Yet another Fairy Kikaku kit. This one is a "sea truck" which was pressed into service as an IJA transport ship. It met its demise at the hands of USAAF and RAAF on March 3rd, 1943 during the Battle of the Bismark Sea. It was struck by bombs and its cargo of avgas and fuel exploded in a giant fireball.
I'm not sure when I started assembling this kit. It could have been as long as four years ago. At the time I had put it aside, I had only joined the three hull pieces, applied putty, sanded it down, and glued the funnel and ventilator cowlings in place. Here on August 20th of this year I had prepared some of the masts and cargo booms. I also glued the top of the bridge, aft deck house, and port side AA gun platform in place.
I put it aside again to work on HMCS Ribble and didn't get back to it until this past Monday. Here all components are in place and the model is ready for a coat of primer.
Next I gave the ship a coat of Tamiya XF-19 Sky Grey and after that had dried, drew in the camouflage pattern by pencil. The dark colour is Tamiya XF-53 Neutral Grey (not "Gray" on the bottle label).
Here's the completed kit sitting at the head of its "instruction sheet"....
