Japanese Aircraft Online Model Contest 005 - MICHAEL FURRY

1/48 Hasegawa E8N1 Dave

A Dave from Hasegawa? I did not expect that but it was a nice change from their continuous re-releases with different decals.

 At first glance one notices that this kit has multiple insert pieces and that usually means trouble. Not so, dry fitting has proved thus far that the engineering is quite precise. The directions have you assemble the cockpit tub then fit this into one fuselage half and finally, close up the other side. Doing this would have left noticeable gaps between the fuselage sides and cockpit sidewalls. I glued the cockpit sidewalls to the fuselage halves using clamps(this made paining easier too). Dry fitting proved that the floor and bulkheads can be sandwiched between the fuselage halves and more or less "float" without using glue. I made a bulkhead to blank off the rear of the fuselage and used Eduard photo-etch seat belts. I did not spend a great deal of time detailing the cockpit since very little can be viewed, even though it is an open cockpit. I pre-shaded the cockpit parts black then mixed RAF interior green with some dark green for the cockpit color. I used a mix of green and black water color to highlight the shadows, then dry brushed light gray and finally dark gray to simulate some wear.  

Thank you for looking,

Michael Furry, Harrisburg, PA, USA

 

WIP Pt#2
First off, a thank you to George! This kit was a prize from the previous contest and is very generous. 
The engine is a simple assembly that basically requires careful painting. I added ignition wires and deepened the exhaust openings to enhance the overall look. I painted the pushrods black and the rest of the engine with gunmetal metalizer. The exhausts were painted gunmetal as well and then treated with brown, orange, blue, and tan pastel chalk.The cowling is in three pieces and you must trap the engine inside. Test fitting shows that engine and cowling fit quite well together. The other photos show what the cockpit sides and floor look like since very little is visible once the fuselage halves are closed up. As stated in my previous update, the engineering is very well done with this kit, the only tricky areas are some of the sprue attachment points. Some of these are in areas that could result in damage to the part when removing them from the sprue.