1/72 Hasegawa Shinmeiwa PS-1

[LyleW]

Monty, can't wait to see more. Cockpit is perfect for what will be visible. She is a strangely elegant craft. BSY- thanks for the comparison photos.

[dmminiatures]

Monty, can't wait to see more. Cockpit is perfect for what will be visible. She is a strangely elegant craft. BSY- thanks for the comparison photos.

Thanks Lyle. never crossed my mind that she is elegant for a flying boat. but, now since I've taken a closer look, i totally agree with you. she is elegant.

And to add Silvio's comparative hull study, she is the longest of flying boats.

[dmminiatures]

I guess there aren´t too many build examples of this flying boat out there, there more I am ready to follow you on this here. Even if it takes two more years, LOL...
Pretty nice job on the basic cockpit, Monty!

That is true Thomas. Our friend Silvio (BS Yamato) and another chap in Modeling Madness has some great progress and WIP photos of this flying boat. So far I could think none other than the two names

[dmminiatures]

More to show on the work in progress photos

spot gluing the wing with Tamiya epoxy putty. again, trying not to destry the delicate rivets.



showing you before the gluing. ailerons and flaps are movable and can be positioned as you like. pretty cool really. i lost all the rivets there so i added my own with a riveter tool.



The wings are done for now. the completed wing areas, with moving surfaces in place. so far so good. i will see how the engine nacelles fair.

[dmminiatures]

The hump on the spine of the Shinmeiwa is a mess. there is a void for another part but the fit is really, really poor . I dealt with this section for almost an hour and finally gave up. and instead relying on my Tamiya epoxy putty.

[dmminiatures]

Now, i think this is going to be the fun part. I have been suspicious that the kit's engine cowling is too short. Just eyeballing some reference photos and going through a line drawing of the aircraft itself somehow shows that the engines ARE to short. And after a quick measurement check, i would say the engine needs to be extended by 2mm at the minimal. i should have approached this as an exact science,, but I relied on m 'best guess" technology.



I was looking for a plug to extend the nacelles and went for balsa wood and bonding them together with super glue. Just experimenting with a notion that it SHOULD work.



cleaning the excess balsa wood. I use superglue to bond the wood and styrene together. so far it feels very strong bond.I will have to loose all the fine rivets and details through. There will be just too much sanding

[Thomas_M]

Now that´s an unusual solution to make use of balsa wood. Clever, Monty!
Maybe you could soak the wood with super glue so you could sand it like plastic to get it its shape?

[dmminiatures]

Now that´s an unusual solution to make use of balsa wood. Clever, Monty!
Maybe you could soak the wood with super glue so you could sand it like plastic to get it its shape?

You can't explain it better that that, Thomas. When i was gluing the balsa wood, it refused to bond with the styrene. At first I was a bit worried. then I poured more super gue on to the wood (drenching it while still attached to the plastic part). Voila... it bonded and...when i carved it with my cutter, it felt like carving soft resin / styrene. it has a really nice feel to it.



I was hooked. so i went on with the other 3x engines. it took me less than an hour to extend 4x engines. Amazing! using resin or styrene it would have cost me a few days work (done that on a C-130H and C-130J).

This is how the two engines look like once its glued onto the wings. almost perfect match. carving and sanding was real easy.

[BsYamato]

Will take note of the nacelles extending Monty, good eye!

[Thomas_M]

The engines really have the "correct" length to the eye now. Glad you noticed this, Monty!