K5Y close-up of 4 bristles mimicking cables for tail section tie-down. Plane has "Ka-517" marking, Japanese Katakana character "Ka" referred to aerial trainer. Japanese military aircraft designation systems - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_military_aircraft_designation_systems

Model depicts trainer station at Kagoshima (specifically Kanoya) naval air base on southern home island of Kyushu. Japanese utilize 4 written character sets in her language : Kanji, Hiragana, Katakana, Romaji. Katakana (square syllable) could be transcribed to templates more readily contrasted with Kanji or Hiragana characters, hence used for plane markings. In postwar era, Katakana is mainly used for Gai-rai-go (western foreign words rendered in Japanese phonetics, such as "konputaa" for "computer") and Onomatopoeic expressions (repetitive sounds representing actions or expression, such as "don-don" for "rapidly"). American English has similiar onomatopoeic expressions, such "bow-wow" for dog barking, "chit-chat" for light social conversation, "ka-boom" for sounds of explosion. Japanese Katakana - www.omniglot.com/writing/japanese_katakana.htm

• Kagoshima, Kagoshima - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kagoshima%2C_Kagoshima

• Kanoya Naval Air Base Museum - wgordon.web.wesleyan.edu/kamikaze/museums/kanoya/index.htm

Rollover : Akatonbo underside with prominent "Ka-517" markings. When adopted into Japan naval service, trainer was designated Type 93 trainer. Biplane had welded steel fuselage with stringers fitted externally to form a roundel shape. Upper wing swept 6-degrees, lower wing had 3-degree sweep. Tail skid was originally installed in rear, but soon replaced with tailwheel for better handling. Of over 5,500 K5Y produced, there is only one left in the world, located at Indonesian Air Force Museum in Jakarta-Indonesia. That plane was behind by Japanese WW2 occupation troops at war's end, found decades later by Australian vintage aircraft enthusiasts, subsequently restored and displayed at Museum Abri Satria Mandala in Jakarta. K5Y in Indonesian Museum - www.j-aircraft.com/walk/erid_hefriadi/erid_k5y1.htm

• Satria Mandala Museum - aroengbinang.blogspot.com/2007/02/satria-mandala-museum.html

Inset 1 : Akatonbo front view, 2 types of paint brush bristles were used, thicker one secured top-bottom wings, smaller bristles for wheel - wing struts - tailfin assembly. Small holes were drilled to sink bristles in places, dash of superglue plug the hole, layer of Testor lusterless Dullcoat masked any protruding clear glue areas. Japan Aircraft Index - www.csd.uwo.ca/Elevon/gustin_military/db/jap/jap_K.html

BTW, "Red Dragonfly" is written in romanized Japanese as "Aka-tonbo" and "Aka-tombo", both versions are correct since "N" and "M" are both pronounced as a long constant "N". Some western linguistic heard a M-sound, while others hear N-sound, hence the spelling difference. Romanization - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Romanization

One often view Imperial Japan as a monolithic power entering WW2 with singular purpose for territorial conquest, not realizing fracture state of Japanese society and depressed social conditions from 1930s world economic depression, both exacerbated by ultra-nationalists and "Zaibatsu" corporate elites to further their own agendas. Zaibatsu - en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaibatsu

• THE ZAIBATSU OF JAPAN - www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/zaibatsu.htm

Inset 2 : Akatonbo in painting stage, model surface set with grey paint primer, TAMIYA Orange acrylic paint airbrushed as final layer. Lightly brushed painted surface with sandpaper to weather ridge details on wings.