Kanzaki Returns (Area 88)

The finished model:

The scene:

After having returned to Japan to be with Ryoko, Shin confronts his nemesis Satoru Kanzaki.  After a night of nostalgia and competitive gamesmanship, Kanzaki reveals his intention to return to the Middle East in dramatic fashion – by getting picked up my a CH-53 helicopter.  As he departs, he vows to destroy Shin’s happiness, utterly.

Check out the original manga scene from Chapter 146 “Time Passes By” here:

The story:

Coming quite late in the manga series, this scene is probably unfamiliar to most English-speaking audiences.  Still, it’s a pretty dramatic turning point in the series.  Shin has finally escaped Area 88 both physically, and from its demons that wouldn’t let him rest before.  He’s reunited with Ryoko and all seems right in the world… except that Kanzaki just can’t stand to see Shin and Ryoko happy.  After the two meet and Kanzaki shares the details of Shin’s origins, they take a moment to reminisce about their first solo flight – ending up inverted in a pair of Cessna 172 Skyhawks (a future build perhaps?). Suddenly, Kanzaki reveals just how evil he really is.  He’s not content to just let bygones be bygones… he’s going to destroy Shin’s happiness completely.

When the CH-53 shows up to spirit him away, you can almost hear Wagner’s Flight of the Valkyries playing in the background.  It gets closer and closer, coming in with the Sun at its back, picks up Kanzaki, and then turns around and flies back into the Sun and towards an ominous future.

It’s a small scene, but full of drama, so it seemed like a good idea to include it in my 1/144 scale project.

The kit:

• Sikorsky CH-53G (by Revell)

The build:

Of course, despite being to stand on its own, I had a bit of an ulterior motive with this build.  Before starting the CH-54 Tarhe portion of my Olive Grove project, I wanted to get in a little “helicopter practice” before I tackled that expensive and delicate resin kit.  So the fact that I could pull a “kissing-cousin” to the Tarhe off the shelf at the local hobby shop for less than $20 made the CH-53G kit from Revell a no-brainer.

The one disappointing thing was that Kanzaki’s Uber is actually more of an HH-53 Jolly Green Giant, so even though Revell has boxed it in the past, that version of the kit is OOP.  That meant that I’d have to scratch build the drop tanks and refueling probe.  Not a huge deal, but slightly disappointing knowing that actual kit parts exist.  Oh, well.

The main purpose of this build though, was really to test how well I could get the main rotor spinning.  I’ve used very small DC motors to spins propellers in several of my previous builds (including Kamikaze Cessna!, A Rocky Arrival, and A Plague of Locusts) but I was worried that this monster would be too big to handle.  I probably shouldn’t have, since it worked just fine for my Olive Grove project, but, like I said, this was also a test.  One nice thing about using the bigger motor though, was that that the drive shaft was big enough and long enough that I didn’t have to modify it for length – something that’s difficult to do if you want it to still spin straight and balanced.

Other than the motor, there’s not much else to say.  The kit went together well, I eventuality worked up the courage to scratch build the drop tanks and refueling probe from the spares box, and then I painted it.  I decided to freehand paint a bit of camouflage since it was open for interpretation and I could use some practice.

The only thing i’m not quite happy with is that I seem to have lost one of the side windows somewhere along the way.  Oh, well, battle damage… right?

All in all though, I think it turned out all right, but feel free to tell me how you feel.