MXY7 Ohka

[digger303]

The kit is from Brengun, not a brand I see much of.
This is a purpose built suicide bomb that’s jet powered, much like the V 1's except it had a pilot and the V1 was powered with a pulse jet.
It was carried to a position close to the target by another aircraft such as a Betty then released. The Ohhka pilot would glide until very close, ignite the solid feul rockets (3) propelling it to around 600km/hr in a steep dive to target. The explosive warhead was a repurposed navel shell with hitting a ship in a more vulnerable spot and sinking her in one go. Unfortunately this strategy was easily muted with the carrier planes simply shooting down the Betty's.
A important illustration on the Japanese mind set at the time and the desperation that shouldn't be forgotten.



Not a big kit and I got a lot of it together the first day.



Cheers

Ps ....Glad to be celebrating a birthday Biffords not mine

[cor]

Interesting
Happy Birthday

[aur0ra145]

Cool little kit. Happy belated birthday!

[digger303]

Interesting
Happy Birthday

aur0ra145

It's Biffords birday build

[Quax]

interesting kit and subject, looking forward to seeing what you make of it!

Paul

[bfrd]

This is such an intriguing kit! I really look forward to seeing how it turns out.

[digger303]

This is such an intriguing kit! I really look forward to seeing how it turns out.

I'm sure someone else could do a better job on it, I'm a bit careless.

Hers tonight’s effort.
The panel lines are a bit wide,shallow and disappear in some sections so in a effort to make it some what better I've been deepening the lines with a 0.1mm scriber. Unfortunately my motor control is a bit so so and it slipped in more than one place. I shall attempt to rectify that soon.

The wing roots were somewhat of a loose fit and sprue goo was used to glue, fill and use as a brace to keep it all lined up as it's pretty sticky stuff.

The trolley is a sod with those hooked arms balancing on a 2 mm rod. Trying to keep them lined up straight level and parallel. I should mention locating pins do not exist in the Brengun universe it seems.

[DBMiller]

Super interesting subject. It's always fun to start a new project, especially for your birthday!

[Twokidsnosleep]

Interesting project
Did any Allied ships get hit by these?

Kid of funny when you think of what drones are now to warfare

[digger303]

Interesting project
Did any Allied ships get hit by these?

Kid of funny when you think of what drones are now to warfare

The MXY-7 Ohka sank only three U.S. ships, all of which were destroyers: the USS Mannert L. Abele, the USS Shea, and the USS Hugh W. Hadley. It also damaged about seven other vessels. No major Allied capital ships were sunk by an Ohka.

852 of these were ever produced including the training aircraft.

Only 74 Ohkas undertook combat operations, all during the Battle of Okinawa.

Failed missions: Of those 74, 56 were destroyed along with their mother aircraft or in failed attack runs. Many of the slow-moving mother bombers were shot down by Allied fighters before they could get within launch range.

[Twokidsnosleep]

Interesting project
Did any Allied ships get hit by these?

Kid of funny when you think of what drones are now to warfare

The MXY-7 Ohka sank only three U.S. ships, all of which were destroyers: the USS Mannert L. Abele, the USS Shea, and the USS Hugh W. Hadley. It also damaged about seven other vessels. No major Allied capital ships were sunk by an Ohka.

852 of these were ever produced including the training aircraft.

Only 74 Ohkas undertook combat operations, all during the Battle of Okinawa.

Failed missions: Of those 74, 56 were destroyed along with their mother aircraft or in failed attack runs. Many of the slow-moving mother bombers were shot down by Allied fighters before they could get within launch range.

Interesting
Maybe a bit controversial comment..
but you understand the use of the Atomic bomb use vs an enemy that refused to give up
and did suicidal missions even before things were gloomy for the Japanese.
A full out attack onto Japanese soil would have been very costly for all involved; not to minimize the loss of life at Nagasaki and Hiroshima.

[RangerNeil]

Its an interesting build - both as a kit and as a subject. Looking forwards to seeing how it progresses and turns out!!

Was watching a program on, I think, Nat Geo the other day looking at the run-up to VE day and it asked the question if the Japanese had't been so inclined to the suicidal would Fat Ma and Little Boy have been used. The use of the Kamikaze in general and the Ohka as well as the Shinyo boats and Kaiten submarines in particular were discussed. Conclusion of the "experts" was without these the decison would PROBABLY have been made to invade rather than use the bomb. Guess we'll never know now.

[digger303]

After apply the new VMS acrylic primer ( No peel ) I had to go back and fix all the seams and reapply. Not bad stuff it does as avertised and can be sanded without peeling or tearing. If I had to say a bad thing about it is cleaning the AB afterwards, because it dries quick a ring of paint inside the cup is a little stubborn to remove. It will come off, but not as easily as I'm used to with Tamiya or Mr Hobby Gunze. Paint remover is best.


The masking was done with Polyimide Hi-Temp Tape that has a small amount of stretch.


Then it was the metal finish, boy doesn't it look horrible. Question is do I now go back and try to fix it or will the fixing make it worse particularly around the panel lines. I can give the surface a overall polish with like a 12,000 grit which might improve that a tad.

[digger303]

Also a long over due update on this kit.

As you can see the decals are on, base painted with Mr metal color " Stainless" as the aircraft/ flying bomb was constructed of steel mostly unprotected so it tended to rust in a very short time with the high humidity.




Not much left to do , just the carry cart requiring a top coat.

[cor]

Looks good

[Stokesy44]

Not sure how I have missed this. That's a great looking paint finish Digger, really nicely done.

The thing that always stands out with these suicide attacks is it was always the most junior pilots who were sacrificed, the senior officers who came up with the idea were nowhere to be seen when these aircrews were strapped in and sent on their way. Cowardice masquerading as 'honorable service to the Emperor'.

Interesting discussion on the whole 'were they right to drop the A Bomb' too. Maybe worth considering in a new thread covering major historical turning points or something similar. Assuming we can all play nicely.

[RangerNeil]

Not sure how I have missed this. That's a great looking paint finish Digger, really nicely done.

The thing that always stands out with these suicide attacks is it was always the most junior pilots who were sacrificed, the senior officers who came up with the idea were nowhere to be seen when these aircrews were strapped in and sent on their way. Cowardice masquerading as 'honorable service to the Emperor'.

Interesting discussion on the whole 'were they right to drop the A Bomb' too. Maybe worth considering in a new thread covering major historical turning points or something similar. Assuming we can all play nicely.

I think it was the History Channel that covered the Kamikaze units in detail, the field commander of the Kamikaze units, an Admiral Matome Ugaki, led the final Kamikaze attack some 15 hours AFTER the Japanese surrender was announced by the Emporer. Which gives rise to an interesting discussion on the suject of honour, both personal & national (he got a medal for doing it).....
Whereas the overall commander, a Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi, commited ritual suicide the day after the surrender. For whatever reason he never had the traditional second who would complete the act by beheading so it took him hours to actually die.

The A Bomb question basically boiled down to numbers/statistics. The taking of Okinawa gave the planners a nasty surprise in terms of casualties such that estimates for invading the Home Islands would mean literally millions od dead or wounded Allied personnel (I believe the USA is still using Purple Hearts cast in expectation of that campaign) and thats without the long term mental affects on veterans of fighting women & children. As such the algebra of war said the tens of thousands of casualties the bombs would inflict on the enemy was prefereable to the millions the Allies would suffer. War is not nice, is no respecter of humanity, never has been, never will be. Hence why its best avoided.

[Stokesy44]

Not sure how I have missed this. That's a great looking paint finish Digger, really nicely done.

The thing that always stands out with these suicide attacks is it was always the most junior pilots who were sacrificed, the senior officers who came up with the idea were nowhere to be seen when these aircrews were strapped in and sent on their way. Cowardice masquerading as 'honorable service to the Emperor'.

Interesting discussion on the whole 'were they right to drop the A Bomb' too. Maybe worth considering in a new thread covering major historical turning points or something similar. Assuming we can all play nicely.

I think it was the History Channel that covered the Kamikaze units in detail, the field commander of the Kamikaze units, an Admiral Matome Ugaki, led the final Kamikaze attack some 15 hours AFTER the Japanese surrender was announced by the Emporer. Which gives rise to an interesting discussion on the suject of honour, both personal & national (he got a medal for doing it).....
Whereas the overall commander, a Admiral Takijirō Ōnishi, commited ritual suicide the day after the surrender. For whatever reason he never had the traditional second who would complete the act by beheading so it took him hours to actually die.

The A Bomb question basically boiled down to numbers/statistics. The taking of Okinawa gave the planners a nasty surprise in terms of casualties such that estimates for invading the Home Islands would mean literally millions od dead or wounded Allied personnel (I believe the USA is still using Purple Hearts cast in expectation of that campaign) and thats without the long term mental affects on veterans of fighting women & children. As such the algebra of war said the tens of thousands of casualties the bombs would inflict on the enemy was prefereable to the millions the Allies would suffer. War is not nice, is no respecter of humanity, never has been, never will be. Hence why its best avoided.

Agree on all points. You referenced fighting women and children and a lot of people forget this. Japan was in the grip of the Imperial Army, they ran the place and they would have forced everyone to fight to the death. Japan as a culture would have ceased to exist with millions killed. The use of the bomb also stopped the killing elsewhere in places such as China where the death toll was similar to Russia. Thousands of POWs were also saved.

Even after 2 bombs some Japanese still wanted to fight on. There was an attempted coup in the Emperor's place when junior officers tried to steal the radio recording the Emperor had made to broadcast the surrender.

Something about the ritual suicide thing has always bothered me. It feels like a get out clause, a moment of pain rather than face the truth that you got it wrong, that you started a war you couldn't win and now you have to live with it.

[digger303]

"Something about the ritual suicide thing has always bothered me. It feels like a get out clause, a moment of pain rather than face the truth that you got it wrong, that you started a war you couldn't win and now you have to live with it."

A view point I hadn't considered.

It always fascinated me that a whole population could be convinced the emperor was a god and they would do anything in his name. Extreme brain washing and it really goes against the survival instinct innate in all of us. I'm a abhorrer of pain there is no way I could stick a knife in my gut and carve it up like a steak.

[Tomcat64]

I missed this one, that final shot of the kit looks great - I love the patina you've achieved on the metal surfaces, that's really effective.

Fascinating discussion on the Pacific war and Japanese mindset too

[Garion77]

I missed this one during my absence ! As everyone said, an interesting subject... And what an horrible mindset to have at the time... I'm big history buff and lots about WW II. My other favorite being the kings of France. And as Scott said, when studying the subject of that part of war. All pointed to a long and bloody battle that would may be have lasted a few years again killing millions again, with the Allies being exhausted by the rest of the war, thus the use of the A-Bomb.
Seems the kit, for that small of subject gave you troubles !

[digger303]

Thanks fella's for looking in and your kind comments.
I've finished it now for a better or worse and couple of tiny bits got lost in the process never the less it is a representation of what was.
I never saw the canopy had too product on the inside of the canopy and thats what pee's me off the most on this build despite the other flaws.
Finial reveal with some slap dash photography is over here.
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