I should clarify one thing here: Since NONE of these have gone to sculpting yet, we would appreciate ANY comments you have on ANY of the units we’ve listed. Nothing is written in stone, but the list is what we compiled initially from research and previous comments, as well as our own preferences. If you see something that truly doesn’t seem right, and you can make a good argument, by all means this is the time to bring it up. Feel free to make comments, for or against, on any of the units listed. All I ask is have some info to back up your choice so we can do our research too.
A good example is the arguments against the “Tony”. I actually picked the Tony to be in our set because of it’s unconventional look, easily distinguishing it from the carrier aircraft. Granted, entering service in '43 isn’t exactly ideal for “late war”, but '44 is when it was most utilized. I’m starting to see the merit in going with the Ki-100. It was on our list as well during initial planning but I guess it was my fault the Tony made the cut.
My opinion on the Ki-43 is it presents two problems here. First, having two Army fighters (assuming we also go with one of the above) and one Navy fighter (oob) seems a bit odd for Japan. May be better to have it the other way around? Second, at 1/700 scale it looks way too close to a Zero. Even if you can tell the actual pieces apart, wouldn’t it be more fun to have something different looking?
I also think the arguments of doing our own Zero make some sense. While I think the latest WOTC sculpts are much improved, the older oob Zeros could use improvement. With Japan being Naval heavy like the U.S., would it not make better sense to choose another naval fighter? Initially we were going to wait on another navy fighter until we did the Japanese naval set but, here we are doing them together now. I think including our own navy fighter makes sense and thank those that brought this to my attention!