MXY7 Ohka

[digger303]

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



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



Cheers

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

[cor]

Interesting
Happy Birthday

[aur0ra145]

Cool little kit. Happy belated birthday!

[digger303]

Interesting
Happy Birthday

aur0ra145

It's Biffords birday build

[Quax]

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

Paul

[bfrd]

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

[digger303]

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

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

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

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

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

[DBMiller]

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

[Twokidsnosleep]

Interesting project
Did any Allied ships get hit by these?

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

[digger303]

Interesting project
Did any Allied ships get hit by these?

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

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

852 of these were ever produced including the training aircraft.

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

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

[Twokidsnosleep]

Interesting project
Did any Allied ships get hit by these?

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

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

852 of these were ever produced including the training aircraft.

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

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

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

[RangerNeil]

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

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