Floats and Boats: Amphibious Aircraft Group Build

Welcome aboard Rob S, and that's an ambitious build you have there!  I have the same kit and noticed a few pitfalls:

- The waist blisters don't match the fuselage contour, more so on one side.  Lots of trimming and sanding of the blisters is needed to get a tight fit.  I got mine to kinda fit, but the blisters are very thick, so I am considering replacing them with Falcon vacuform parts.  The kit main canopy is beautifully clear, the only thing I didn't like was the small blister on the roof.

- The bracing struts for the fins are a tad short.  Just glue in the fins, set them vertical, then cut off one of the strut mounting pins, attach the strut to the fins, and let the struts land where they will.  I didn't and now I have to cut & splice the struts. 

- The big "H" wing struts each have one strut that is a tad short.  The only solution I can thnk of is to cut the short strut and insert a splice to allow it to reach the fuselage side.

- I had trouble getting the wing to set on the two pylons without the wings going askew.  Sanding the pylon gluing surfaces might help.

- The trailing edges of the outer wing panels don't match the inner wing!  The topsides can be made to match up nicely, but there is a step discontinuity on the underside.  I don't have a fix for that one.  I'm leaving that one alone on my kit.

- I have read that the spinners are too pointy.  Sure looks that way, but if you don't have replacements handy, I'd let it slide.    I think I read somewhere that one guy used Ju-88 spinners, but cannot confirm if that will get you closer to the correct shape & size.

- No guns!  Or bombs, torpedoes...  What the hey?  Anyone know what the deal is?

Anyway, good luck on your build!

 Great progress Rob.  I feel for you on all the filling and sanding for I just got off that bus.  It will be worth it.

Lots of sanding and polishing Rob  so I don't envy your task but it's a must. She is turning out really good and as you said, she is quite a large plane even at 1/72 scale.

Just a suggestion..........have you thought about attaching the wing after paiinting it, making painting and wethering more accessable under the partially obstructed area?

Well Rob, challanges aside, you done a bang up job and it is looking great. Certainly one of the more unique birds in the build. Thanks for bringing this one along.

BK

Some incredible work being done here! Glad to be part of it. I have some progress with the Kawanishi. She's a massive bird!! 22" wingspan in 1/72. Largest 1/72 I've ever done. Anyway, as Gamera mentioned (Japanese GB), AND, he's correct, she's a a bit of a turkey! Yeah, it's a super old kit and I have spent quite a bit of time sanding, sanding and MORE sanding! AND, add in the molded rivet detail...there's prob a few thousand rivets, so, sanding was and continues to be tedious! there's next to nothing to see in the cockpit, so, quickly past that to the fusing of the fuselage.

The fuselage fuse left a massive 'trench' down the seam-line of which I spend too much time trying to fill and sand AND preserve the rivet detail. I, in the end, layed a bead of streched sprue down the line and sanded it flat.

The underside sealed and sanded nicely, thank goodness!

All masked up:

Thats it for now. Next to tackle that 22" wide upper wing.

OK one piccie of the Seamonster:

https://flic.kr/p/JEWmNY][/url]Seamaster-52 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

Weird center console box has been made.  The IP is next and then detailing.  Didn't get any modeling done over the weekend, but I hope to post meaningful progress this week.

Thanks Steve, I will add a few layers of varnish and your correct, it will look good.

My wife just came into my shop and saw the diorama and was really impressed and loves the dog, then again, what woman won't?  Her only critique is that it really needs to have Jack and Sara standing behind Jack.  Oh great!  Just what I DID NOT want to hear, because now the little model fairey in my head is drafting up the details on how I can accomplish this.  First off, somewhere in my abbyss of model parts, I have a 1/48 standing pilot from the old Monogram B-25 kit that would be perfect for Jake.  Sara however, is a challenge. All the women figures that would qualify are in 1/35 scale.  I am thinking of getting a Verlinden 1/35 figure to use as a prop to scale into 1/48 and then carve Sara.  It just keeps going on and on and on.  This is why I do not do too many dioramas, its just too hard to stop and say "its finished".

I use several coats of thin acrylic varnish to get depth.

Thanks Steve,

As the gel dries, it apprears the depth and texture of the water is not to my liking. I now wish I would have used resin, then again, I have not used resin for a long time and my luck I would have a huge disaster on my hands.  I guess I am more comfortable with the gel method.  Overall, its good enough for Hollywood.

The Goose is really looking superb. 

Thanks Brandon, a lot of trials and mistakes have been happening throughout this build and it sure has been hard to want to stay with it. But this morning, I mounted the goose into the base and now have put filler gel around it.  Worked on the dock last night and I'm now doing the final positioning of pieces.  For once, I look at this project and feel like I am making progress.  Boy has this kit been a challenge.

Wow Scott, that simply looks amazing. The dog is a killer touch too. The whole Goose/docked theme is awesome. Reminds me of the show so much. Great work.

Rob. NP bro, I'll add it to the list. What a great subject also.

BK

Welcome Rob, that will be an interesting subject.

Well, today is another rainy day and had to stay inside, oh darn, so I spent the day painting the base with a mix of green, blue, and brown to get that Hollywood Lagoon look.  Now the 1st coat of acyrlic is down.  I am hoping my brush strokes are not too aggressive, since the water needs to look calm.  Many years of doing 1/700 and 1/350 scale ships at sea makes still water a challenge for me.   All to do is wait for the gel to dry, or start another model

I'll kick of this big brute after my CF-18 Hornet for the Modern GB.

Rob,

Good to see you aboard my friend. 

Brandon, I was at the LHS today and spotted this beauty (and I remembered there was a Amphib GB on the go!!):

Mind if I 'come on board' (I think there's a Japanese build going on too, so I can crossover). 1/72 Kawanishi H6K5 Flying Boat Model 23

scottrc

Thanks!

While the decals are drying, I started to layout the base and how the model will sit in it against a dock.  I have limited space to store the model so I wanted to use the smallest base, and a 8x11 picture frame seemed to work.  1/4" craft board will build up the base so the plane will be weighted into the water.  Since the water is standing, it won't take much gell to build it up. 

 

I like the look of this. I have been thinking about something similar for the BV 222. Will be watching how this comes along.

Thanks for the compliment RG, I have often taken the Paine license to heart when laying out a display.  

Now, since its a nice rainy day oustside, I decided that I have to add Jack to my display, the plane just wouldn't be complete without him and why not try to carve a 1.5cm dog out of Milliput? We have all done crazier things on a Saturday afternoon.  So, here's Jack, or at least the early stages of him.

I am about as far as I can go with him now, any further work will have to be after I mount him to the dock, for his little legs cannot take a lot of pressure while doing the finishing details.  Its going to be interesting how to paint him, some sort of German mottled camo look.

modelcrazy

That is going to look so cool. The great thing about using a picture frame is that you can hang it on the wall. 

 

Never thought of of displaying it that way

Scottrc, that Goose and dio base are coming along nicely!  The diagonal positioning of the dock makes me think back to the Shep Paine days - good advice is timeless.

i really think this GB has helped fire up the modeling juices, as I got the Seamonster's center console roughed out last night.  I was a little apprehensive about capturing its odd shape, but I think it came out OK.  Now to figure out how to do the instruments - decals or 3-D?  Or a combination? Pics to follow.

Keep up the great work guys, you keep me going.  Slowly but surely!

That is going to look so cool. The great thing about using a picture frame is that you can hang it on the wall. 

Still a lot of work left to do......................

Thanks!

While the decals are drying, I started to layout the base and how the model will sit in it against a dock.  I have limited space to store the model so I wanted to use the smallest base, and a 8x11 picture frame seemed to work.  1/4" craft board will build up the base so the plane will be weighted into the water.  Since the water is standing, it won't take much gell to build it up. 

Great looking Goose 

Working on the main topic of this build; the Cutter's Goose decals from Draw Decal.  So far so good.  They are a little transpartent, like what I get off my Alps, but I think they are looking good.  I really sweated getting this large of a decal on, but again, the silk decals are really forgiving and just need hot water on a lint free cloth to get to confrom to panel lines and raised details.  

Man RG, what you are doing with the Seamaster is remarkable.  Quite a lot of effort that is paying off.

RG, your scratch building abilities/desires are quite impressive. Keep up the good work, Sir.

BK

PJ that's some great progress on th Serien!!! Looking forward to the color!!

G the Seamonster is looking better and better! The office work is stellar!! You're doing some helicopter moves on that!! Beating it(air) into submission!

Finished my Camel so the E7K might get moved onto the hangar floor and progressed.

Fitting out the Seamonster's cockpit has begun.  First off are the side consoles.  I noticed that they angle up towards the IP and also out to the fuselage sides in photos of the real thing.  To avoid having to calculate anything and getting involved in real hard math(!), the inner walls of the consoles were cut from 0.030" sheet plastic and set in place with a square section strip to keep them vertical.  The consoles were then cut oversize and added to the inner walls (I beveled their mating edges to minimize unsighlty joints), then were followed by front and back panels cut to fit.  All joints were reinforced from the inside with bits of sheet plastic.

https://flic.kr/p/HL66V9][/url]Seamaster-50 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

https://flic.kr/p/JgyGPq][/url]Seamaster-51 by N.T. Izumi, on Flickr

The console sides were then savagely sanded back until the cockpit drop fit back into the fuselage halves.  The IP shroud had to be removed as its thickness interfered with the consoles.  At this point I noticed the canopy sills were not even.  But that's OK as the left side (which is low) has a small chunk of plastic missing courtesy of Mach-2's stellar manufacturing prowess.  The sill will be shimmed with strip pastic, which will correct the height as well as take care of the missing chunk.  All happy smiles.  No, really.    The center console will follow, then detailing!

That test plane only has a scratch and it will "buff" out. Lol. I am really looking forward to seeing that with color.

That seamaster is really a peach but you are handling it with a masters skill and patience. Nice work all the way along.

BK