1/72 Kyushu Q1W1 Tokai "Lorna"

[Dazey]

Hello all,

 

As indicated in the GB chat a number of months ago, I will join and doing a Kyushu Q1W1 Tokai (allied codename, Lorna) in 1/72 by Pavla. 

The Lorna was the first purpose-built anti-submarine aircraft:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kyushu_Q1W

 

 

Sprue shots:

 

 

 

This project will need some masking (although the product is for Fine Molds kit, not Pavla):

 

 

Some extras I may use. I'm still undecided how to model the Lorna...

 

 

This should be a great GB, and I look forward to checking in on all builds!

 

Regards,

David

[Robert Stuart]

Sounds good David, welcome to the build.

 

(Is it me, or does anybody else think this looks like a Ju88?)

[Graham Boak]

Cross between that and an Anson.  In the recent Japanese Anti-submarine Aircraft book, it is even claimed that the cockpit was modelled on the '88.

[Dazey]

 

8 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

Cross between that and an Anson.  In the recent Japanese Anti-submarine Aircraft book, it is even claimed that the cockpit was modelled on the '88.

 

8 hours ago, Robert Stuart said:

Sounds good David, welcome to the build.

 

(Is it me, or does anybody else think this looks like a Ju88?)

 

Hi Robert,

 

Thanks for the welcome. 

 

I think many people draw the comparison with the Ju88! The Tokai was quite a bit smaller at ~1/3 the weight.

 

Regards,

David

[MarkSH]

You learn something everyday on BM, I've never heard of this type. This should be an interesting build.

[zebra]

I hadn't heard of it either, nice to see something new on here. Looking forward to this build.

[depressed lemur]

Odd looking thing that. Looks like they started designing at the tail working forward and suddenly realised that it wouldn't fit in the hangar.

 

Watching with interest

[Dazey]

On 12/1/2018 at 8:38 PM, MarkSH said:

You learn something everyday on BM, I've never heard of this type. This should be an interesting build.

 

18 hours ago, zebra said:

I hadn't heard of it either, nice to see something new on here. Looking forward to this build.

 

Dear Mark and zebra,

 

Well, at least something has already come of this GB project of mine!

 

Looking closely at the sprues now, I see that there'll be quite a bit of cleaning up and shaping of parts:

 

 

I guess there's short-run, and then there's SHORT-RUN!!. 

 

Some detail is lacking, such as the slats for dive-brakes (part of the specifications the Lorna was built to included the need for dive-bombing, also like the Ju88 I believe):

 

 

The kit parts will need to be "adjusted" to resemble the flaps (no resin aftermarkets in Lorna-land). The out-of-place panel line (arrow) will need to be filled, too:

 

 

There are also some strange lumps on the surface of the plastic, often in panel lines. It's a good thing I'm not averse to some sanding and re-scribing.

 

I am also considering doing some riveting on this model, although references are thin on the ground.

 

Thanks for looking.

Regards,

David

[JWM]

I was fighting with this kit and i've got not 100% result... What I would do other way and with special care are the openings in flats. They are very visible and what I would do - I would cut long narrow openings and then will glue in separators from a plastic rectagular in section small rods. This is a challanging model even as for Pavla standards. I keep my fingers crossed

Cheers

J-W

 

[Graham Boak]

There is a very recent book out on Japanese Anti-Submarine aircraft, which unsurprisingly has quite a lot on the Lorna. There was also an early Fine Molds kit, which I believe (but am not sure) has been replaced by a new Fine Molds tooling.  But if you choose to do the Pavla, you've got to expect a lot of work.

[Dazey]

3 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

There is a very recent book out on Japanese Anti-Submarine aircraft, which unsurprisingly has quite a lot on the Lorna. There was also an early Fine Molds kit, which I believe (but am not sure) has been replaced by a new Fine Molds tooling.  But if you choose to do the Pavla, you've got to expect a lot of work.

 

3 hours ago, JWM said:

I was fighting with this kit and i've got not 100% result... What I would do other way and with special care are the openings in flats. They are very visible and what I would do - I would cut long narrow openings and then will glue in separators from a plastic rectagular in section small rods. This is a challanging model even as for Pavla standards. I keep my fingers crossed

Cheers

J-W

 

Hi Graham and J-W,

 

Thanks for the advice. I think the Fine Molds kit is hard to find now. I'm aware of the anti-submarine book and am considering getting it (maybe time to ask Santa?). The little I've seen from previews look good. Anyway, I'm committed to the Pavla kit, and I don't mind putting the extra work in.

 

Regarding the slats, the approach I was going to take sounds similar to what you suggest J-W. Before glueing the halves together, I was going to scribe/saw the lateral lines of the slats and glue the separators on the inside of the wing half. One problem is that these lateral cuts/deep scribings span different wing parts. We'll see how it goes!

 

Regards,

David

 

[JWM]

47 minutes ago, Dazey said:

Regarding the slats, the approach I was going to take sounds similar to what you suggest J-W. Before glueing the halves together, I was going to scribe/saw the lateral lines of the slats and glue the separators on the inside of the wing half. One problem is that these lateral cuts/deep scribings span different wing parts. We'll see how it goes!

Hi,

I am currently doing Boeing C-75. She had B-17 wings but wits slots. I did differently. I made thoise long cut using micro circular saw but on wings already glued together. This worked well. 

It was a similar saw to this one

This asure you that openings will match each other:

After painting:

 

You may consider such approach

Regards

J-W

 

 

[Dazey]

10 hours ago, JWM said:

Hi,

I am currently doing Boeing C-75. She had B-17 wings but wits slots. I did differently. I made thoise long cut using micro circular saw but on wings already glued together. This worked well. 

It was a similar saw to this one

 

 

Impressive piece of hardware. I don't have anything like that (at least small enough to use on models), so I'll be using a sharp blade and metal ruler. Then lots of sanding to clean up!

 

Regards,

David

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

On 12/1/2018 at 2:28 AM, Robert Stuart said:

Sounds good David, welcome to the build.

 

(Is it me, or does anybody else think this looks like a Ju88?)

I thought of the Ju88 look as well Robert.

 

Quite a unique subject David, interested to see how the parts clean up!

[Dazey]

Hello all,

 

Only a little bit of progress on the Lorna – I've been busy with Christmas activities (and trying to finish off a MiG-21).  

 

I've spent a bit of time cleaning up some of the larger parts, and cutting out the slats of the dive flaps:

 

 

The fit isn't the greatest on this kit. These are two parts glued together:

 

 

This is going to need a lot of filler and sanding!

 

I've also started some detailing (clear sprue for the rear nav light?):

 

 

 

 

This will need some more polishing before masking and painting.

 

I had in mind that I would add rivet lines for this build, but I'm wondering if I have the motivation now. We'll see how much time and effort is taken with the detailing for the cockpit (some scratch-building and a daunting amount of PE).

 

Thanks for looking. Happy New Year to everyone out there – I hope you have a fantastic 2019!

 

Regards,

David

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Happy New Year and good to see your progress.

[Dazey]

Hello all,

 

I've been chipping away, quite literally, at the Lorna. I think Mr Pavla may own shares in a sand-paper production company.

 

Some of the gaps/mis-aligned areas needed a bit of card and filler:

 

 

Nav lights added (and I even included light bulbs!):

 

 

 

Some smaller parts cleaned up:

 

 

Although there's quite a bit of PE for the cockpit, a lot of it is inaccurate/fantasy. I'll probably scratch-build a lot of it, and have made a bit of a start:

 

 

I will probably hold off doing much more interior detailing, or even painting, until the following reference book arrives that I've just ordered:

I probably should have bought this months ago, or dropped more hints for Santa. Anyway, it will also be useful other subjects on my horizon (Jake, Ida, and a host of other Japanese models).

 

Part of the reason for holding off painting the Lorna parts, is that this book has information indicating unusual interior and exterior schemes for the Lorna in particular. Maybe more of a black green camouflage rather than the deep dark green I might have guessed, greys for instrument panels etc. — just the kind of thing that generally piques the interest of those into IJN and IJA aircraft (I'll just dust of my anorak...)

 

And speaking of piquing interest, here is a shot of a post-war example being tested by the USAAF. There aren't many good reference images for the Lorna, but this is neat because it's in flight, and gives the viewer a fair idea of how much glazing is at the front end. This is another good reason to try and get the cockpit detail as accurate as possible (given the scale and my limitations).

 

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Regards,

David 

Edited January 7, 2019 by Dazey

[Dazey]

Woohoo! My reference book arrived yesterday:

 

 

Looks to be an interesting book in addition to the useful information on the Lorna. More on that as we go along.

 

Some progress: Detailing of the engines. I opted not to use the PE pushrods (the engine is a very tight fit, even with some trimming and sanding, but perhaps I should have added some stretched sprue instead of relying on what was moulded in place?). Anyway, not a lot will be seen when assembled, which is probably a good thing.

 

 

 

Here’s an image of an Amakaze engine at the National Air and Space Museum, DC, that I used for reference: https://airandspace.si.edu/collection-objects/hitachi-amakaze-31-ha-23-31-imperial-japanese-navy-radial-9-engine

 

Carved out some holes for the kit's non-existent exhausts (another thing I'll need to scratch-build):

 

 

I'm thinking it's going to be hard not adding rivets to the model:

 

 

Pilfered some spares for external stores that need to be altered to approach the correct shape and size:

 

 

 

 

The kits undercarriage is somewhat crude:

 

 

But, then again, the real thing was also pretty crude. The kit wheels look different from how they should, so some alteration is needed:

 

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Regards,

David

[Robert Stuart]

You are making good changes to the Lorna David, I like your approach to the engines.

[Dazey]

On 1/20/2019 at 5:25 AM, Robert Stuart said:

ou are making good changes to the Lorna David, I like your approach to the engines.

Hello Robert,

 

Thanks for the kind words. I couldn't resist adding stretched sprue pushrods:

 

 

Some other progress:

 

Sanded most parts to tone down the heavy panel lines;

 

 

Started the riveting process;

 

 

Added styrene strips for the distinctive dive flaps;

 

 

 

Started adding some of the PE bits, and even they're a bad fit;

 

 

I decided to splurge on some a/m IJN belts and Lewis guns as I'm going to need all the help I can to get this project over the line in time;

 

 

Thanks for looking.

Regards,

David

[Robert Stuart]

12 hours ago, Dazey said:

I'm going to need all the help I can to get this project over the line in time

Looking at the quality you are aiming for, forget the calendar - and this does suggest a quality build ...

 

 

 

 

[JOCKNEY]

Great work David

 

I haven't built a Pavla kit myself so this is proving very informative.

 

Please don't get downhearted all your efforts will pay off, and you will get great satisfaction every time you look at it in the future.

 

looking forward to the next instalment  

 

Cheers Pat

[Peter Lloyd]

When I saw this thread I thought 'Pavla, this will break a man's heart' but I can see you are no ordinary man!

Who makes those Louie-Louie guns, David?  They are nice.

[Dazey]

 

On 2/26/2019 at 7:23 AM, JOCKNEY said:

Great work David

 

I haven't built a Pavla kit myself so this is proving very informative.

 

Please don't get downhearted all your efforts will pay off, and you will get great satisfaction every time you look at it in the future.

 

looking forward to the next instalment  

 

Cheers Pat

 

Hi Pat,

 

Thanks for the encouragement, and I'm glad my efforts will be of some use to others! I wouldn't consider dropping the project, but am disappointed about my progress given the GB timeline.

 

11 hours ago, Peter Lloyd said:

When I saw this thread I thought 'Pavla, this will break a man's heart' but I can see you are no ordinary man!

Who makes those Louie-Louie guns, David?  They are nice.

 

Hi Peter, 

 

You are too kind. As @JMW indicated, this kit is rough, even by Pavla's standard, and I do admit to feeling the pain. Nevertheless, I'll KBO as Churchill said. 

 

The Lewis guns are FINE MOLDS NA11 IJN TYPE92 7.7MM MG (LEWIS GUN) 1/72 SCALE KIT. I go them from PlazaJapan:

https://www.plazajapan.com/4536318740117

 

You get four of the sprues pictured (8 guns etc.) for ~AUD13 + postage, so decent value I think. In the flesh, it's definitely Fine Molds by name and nature.

 

When I first saw your location, I thought that you might be following the truffle seasons, but then realised that's probably not the right season.

 

Regards,

David

[Peter Lloyd]

Thanks David. And indeed good value until I add all the other exotic 'must have' items!

Not truffles!  Just work, and winter avoidance for health reasons.