Marushin Japanese Aircraft

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 5:12 pm

Well I'm finally taking the plunge and getting into Marushin 1/48 planes. May as well, my wife is Japanese and her sister in Tokyo can supply them at a better price than what you find them in the US for. The fighters are way cheaper there than here but the Betty's are about the same. I know Aiken's sells them online, anyone know of who else carries them online?

donnieboy · Post by **donnieboy** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 9:58 pm

vmf214:
The only dealer I know of who sells Marushin aircraft is Aikens Airplanes. They are pricey but worth every penny. They come as diecast and plastic kits that screw and snap together . I strongly recommend you obtain some fine instruments, particulary a small pliers or rongeurs with curved tines, to hold the small parts while manipulating them (tweezers are good also). Remember to oil the little screws before putting them in, so as not to strip them. The fighters took me about an hour to assemble; the Betty bomber took several hours. They are gorgeous!

donnieboy · Post by **donnieboy** » Wed Nov 24, 2004 10:06 pm

vmf214: two more tips re Marushin kits.
Be careful not to lose or throw out any of the little parts. I lost the Oscar's landing gear linker pins and had to crawl around on the rug for an hour before I finally found them. The wife thought I was hitting the bottle!
Suggest you glue the small metal parts with Loctite super glue gel.
I went to Marushin's website (all in Japanese): turns out they mainly manufacture handguns! In Japan? Go figure!

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 4:04 pm

Handguns are big business for them as live guns are illegal unless you are very wealthy and can afford the license and then it's limited to sporting arms mainly shotguns. Their 1/48 line of aircraft is huge over there of course. No problem on the website as my wife reads it for me. My sister-in-law just sent me the new 05 catalog, some good stuff coming next year. In US dollars the planes average from $39 - $300 in the hobby stores in Tokyo. The Betty's are $300US, with exception of the new Willow floatplane trainer at $105 US ALL the fighters are well below $100 US, can't beat it. What I would love to have is the new 1/48 section of carrier flight deck complete with island. It's made to display a Zero, Kate, and Val with all the ground crew etc, just awesome!! It's quite huge of course with a price tag to match...about $2K US and that's just for the flight deck! Good stuff though.

vmf214 · Post by **vmf214** » Thu Nov 25, 2004 4:07 pm

PS: Marushin got its start with aircraft, Japanese aircraft. The owner lost 2 brothers in WW2 as Kamikaze pilots, the business is a dedication to them.

donnieboy · Post by **donnieboy** » Sat Nov 27, 2004 8:10 pm

vmf214: Thanks for the skinny on Marushin. I wasn't aware of their past history, and hadn't heard about the Willow float plane (in fact I never heard of it period). Aikens Airplanes's prices for Marushin products are much lower, this being America and all. Think I paid around $250 for the Betty. Suggest you get the KI-84 Hayate (Frank) and KI-61 Hien (Tony) in silver. They're beauts! While I think of it, suggest you get some small emery boards to file the small parts such as guns and pitot tubes-they go in easier.
Konitchi-Wa! (pardon my Japanese)