Landlubber Mike Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Thanks to @Peterpools for helping me pick what to build for the GB. Hopefully this shouldn't be too bad to complete on time. The Sikorsky S-43 or "Baby Clipper" was a smaller version of the S-42 Clipper and first flew in 1935. The US Navy began buying the plane beginning in 1937, and redesignated the military version as the JRS-1. I'm building the Eduard kit, which is a limited edition repop that came out in 2016 of an older Sword kit from 2003. Special Hobby had also re-released the same kit in 2005. Nice thing about the Eduard release is the addition of PE and resin improvements to the old kit. In addition, Eduard released a separate PE aftermarket set, and I luckily somehow managed to find the old discontinued CMK set which has a lot of helpful improvements like wheels, control surfaces, etc. Kit contents: The kit has a large color instruction manual, as well as a really nice color pamphlet with lots of info on and pictures of the JRS-1 to help build the model: Last night I gave the sprues and resin parts a bath. Here you can see all the resin parts between the kit (in gray) and the CMK set (in yellow). A blade from each prop was broken off, so I'll need to reattach them. Lots of color schemes are included in this kit. I'll probably do the kit as one of the multi-colored yellow wings. I'm leaning towards the blue-banded 1193, but the red-banded 1063 is probably the more famous plane as I believe it is at the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum (near me, I'll have to see if it's on exhibition). 7 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted February 2 Share Posted February 2 Great choice Mike, you don't see them being build very often. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 2 Author Share Posted February 2 Thanks Martin! I don't think there are too many of these kits out there. Sword and Special Hobby are almost 20-year old kits. The Eduard was a limited release almost a decade ago. I managed to get the kit for a good price on eBay, but there have been times I've seen the Eduard kit go for quite a bit more. Part of the issue also might be that there are some issues with the kit - in particular, the canopy doesn't fit on the fuselage very well, and from pictures, it looks like there is a gap along the bottom of at least 3-5mm. 😳 Eduard I think took the same molds and just improved on the overall kit with resin and PE parts. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 3 Share Posted February 3 Mike Awesome choice - going to be a classic build. Will be along for the entire journey. 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 3 Author Share Posted February 3 2 hours ago, Peterpools said: Mike Awesome choice - going to be a classic build. Will be along for the entire journey. Thanks Peter, glad to have you along my friend! 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Administrators Clunkmeister Posted February 4 Administrators Share Posted February 4 Great choice Mike, and I’m curious to see how you approach the canopy fit. I have this kit in my stash somewhere and just didn’t want to deal with the issues in such an itty bitty scale 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 4 Author Share Posted February 4 Thanks Ernie. This is definitely a short run kit for sure. Some other fit issues as well as you need to open up other windows (and fill others). A lot of people just decide not to bother with the windows it seems. I'll post a detailed log so you can see if this kit is worth the trouble. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted February 5 Share Posted February 5 Now that´s something special, Mike. I nearly bought the kit, when it came out from Eduard, but hesitated because of the scale. I will follow your build build and watch you doing your magic. Cheers Rob 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 5 Author Share Posted February 5 Thanks Rob for following along. For a 1/72 kit, it's actually a pretty decent size. Fuselage is about 210mm, and wingspan is about 350mm. I can tell already though this will have some of the charm that I found on the Special Hobby kits that I've built and am building where you don't have locator holes or locking parts, so you have to guess and test fit a million times and clamp the fuselage halves and hope for the best. Maybe a little bit of an exaggeration, but I can see why people say this kit takes a lot of work, even though the instructions at first glance appear to make it seem relatively straightforward. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 I am watching your build here, Mike. This is just way too cool and a really sweet airframe. Never seen one built before. Thanks to your introduction, I checked out the survivor. She looks to be in great shape. I am eagerly looking forward to your next update. I really like this. cheers Jeff 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 6 Author Share Posted February 6 Thanks Jeff! I had bought the kit mostly because I like quirky planes, but after reading the story behind the cover subject, it made me excited to build this kit. I'm leaning more towards building the pre-war 1063 because of the history. I originally thought I would build 1193 as blue is a little easier to paint than red, but I think I'll suck it up and go with the 1063. Now I just need to figure out whether I want to build it on its legs or in a water diorama type of scene. I haven't found too many pictures of these guys in the water, mostly on land or in the air. I'll try to post a detailed log as people seem to be interested in the kit/subject. I haven't gotten too far yet, just cleaned up some pieces, and assembled the front cockpit bulkhead with seats. I'll post some pictures soon. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PanzerWomble Posted February 6 Share Posted February 6 Looks an interesting build Mike I've never heard of these , looks like a young Catalina . I'm always on the fence with 1/72 scale , but then Eduard should produce something nicer than more mainstream . I did a Revell Lanc in 1/72 a while ago ....kinda like it and didn't in equal amounts . 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 2 hours ago, PanzerWomble said: Looks an interesting build Mike I've never heard of these , looks like a young Catalina . I'm always on the fence with 1/72 scale , but then Eduard should produce something nicer than more mainstream . I did a Revell Lanc in 1/72 a while ago ....kinda like it and didn't in equal amounts . Yeah, kinda does doesn't it? I wish Eduard would have started fresh with this rather than use the old Sword molds. It should work out ok though, just will take a little extra work. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KevinM Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 Where's the plastic..................will be following along Mike. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 Here you go Kevin! 😘 It's been a lot of boring work cleaning up parts and separating the resin parts from the plugs. I did manage to finish the cockpit bulkhead and pilots seats. Used the CMK bulkhead which had a little better detail and the Eduard PE for the seats. Each seat had 8 parts but I think look a lot better than the kit seats. I always cringe when seeing pictures under extreme magnification, but these seats actually look quite nice. 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jeff Posted February 7 Share Posted February 7 I love the color choice , Mike. This is just so cool Jeff 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 7 Author Share Posted February 7 20 minutes ago, Jeff said: I live the color choice , Mike. This is just so cool Jeff Thanks Jeff. Only problem is I will have to spend $20 on masking materials with all the colors! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 Made some progress on the JRS-1 over the last couple of days. First, put together the floor board for the cockpit. Not too much there, and probably won't able to see any of it given the scale and the size of the canopy windows: Next, had to do a little surgery to the starboard side fuselage half to change the windows line-up: (1) fill the two forward-most large windows, (2) add a new small window just in front of the two large windows that were filled, and (3) open up a new large window in the panel between the two rear-most large windows. Sounds fairly simple, but was a couple of hours of work. Opening the windows, particularly the rear large window, was a little nerve-wracking. The rear-most window really had to be placed perfectly or it would stick out like a sore thumb if it interrupted the flow of the windows. I started with a 1mm drill, and slowly opened up the windows in 0.5mm increments, checking the measurements in between each drilling to make sure I wasn't drifting. I was pretty happy with how things turned out in the end. If you are building this kit, the small windows are slightly larger than 3.5mm, and the large hole slightly larger than 5.5mm. The kit porthole windows are pushed into the openings from the interior, where the window has a slight chamfer (one side of the windows is larger, the other slightly smaller, to ensure a tight fit). Filling the two holes at the front wasn't too bad. I really like the Dspiae circle cutter. It's a perfect tool to cut plastic filler circles for cases like this. Much easier than trying to fill the holes with putty. The time consuming part was sanding the circles flush with the fuselage, as on the outside, there is some fine detail you don't want to accidentally remove. Thanks for looking in! 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 11 Share Posted February 11 Mike Nice progress in the office and the fuselage window modifications look absolutely perfect. You're rolling for sure. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 11 Author Share Posted February 11 Thanks Peter! I'm trying to get moving on this one so I can actually make the deadline. Spring is a crazy busy time with the kid sports and other activities. And I have to mow the lawn 😫 3 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peterpools Posted February 12 Share Posted February 12 Being a Dad is number one on the list and our hobby is the least important. Just glad you're digging in now to get a good jump start on the build. 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 16 Author Share Posted February 16 This week I've been able to put in a lot of work on the JRS-1. Though, from the pictures it probably doesn't look like it! You can probably slap this kit together fairly quickly, but there are a lot of fit and other issues that I'm spending the time addressing along the way. The external Eduard photo etch has some nice details, including the main wheel well. You can see the kit part instead gives you a present of a hard to access ejection pin. I ended up using the CMK part instead of the kit part because it had a clean bottom edge and seemed to fit better. The CMK part gives you a little more detail than the kit part, but you have to remove it to add the Eduard photo etch: The kit has five bulkheads, and each of them is a bit too small. I spent a lot of time adding material so that the fuselage halves and the front half top parts can sit properly supported on the bulkheads. Might be overkill, but better than chancing a cave-in of the fuselage during my clumsy handling: Here is where things stand now - I've inserted the rear four bulkheads and floors into the starboard fuselage half, and the interior is ready to prime and paint. Since I had to test fit the bulkheads and cockpit dozens of times, I taped the parts in this way so that I could quickly test fit and make adjustments. I'm using a mixture of the CMK and kit parts. The CMK parts certainly have more detail, but one of the rear bulkheads was warped and one of the sliding fuselage doors had the window drilled off center. The kit doors were a little too thick I thought, so I thinned them down. Looks like all the pre-work helped, as the fuselage closes up fairly nicely: Thanks for looking in! 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martinnfb Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 That's so tiny. Nice detailing work Mike, I would probably accidentally inhale the whole thing without even noticing 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Landlubber Mike Posted February 16 Author Share Posted February 16 Thanks Martin! It's really not too bad given the scale. The PE parts for this kit are fairly big in size, at least compared to the 1/700 scale ship kit PE that I'm used to working with. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DocRob Posted February 16 Share Posted February 16 This is shaping up nicely, Mike. You made a gem out of a so-so kit so far. The closed fuselage looks fantastic. Cheers Rob 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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