Fine Molds' 1/72 scale
Kaiten
Type 1 Suicide Torpedo

by Piotr Dmitruk

Kaiten Type 1 Suicide Torpedo

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There was a warm end to August 1945.

Yoshimata Teriyuki wanted to take a little detour before school, so he borrowed a new bicycle from his grandfather and went for a ride to the outskirts of the city. After several minutes he reached the Imperial Navy harbour, now abandoned and lost. Big rusted hulls and bent cranes attracted him in a strange way. The entire area was a military compound, out of bounds, but this was not an obstacle for a 14 year old boy.

Scouting around, he came across a great cigar resting on a rail car.

Kaiten!

He had heard so much about brave young soldiers attacking the enemy in those tiny vessels, ready to die for divine Tenno! He wondered how it would feel to sit inside. He rested his bicycle close to the torpedo, climbed on, and lifted the hatch to take a peek inside. Already half inside the cockpit he didn’t hear the jeep coming with two soldiers, wearing helmets with white “MP” letters painted on. They caught him, and yelling something incomprehensible,  dragged him into the jeep. He tried to explain himself, but he wasn’t able to get the message across.

Driving away, he only worried about the bicycle. It was quite new, and it would be hard to find another one just after the war. What would grandfather say? He only hoped, that everything would be cleared up soon, and he would be able to come back and retrieve the bicycle...

This is Fine Molds' 1/72 scale Kaiten Type 1 Suicide Torpedo kit built straight from the box. Only the rudder was rebuilt and glued in with a slight offset.

The bicycle was scratch built and placed in the scene to lend a sense of scale for the torpedo.

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Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2010 by Piotr Dmitruk
Page Created 4 January, 2010
Last Updated 4 January, 2010

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