- Written by NZ Fly Boy
- On Nov 06 2013,
- In Kawanishi H6K5 Mavis
Hasegawa Kawanishi H6K5 is a BIG kit!
Okay guys so here’s the second instalment of my Mavis build… This aircraft is BIG, just how big becomes obvious when you start assembling the wings. (see photo left)
This is one big aircraft, one of the reasons I doubt you’ll see it in 1:48 scale. (Although if you kit manufacturers are listening I’d love to be proven wrong!)
I’ve been busy searching for relevant interior detail pictures on the web and it’s few and far between, rarer than rocking horse poo!
I’ve found a couple of cutaway views and from these I’ve come to the conclusion that the cockpit, as it is in this kit, is wrong! It should be split levels and the flight deck is divided by a walkway leading to the forward gun emplacement. None of which appears in the kit interior. I’ve added it in but have left the floor level between the various stations but I have added the walkway to the forward MG mount.
I’ve also added some internal detailing specifically the wall structure around the rear and waist gunner’s positions, it’s just an approximation – I’ve not got any internal detail references to go by that I consider to be reliable.
I’ve got to finish the internal structure and then paint the instrument panel and interior kawanishi cockpit colour which is very close to RLM79 sand gelb (yellow). So I’ll be getting out the paint and washes and going over the cockpit etc and then I can close up the fuselage.
No guns are provided for any of the emplacements so no mounts are provided – not an issue for the light MG’s but definitely an issue with the 20mm tail canon – So some scratch building will be appropriate here assuming of course I can find a picture to tell me what it actually looks like!
So far the interior of the Mavis has been pretty much guess work which is why it’s important to find references that can show you clearly these details. But unfortunately it would appear that although an important aircraft in the early years of the war, very has been written about these aircraft and even less photographs have been provided!
I have read some articles stating that there is a Koku Fan Famous Aircraft of the World book out there with a couple of interior pictures of the Mavis but I’ve yet to find them! I’ll continue to search of course, as the first thing you learn when doing research on the web to is to ask the same question as many ways as possible.
I’ve built the wing and that has presented issues of it’s own, the flaps were supposed to be able to droop realistically but I found that using thin Tamiya cement one of the hinges became glued and this caused one side to be in the flight position and one to droop so both have been glued in the flight position. Still this was my issue not necessarily the fault of the kit.
So the wing is built but the control surfaces have yet to be added and the sink marks in the pylons need to be filled, the cockpit and gunner stations need painting and I’ve got to add the finishing touches and then the fun of sealing up the fuselage can begin!
So that’s all for now, happy modelling!
Cheers!
NzFlyBoy
by NZ Fly Boy
Avid WW2 aviation enthusiast and modeller. Been making model kits since age nine and I now model mostly ww2 model airplanes. (my wife is an understanding one!)
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