Scale Aviation Modeller International — November 2017

The cockpit windscreen is

quite clear and a reasonable

fit, although the side sills of

the cockpit need to be built up

slightly with plastic strip to

align the canopy with the roof.

The engineering of the kit is

such that the fuselage and wing

can be built up separately, to be

joined very late in the day. The

wing itself is mostly made up

of one-piece upper and lower

halves, although apparently and

inexplicably the wing tips are

moulded separately. Trial fitting

suggested that the joint could be

troublesome, so before joining

the upper and lower halves the

individual tips were glued to their

respective wing halves with the

aid of a sheet of glass to keep them

flat. (Although the instructions

don’t show this, I discovered at the

end of the build that photographs

of the real aircraft show that the

wing tips are slightly upswept.)

There are some internal

mould ejector bosses that need

to be removed before the wings

will fit together. I glued mine

incrementally, starting from the

centre, in order to make sure the

dihedral was correct. With the

main wing structure cleaned up,

the upper and lower surface details

can be added. These are mostly

courtesy of Eduard’s PE set, which

again serves to lift the appearance.

The resin engines are well

rendered, although the PE ignition

wiring is a bit feeble and tends to

disappear into the cylinder clutter;

slightly oversized lead wire leads

would probably look more effective.

The engine cowlings need some

filling and sanding to get them

round and I ended up having to

insert a slip of plastic card into

one joint. The kit’s resin exhausts

and oil cooler intakes add some

finesse, while the PE flap and

aileron hinges are much better

than the oversized plastic ones.

Having studied the painting

diagram of the airframe I intended

to replicate, I concluded that the

bulk of the wing painting could

be done prior to fitting it to the

fuselage, which hopefully would

simplify masking. I attached the

central pylon to the wing, which

allowed me to install the awkward

double-wire bracing between the

pylon and the engine nacelle. As

the painting proceeded, I was

able to fit the outrigger floats to

the wing, and rig them too before

attaching them to the fuselage.

The undersides of the wing,

fuselage, floats, and tailplane

was painted with Mr. Hobby

H315/325 FS16440/26440 Grey,

after light pre-shading with Mr.

Hobby H77 Tyre Black. After

masking, the upper surfaces of

the floats and struts were painted

Tamiya XF-82 Ocean Grey 2. After

fixing the struts to the wing,

the rigging was completed using

Uschi van der Rosten thread.

The fuselage was painted

using Mr. Hobby H325 and Tamiya

XF-82, with a hard demarcation

line along the lower chine and

a softer demarcation (achieved

The undercarriage parts are poorly moulded

and the assembly is complex. I used a simple

diagram to help align the radius arms.

When assembled, the undercarriage

is surprisingly robust.

The Eduard PE set and the kit resin exhausts help to make the upper wing look quite busy. I made

the handrails from wire, rather than use the skinny PE parts.

The outrigger floats are dressed up with PE

hatches, and I rigged them before fitting to

the wings.

24 • NOVEMBER 2017 • SCALE AVIATION MODELLER INTERNATIONAL

SIKORSKI JRS-1

020-25-FEAT-TheBoat-1117.indd 24 16/10/2017 15:27