In my hunt to have all the T-34 Mentor kits that have been made, I learned about the Fuji T-3. The T-3 is a derivative of the Mentor that was used in Japan’s JASDF.  And then as I continued my digging…I came across this abomination.

I present to you, the T-3 Jr.

This is essentially a moped or scooter that has a wooden and papermache body added on top. These guys perform ground maneuvers, similar to how an aerial demonstration team would. In my researching, it seems they’ve been performing since 1998.  They later “upgraded” to the T-7 Jr.  There’s another group known as the Blue Impulse Jr which has vehicles based on the T-4.  I dug pretty hard so I have lots more info on all these guys…. but let’s move on to the model.

This set comes with 3 kits. Aside from the driver, all parts can simply snap together.  It has both traditional water slide decals as well as basic stickers.  My decals are very yellow and the regular stickers suck, so I’m going to be doing a lot of custom decals it looks like.

Anyway, I built one up just to see what was involved and to figure out the best painting strategy. I also tested the basic stickers but to use those I think you’d have to use glue.

I decided it would be easier to paint the scooter and the body separate to reduce masking and overspray risk but the parts are designed to snap into the scooter.  I broke out the snippers and began modifying and now the body can be placed on top when I’m finished.  I think it’s going to work well.

If anyone is interested in painting the figure for me, we can enter this in the Roanoke show against Scott and Chris. How funny would it be to have this thing sitting beside their massive 1/9 bike?

– Chad