LAND OF THE RISING SPACE LAUNCHERS - OHSUMI SATELLITE AND LAMBDA ROCKET FROM AOSHIMA

REPORT: MAT IRVINE

Following Aoshima’s 1:350 scale H-IIB launch vehicle, the company has come up with another Japanese launcher, the four-stage Lambda L-4S. This fired Japan’s first satellite into orbit in 1970, the Ohsumi 5, making Japan the fifth country to launch its own satellite with its own rocket. 

Small rocket

Lambda was a relatively small rocket, so Aoshima has made this kit to 1:150 scale, much larger than the H-IIB’s 1:350. Similarly, the L-4S is slightly irritating, as 1:150 isn’t an established scale, though it could be argued that it's close enough to the main launcher scale of 1:144 to be displayed alongside those models for comparison. 

Launch system

Besides the L-4S rocket, you get the launch system (above), itself very ‘sounding rocket’ in style. To this end, the rocket hangs under the launch rail, and Aoshima has come up with a unique way of attachment - a set of magnets. 

Supplied in the box are four small (likely rare-earth) magnets, which you have to sort out so you have two pairs that attract. Then you mark up the attraction faces, separate the pairs out, and fit one set to the rocket body, the other to the launch rail - easier than it sounds when you have the magnets in front of you! The magnets fit in the launch rail (red above) and rocket (silver). They are clearest seen against the red launch rail, but are just visible in the upper of the rocket halves.

Component count

You get 61 styrene parts and a small decal sheet, plus magnets, wire and polythene sleeves that allow the launcher to swivel. The main components are moulded in their correct colours – red for the launch pad, silver for the rocket. Clear parts are included for the Ohsumi cover and stand, and the launch pad cabin. However, the latter is really irrelevant as the small windows can be painted back, or you can use black decal stock. 

Marking scheme

Unlike most US launchers, Japan tends to go for more interesting colour schemes, and Lambda is no exception. It’s basically silver, with seven brick-red bands circling the rocket, four more stripes painted vertically. I found it easiest to paint the whole rocket red first, then mask off the appropriate stripes, and overspray all in silver. The tip is painted silver on the box-art, but in reality it should be black.

Above, the Lambda L-4S launch rocket is shown next to its Ohsumi 5 research satellite payload, the latter, needless to say, in the much larger 1:20 scale! Cradles for the rocket are included, but I added the base connecting them.

Ohsumi 5 satellite

The Ohsumi 5 satellite is has a clear section to show the instrumentation, and sensibly uses supplied thin wire for the antennas. Add a coupe of nameplates, in Japanese and English, and a couple of supports for the Lambda if you don’t want it attached to the launcher, and the result is another of Aohima’s excellent new range of uncrewed spacecraft. 

Scale please!

Above, the 1:150 scale Lambda L-4S is shown compared to the nearby-scale 1:144 scale Sputnik 1 launcher of October 1957. This modified ICBM has been converted from the Airfix kit, and the pair sit on an Airfix generic rocket base.

But again, my plea is that Aoshima tries to establish some set scales for these models. Yes, we know it is difficult to show ‘launcher’ and ‘payload’ in the same scale, but some scales are now so well established. Besides the almost universally accepted 1:144 for launchers, crewed craft tend to be in 1:72, 1:48, or even 1:24. Uncrewed spacecraft may also be in 1:24 scale, though admittedly Ohsumi 5 would be even smaller in 1:24, so there are always exceptions!

About the real thing

Japan followed the USSR, USA, China and France, while the UK became sixth in 1973 with Black Arrow and X3/Prospero. The Lambda was a solid-fuelled rocket, developing from the single-stage L-1 to this example with four stages, the L-4. The Lambda was unguided, due to restrictions at that time for Japan developing military-style guidance systems, and was closely related to sounding rockets such as the UK’s Skylark or US Aerobee series. But Lambda was specifically designed to launch a small satellite which it finally succeeded, after four failures, on February 11, 1970.

Thanks to Hobby Link Japan for the review kit.

Aoshima makes an amazing variety of kits and collectibles, from Star Trek to Aliens, and much more besides. Have a look here.

AOSHIMA H-IIB SPACE LAUNCHER KIT

ROCKET REVIEW BY MAT IRVINE

Give that the H-IIB launch rocket is the mainstay of Japan’s satellite launch industry it’s somewhat surprising that there has been no kit of it before - this kit from Aoshima is a first.

Small scale

The H-IIB is number four in the Aoshima ‘Space Craft Series’, and is produced in a small 1:350 scale. Even so, the kit still makes up into a comprehensive model with several interesting features. The pic above shows H-IIB with clear sections. Inside these are the rocket stage and H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV).

Clear and white runners, as supplied in bags. Note the small decal sheet in the clear bag on the right. Only two components - the third stage and payload shroud - are moulded in both white and clear plastic. 

What’s in the box?

You get two runners, one in white styrene with 34 parts, the other in clear with 22, and you can build up the rocket to be displayed in four ways. The H-IIB is not a difficult kit to build, and it’s likely you’ll have more difficulty deciding which way it will be displayed than actually building it. 

Paint choices

However, the paint scheme is slightly more taxing. Aoshima recommends Gunze Sangyo paint, which although available in the West, are less common than Humbrol, Testors, Revell-Germany, or even Aoshima’s Japanese stablemate, Tamiya. Because of this some compromises were made, and in the end I used colours from the Testors range, including Competition Orange and Metallic Platinum. Humbrol was used for Satin Black.

The box side panel (below) shows some of the display options.

Multi-finish launcher

The rocket is finished in mainly white, orange and gold, though two other shades are needed - black, and a dark coppery-orange. This affects mostly the main rocket structure, while the four strap-on boosters are fortunately plain white - it’s easiest to leave these off and paint them separately. The H-IIB’s third stage and payload components are supplied in clear plastic as well as white, so you can build these up without paint.

Another display option (below) holds the rocket at an angle, traditionally the sort of attitude you see used for model aircraft stands.

H-II Transfer Vehicle

The clear parts can then take the HTV, used Japan’s JAXA Space Agency to resupply the International Space Station. The illustrations also indicate that the HTV and its orbital rocket stage can be displayed separately - so maybe making for a fifth option!

Exhaust flame stand

So the Aoshima H-IIB model can be displayed in three basic ways, plus variations.  It can be set on the supplied base, standing vertically. Or it can be mounted on the additional stand that displays the rocket at approximately 10 percent from the horizontal. And  thirdly, and perhaps the most interestingly, the H-IIB can be displayed atop a simulated lift-off rocket blast exhaust liftoff (above), and this option is built up from many of the supplied clear parts. These obviously need colouring with suitable ‘rocket exhaust’ effects, and clear paints are the best here, with both Humbrol and Tamiya making examples in their respective tinlets and bottles. Some colours are also available in Testors clear ranges, including aerosols.

Bigger kit please

In all, this is an intriguing model, and my only comment really is that it’s a pity that Aoshima couldn’t have made the kit bigger - it measures just 160 mm (6.25 in) long. It would be so impressive in the far more common 1:144 space launcher scale.

Thanks to Hobby Link Japan for the review kit.

More rocketry available here.