REVIEW (and build): Mitsuwa 1/18 Yamaha STR-23CCR Cabin Cruiser

Parts photos:

More to come...

Bags open...

I plan to build this and, hopefully, run this in the pond...soon...

I'm a part of a few hobby groups in my area (Burnaby BC, Canada), including the Burnaby Association of Marine Modellers (BAMM).  As stated above, I plan to RC this boat.  I'm hoping to get this boat finished soon and run it at the local pond.  It would look silly to have this running around without a crew, so I got this at last week's IPMS show:

Hopefully 1/20 is close enough to 1/18.

The build commences with the most interesting part: stern drives:

I'm guessing Mitsuwa chose plastic gears for self-lubrication as well as corrosion-resistance.  Let's hope they did their strength analysis 

All greased up (Horizon Dynamite Marine Grease) The long brass rod serves as the transfer gear axis as well as the stern drive pivot axis to alloy steering without affecting drive.

Both stern drives built.  Below, parts that were shaded-out as 'not used' laid out.  These are parts to mount the RC gear.  Only the 3 UM2/C battery holder is called out in the manual.

I plan to have it run on 4 NiMH AA batteries.  This is enough to run the receiver and servo, while the 4.8V wouldn't be far off from the 4.5V from the 3 alkaline batteries originally called out in the instructions.

Next step would be to spray paint the upper, lower, and interior before proceeding with detail assembly and painting.

Aside from adding figures, I'll also be adding details to the "head" since it can be seen through the window with adequate exterior light.  Curtains will eventually be added as the upper hull can be removed via screws to access the batteries.

Stay tooned!  Unlike the Honda or the Mustang, I plan to finish this!

Got the hull painted.  I messed up on the masking as you can see some of the blue krept through the masking and got on to the white lower hull.  I've whiped off the blue with some paint thinner but I'll have to re-mask and repaint the lower hull.  not difficult, but annoying.  If you look closely at the first photo below you'll see some tiny white spots near the bow.  not sure how those got there as there aren't any scrape marks in the paint.  Must've receded from the plastic (I washed this kit before I painted it).  I'll probably do sone more coat over this side of the hull only.

Some paint krept into the tape as well.  scraped off the blue paint and will have to touch up with a brush later.

As of posting this I've installed the stern drive and did some dry testing.  I'll post pics of it once I've done the repainting, tested in water, and installed the electronics.

Oh My !!

     Why couldn't I find that? I did Motorize and R.C. the large Lindberg Chris Craft Constellation. They gave you instructions to build the cabins for static display. I was able to do it and still have an operable model.

    I sur would like to have one of those though ! T.B. 

Tanker-Builder

Oh My !!

     Why couldn't I find that? I did Motorize and R.C. the large Lindberg Chris Craft Constellation. They gave you instructions to build the cabins for static display. I was able to do it and still have an operable model.

    I sur would like to have one of those though ! T.B. 

Hi, FocusOne!

     I will say this, the drives almost look like derivatives of Mercruiser Stern-Drives. My River Queen was driven by A Swedish Type. Again, Twins pushed by Chrysler 318s. The boat was forty-five foot long at the Waterline.

 As far as models I was able to reconstruct mine in miniature especially the out-drives. Interesting doing this from scratch. The out-drives worked great! It's to late for you to do it now. A teensy bit of foam would've reduced some of the noise.

 Also there was a chance for you to put a flat " O " ring in the unit between the hull and the housing.This would've shielded the hull from harmonics as the drives operated. I have found this to be a problem in models of any kind of boat.

     I don't know for sure in your case. Check the clearance between the cavitation Plate and the prop blade. The molded flat finger above the screw. If you have enough space you could run a slightly larger prop with better pitch angle.     T.B.

Tanker-Builder

Hi, FocusOne!

     I will say this, the drives almost look like derivatives of Mercruiser Stern-Drives. My River Queen was driven by A Swedish Type. Again, Twins pushed by Chrysler 318s. The boat was forty-five foot long at the Waterline.

 As far as models I was able to reconstruct mine in miniature especially the out-drives. Interesting doing this from scratch. The out-drives worked great! It's to late for you to do it now. A teensy bit of foam would've reduced some of the noise.

 Also there was a chance for you to put a flat " O " ring in the unit between the hull and the housing.This would've shielded the hull from harmonics as the drives operated. I have found this to be a problem in models of any kind of boat.

     I don't know for sure in your case. Check the clearance between the cavitation Plate and the prop blade. The molded flat finger above the screw. If you have enough space you could run a slightly larger prop with better pitch angle.     T.B.

 

Thanks for the advice.  I'm keeping it mostly stock with this one. 

Paint issues fixed, drive system installed. The're quite big, they seem to be better suited for 1/16 or 1/12 scale.  Oh well...

On to the uper hull!  I've painted the inside black to prevent light from bleeding through the plastic and illuminating the ceiling.  It'll be painted flat white/buff later on.

Interesting build.

I remember back in the 70's the LHS had a shelf full of these kits. I dreamed of having one but could never afford it.

Update:

the "mattress" in the stern is removeable to access screws.  The deck behind the cabin is matt white.  I haven't decided whether or not to leave the interior walls and floors matt white or gloss white...

Apologies, I only post when I'm on my computer and, outside of work, it's rare.

Here are some photos of my progressso far:

Stripes painted!  for the lower stripe I masked the upper edge and free-handed the lower edge.  The upper stripe was fully masked.  Both stripes were hand-painted Tamiya Royal Blue acrylic (with retarder for a smoother finish).  I attached the, uh, upper windshield afterwards.

The rails in the stern was quite a struggle.  When installing the stern rail would be about 2mm higher than the sides.  I ended up bending the stern rail posts forward and downwards shifting the side rails forward.  had to do a bit of surgery.  Fit's not perfect but looks decent from a short distance.

Bow rails installed, instructions calls out using the included metal tube to join the rails.  If you look at the box art there should be an antenna at the bow tip of the rails.  There's a part in the chrome tree that joins bow tip and includes the antenna, but the instructions never call for it nor is it marked as 'not used'.  So while the metal tube is more durable for motorization or RC there's a scale option included in the kit.

My pitiful attempt at painting wood pattern.  Base brown colour is also too dark.  I'll have to strip these and re-paint them.

It's coming together!

Looking gooood!!!!

Jim  

Hi, 

That looks great 

Hi;

   When and if you re-do that door.Finish it up with a High Gloss finish! T.B.

Tanker-Builder

Hi;

   When and if you re-do that door.Finish it up with a High Gloss finish! T.B.

 

Yeah, definitely re-painting the wood surfaces.  Don't think I'll give it a high-gloss finish; the wood surfaces don't look like they were very glossy in the brochure photos.

Awsome, I'm looking forward to this build.

I missed this one. Looking good! Great looking paint job 

That is really cool!  Looking for one now :)

I googled Mitsuwa today and got a place that seems to be a grocery store or supermarket.  How did you obtain the kit?

I tried to google Mitsuwa and got a shopping center or supermarket.  How do you obtain a kit.?

Don Stauffer

I tried to google Mitsuwa and got a shopping center or supermarket.  How do you obtain a kit.?

 

The model company, Mitsuwa, is long out of business, from what I can tell.  This kit was purchased on an online auction site.  you'll need to search for "Mitsuwa model" or search "Mitsuwa" in the toys/hobbies/games category on auction sites

FocusOne

you'll need to search for "Mitsuwa model" or search "Mitsuwa" in the toys/hobbies/games category on auction sites

I found a larger slection than I thought I would, and at some reasonable (ish) rates

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2060353.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.XMitsuwa+model.TRS0&_nkw=Mitsuwa+model&_sacat=0

CapnMac82

 

 

FocusOne

you'll need to search for "Mitsuwa model" or search "Mitsuwa" in the toys/hobbies/games category on auction sites

 

 

I found a larger slection than I thought I would, and at some reasonable (ish) rates

https://www.ebay.com/sch/i.html?_from=R40&_trksid=p2060353.m570.l1313.TR1.TRC0.A0.H0.XMitsuwa+model.TRS0&_nkw=Mitsuwa+model&_sacat=0

 

The "reasonable (ish)" priced items are more like assembly toys.  But you can easily see that as most of the listings show content.   They're nothing like the boat I'm working on.

I also bought an STR-17 boat, same series as I mentioned above,  hoping it would work well alongside the 23 but judging by the seat size it looks to be closer to 1/24.  These cheaper kits didn't have a scale listed on the box.  Likely box-scale.

Hi Focus One!

 What you refer to as an antennae on the bow rail is actually a small Flag Mount for either the Branded flag or a " House" or Yacht Club Burgee. Sometimes Boat mfgrs, gave you a small Burgee with their name on it .

Decided to play with some figures.

The grey one if from the Fujimi 1/20 pit crew series while the white one is from the Tamiya 1/20 pit crew series.  Although the boat is 1/18, they seem quite scale compared to the photos on the brochure.  Note how the driver/captain has to sit at the edge of the seat to reach the wheel.

Still haven't dealt with the wood grain issue.