Special Hobby Sea Otter Mk.I

[reini]

 

This is not my usual build, which is most of the time cold war jets with some 1:48 WW2 planes in the mix which I build for my dad. But I've been checking this kit out for a while now and I've been tempted to give it a go. Clearly not your most straightforward build but with patience I'm sure I can make it work. Good amount of resing and some PE parts in the mix - also a bi-plane which is a first for me. Rigging... well, we will see how it goes when I get there  Model itself looks nice - even if bit low on details. I also picked up some Hataka paints - of which I've had really positive experience so far.

 

 

 

Despite the PE and resin additions the cockpit was feeling bit plain so I added some fuselage framing from plasticard. Just so that it looks like there is some details when looking thru the big clear part.

 

 

 

Paint and weathering done for the cockpit. I painted it black first and then couple of layers of Hataka Interior Grey Green

 

 

 

all the pieces in place. I think I add a map or something to the rear seaters table to make it bit more interesting.

 

 

I'm trying to go slow with this build so that I don't run into any big issues - but so far the build is going smoothly.

 

 

 

 

[socjo1]

Promising beginning, interesting subject - I will follow!

Regards, 

Michał.

[Dunny]

Very nice - I am tempted to find this kit! Good luck and will follow with interest!

[Hook]

Nice work! This kit is on my shopping list as well.

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[marky sparky]

I have been eyeing up this kit for quite a while now BUT the other half keeps giving me 'that look' and tells me to make the models I have already before buying a new one!

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Lovely start and extra details,  will be interested to see how this goes together. 

Good luck with your build. 

Chris

[Learstang]

I have this kit, so it will be interesting to see how you get on with it. Good luck!

 

Regards,

 

Jason

Edited April 9, 2021 by Learstang
Small change.

[Hook]

1 hour ago, marky sparky said:

I have been eyeing up this kit for quite a while now BUT the other half keeps giving me 'that look' and tells me to make the models I have already before buying a new one!

Is she wearing all of her shoes at the same time..? 

 

Cheers,

 

Andre

[Marklo]

43 minutes ago, Hook said:

Is she wearing all of her shoes at the same time..? 

You know that’s an argument you’re just not going to win. Shoes, handbags, hair even coffee, just don’t go there. 
 

There is no reciprocity when it comes to buying bits of plastic, and the comfort that comes from a well assembled stash just isn’t understood.

[tonyot]

Great start and superb subject,..... good luck and I`ll be following as I have a couple of these to make myself!

Cheers

          Tony

[reini]

Thanks guys

 

Been spending some time with this one - I have couple other subject on the bench but somehow this has been hogging all my time.

 

Fuselage closed and wings attached. Added a map and a photo to the navigators (?) table.

 

Starting to look more like a plane and less like a boat.

 

Underside of the fuselage started to come apart, I should have shaved off some more from the cockpit floor, the fit was bit tight. Oh well, a layer of superglue...

 

... and after some vigorous sanding, it's good as new again.

 

 

I made locating pins for the tail for better support but on the other side I located them wrong - so it made the whole process harder than it should have been. Oh well.

 

The tail is on.

 

Right. So the upper wing. I am new to biplanes. Any idea how to proceed with these struts? Attach them to lower wing? Upper wing? Try to make locating pins? It's probably good idea to keep the wings separated until final assembly, right? Any help appreciated  

[Marklo]

Hmm biplane struts can be very tricky and your kit looks very much so.
 

The first thing I’d do is drill the strut ends and ca on short brass pins, they only need to be one or two millimetres proud of the strut end. 

 

Then I’d make a paper or card drill template from the plans and drill all the strut positions on the wings.

 

I find wing jigs can be fiddly but if you want to make one Lego is your friend. But most of the time I just cut a two blocks of wood to the height of the gap between the wings and double sided sticky tape the wings in place. 
 

 

I’d then start by attaching either the inner or outer struts only, get the wings aligned properly and let it set then tackle the remaining struts in a second session.

 

[Paul J]

Good tip about drilling the strut ends and add add pins. I wish I had done that to the one I built. Had no end of trouble with the build. The same goes for the underwing floats... night mare!!   Then there is the rigging.. good luck with that.  I drilled through the appropriate halves of the wings and added my chosen material, with strands of it everywhere and when it came to joining the wing halves I had to make sure the loose rigging didn't get trapped! My build ended up with the top wing skewed in one direction.  I don't men to put you off but watch out and don't rush it.  And, for some reason the prop tips touched the fuselage top !!!  WEird.

[reini]

@Marklo Very good tips, thank you! Also @Paul J thanks for the heads up, it's certainly a build you want to take slowly and steadily. 

[825]

I've built one of these recently and I drilled out the struts and wings and inserted short lengths of brass wire, and in general they worked fine. I fixed them to the lower wing first. 

 

Watch the struts for the floats. They were misshapen on mine, had quite big sprue gate attachments and I think they might have been a bit short. I used some plastic rod and drilled out holes in the lower wing and floats for them. They look fine and we're fairly sturdy. Here it is in the post war livery. I'm still wondering if I should rig it or not. 

 

 

Yours looks great so far, I've no doubt you'll finish it well. 

[Marklo]

For rigging my current favourite is the blind hole through hole method with .4mm monofilament.

 

[reini]

@825 Looking good, I think your solution to the floats is nice, we will see if my parts need replacing. Still undecided on the scheme.

 

BTW What's the story with the blue & white FAA insignia? Is it post war?

 

@Marklo Great looking Swordfish and excellent rigging  I have some Ammo/MiG rigging that I think I will try, I think it's rubber wire.

[Marklo]

1 hour ago, reini said:

have some Ammo/MiG rigging

I have some too it’s very similar to EZ line. I do use it sometimes, I’m not gone on it as I find myself having to spend ages holding one end with a tweezers while my superglue doesn’t dry, whereas with the through holes  method I can secure the line with a bulldog clip while the ca sets.

 

I used EZ line in my 1/48 tripehound. It does give a good result.

 

Monofilament and many bulldog clips being used in my PB31

Edited April 11, 2021 by Marklo

[825]

5 hours ago, reini said:

@825 Looking good, I think your solution to the floats is nice, we will see if my parts need replacing. Still undecided on the scheme.

 

BTW What's the story with the blue & white FAA insignia? Is it post war?

 

The Sea Otter is from HMS Theseus during the Korean War in the early 1950s, hence the post war scheme. Sea Otters, and earlier Walruses were used by Royal Navy carriers for Air Sea Rescue before the advent of helicopters. They served alongside Sea Furies, Fireflies and late Mark Seafires and had the same livery as these and the early jets. 

[NAVY870]

I've got the maintenance manual and pilots notes for these things in the heap, turned up in a box of other stuff I bought.

[reini]

 

 

Upper wing is coming together. Resin cowling fitted pretty nicely to the plastic wing, no major issues.

 

 

 

So did the clear parts - had to do some minor adjusting and scraping of the fuselage but the canopy fit was OK after some adjusting.

[bigbadbadge]

Good to know the fit is good.  I will see what the fit of the upper wing is like and if any good will add this to my stash expansion plan. 

Great work 

Chris

[reini]

15 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Good to know the fit is good.  I will see what the fit of the upper wing is like and if any good will add this to my stash expansion plan. 

Great work 

Chris

 

Well, it's not Tamiya. You have to work a bit for the fit. But so far nothing is really so messed up that would stand in the way of finishing the kit. Marrying the upper wing to the lower - - well, that still remains to be seen The kit offers two wings, few sticks and vague markings where all should go. I will try to add pins to the struts as suggested and see how it goes... 

[reini]

 

Masking done. Was pretty easy job as the windows are mostly squares.

 

 

 

Ok, I better get on with the struts, there's no way around it... first I made tiny holes with a needle in order to center the drill and drilled 0,5mm holes to all the struts, both ends.

 

 

 

Then 0,5mm brass rod was inseterted to the holes and cut to length. It was pretty tight fit so I probably should have used 0,6mm drill but oh well, they are there now attached with some superglue.

 

 

 

And then little bit larger holes were cut to both upper and lower wing. I wanted little bit wiggle room with the struts but not too much. There was faint markings where all the struts were supposed to go so I used them and hoped that they are more or less correct and aligned. Also some putty was applied to the forward fuselage in front of the windshield, in order to hide the seam with the plastic and clear part.

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Great progress and the time you invested in pinning the struts will pay dividens later.  Looking forward to the painting. 

Chris