received specifications to develop and produce this plane, and the first prototype made its maiden flight on November 1943. Undergoing several improvements, Aichi received an order for limited production in May 1944.

In the early stage of the Seiran´s development, two pre-production airframes emerged with retractable landing gear for land-based operation. These were to expedite flight testing and then later be used as two-seat trainers, receiving the designation M6A1-K Nanzan. With the removal of the large floats from the Seiran, the Nanzan´s tail surfaces could be smaller and the folding upper section of the fin was omitted. All in all, two Nanzan were completed, and after the conflict one of them was transported to the Seattle area for test purposes by the USAF.

The Kit:

In a sturdy, oversized top-opening box you get one big sprue containing over 40 parts in medium-grey styrene, one small sprue with 11 parts specifically for the Nanzan (landing gear), one clear sprue with 5 parts, the usual poly-caps and a small decals sheet. Needless to say, all is bagged separately, there is absolutely no flash, everything is perfectly engineered and the surface quality is superb, with lots of perfect engraved surface detail. As we would expect from Tamiya!

Instructions:

One sheet of paper folded twice. On one side you get some general instructions in 4 languages, the paint call outs (of course coded for the Tamiya range), some warnings and the construction steps 1 to 6, very clear and precise regarding placement of the smaller parts. Detail painting instructions are given throughout. On the other side you get the last construction step, three-view painting-decaling diagrams for two versions, more general instructions and the plane’s history-technical data in English, German, French and Japanese. I would give the instructions a 10 out of 10.

Construction:

This started with the very well detailed cockpit (tub, seats, radio operator’s equipment control stick, visor), which can work out superb without the need of aftermarket stuff. The dials on the instrument panels are raised, and for the seats you get decals representing the belts. The fuselage sides also have some internal structural detail, and for the interior I used Revell´s N° 75 grey as a substitute for XF-22 (I owe no Tamiya colors), the details being pointed out dry brushed with black, silver, red and green. The compartment behind the operator receives a “roof” which avoids a “lookin´thru” right to the tail. The cockpit was trapped between the fuselage halves and the fit was perfect.

From this point on I deviated from the instructions and, after gluing the wings together (one lower, two upper halves), I glued this to the fuselage, and then glued the belly radiator (which consists of three parts) on. Believe it or not, a bit of trimming/filling/ sanding was necessary here to get a smooth join, taking care not to damage the incredible tiny detail in this area. The wheel wells are boxed in, all being part of the lower wing half; depth is very realistic (!). The stabilizers fitted without hassle, and next the rear wheel with its improvised fairing was glued on. The last step was to add the canopy, antenna and pitot tube. The propeller and the landing gear were left apart, waiting till the painting was done to glue them on.

I masked the canopy and some “assorted intakes”, and applied one coat of an approximated mixture of 1:10 Gunze´s H3 red and H24 orange, getting a tone very close to the one seen on the box cover’s photo. Next I applied the decals (superb, of course), softened the roundels a bit with Micro Sol and sealed everything with a coat of clear gloss. Since the original was more or less an experimental machine, I only used acryl black to highlight the control surfaces. Voila! No troubles, nearly shake´n´ready, but also no great challenges. Since I usually build kits a bit more difficult to get together, this hassle-free affair was a bit strange for me, if you know what I mean.

Colour Schemes:

1) “Test airframe” (sorry, that’s all which is stated), overall orange.

2) The same airframe later in the conflict, upper IJN green, lower orange

Decals:

Just basics, absolutely no stenciling (maybe was the original so?), a bit thick but rich and dense in color. They performed perfectly.

Overall:

Although I normally prefer the non-“shake´n´ready” brand, of course I admit that this is a great kit, absolutely state of art and perfectly engineered. The finished model looks fantastic. Warmly recommended!

References:

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