1/32 Nagoya Sento-ki 001 Ben

By James Merrigan

My model is of a Nagoya Sento-ki 001 US code name Ben. This is really a "foo" or non existing fighter. After the Pearl Harbor attack military intelligence every piece of downed Japanese aircraft they could find. From that operation they came up with this aircraft. They found a manufacturing plate with the words Nogoya Sento, they thought that was a manufacturer, it was a plant location. From the wings and tail group, it looks like they found parts of an Aichi type 99 Val. It was 1943 before the war department figured out there was no such a plane. I got the 3-view for the model from a manual published by the Navy for making spotters models during WWll. The fuselage is from a Williams Brothers P-35, the wings are from a Revell Spitfire, tail group is plastic card, the cowling is the ever popular Excedrin bottle.

© James Merrigan 2003

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This article was published on Friday, September 27 2013; Last modified on Saturday, May 14 2016