Cold morning, a little mist rises in the swamp.

Tampere, Finland

Pieni suolänntti täynnä pörröistä tupasvillaa

On kylmä aamu, suolle nousee hieman usvaa.

There was some rain at the time of shooting.

Tampere, Finland

Syksy Viinikassa (1)

Kuvaottohetkellä satoi hieman vettä.

There is still some snow.

Kuusamo, Finland

Maisema auringonlaskun aikaan

Vielä on hieman lunta.

Early morning on the Lake Visuvesi. There is a little mist on the lake.

Ruovesi, Finland.

Tuulen ja tyynen raja.

Aikainen aamu Visuvedellä. Järvellä on hieman usvaa.

Näkymä snellmaninpuistoon tuomiokirkon portailta. Taustalla pilkottaa hieman jäätynyttä kallavettä.

This is Lili. A beautiful white Turkish Angora cat I had the joy of cat-sitting while her human was away. These photos were taken on our last day together. She’s calm, elegant, a bit dramatic when eating, and quietly expressive. There’s something bittersweet about the final meal before goodbye. A moment of routine, yet filled with presence. This series is a small tribute to the brief companionship we shared.

Tässä on Lili upea valkoinen turkkilainen angora, jota sain kunnian hoitaa ystäväni loman aikana. Nämä kuvat on otettu viimeisenä päivänä ennen kuin palautin hänet omistajalleen. Lili on rauhallinen, elegantti ja hieman dramaattinen syödessään. Jokin haikeus leijui ilmassa viimeinen ateria ennen hyvästejä. Tämä sarja on kunnianosoitus lyhyelle, mutta kauniille yhteiselle hetkelle.

Tetrao urogallus (mating display). Erkylä, Hausjärvi, Finland. 28.4.2018

A little devilish looking dance with eyelids down!

Western capercaillie is still on mating display. First time I saw it was on 30.3. and now I have taken photos and some videos of his majesty for a month!

Tässä metsolla hieman komeannäköistä tanssia silmäluomet kiinni!

Jo 30.3. hiihtoretkellä tapaamani metso on edelleen soitimellaan! Pian jo kuukauden ajan olen silloin tällöin käynyt kuvaamassa hänen majesteettiaan.

Fish symbol. Saarijärvi, Meltaus. Rovaniemi, Finland.

Samanistinen kalariimu tunnetaan useista alkuperäiskulttuureissa muodon hieman vaihdellessa. Kala oli muinais-suomalaiselle shamaanille voimakas apuhenki matkoilla toisiin todellisuuksiin. Symboli on myös ikivanha maaäidin tunnus. Akka on saamelaisessa mytologiassa voimallinen jumalatar.

Tämä otus tavattiin viime sunnuntain 1½ tunnin kävelyretkellä Laivapään tiellä Kyrönjoen rantalakeuksilla. Harmillista, että otus näyttäytyi niin lyhyen aikaa ja tarkennus sattui hieman kohteen etupuolelle.

Tässä fokusointi osui keskiruumiin höyheniin, mutta pää on hieman taaempana. Lisäksi pään liikkeet olivat nopeita ja alituisia, johon nähden valotusaikaa 1/250 s voi pitää hyvinkin pitkänä.

Todella kylmä yö, mutta pitkästä aikaa niin hienoa nähdä tähtitaivasta. Tuntuu että koko talven ollut pelkkää pilvistä säätä.

Pitkä valotus ja puun latvaa hieman maalattu otsalampulla.

--------------------------------------------------------

Really cold night but it's so good to see the starry sky after a long time. Feels like it's been all cloudy the whole winter.

Long exposure with some light painting on the tree.

A little yellow. Helsinki, Finland.

This is Lili. A beautiful white Turkish Angora cat I had the joy of cat-sitting while her human was away. These photos were taken on our last day together. She’s calm, elegant, a bit dramatic when eating, and quietly expressive. There’s something bittersweet about the final meal before goodbye. A moment of routine, yet filled with presence. This series is a small tribute to the brief companionship we shared.

Tässä on Lili upea valkoinen turkkilainen angora, jota sain kunnian hoitaa ystäväni loman aikana. Nämä kuvat on otettu viimeisenä päivänä ennen kuin palautin hänet omistajalleen. Lili on rauhallinen, elegantti ja hieman dramaattinen syödessään. Jokin haikeus leijui ilmassa viimeinen ateria ennen hyvästejä. Tämä sarja on kunnianosoitus lyhyelle, mutta kauniille yhteiselle hetkelle.

Otin hieman ennakkoa syyssouduille, kun soutuja edeltävä ilta oli niin kaunis.

Lapaset Itävallan tyrolilaiseen tapaan kirjasta: Marcia Lewandowski, Folk mittens, kirjailua hieman muunnellen.

Tarkoituksena oli ottaa vielä yksi raskausajan kuva. Mikäs sen parempi paikka kuin lomakohteemme Kroatia :) Yritimme kovasti ehtiä viimeisille aurongonsäteille, mutta aurinko kerkesi jo laskea juuri 10min sitten. Loppujen lopuksi olen kuitenkin tyytyväinen lopputulokseen - saatan ehkä jopa ajatella että sinisen tunnin lähestyttyä, kuvan tunnelma on parempi kuin auringonlaskun aikaan! Minun kihlattuni ja poika mahassa, kaunis maisema ja hienot muistot - minulle henkilökohtaisesti yksi kauneimmista kuvistani :)

Teknisesti kuva on mielestäni parhaillaan. Olen opiskellut uutena informaationa itselleni, että kun ISO:n nostaa yli 1600:n, saa jälkikäsittelyssä paremmin sävyjä ja tekstuuria esiin - tämä mielessäni pitäen lähestyin tätä iltahämärän potretti/maisemakuvaa. Rosoisuutta jouduin lumianssilla hieman pehmentämään. Käytin polarisaatiosuodinta, joka teki sävyistä paljon täyteläisemmät. Lisävaloja ei tarvittu.

A hawk caught this sparrow, unfortunately wring settings in the camera.

Haukka pyydysti pääskysen, olin kuvaamassa hieman muita juttuja...

Niin, se on siis tuommoinen lappu ja tässä kuvassa on sen molemmat puolet. Flickr veti kuvan aika pieneksi mut ei se haittaa oikeastaan. Vähän isompanakin näkee mutta se on hieman huonolaatuinen ööh.

Tämän takia puhaltelin ja tihrustelin ja piirsin läpi ja valuttelin ja odottelin ja.. kaikkea kauheaa!

On hieman yritetty avata näkymää järvelle.

Paistoipa hieman aurinko. Pääsin kameraani ulkoiluttamaan

Etevämmät kuvaajat sanoisivat, että olisit siirtynyt hieman, jotta oksa ei tule juuri linnun selkää vasten. Ok, yritin, mutta lintu oli arka. Vaihtoi alituiseen paikkaa ja oli enimmäkseen risujen kätkösssä.

This is Lili. A beautiful white Turkish Angora cat I had the joy of cat-sitting while her human was away. These photos were taken on our last day together. She’s calm, elegant, a bit dramatic when eating, and quietly expressive. There’s something bittersweet about the final meal before goodbye. A moment of routine, yet filled with presence. This series is a small tribute to the brief companionship we shared.

Tässä on Lili upea valkoinen turkkilainen angora, jota sain kunnian hoitaa ystäväni loman aikana. Nämä kuvat on otettu viimeisenä päivänä ennen kuin palautin hänet omistajalleen. Lili on rauhallinen, elegantti ja hieman dramaattinen syödessään. Jokin haikeus leijui ilmassa viimeinen ateria ennen hyvästejä. Tämä sarja on kunnianosoitus lyhyelle, mutta kauniille yhteiselle hetkelle.

Aamu Leivonmäen kansallispuistossa. Tyynen veden päällä hieman utua.

Tolpan päästä uskalsi hieman tarkastella kuvaajaa, sitten karkuun.

Set: Apple. Macintosh Plus 1Mb (1986), model number M0001AP.

Tämä kone kuului kerran eräälle kirjailijalle. Pinta on vuosien varrella hieman kellastunut, mutta muuten masiina on hyvässä kunnossa. Hiiri tosiaan unohtui kuvasta mutta sekin on tallessa. Samoin koneen alle sopiva ulkoinen kovalevy.

This is Lili. A beautiful white Turkish Angora cat I had the joy of cat-sitting while her human was away. These photos were taken on our last day together. She’s calm, elegant, a bit dramatic when eating, and quietly expressive. There’s something bittersweet about the final meal before goodbye. A moment of routine, yet filled with presence. This series is a small tribute to the brief companionship we shared.

Tässä on Lili upea valkoinen turkkilainen angora, jota sain kunnian hoitaa ystäväni loman aikana. Nämä kuvat on otettu viimeisenä päivänä ennen kuin palautin hänet omistajalleen. Lili on rauhallinen, elegantti ja hieman dramaattinen syödessään. Jokin haikeus leijui ilmassa viimeinen ateria ennen hyvästejä. Tämä sarja on kunnianosoitus lyhyelle, mutta kauniille yhteiselle hetkelle.

Keskusen "asema-aukion" takareunassa taas taukoili pari hieman uudempaa Solaris-trollikkaa.

Edessä on 317, Solaris Trollino 12 (SU92411662BPN1131) vuodelta 2002 ja takana 329, Solaris Trollino 12B (SU92411664BPN1016) vuodelta 2004.

Onks tää nyt sitä kv-vintagedecoilua?

Tämä on miusta jotenkin keskeneräisen oloinen, mutta kun en keksinyt tuohon mitään enkä halunnut peittää taustaa liikaa niin saatte taas nauttia yksinkertaisuudesta.

Herra on ehkä hieman... vanhanpuoleinen poikadecoon mutta kuten Griffin sanoi, "poikaa" voidaan pitää liukuvana käsitteenä XD

En osaa piirtää hattuja x___x

Decotiimin organisoitu.

---

A Boys themed decobook. The guy was colored in Gimp and then printed, the background is made of scrapbook paper and a printed photograph from the 1920s.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

This is Lili. A beautiful white Turkish Angora cat I had the joy of cat-sitting while her human was away. These photos were taken on our last day together. She’s calm, elegant, a bit dramatic when eating, and quietly expressive. There’s something bittersweet about the final meal before goodbye. A moment of routine, yet filled with presence. This series is a small tribute to the brief companionship we shared.

Tässä on Lili upea valkoinen turkkilainen angora, jota sain kunnian hoitaa ystäväni loman aikana. Nämä kuvat on otettu viimeisenä päivänä ennen kuin palautin hänet omistajalleen. Lili on rauhallinen, elegantti ja hieman dramaattinen syödessään. Jokin haikeus leijui ilmassa viimeinen ateria ennen hyvästejä. Tämä sarja on kunnianosoitus lyhyelle, mutta kauniille yhteiselle hetkelle.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

20160422 Istuntosalin sokeriruokokaton korjaus on käynnissä. Korjauksessa on irroitettu levyjen osia huomaamattomista paikoista ja kiinnitettu niitä näkyville paikoille, jotta kattoon ei jäisi suuria sävyeroja. Varastossa 1930-luvulta alkaen olleet varalevyt ovat sävyltään hieman katossa olleita vaaleampia.

Kuvaaja Hanne Salonen / Eduskunta

Kuvien käyttöehdot

Villkor för att använda bilderna

Use and Rights

20160422 Istuntosalin sokeriruokokaton korjaus on käynnissä. Korjauksessa on irroitettu levyjen osia huomaamattomista paikoista ja kiinnitettu niitä näkyville paikoille, jotta kattoon ei jäisi suuria sävyeroja. Varastossa 1930-luvulta alkaen olleet varalevyt ovat sävyltään hieman katossa olleita vaaleampia.

Kuvaaja Hanne Salonen / Eduskunta

Kuvien käyttöehdot

Villkor för att använda bilderna

Use and Rights

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

Just Pinned to Mammas Imetyspaidat: Imetyspaita Molina, kauniilla rypytyksillä edessä. Rypytykset tekevät paidasta hieman väljemmän, jolloin se ei paljasta kaikkia jouluna tulleita kiloja ;) Todella nätti imetyspaita kylmään kauteen - yhdistä mustan, valkoisen rai ruskean vyön kanssa halutessasi. ift.tt/1ZawpCw ift.tt/1SIoRlU

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

JUSSI GOMAN

16.10.2015 - 08.11.2015

Jussi Goman: "Bubble Bobble"

Jussi Gomanin uusien töiden ristiriidat eivät heti näy, mutta rytmikkyys on eittämätöntä ja välittyy heti. Hän ei kerro tarinoita, eikä olisi oikein sanoa häntä dramaattiseksi. Pikemminkin hän möläyttelee. En keksi muuta sanaa - mauttomuuksia hän ei suustaan päästä, sillä kiiltävästä muovisuudestaan huolimatta nämä maalaukset eivät ole räikeitä; kirkkaat värit ovat päinvastoin matissemaisen puhtaita ja helliä.

Mutta huomiota nämä maalaukset vaativat. Ne vievät tilaa eivätkä pahoittele sitä.

Maalausten levottomuus - sekä emotionaalinen että sommitelmallinen - johtunee juuri piilevistä jännitteistä. Niistä virtaa sähköä, joka panee elementit liikkeeseen.

Goman panee asioita vierekkäin. Syntyy raja, ja rajalla on jatkuva konflikti. Joskaan ei ole selvää, kumpi puoli on rajattu pois, mikä on sisäpiiriä, mikä ulkomaailmaa. Ehkä juuri siitä rajalla kiistelläänkin: kenen aluetta on todellisuus? Ja ehkä maalaukset hieman hipaisevat myös tämänhetkistä poliittista kiistelyä Suomessa? Kuka on kenenkin kaveri? Kenellä on isoin kupla?

Toisaalta ruumiskin on vain mielellä täytetty kupla, jonka kuolema puhkaisee. Sitä ennen maailmaa voi katsella ja tunnustella kuplansa sisältä, sen verran kuin aistit sallivat. Elämme kaikki omissa kuplissamme, eikö niin? Varmaan, mutta Gomanin tapaisen koloristin töiden äärellä tällainen puhe voi myös mennä hivenen ohi...

Goman on sydämeltään kiihkeä ekspressionisti. Mutta päänsä hän pitää kylmänä.

Koko ajan hän tekee samanaikaisesti kahta asiaa: esittää ja abstrahoi, vitsailee ja saarnaa, hymyilee ja synkistelee. Pinnoista on toisinaan vaikea sanoa, onko ne maalattu vai "väritetty". Sommitelmissa on ilmiselviä interiöörejä, mutta kun liika tilan vaikutelma uhkaa, maalari tekee tahallaan jonkin "perspektiivivirheen" - kuin korostaakseen ensinnäkin maalauksen kaksiulotteisuutta, toiseksi esineluonnetta (erotuksena representaatiosta). Myös pintaan liimatut akrylaattikokkareet ovat konkreettisesti rajalla. Niiden tehtävänä on rikkoa ja puhkoa jotakin. Ne häiritsevät maalauksen miellyttävää hahmottamista kuvaksi.

"Bubble Bobble" on paitsi näyttelyn, myös 1980-luvun tietokonepeliklassikon nimi. Kuten tietokonepeleissä melkein aina, on siinäkin vihollisia, jotka täytyy tuhota. Kysymys on tavallaan siivoamisesta: alueen hallinnasta, tilan säilyttämisestä "omana". Menetelmä vain on erikoinen: lohikäärmeet puhaltavat kuplia, joihin möröt jäävät kiinni. Silloin valmiin paketin voi potkia pois silmistä.

Ei ole tarpeen analysoida viittausta puhki. Ei ole tarpeen nähdä lohikäärmeenpoikasta taiteilijan sarkastisena omakuvana, pienten teoskuplien puhaltelijana. Eikä Goman viittaa kaupalliseen populaarikulttuuriinkaan nykytaiteelle ominaisella ironis-kriittisellä tavalla, ei ylipäätään arvottavasti. Häntä ei edes haittaa, vaikka emme olisi kuulleet kuplia syöksevistä lohikäärmeistä mitään.

Sen hän kuitenkin tahtoi kertoa (ainakin minulle), että yhdessä maalauksessa on Kurt Cobainin itsemurhapaikalta löydettyjä tavaroita. "Bubble Bobblen" maailmaan tieto kyllä sopii - näiden kuoleman, unen, tajuttomuuden ja illuusion kuvien joukkoon: on unikonkotia (kytkeytyvätkö ne heroiiniin, jolla Cobain lääkitsi tuskaansa?), luita, joita on kukkien tilalla maljakoissa, ja pulloja (onko niissä myrkkyä vai viinaa?), toisaalta lohduttavia laastareita, viattomia pilvenreunuksia...

Mutta mitä on kulhoissa? Miksi hedelmät harrastavat seksiä? Onko ilmapallomaisilla päillä jotakin sanottavaa? Osaavatko ne edes puhua? Puhekuplat puuttuvat. Joku näyttää käyttävän suutaan savukkeen imeskelyyn.

Iloisia kysymyksiä, joihin ei ole kovin tärkeää vastata, sillä kuten jo totesin, Gomanilla ei ole kirjallisia hyveitä. Siksi hänen maalauksensa tuntuvat, kaikesta huolimatta, niin huolettomilta. Musiikillisilta. Tai ehkä tanssillisilta. Ehkä ahdistus onkin aina filosofista, maailmantuska kirjoista opittua?

Tuntuu kuin Goman maalatessaan vain maalaisi. Tuntuu typerältä mutta oikealta sanoa se.

Antti Nylén

Näyttelyä tukenut Taiteen edistämiskeskus.

www.forumbox.fi

20160422 Istuntosalin sokeriruokokaton korjaus on käynnissä. Korjauksessa on irroitettu levyjen osia huomaamattomista paikoista ja kiinnitettu niitä näkyville paikoille, jotta kattoon ei jäisi suuria sävyeroja. Varastossa 1930-luvulta alkaen olleet varalevyt ovat sävyltään hieman katossa olleita vaaleampia.

Kuvaaja Hanne Salonen / Eduskunta

Kuvien käyttöehdot

Villkor för att använda bilderna

Use and Rights

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

20160422 Istuntosalin sokeriruokokaton korjaus on käynnissä. Korjauksessa on irroitettu levyjen osia huomaamattomista paikoista ja kiinnitettu niitä näkyville paikoille, jotta kattoon ei jäisi suuria sävyeroja. Varastossa 1930-luvulta alkaen olleet varalevyt ovat sävyltään hieman katossa olleita vaaleampia.

Kuvaaja Hanne Salonen / Eduskunta

Kuvien käyttöehdot

Villkor för att använda bilderna

Use and Rights

20160422 Istuntosalin sokeriruokokaton korjaus on käynnissä. Korjauksessa on irroitettu levyjen osia huomaamattomista paikoista ja kiinnitettu niitä näkyville paikoille, jotta kattoon ei jäisi suuria sävyeroja. Varastossa 1930-luvulta alkaen olleet varalevyt ovat sävyltään hieman katossa olleita vaaleampia.

Kuvaaja Hanne Salonen / Eduskunta

Kuvien käyttöehdot

Villkor för att använda bilderna

Use and Rights

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

Sea Eagle escorted by Hooded Crows

Merikotka, iän kertyessä sen ulkonäkö hieman kohenee.

Estonia, Sörve 2015-04-30

Citroënin H-sarjan aaltopeltiset pakettiautot ovat minusta aina olleet sympaattisia ilmestyksiä. Mobilian piha-alueella pääsi tätä hieman vanhempaa yksilöä ihailemaan. Päällä oleva tunnus EC-317 on auton alkuperäinen ja samalla tämä auto oli ensimmäinen kyseisen tunnuksen kantaja.

Citroën Camionnette H (XE-316/31530) vuodelta 1954 (ensimmäinen liikennevakuutus alkanut 05.03.1954), alkujaan Salora Oy:n auto Salosta.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based historical facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

In the summer of 1941, Kogiken (a contraction of Kokugijutsu Kenkyujo) formed a design group under the leadership of Ando Sheigo. The task was to study Japanese aviation technology in terms of what was possible at present and in the near future. Additionally, some effort was to be spent on reviewing the aircraft technology of other countries. From the results the group was to assemble and draft proposals for aircraft to fill various pre-determined roles: heavy fighter, light bomber, heavy bomber and reconnaissance. For a bigger idea pool, IJA's main aircraft providers, Kawasaki and Tachikawa, were invited to join the group, too.

An overall assessment of the effectiveness of the Ki-124 rated it highly in agility, and a well-handled Ki-124 was able to outmanoeuvre any American fighter, including the formidable P-51D Mustangs and the P-47N Thunderbolts which were escorting the B-29 raids over Japan by that time. Furthermore, the Ki-124, which received the code name ‘Ike’ from the USAF, was comparable in speed, especially at medium altitudes. In the hands of an experienced pilot, the Ki-124 was a deadly opponent and, together with the Army's Ki-84, Ki-100 and the Navy's Kawanishi N1K-J, the only other Japanese fighters being able to defeat the latest Allied types.

General characteristics

Crew: 1

Length: 30 ft 2.5 in (9.22 m)

Wingspan: 32 ft 0 in (9.77 m)

Height: 12 ft 1 ¾ in (3.70 m)

Empty weight: 2.238 kg (4.934 lb)

Loaded weight: 2.950 kg (6.504 lb),

Powerplant:

1× Kawasaki Ha-40 twelve-cylinder liquid-cooled supercharged 60° inverted Vee aircraft piston engine, rated at 1.175 PS (864 kW) at sea-level with 2,500 rpm

Performance:

Maximum speed: 620 km/h (385 mph) at 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Service ceiling: 39,100 ft (11,900 m)

Range: 580 km (360 mi)

Rate of climb: 15.2 m/s (2,983 ft/min)

Time to altitude: 6.2 min to 5.000 m (16.405 ft)

Armament:

1× 37mm Ho-204 cannon with 30 RPG

2× 20mm Ho-5 with 100 RPG

The kit and its assembly

This fantasy aircraft is the outcome when you look at a crappy kit and ask, "What CAN you actually make from it...?". The kit in question is Amodel's Soviet Ticheranovov Ti-302 rocket interceptor in 1:72 - a “short run” (= appalling) quality kit. Nothing fits together, the material is questionable, best thing is that the injected canopy actually is actually clear and that the inside of the main landing gear covers HAVE a structure. But the rest...(*shudder*)?

Anyway, I got that kit for cheap some years ago and never had an idea what to do with it, until... I wondered if I could not turn the tail-sitter TI-302 into ‘something’ with a tricycle undercarriage? The lines are almost there, but propulsion was the next issue. A jet, maybe? And who would have made/used it?

Inspiration struck when I read about the innovative Kogiken planning group under Ando Sheigo, and with its compact size I was certain that it would become something Japanese. Since the jet age was during WWII not as far progressed as in Europe, I decided to make a propeller aircraft from it, keeping the jet-like cockpit, though. But instead of a pull arrangement (P-39 style) I wanted to try an exotic pusher layout.

The TI-302 airframe was basically kept, but had to be modified accordingly for the totally new propulsion concept. Biggest issue was the much longer tricycle landing gear - while the nose wheel and its well found a neat place under the cockpit, the main landing gear had to be moved back.

I found a simple solution: I just reversed the lower part of the wing, so that the original TI-302 landing gear well ended up at the wings’ trailing egde. The track had to be widened in order to accept the longer struts, though, but that was a simple task. The new front wheel was puzzled together from spare parts, the main landing gear struts come from a P-51.

Fitting the propeller was not much of an issue - it took the place of the original TI-302 rocket engine, in a slightly shortened fuselage. The new propeller was built from scratch, it is a massive 1:100 750lb bomb, cut to size and with single propeller blades glued to it in 72° angles, and is mounted with a metal axis, so that it can turn freely. In order to protect the propeller from ground contact I also added a fin under the lower rear fuselage, which comes from a Matchbox Supermarine Spitfire.

The original cockpit is non-existent, so I added a pilot figure in order to conceal the bleak interior and the tons of lead in the nose. The cockpit is rather tiny, anyway, so that it was - together with the added floor for the front gear well - pretty difficult to get the pilot into it!

The radiator comes IIRC from a Hawker Hurricane, and some added parts on the flanks like exhaust stubs, carburetor intake or simple covers enhance the otherwise bleak surface of the kit.

All in all, nothing fancy and no structural modifications - just external cosmetics. But the result is convincing!

Painting

While the tones are authentic, the paint scheme is fantasy, and I wanted to keep things rather simple and subtle.

In an initial step, the whole model was painted in Aluminum with Revell Aqua Color, as a kind of primer. On top of that, a thin and uneven coat of enamels were applied with a brush: IJA Green on the top sides, and IJN Grey on the lower sides (Testors 2114 and 2115, respectively). In order to add some unusual style, the waterline was raised and received a very wavy shape.

After anything had dried thoroughly, I wet-sanded the upper coat, so that more of the Aluminum could shimmer through, for a worn/flaky look. The result is surprisingly good.

All interior surfaces were painted with Testors 2119, "Aodake Iro", the distinctive translucent corrosion protection varnish you find on/in many Japanese WWII aircraft.

Markings were puzzled together. Most of them come from a very old MicroScale sheet for various IJA types. The yellow ID bands on the wings' leading edges were cut from decal sheet - a convenient alternative to masking and painting by hand.

Finally, the kit received some painted panel lines, done with RLM 70 and FS 34096 (both Testors, too) on the upper sides and Sky "S" on the grey areas. Some soot stains were added to the exhausts and the guns, too, as well as some silver on the leading edges.

A simple conversion, quick but effective, done in a couple of days as a ‘side dish’. Reminds a bit of the German He 162 jet fighter, but it breathes a whiffy, Japanese aura. And while the finish is not perfect and some details like the pretty cramped cockpit don’t look THAT good (after all, the original TI-302 does NOT have anything under the pilot's seat...), overall look and impression are better than expected.