Fine Molds 1/48 Sanka B

The Sky Crawlers (スカイ・クロラ Sukai Kurora) is a 2008 Japanese anime film, directed by Mamoru Oshii. It is an adaptation of Hiroshi Mori's novel of the same name. It was released across Japanese theatres by Warner Bros. Japan on August 2, 2008.Animated by Production I.G, the film was written by Chihiro Itō, featuring character designs by Tetsuya Nishio and music by Kenji Kawai. The 3D CG animation for the movie was produced by the Polygon Pictures studio, who also produced the 3D CG for Oshii's previous film Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence.

The Sky Crawlers is set in an alternative history timeline where although the world is at peace, in order to ease the tension of a populace accustomed to war and aggression, private corporations contract fighter pilots to engage in actual combat operations against each other. The film introduces a mystery involving characters called Kildren (キルドレ Kirudore?, "kill-dolls") - humanoids genetically engineered in a way that enables to live eternally in adolescence.

For those who want to see a movie that is superbly done and has both a lot of action and will make you think, I highly recommend picking this up or watching it on the various streaming anime sites. Here is a link to the opening of the film from You Tube.

All of the aircraft look like very modern WWII types that are vaguely based on planes with which many may be familiar. There are at least eight identified aircraft types in the film. Two have been kitted by Bandai in 172 soon after the movie was released. This one is the Sanka Mk.B, the standard single seat fighter of the Rostock Iron Works. It is quite reminiscent of the Kyushu J7W Shinden.

A few years back I built the Bandai version of the Sanka B in 1/72 and enjoyed that experience. I was doing some surfing and discovered that last year, Fine Molds released this aircraft in 1/48. Several sources had the kit, but most were asking a fairly high price for it. One had it at over 50% less than the others so even with the high cost of shipping from Japan (all Japanese stores will only ship to the US via Fed Ex or DHL) and the tariffs, I ordered it. Four days later it was delivered.

This one is typical of all modern Fine Molds kits with excellent detailing and what appears to be equally excellent engineering. You get a full cockpit that has detail parts added to the interior sidewalls. Decals are used for the instrument panel which is added to a flat piece or you can used the one with raised detail and paint it.

The kit as the option to have a raised refueling probe if you so wish it. The nose section minus the canards is built and no indication of the need for nose weight is given, but I would add some just in case. Then the upper fuselage with its various engine intakes is built along with the aft section for the props. The kit offers a fairly complex gearing so that the contra-rotating prop can be workable. I would use some grease or Vaseline to help the plastic gears mesh well. Engine cowl flaps can be built open or closed.

Next, the side intakes are assembled and attached to the fuselage halves. These halves are attached trapping the rear bulkhead in place. The interior fits from beneath through an opening where the wing fits. All the upper fuselage sections as well as the nose and nose gear well are then attached. The engine and prop gearing assembly is then installed. Next are the wings and canards. The wings need the holes for the drop tank opened up if you are going to install that item. The wing is then put in place followed by the large fins. Personally, I would leave the fins off until after painting.

The rest of the build consists of building up and attaching the landing gear. Then the drop tank and pylon. This is followed by the windscreen and canopy. The canopy looks like it can be posed open. The last steps are the construction and installation of the props. I would leave off the spinner until after the kit is painted so that it can be painted yellow to match the yellow on the decal sheet.

Instruction booklet is nicely done with color information in Gunze, Tamiya, and generic. Everything in the instructions is written in Japanese, but it looks to be very easy to build the kit, though some of the notes will be unreadable to many outside Japan. There is a nice decal sheet that includes all the yellow bits other than the spinner. One option is provided and that is for the main character in the movie. I thought that the airplane was overall unpainted metal with green mottling, but that is apparently not the case. The underside is flat white as is the lower part of the fin. the upper surface is RLM 76 with black upper fuselage and part of the upper sides in RLM 74 Mottling in RLM 74/75. Since the underside and landing gear is white, I'd attach the gear minus wheels and doors before painting.

I fully realize that kits like this are not for everyone. However, I am quite pleased that this has been brought out in 1/48 scale. I'd very much like it if Fine Molds did other aircraft from the series as there are some pretty interesting designs. This kit should be a fairly decent build. It might take some pre-painting of parts and subassemblies to get everything just right, but considering the design of the kit, it should save from a lot of masking. I'm looking forward to getting it underway.  

April 2026