Aichi M6A1 Seiran (folded for storage) Tamiya 1/48

[tcoat]

OK, so this is a stalled build but I am hoping that by posting it here I get the ambition to finish it in the reasonably near future.

This is a companion piece to my I-400 sub. modelerssocialclub.proboards.com/thread/13913/400-aircraft-carrier-submarine-tamiya


My goal is to take the Tamiya kit which comes molded in flight configuration, chop it up to fold the wings and stabilizers, remove the sponsons from the floats and place it on the storage/catapult trolley in the down position with a cutaway section of the sub hanger and small section of catapult and deck.

Aircraft like the upper drawing 




I plan to do a section that is similar to the bottom drawing only with the port side of the hanger cut open just behind the latch release wheel. There will be more of the hanger structure on the starborad side.



The aircraft will be partially out of the hanger and the port pontoon will be coming up out of it's stowage space below it.



Sort of this area here:



Pretty much your standard new(ish) Tamiya aircraft kit with nice engraved lines and detail. No surprises to be had there.



I will have a nice beaching dolly left over that I may be able to use for something.



Not going to do much beyond OOB with the cockpit and rear. The opening is so small and the canopy will be mostly closed (I am going to open the front section) and blocked by the hanger that you will not see much of what is in there anyway. A high contrast paintjob on the few parts there are will suit the needs of this build nicely since for a change this area will not be the focus.



Not even going to worry about the injector pin marks since they will be virtually invisible once done.



Ready for base coat



Not going to be much of a viewing space once canopy on and mounted in place on dio base.




Base coat with salt masking over aluminum paint on floor. The Seiran used a different cockpit colour than most of the Japanese aircraft. More grey than green.



Detail painting. Although I had my wire spools in hand more than once I resisted the temptation of detailing beyond OOB. It just won't be seen.



My standard tinted floor polish for shadows and variation in tone. SHINY



Ready to go together. Testers Dullcoat. No more shiny!








Wow those wings fit nice. Just click into place with no gaps.


Be a shame if....



Somebody came along and ...



CUT THEM OFF!







That's better. Still needs some tweaking and not totally accurate but pictures of the wing actually folded do not exist. There are several pictures of it all stripped down for restoration but there are obviously parts missing from them so going more for the basic idea with the key key points.




Well it works. Still a bunch of parts to add to the wing and some more precise alignment to do but the basic hinge point works out. Will all look fine under some paint and weathering.



At least that is if everybody stays at least 3 feet back.



Couple of my reference pics. My biggest concern is the actual fold mech. Since all the pictures show it disassembled there appears to be something missing. The hinge sections are evident but I have no idea what actually moves the wings. Since they were oil pressure operated there should be some sort of cylinders that moved it up and then back but none of the pictures include such things.



What I probably need to do is just stop looking at the pictures and just leave my imaginary actuating arm as is.





OK so I gave up trying to find assembled pictures and just filled in the gaps with my imagination.



Probably someplace around 30% (optimistically) accurate but looks the part and with paint should be busy enough to be convincing. At least there is little chance of some ex Seiran pilot showing up and telling me it is all wrong!








Added extensions to house the fold mech in the horizontal and vertical stabilizers


Canopy is one piece so I cut the front section off to open. Forgot to take picture but it is the section edged in green (rolled up tape to hold in place and seal gaps for painting). Masked what seemed like 2.6 million glass sections with bare metal foil.





Pretty much ready for paint.



For the diorama setup I plan one pontoon will be assembled and ready while the other will just be coming out of it's storage tube.



Base painted and very slight weathering started



Annnnnd there it sits in the box. 

[stikpusher]

Excellent! I can't wait to see how this one goes! Love seeing those naval aircraft all folded up for shipboard stowage!

[jeaton01]

Ambitious!

[Leon]

Am really interested in seeing how this comes out!

I like where you're going with this.

[keavdog]

Quite the project! Can't wait to see it finished.

[garydavis-Rest In Peace]

This is way too cool! I didn't know that the Japanese stored float planes on subs! I wonder how well that system worked?

[406 Silverado]

All over this one like a "rat on a cheeto" Tony. Some very convincing work going on in this thread. Even though you can't see 'em, I am shocked at all the pin marks I'm seeing on the interior side walls. SHEESH!!!

[Real G]

I am liking this project!  The wing fold went very nicely.  I really look forward to the submarine portion of the build!

[tcoat]

May 10, 2023 16:24:06 GMT -5 garydavis-Rest In Peace said:

This is way too cool! I didn't know that the Japanese stored float planes on subs! I wonder how well that system worked?

The system worked very well. The sub carried 3 aircraft in the hanger and the crew could assemble and launch them all in 1/2 an hour. Took under an hour to recover and stow them. They were the largest subs until the nuclear ballistic ones were built in the 60s.
The original plan was to build 18 of them to attack the US coasts and even the Panama canal. Of course they ran out of time and materials so only 3 ever did get built and none ever were used in an attack. 
Can you imagine the devastation that even just 54 planes appearing out of nowhere, dropping an 1,800 pound bomb and then just seemingly disappearing would cause?

The US captured the 3 that did get built at the end of the war and took them back to Hawaii to study. When the Soviet Union said they wanted a look the Navy took them out to sea and blew them up before they could get a peek.
Many of the sub improvements of the following decade or so came from the I series. 

The hanger idea that stuck around until better missiles that could be launched while submerged were developed.

[garydavis-Rest In Peace]

Man tcoat...thank you for that GREAT History lesson.

[Tobi]

Very cool subject you have chosen there. I always found those japanese subs that could carry planes very fascinating.

[moparmadness]

Wow! Seriously nice details! Oh man, too bad there’s no aftermarket sub hangar to show her in the nest.  Can’t wait to see what you do with yours!

[tcoat]

May 12, 2023 22:10:51 GMT -5 moparmadness said:

Wow! Seriously nice details! Oh man, too bad there’s no aftermarket sub hangar to show her in the nest.  Can’t wait to see what you do with yours!

I have gathered all the components to make the hanger/catapult but then sort of got burnt out on the project. Starting to feel it again though so should start back up before too much longer. 

[stikpusher]

Yeah, aside from the floatplane, that looks like it’s going to be some serious scratch work to create the areas that you intend to make for the base. Slow and steady.

[406 Silverado]

May 12, 2023 22:25:51 GMT -5 tcoat said:

May 12, 2023 22:10:51 GMT -5 moparmadness said:

Wow! Seriously nice details! Oh man, too bad there’s no aftermarket sub hangar to show her in the nest.  Can’t wait to see what you do with yours!

I have gathered all the components to make the hanger/catapult but then sort of got burnt out on the project. Starting to feel it again though so should start back up before too much longer. 

[tcoat]

May 13, 2023 0:22:37 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Yeah, aside from the floatplane, that looks like it’s going to be some serious scratch work to create the areas that you intend to make for the base. Slow and steady.

The only really tricky part is the water tight door. I am watching for just the right size and shape plastic bottle for that. The rest is pretty straight forward.  I am lucky in that it was so unique that after capture there were a pile of pictures taken and line drawings made of that section. For something the US wanted to keep secret from the Soviets it seems like every sailor that touched the thing had their picture taken in that hanger entrance. There are also a couple of decent quality films of the capture that have all sorts of close up details. It is the best documented servers weapon on the internet!  

[406 Silverado]

May 13, 2023 7:24:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

May 13, 2023 0:22:37 GMT -5 stikpusher said:

Yeah, aside from the floatplane, that looks like it’s going to be some serious scratch work to create the areas that you intend to make for the base. Slow and steady.

The only really tricky part is the water tight door. I am watching for just the right size and shape plastic bottle for that. The rest is pretty straight forward.  I am lucky in that it was so unique that after capture there were a pile of pictures taken and line drawings made of that section. For something the US wanted to keep secret from the Soviets it seems like every sailor that touched the thing had their picture taken in that hanger entrance. There are also a couple of decent quality films of the capture that have all sorts of close up details. It is the best documented servers weapon on the internet!  

Ya see.....this is a good thing, especially for something this out of the ordinary to model. You provided me with a couple of pictures that were very useful for the building of my Kingfisher but I quickly found out in the beginning that the OS2U is NOT a subject that has just a whole lot of color detail shots. My research will be now focused on individual components of the cockpit for color references. My point is that you struck it rich in having so many reference shots available for this build here Tony. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this.

[tcoat]

May 13, 2023 7:28:39 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

May 13, 2023 7:24:43 GMT -5 tcoat said:

The only really tricky part is the water tight door. I am watching for just the right size and shape plastic bottle for that. The rest is pretty straight forward.  I am lucky in that it was so unique that after capture there were a pile of pictures taken and line drawings made of that section. For something the US wanted to keep secret from the Soviets it seems like every sailor that touched the thing had their picture taken in that hanger entrance. There are also a couple of decent quality films of the capture that have all sorts of close up details. It is the best documented servers weapon on the internet!  

Ya see.....this is a good thing, especially for something this out of the ordinary to model. You provided me with a couple of pictures that were very useful for the building of my Kingfisher but I quickly found out in the beginning that the OS2U is NOT a subject that has just a whole lot of color detail shots. My research will be now focused on individual components of the cockpit for color references. My point is that you struck it rich in having so many reference shots available for this build here Tony. I'm really looking forward to seeing what you do with this.

Well the sub is easy since it is grey on the outside, off white on the inside, and dark wood on top.  It was also in horrendous condition when captured. There is a good write up from one of the officers that was the first to board after surrender. The conditions on board by then were absolutely appalling even by submariner standards of the era.  

the air craft was a whole different matter.  They only made 28 of them and about 6 were actually used for training on the subs.  This was in late ‘44 and early ‘45 so the aircraft didn’t see many operating hours on the subs before being pulled back to land for possible home defence.  Of course they didn’t help with what went down after that.  Almost all the existing aircraft were destroyed in bombing raids.  Now this whole project was one of the very rare secret weapons that the Allies had no idea even existed prior to surrender.  Both the subs and Seirans received a big “WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING” when first seen.  I would love to have seen the first response when they spotted a 400 foot sub coming at them!

There was one surviving aircraft that was saved and sent back to the US for study. Period pictures of it are sparse. It then sat outside for 50 years before being restored.  The cockpit got really badly beat up from sitting in the sun and people climbing in and out for those decades so getting accurate colours from even modern pictures is difficult.  When they restored the plane they just painted the outside in the standard IJN green and grey which is probably correct but they just left the patina in the cockpit and sealed it to preserve as is. Pretty sure I am close enough anyway.  Any Seiran pilots out there that that have tips?

The Kingfisher is a different animal from most WW2 US aircraft. They were all built over a relatively short time in the same facility before full wartime production ramped up.  This of course means they were as close to “standard” colours as you will ever get.  Aircraft built later could vary wildly in colours (paint chemistry was sort of hit and miss) depending on what plant and what date they were built. 
I remain totally unconvinced that most of the pictures of restored Kingfishers are even close to the real colour used on the interior.  

[406 Silverado]

Any progress on this Tony- tcoat? That wing fold that you did on this is worthy of a copy and 3-D printing. WOW!!

[tcoat]

Sept 27, 2023 13:35:59 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Any progress on this Tony- tcoat ? That wing fold that you did on this is worthy of a copy and 3-D printing. WOW!!

Nope. I at least took it off the shelf of doom and  moved it onto the "SOON" shelf. Probably this winter. Haven't worked on anything for a long time this summer but...

[406 Silverado]

LOL! Yeah my progress at the bench has been totally lackluster the last couple of months BUT......I've been back at it now for the last week or so pretty steady. Looking forward to finishing this Vette up that's for dang sure.

[kyledehart5]

Jumping in here also for whenever you get back to it. Very cool idea.

[Green KreationZ]

I'm on-board as well. This is a great idea and I like how it's looking so far.

[tcoat]

Dec 6, 2023 17:03:50 GMT -5 kyledehart5 said:

Jumping in here also for whenever you get back to it. Very cool idea.

Dec 6, 2023 17:54:16 GMT -5 Green KreationZ said:

I'm on-board as well. This is a great idea and I like how it's looking so far.

LOL well if I keep joining group builds on here it may never get done!

[kyledehart5]

Ha! That's ok. I'll be here if you ever do get back around to it. Maybe there will be a float plane GB or something. 🤣

[deafpanzer]

Sept 27, 2023 13:41:44 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Sept 27, 2023 13:35:59 GMT -5 406 Silverado said:

Any progress on this Tony- tcoat ? That wing fold that you did on this is worthy of a copy and 3-D printing. WOW!!

Nope. I at least took it off the shelf of doom and  moved it onto the "SOON" shelf. Probably this winter. Haven't worked on anything for a long time this summer but...

Just saying... get busy!

[tcoat]

Dec 6, 2023 18:32:35 GMT -5 deafpanzer said:

Sept 27, 2023 13:41:44 GMT -5 tcoat said:

Nope. I at least took it off the shelf of doom and  moved it onto the "SOON" shelf. Probably this winter. Haven't worked on anything for a long time this summer but...

Just saying... get busy!

Hey I still have almost 6 weeks until winter.

[M1Carbine]

Tcoat - you nailed it. Wong folds mech looks awesome.

-Bob

[Medicman71]

Man that wing fold looks awesome!!

[tcoat]

Dec 30, 2023 0:31:24 GMT -5 Medicman71 said:

Man that wing fold looks awesome!!

It is about 90% fictional based upon a couple of pictures on the internet. Still have some things to add once mounted on the plane.