Harbour, February 1942.- Bu.No.1063, VJ-1, summer 1943.
- Bu.No.1063, VJ-1, 1943 - early 1945.
- Bu.No.1063, NACA Langley
Memorial Aeronautical
Laboratory, May 1945- November 1946.
- Bu.No.1192, VJ-2, circa 1939 – 1940.
The Sword/Special Hobby plastic
is typical of short-run kits of
the era, with rather soft detail,
huge sprue gates, and the odd
broken part. The resin and PE help
quite a bit, although fortunately,
courtesy of the Editor, I also
had available Eduard’s separate
JRS-1 Update PE sheet (72642).
This sheet has lots more external
detail; in particular, the wheel well
interiors are very impressive. I’d
go so far as to suggest that this
set is essential if one is to do the
model justice. It’s a shame Eduard
did not include it as standard.
To round off the package,Eduard include a nicely-printed
28-page booklet explaining
the role played by the JRS-
1 immediately following the
Pearl Harbour attack, as well
as a number of useful reference
photographs of the airframe now
under restoration at the Udvar-
Hazy facility in Washington (the
Smithsonian website has more).
Despite the historical
significance of 1-J-1 at the time
of Pearl Harbour, I decided to
finish the model in the scheme
representing 1-J-1 a little later
in life, as seen at Ford field in
February 1942. By this time,
the garish pre-war colours
had been over-painted with
blue-grey and grey, and the
temporary early-war red and
white rudder stripes were added.THE BUILD
The build is a moderately complex
affair, given the multi-media
nature of the model and the
limitations of short-run mouldingKIT DETAILS
KIT: SIKORSKI JRS-1 LIMITED EDITION
“ TH E BOAT ”
MANUFACTURER: EDUARD
SCALE: 1/72
PRODUCT CODE: 2118
PANEL LINES: RECESSED
KIT PARTS: 105 PLASTIC, 23 CLEAR, 31 RESIN,
AND AROUND 100 PHOTO-ETCH (PE).
TYPE: INJECTION-MOULDED PLASTIC.
STATUS: REISSUE OF SPECIAL HOBBY
PLASTIC.
DECAL OPTIONS: 7“A NICE MODEL FROM THE
BASIC PARTS, THANKS LARGELY
TO EDUARD’S PE ADDITIONS
AND THE COLOUR SCHEMES”
Detail on the main parts is reasonable,
although not as crisp as more modern offerings.The fuselage interior has a number of knockout
marks which need to be removed.The fabric effect for the control surfaces is
nicely done.The smaller parts are less well done, with flash
and misshapen, broken parts.The Special Hobby issue includes resin seats,
engines, and control surface balance horns. Eduard
add Brassin spinners or exposed prop bosses (right).WWW.SAMPUBLICATIONS.COM • NOVEMBER 2017 • 21
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