1/72 scale Kawasaki KI-10 from X-Otic and ICM

        This was the last biplane fighter accepted into Imperial Japanese service. It was a product of the "dog-fighting school" of aerial combat and emphasized maneuverability over speed and firepower. Early in the Second Sino-Japanese War it was very effective but it was a design dead-end and the Japanese (and almost all of the rest of the world) got out of the combat biplane business. There is a useful Wiki here.

       Both the X-Otic and ICM kits leave a lot to be desired  but will do for wargaming items. As usual I assembled these with steel plugs inside the fuselage to allow for mounting on my adjustable magnetic flight bases.  I find the biggest disappointment to be that even though the aircraft are shown with spats in the box-art there are none to be found in the kits! I have had these around as completed kits for some time but finally got around to applying paint and decals. With these four I have completed my 1935-1941 collection (yes I know there are tons of Japanese light bombers and fighters not on my list but they are only available as expensive epoxy kits out of the Czech Republic). 

 

the odd multi-colored roundel on the aircraft on the right mark it as a 

member of the  Manchukuo Air Force, a puppet empire 

set up by the Japanese with the Last Emperor of China as it head

 

to me they look like ugly versions of the Curtiss P-6 Hawk family

 

now all I have to do is finish off my Soviet bombers and I can start my Nomonhan Campaign