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1:72 MPM Aichi M6A1 Seiran


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My Airfix Short Sunderland is somewhere not immediately to hand, but this one was, so I'll begin with that.

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The Seiran, for those who are unaware, was designed to be carried and launched by a huge Japanese submarine, for the purpose of kamikaze attacks on the Pacific Fleet and, more specifically, the Panama Canal. One survived the war, lives in the USA, and has been restored, IIRC.

Edited by Brews
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I've removed the major parts - wings, floats, fuselage halves and cockpit floor / seats from the sprues and substantially cleaned up the generous sprue gates.

Also, the vac canopy has been separated from its acetate sheet by the score/snap method, with a little clean-up carving via #11 blade. The instructions suggested using scissors ...

anyway, I have got as far as supergluing one set of float halves together using gap-filling CA and accelerator. I probably could have used styrene cement, but I was impatient, and the parts were slightly warped, anyway.

PC110014.jpg

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Ok, the interior is assembled and painted (unless I choose to add some structure (guesswork), throttles, map cases, etc) except for the instrument panel. I used Gunze H63 Metallic Blue-Green for the interior colour, rather than the Olive green suggested by the MPM instructions.

The floats are both cemented together and to the wing, which has been glued together also. The fuselage halves are yet to be glued. One tailplane is attached, but it's a bit floppy, so I'll toughen it up with some CA.

PC120001.jpg

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It's easy enough, I think, to be overawed at the size of an aeroplane when you're standing beside it. An Albatros DV struck me as being much bigger than I thought, when I was 10.

The plane is high, though, because it sits on floats, of course, but otherwise it's about the size of a Fairey Fulmar - smaller, if anything.

PC140001.jpg

Edited by Brews
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  • 3 weeks later...

Yesterday, I masked the canopy with Tamiya tape. It was a tedious job. Later, I made a machine gun from brass shim, a map table from plastic card, and some map cases from brass shim. Also, I made a DF loop from fusewire. I had oils to hand, so I used those to paint the detail bits. The canopy was superglued on, and today I'll prepare the surfaces ... maybe even paint it.

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It does look a rather fierce aeroplane - and hefty. Again here is an example of the diverse and unusual aircraft that this group build is attracting! From the pictures you seem to have the Sunderland to hand again - it is a particular favourite of mine so I do hope we will see this progressing shortly, because the Seiran is looking rather good.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Well, I touched up a bit more with Mr Surfacer, but it's definitely not defect-free. Nonetheless, it now has a good coverage of IJN Dark Green on those bits that need that colour.

More masking, then the IJN Light Grey. My decals are stuck to the plastic protecting them. Curious! I'll cut them out with the plastic and hope they don't disintegrate.

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  • 2 weeks later...

As the little brother to my build, this one looks great! That Canopy is a real bugger to mask, I'm becoming a bigger fan of pre cut masks everyday. Looking forward to seeing some more progress on this one.

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  • 7 years later...

Funny thing, I was looking for my Airfix He 111H-20 this morning, and I found this model, still incomplete because of a move to Canada 7 years and 8 months ago! A float and a tailplane had broken off, and I can't find the instructions for the painting plan, so I googled them, and this page came up. Oh well, I might as well get on with finishing it.

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  • 1 year later...

Are you going to put U.S. stars and bars on it? I understand that was what they were going to carry on the canal mission.

I did not know that, so I wasn't intending on doing so, but I could be tempted :)

I recently found my He 111H-20, by the way, and only this afternoon, I found the exhausts and curious little float-rudder appendages. This has a decent chance of completion soon. I'm sorry I used that Gunze Aotake on the interior - it seems it should have been another colour. Oh well!

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