Sikorsky JRS-1 by Landlubber Mike - FINISHED - Eduard - 1/72

[lmagna]

Hi Mike

 

I have the same book along with the CME interior. I also have some extra PE but I am not certain if it is the full set like you have.

One of the reasons I never started mine, (other than my normal procrastranation) was all of the online builds I saw, said that  the fit, ecpecially around the cockpit was shabby at best and required considerable rework. I hope you are able to overcome this on your build. It would be a shame to loose out on your already fine work up to now. This may be a case where there are same number of kits finished as there are real aircraft preserved, (Or partly restored) two that I know of. I did run ac5ross this today though:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited May 13 by lmagna

[Landlubber Mike]

Hey Lou, the kit comes with some PE, but Eduard also separately sells (or at least used to sell) this PE set which adds PE seats, engine wiring, handles, and the details around the wheel wells.  If you can find it, I think it's worth considering:

 

https://www.eduard.com/eduard/jrs-1-upgrade-set-1-72.html?cur=2&listtype=search&searchparam=jrs-1

 

The cockpit area is definitely problematic.  I added some plastic shims and it seems like the fit shouldn't be too bad.  Other people seem to have had a devil of a time trying to fill the gaps though.  It's just a little tiring spending hours to get pieces to fit right.  It's also looking at pictures of the real thing and realizing that certain details are either missing or incorrect that just add to the list of things to do.  And then there are lack of connection points which means you have to either add them or be very careful to not later break pieces off.

 

You should definitely build it though, the subject is really historically important and there are plenty of schemes to choose from.

[lmagna]

Hi Mike

 

I have been tempted to start several of my stash of seaplanes several times. One issue is where to put them when I am done? Not so bad with the JRS-1 or my 1/144 Martin and Boeing 314, but the 1/72 Boeing 314, the Martin Seamaster, and Martin Mariner, and Sunderland are another matter! Even the Gruman Albatross and Catalina are pretty big in that scale. You are building the Walrus but That is one seaplane I don't have. But who knows what I will latch onto in a weak moment. I need another model sitting around here like I need another hole in my head.

 

What I really need is to find good homes for some I already have!

 

Whatching you CLOSELEY!   

Edited May 13 by lmagna

[Landlubber Mike]

16 hours ago, lmagna said:

Hi Mike

 

I have been tempted to start several of my stash of seaplanes several times. One issue is where to put them when I am done? Not so bad with the JRS-1 or my 1/144 Martin and Boeing 314, but the 1/72 Boeing 314, the Martin Seamaster, and Martin Mariner, and Sunderland are another matter! Even the Gruman Albatross and Catalina are pretty big in that scale. You are building the Walrus but That is one seaplane I don't have. But who knows what I will latch onto in a weak moment. I need another model sitting around here like I need another hole in my head.

 

What I really need is to find good homes for some I already have!

 

Whatching you CLOSELEY!   

I blame you for getting me into seaplanes 😝  

 

The JRS-1 at 1/72 is a pretty big model with the wingspan as you know.  I also have a 1/48 PBY-5a kit that I was thinking of starting soon - mostly to free up shelf space as it is a big box, but then the question is where do I put it as that’s a big one for sure.  

 

If you want a really big seaplane, Revell I think is  reissuing the Bv 222.  The model is really nice and doesn’t really require any aftermarket.  I’ve got that one but again, will need quite a bit of space for it.

 

One thing I was thinking was to do a cutaway on a 1/72 Emily since there is a lot of aftermarket that could make the interior look pretty impressive.  One side would have full exterior and wing with mechanics, etc. and other side would be open with pilots and gunners, with only a portion of the wing attached.  That would cut down on the overall size. 

Just need to find time!

[Roger Pellett]

I just stumbled on to this; an interesting project that I’m looking forward to seeing nicely done.

 

The US Navy had some specialized and interesting small boats outfitted to service their fleet of flying boats while still in the water.  If you look in their 1955/1954? Boat Book you will find drawings of these craft.  One could make a great companion to your model. A copy of their Boat Can be found on the Navy’s history site.  Or Google Navy Aircraft Refueling Boat

 

Roger

 

 

[lmagna]

12 hours ago, Landlubber Mike said:

I blame you for getting me into seaplanes 😝

AH HA I have accomplished my evil influence!

 

The BV-222 would certainly be a large model and the Emily would be a challenge even though you say that much of what you need is available.

 

I prefer to keep all of my flying boats in the same scale, as in that way you can compare them to each other. You can also add Seaplanes, (Float planes) if you wish but I have never had much interest in those aircraft except for a few civilian models, I always liked the Cessna 170.

[lmagna]

3 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

 One could make a great companion to your model.

One possibility that I considered at one time was to take the Revell Pine Island and suspend a 1/72 scale flying boat over the ship below in a diorama. Or you could make it an emeny ship or sub instead. The difference in scale would provide a distance factor giving a "plane eye view" of the ship below.

[Landlubber Mike]

14 hours ago, Roger Pellett said:

I just stumbled on to this; an interesting project that I’m looking forward to seeing nicely done.

 

The US Navy had some specialized and interesting small boats outfitted to service their fleet of flying boats while still in the water.  If you look in their 1955/1954? Boat Book you will find drawings of these craft.  One could make a great companion to your model. A copy of their Boat Can be found on the Navy’s history site.  Or Google Navy Aircraft Refueling Boat

 

Roger

 

 

Thanks Roger, I'll have to look into that.  Appreciate the suggestion!

[Ken A.]

On 5/12/2024 at 9:45 PM, lmagna said:

Hi Mike

 

I have the same book along with the CME interior. I also have some extra PE but I am not certain if it is the full set like you have.

One of the reasons I never started mine, (other than my normal procrastranation) was all of the online builds I saw, said that  the fit, ecpecially around the cockpit was shabby at best and required considerable rework. I hope you are able to overcome this on your build. It would be a shame to loose out on your already fine work up to now. This may be a case where there are same number of kits finished as there are real aircraft preserved, (Or partly restored) two that I know of. I did run ac5ross this today though:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Hi Lou-

 

If you decide to NOT build yours, I would be willing to take the CMK resin upgrade set off of your hands.  Please let me know if it becomes available.

 

Thanks-

Ken A.

[Landlubber Mike]

Between fit issues, accuracy issues I can't unsee, and issues like the landing gear (see below), I keep losing the will to want to work on the kit.  But with the extension of the group build on LSM, I feel like I should get this one completed.  

 

This kit wants to fight you the whole way, but I've managed to get the construction for the most part completed.  The wing took a lot of work to add the various CMK resin parts and PE handles, etc., but it's looking ok I think.  After looking at pictures, I decided to move the antennae.  The kit has you add it dead center (and standing straight up) in the front between the two engines.  It looks like the antennae was actually off center to the right and angled forward, so that took a bit of work.  

I did get the wing primed, and I'll start adding some pre-shading before painting the upper surface yellow.  I'm debating whether to use the kit decals or just try to paint the US insignia on myself.  Given the amount of work needed for the top surfaces of the wing, I'm going to take the approach of painting the top of the wing before installing it onto the fuselage.

 

 

I ended up modifying the nose of the plane to better match what I think I see on pictures of the real thing.  I added stringers to the lower section - these were apparently added to strengthen the front (bow?) after water landings caused damage on the earlier models.  These were a bit more pronounced than the PE parts in one of the Eduard sets so I built them out of plastic rod.  The kit and Eduard PE also seemed a bit off when it comes to where the stringers met at the nose - the yellow taped section seems to be a very small window.  So, I replicated that section as best I could.

 

 

Next up, I am going to tackle the landing gear.  The kit parts are very thin plastic, and I worry that the heavier weight of the model with the CMK resin parts is going to cause problems.  Plus, the landing gear in the kit is a bit oversimplified.  So, I'm planning to use metal rods where I can, epoxied into the fuselage, to help give it a bit more strength.  Also, the tail wheel is completely wrong, so I'm going to try scratching that as well.

 

Thanks for looking in!

 

 

 

[king derelict]

Lovely work Mike. It looks really nice but it does seem to be a tough kit if you want an accurate result.

Alan

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Alan!  The kit out of the box makes for a nice model, but it is based on an older Sword kit from 2003.  The nice thing about the Eduard boxing is that you get some resin parts as well as a small PE fret, so if anyone is interested, that is the kit I would buy. You don't necessarily need the other PE set from Eduard or the CMK set (if you can find it), but they do add some nice details.  

 

Really, the canopy is the toughest part to fit.  Everything else goes together fairly well with a little work.  The landing gear is just an odd set of parts, but are fairly accurate - I just don't see how sturdy it will be over time.  The tail wheel is probably the one part that is completely wrong, but at this scale, it's probably the best they could come up with in plastic.

Edited August 2 by Landlubber Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

Finally got the landing gear done on the JRS-1.  With the CMK resin aftermarket, I was worried that the kit landing gear, which was made up of five parts on some very thin, weak plastic, wouldn't support the model long term.  Otherwise, the kit landing gear was a reasonable approximation of the real thing, but the tail wheel assembly was very overly simplified to say the least -- once I saw pictures of the real thing, I couldn't "unsee" it so decided I would scratch it along with the landing gear.

 

I used some kit parts, along with music wire, cut down steel pins, brass and copper wire, brass tubes from Albion (amazing tubes if you need tubes designed to fit within one another), and plastic tubing.  With CA and two-part epoxy, both the landing gear and tail wheel are pretty sturdy.  Not sure it was worth probably 20+ hours of work, but I'm glad I went through the process as now I'll be able to scratch build the landing gear on the 1/48 PBY-5A Catalina which is notorious for collapsing.  Anyway, here are the pictures:

 

 

 

 

The upper part of the wing has been painted with the base yellow from decanted Tamiya Camel Yellow from the rattle can.  I first primed with Mr. Surfacer grey, and then lightly sprayed with either Mr. Surfacer white primer or Tamiya white primer (I forget), to get some variation in tone. Then a light spray of the yellow and there's some decent tonal variation so it doesn't look too plastic.

 

 

 

Thanks for looking in!

[CDW]

Time well spent. Outstanding work on those LG legs, Mike.

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Craig, it was certainly a good learning experience!

[Canute]

Mike, take a look here: https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/details/sac/detail_sac_48068.shtml

Cast white metal replacements.I used a set for a damaged F-4 model.

 

Your scratch gear turned out great. Looks like it would work.

Edited August 16 by Canute

[king derelict]

Mike, the scratch built gear looks spectacular. It definitely repays your efforts.

wing looks nice too.

alan

[Landlubber Mike]

55 minutes ago, Canute said:

Mike, take a look here: https://www.cybermodeler.com/hobby/details/sac/detail_sac_48068.shtml

Cast white metal replacements.I used a set for a damaged F-4 model.

 

Your scratch gear turned out great. Looks like it would work.

 

Thanks Ken!  I did see this, and might actually have it.  Definitely a good option if I don't want to scratch it.  What I liked about scratching the LG was that I could drill holes into the fuselage, and run rods through and into the fuselage for added stability.  Typically, you can't do this with kit parts (or the SAC metal replacements, which I believe are usually copies of the kit parts).

 

46 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Mike, the scratch built gear looks spectacular. It definitely repays your efforts.

wing looks nice too.

alan

Thanks Alan, really appreciate it!

[FriedClams]

Been reading through your log, Mike, and you're doing some fantastic work here!  I agree with the comments above - the scratch gear looks great and certainly a worthwhile effort.  An interesting subject and build.

 

Gary

[Landlubber Mike]

Thank you Gary!  Really appreciate the kind words!

[Landlubber Mike]

Back to the JRS-1 after a really fun family trip to the beautiful Smokey Mountains in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.  I added the remaining PE grab handles to the fuselage and have a few rounds of primer on the model.  I really like using Mr. Surfacer as it helps show any gaps, extra bits of glue, and other imperfections.  Plus it's sandable and provides a really stable base for when colors are to be laid down, taping, etc.

 

One annoying thing about this kit is you have to fill two windows on the right side of the model.  I used a Dspiae circle cutter to cut out two plastic discs and everything looked fine.  I was worried, however, that the primer coat would show outlines of the discs, and that is what indeed happened.  I managed to get one of the discs sanded/filled where it eventually disappeared, but one stubbornly refused to go away.  I realized that the problem was it probably wasn't fully seated into the fuselage and kept lifting up no matter how much I sanded.  So, late last night I tried pushing it in a bit to see if I could glue the the raised edge down, and the stupid disc popped into the fuselage 🤬  I freaked out and said a lot of not nice words, but 20 minutes later I had a new disc cut and glued in via superglue this go around, and after the primer coat, both discs are now gone ✌️

 

I still have some very minor cleanup and a few panel lines to re-scribe, but otherwise I'm happy how it's looking.  I was a bit worried how the scratched landing gear would come out after being painted, but thankfully it's looking better than I expected.

 

 

I've been agonizing a bit over the order in which to paint the fuselage - aluminum first then colors, or colors first then aluminum - but I decided to do the colors first and finish with the aluminum.  I've already put an undercoat of Mr. Surfacer 1500 - white for the red band near the tail, so will try to get the red band, green tail, and black underside and top side markings done today.

 

Thanks for looking in!

[Javlin]

Those LG's look better covered in paint Mike

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Kevin, I think so too   Was a bit worried with the Frankenstein mix of materials and other components.  Cleaned up nicely though.

[king derelict]

Thats turning into quite a complicated build but it looks like you are solving everything masterfully. Its a great subject.

Alan

[Landlubber Mike]

Thanks Alan, it's been a learning experience for sure.  I might try for a better fitting kit like from Tamiya or Hasegawa next as this one has burned me out.

[Landlubber Mike]

I've made some good progress the past couple of days.  I managed to finish painting all the parts, including touch ups just a bit ago, and have started adding a gloss coat for decals and weathering.  Lots of Tamiya masking tape was used!  The kit gives you decals for the upper black stripes and anti-glare at the nose, but I decided to paint them instead since the underside of the fuselage and the floats is also in black, and I wanted to avoid potential color mismatches.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Paints used:

 

Primer:  Mr. Surfacer 1200

 

Red:  Tamiya Flat Red XF7 with a bit of brown mixed in to tone down the bright red look.

 

Yellow:  Decanted Tamiya Camel Yellow TS 34

 

Green:  Vallejo Game Air Sick Green with some Vallejo Model Air Green mixed in.  The kit shows a very emerald looking green, but I wanted mine toned down a bit (similar to how I used a more toned down red color).

 

Aluminum:  Mr. Color Super Metallic 2 (SM 201) - Super Fine Silver 2 (for undercoat, I used Mr. Color GX 2 Ueno Black gloss).  I really loved how this paint sprayed!  I like Vallejo's Metal Color range, but I've had issues at times with getting a smooth coat and sometimes it doesn't adhere very well.  I'll probably keep using Vallejo for smaller items like engines and details (and I used it for touch ups on this model), but this Mr. Color line might be my new go-to. 

 

Black:  Tamiya Nato Black XF 69

 

Thanks for looking in!

[king derelict]

Coming on beautifully Mike. The aluminum finish looks great. I will look for the Mr Color paint. I found the Vallejo metal to go on well but not as metallic as I would have liked.

alan

[CDW]

That looks great! You are keeping Tamiya tape production workers in business, but it's by far the best tape for our scale model work, at least the best I have found. I'm always open to lower cost alternatives but not at a cut in quality.

[CDW]

2 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Coming on beautifully Mike. The aluminum finish looks great. I will look for the Mr Color paint. I found the Vallejo metal to go on well but not as metallic as I would have liked.

alan

I order all my Mr Color paints from scalehobbyist.com

His inventory and reliability are second to none.

[Landlubber Mike]

3 minutes ago, king derelict said:

Coming on beautifully Mike. The aluminum finish looks great. I will look for the Mr Color paint. I found the Vallejo metal to go on well but not as metallic as I would have liked.

alan

Thanks Alan!

 

I did my F3Fs using Vallejo Metal Colors - they came out ok.  

 

 

Paints were really easy to use, but another time or two I got what looks like pooling spots where the paint doesn't seem to adhere very well (looked almost like a smear).  It could have been I was spraying too much/too close/too much pressure in that particular spot, but I didn't seem to have problems with the rest of what I painted.  It sucked having to strip the paint and try again.  The Mr. Color paint had none of those issues whatsoever.  Not as easy to use as Vallejo, but when you have to paint a big area in metal, because the metal paints already magnify any imperfections, I'd rather avoid compounding issues.