Floats and Boats: Amphibious Aircraft Group Build

WOWSERS!!! you guys are doing some great things!!!

MC, I saw one of the last posts on last years OTS GB page a mention about this GB. I saw this and my eyes lit up, SWEEET!!! I can get my E7K done!!

OK, so, yes, I would graciously like to join and enter my Hasegawa 1/72 E7K1 'Alf' if I may please? I have several in the stash that would work well here but I want to complete ones I have started first. This is basically where it is at the moment, since this pic it has had a primer coat.

Simpilot34, welcome aboard and a great choice also. I'm looking forward to watching this one come to life.

BK

Steve, yup, that wingspan swallows the base. It's gonna look really neat when done.

BK

BrandonK

Simpilot34, welcome aboard and a great choice also. I'm looking forward to watching this one come to life.

BK

 

Thanks BK!! Yes, doing well thanks, had some ups and downs since part IV but all in all doing well. Lookng forward to seeing all these builds come together. poor lil thing I'm entering has languished in its box for far too long. I started it way back in the Pacific War GB where I finished my Jake, which I see someone else has gone to far greater lengths than I did and it's looking great! Here's a couple pics of howmine turned out for looksies.

Thanks for the comments guys.

S34

Nice looking Jake. I lost mine to my dog just as I was getting ready to paint it!

Got the pit all dolled up. I first did some dry brushing with flat aluminum then dry brushed red oxide primer so the foot traffic areas have the worn look then shot Testors Flat clear lacquer. I also added  some Eduard IJN pe belts.

The rear IP got the same treatment as the front one. The MG was very lightly dry brushed silver just to pop some of the molded details. Tamiya's quality really shines bright!

Another view of the office before being closed up.

Got the fuselage and wings on. The line you see on top and bottom where the halves meet is paint that has melted along with the plastic when I apply Tenax with a touch and flow applicator. Those areas were painted and the thin liquid cements melts the plastic and becomes an invisible join after sanding the ridge of plastic that squeezes out. No filler needed.

Again, amazing fit, no gaps or mis alignment. It's getting close to my favorite part which is the painting stage and I have a very unusual scheme for this Seiran that looks ultra cool. More on that later.

PJ, the pit looks fantastic and it's always nice to have a fit that doesn't need any more attention. This is gonna look really cool.

BK

WOW PJ that looks great!!! OMG sorry to hear about the Jake!

BK and S34

Thanks. I got the floats assembled and they also plug in and fit like a glove. I love this kit!

S34

Here is the responsible party for my Jake's ugly ending

She looked so happy and proud with a bunch of punctured, cracked and bent plastic in her mouth.  Thank God she didn't swallow any of it.

Not too long ago she also grabbed a small pe fret and mangled the heck out of it. Again, she didn't swallow any metal. I can't get mad at her, she's too loving, specially with my 6 month old granddaughter.

Holly is just a big 85 lb. Rottie/Lab baby.

Oh my gosh PJ I love labs!!!

modelcrazy

Oh my gosh PJ I love labs!!!

PS I gave him a haircut for the summer so he looks like he has a little mange. I’m not a very good dog groomer.

 

LOL how dogs love to ride in a car with the head out the window yet they don't like a hair blower by the face when you bathe them and trying to dry them.

LOL that's right, but my boy LOVES the leaf blower, Go figure 

PJ That look in the pic just has "I'm sorry" written all over it lol. Yes, glad she didn't swallow anything though.

MC The base is coming along nicely!! Looking forward to seeing it all come together!

Well here she is, my E7K1 as she sits now. Tamiya rattle can gray primer and the struts mostly painted. test fitted the float struts awhile back, going to need a little finesse to get them attached to the floats hopefully without alot of work.

Steve, that's a great idea. That will definately make it look really cool.

BK

BrandonK

Steve, that's a great idea. That will definately make it look really cool.

BK

 

Well done!! Looking great!!

Now that I've gotten some other GB's out of the way I can return to my float kit. I have made some progress, but it remains slow. The fact of the matter with this kit is the seams require a great deal of attention. A bit disappointing for a Hasegawa kit. On top of that the kit is somewhat complicated and includes PE parts and will have to be partially assembled, painted, assembled, PE'd, touched up and all that jazz. Progress on this one is slow, I just can't find a way to get around it. 

BK

Been a while since i last updated, but i have been pluging away. I made the decision to add the wings before painting and its worked out ok. So with everything together, firstly i gave it a coat of primer. I had intended to take some pics before this, bhut of course, i forgot, again, so here she is all pried up.

So after that, it was time to paint. I was all set to do a nice 70/71 splinter. But i was checking over my decals instructions to decide which aircrfat i was going to do when i spotted it had 72/73 for the upper colours. I thought this can't be right, bt then after a few seconds the penny droped, its a maritime aircraft so has differant colours. That was just in the nick of time.

So, i have spent the last week painting, drying, masking, painting some more and so on. Being more fam,ilar with the 70/71 scheme, i was surprsied at how little contrast there is between these two colours.

And then today, time for the decals. I have gone for an aircraft based in Norway in 1942. I used print Scale decals. Its the second time i have used this brand, they lay down very nice but are so thin and very easy to damage so can be a pain to use.

With all that drying time, i have been able to get some work on the bse and ground vehciles.

For the base, i want a slightly sloping slipway. I had no idea what the angle should be so just guesstemate it. The slope goes from the front left corner to the rear right corner in this pic.

And for vehciles, i have an SS-100 from Special Hobby. This is my second SS-100 this year, the other being a resin one from Kora.

I have managed to get some of this together and ready to paint inside the cab.

And this will be towing the trolley from Kora.

And this has gone together nicley and been painted. There were a couple of biuts missing. But after my experiance getting the SS-100 direct, it took about 2 months, i decided to just scatch the missing bits.

So now i need to get to the weathering. Never haveing done a seaplane before, i have been reading up and checking out some pics and have a few ideas of how to get a nice grubby look, so we will see how that goes.

Steve, again, awsome job on your water. The result you get are just brilliant. I have a huge BV 222 in the stash and have been thinking of how to display it, i might just have to try your approach.

Wow, Bish, that is quite and update. What an elegant looking plane. And the paint sheme is really pretty cool, almost like a night time scheme. Very nice. 

BK

WOWSERS Builds are really looking good!!

BK I know what you mean about slow going, I have airfix's 1/48 Buccaneer that I bought interior and exterior PE sets for as well as a PE set for the speedbrake alone. I think I counted one time, the basic cockpit was about 30+ pieces, once I add all of the PE the parts count will skyrocket to over 230!! Yes, will be faced with the stop and start construction once I get a notion to get going on it again.

Bish the Do24 looks very cool!! The contrast is almost as close as 74/75 lol.

Well, since everyone is making great progress on their builds, i figure that I'd better start mine!  Aside from the overall dreadful quality of Mach-2's Seamaster kit, the one thing that bothered me most was the curved mating surface of the left fuselage.  it's an easy fix, but for some reason I couldn't get myself to do it until now.

https://flic.kr/p/CxPphY][/url]Seamaster-08 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

By simply gluing plastic strip in layers until the dip was filled, and sanding the face level, the problem was solved.

https://flic.kr/p/HDpLyP][/url]Seamaster-12 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Now the fuselage halves more or less fit!  I couldn't resist taping the monstrosity together to get me in the mood to tackle this project.

https://flic.kr/p/Hxcy18][/url]Seamaster-13 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The book on the left is my only reference I have on this aircraft.  If anyone has a good set of drawings which show panel lines, I'd be grateful if you'd share them!

BrandonK

Wow, Bish, that is quite and update. What an elegant looking plane. And the paint sheme is really pretty cool, almost like a night time scheme. Very nice. 

BK

 

Thanks Brandon. I do think it has that 1930's look about it. I now what you mean about the scheme, very dark. There was one marking option for an aircrfat with a black underside, i was tempted to go with that but wanted a more traditional look.

G, you seem to be getting to grips with it. I recall watcjing a documentory of seaplanes some time ago and this one came up. Interesting subject.

RG, looks like you have the issues well in hand. Even loosly assembled the kit does look rather cool. This is indeed, a very interesting subject.

BK

A Seamaster, impressive in size and uniqueness!! Look forward seeing this one come together!

Thanks guys!  I glued the wing halves together last night.  Not too bad, only one wing half was short!  I also started perusing the beaching gear parts - uh oh I think I'm going to have to scratchbuild a lot of it, as the parts are really gooey looking!    Frightening pics to follow!

Hey everyone, life has gotten into the way of me being on here much lately (nothing bad, just busy!), but I have been following via email, and each time I see one of your builds, it makes me want to get back to it. And that worked, as I started a new project as something of a slump buster the other day.

But enough about me.

Jack - that French floater is amazing. The amount of work you put into it totally shows, and it came out fantastic. Very nicely done.

Steve - I love the plane, but the setting you put it in takes it a notch above. I can't remember if I've already replied to that build, but it bears repeating.

RealG - Wow, that kit looks like a dog, but you're doing nice work with it, and I can't wait to see it come together. I never even knew there was a jet seaplane before this, which is one of the things I like about this forum.

Scott - I hate when I think a kit is going to be easy and isn't, but you're doing well with that, and I'm looking forward to seeing more of it soon.

I'll be back to finish the Polish floater up soon, but it's kind of on the shelf of doom for the moment, as I just don't want to deal with it quite yet.

-BD-