# Model Display Ideas: "First Blood"



## Ambaryerno (Aug 13, 2020)

So, after some thinking I've decided to do Wilmer Rawie's Black 14 with my F4F kit. It's _Enterprise_, has oversized roundels, and is a historically-significant machine. There just doesn't seem to be enough information out there to do McClusky's machine.

Anyway, I'm looking at doing it as a flight display based around his victory on 2/1/42. This is what I know:

1. VF-6 was attacking the airfields on Taroa, armed with 100lb bombs.
2. Rawie was climbing out after his bombing run, when he found himself below and behind a pair of A5M4s.
3. The A5Ms belonged to the 4th Kokutai based on Taroa.
4. The lead plane was flown by Lieutenant Kurakane.
5. Rawie zoomed up under the formation and fired on Kurakane, lighting the aircraft on fire. Kurakane rolled over and safely bailed out.
6. After downing Kurakane, Rawie extended before reversing to attack the second A5M head-on. Rawie clipped the other aircraft with the underside of his Wildcat, but otherwise suffered no real damage.

So, I'm of two minds on how to proceed with the display. With both versions, my idea is to use forced perspective with the Wildcat in the foreground in 1/32, and the two A5Ms in the background, using 1/72 or smaller kits. Now, here's the two ideas:

Option 1: This would be the simplest of the two ideas. This would be a "post kill," either with Rawie on his extension after splashing Kurakane, or during his reversal to attack the second A5M (the latter offering opportunities for a more dramatic pose or positioning of the control surfaces). Kurakane's A5M would be made up to look damaged and tumbling out of the air (or maybe just beginning its death roll with the pilot preparing to bail out). The big advantage here is it would provide a better look at the Wildcat details, especially the front-quarter.

Option 2: So, this one would be a lot more complex and would require a lot of thought on how to actually make it work. The idea would be positioning the models at the moment Rawie makes the kill; The F4F would once again be in the foreground, but approaching the A5Ms from below and behind. What I'd like to do with this is having the Wildcat actually firing; I'd model a stream of shell casings falling out of the wings, and figure some way to do tracers. Bonus points if I could actually make them GLOW. The downside is that some of the Wildcat's details wouldn't be visible, since you'd be seeing it from behind, and doing stuff like the shell casings and tracer fire would be REALLY complex.

Anyone have thoughts about this?

Also, any details someone might have about Kurakane's A5M (serial numbers and markings) would be appreciated. The most I've found so far is some debate over whether the Taroa aircraft were painted gray, green, or left in aluminum lacquer, and whether or not they still had the red tails and other trim.


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## fubar57 (Aug 13, 2020)

Either way would make a great dio. A third way, possibly the hardest, would be to have a 1/144 A5M trailing smoke and about to hit the water


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## Ambaryerno (Aug 13, 2020)

I was thinking of using the 1/72s to get at least a little detail. 1/144 might be a little small (though might be better for forcing the perspective without needing too much space for the dio). I think the shoot-down occurred close to the airfield itself, so it probably would have been overland rather than the water.


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## newst (Sep 3, 2020)

If you decide to show the F4F actually firing, in daylight you won't want the tracers to glow, you will want them to produce smoke trails.


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