Scale Aviation Modeller International — November 2017

BOAT

The

I

n the early 1930s, Sikorski

designed and built a

successful commercial

flying boat, the four-engine

S-42. It was used by Pan

American Airways (Pan

Am) to open up long-range

passenger services between

Miami and Rio de Janeiro,

and it quickly became known

as the Pan Am Clipper.

With the demonstrated

success of the S-42, and

recognising a market for a

smaller and more economical

version, Sikorski set about

designing a two-engine “Baby

Clipper”, the S-43. Flying first

in 1935, the S-43 was used by

Pan Am on Caribbean routes,

in North Africa by the French,

in China, and in Norway.

When the US military showed

an interest in the aircraft

for utility use, the Army

Air Corps acquired five

(designated OA-8), and the

US Navy 16 (designated JRS-1).

Ten of the Navy’s JRS-1s

were present at Ford Island

airbase in Hawaii at the

time of the Japanese attack

in December 1940, and all

survived. Several of these

unarmed aircraft took part

in the subsequent search

for the Japanese fleet, and

one well-known airframe

of that heroic action (1-J-1,

Bu.No.1063) survives to this

day. This airframe is currently

undergoing restoration at

the US National Air and

Space Museum, Smithsonian

Institute’s Stephen F. Udvar-

Hazy facility in Virginia.

To the team undertaking

the restoration, Bu.No. 1063

is known as “The Boat”.

In all, fifty S-

airframes were built.

EDUARD’S KIT

Eduard’s issue of the JRS-

follows their recent trend of

releasing other manufacturers’

plastic with their own brand

enhancements. In this case,

the plastic dates back to 2003,

when it was issued by Sword. It

was subsequently re-issued by

Special Hobby in 2006 with some

resin enhancements, notably

the interior seats and engines.

Eduard have taken the Special

Hobby kit a stage further and

added more resin (spinners and

prop bosses), etched brass for

the cockpit and some exterior

details, and masks. Seven

colourful schemes are offered,

five of them charting the history

of airframe Bu. No.1063:

• Bu.No.1063, VJ-1, 1938-1939.


• Bu.No.1193, VJ-1, Guantanamo
  Air Base, Cuba, 1938.


• Bu.No.1063, VJ-1, Pearl

Eduard 1/72 Sikorski JRS-1 Limited Edition “The Boat”

by Huw Morgan

SIKORSKI JRS-

20 • NOVEMBER 2017 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

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