Sikorsky S-61A Seaking JMSDF - completed

The first idea: does it work? 

It works very well! Flexible upholstery for the inner side of the Seaking  

It's very flexible! 

Additional instrument panel represents very good the japanese version. 

Hood should be moved 0,5 mm afterwards, the middle console should be moved 1 mm forward to match the length of the plotting screen. 

Photoetched parts by Eduard are designed very well, but.... in my opinion not usable. I tried to bend them to correct shape without success. The usual technology helped me to manage this task.  

Inner side thinned and covered with several pieces of mesh.  

Reworked/corrected attachments points for the sponsons.  

Left sponson corrected: rectangular panel removed and 4th cap added.  

Corrected attachment points and cable connection panel for the winch.  

Weapon rack - attachment points.  

JMSDF intakes, the edge should be round. Inner side reworked.  

Attachment point for the strut has two overlapping sheets as cover.  

Support for the “bench” of 0,9 mm round rod. 

Cushion/fabric made of thick, selfadhesive alu foil. 

Kit seat (pilot seats are the same as used in the cabin) 

Hasegawas Seaking has no cabin roof.  

Roof made of 0,5 mm plate and 3x4 mm rectangular rod.  

Attachment with 2 wire pieces.  

Length and wide matching to the cabin& fuselage shape.  

Gaps filled and sanded smooth. Ribs restored and added rivets. Wires and cables coming soon (after painting).  

MV Products (lenses) and Tesa (transparent cover) 

Walkway area in light grey (unusual in comparison with other walkways). Unthinned Humbrol sprayed with low pressure on decal film.  

The original has an rope, the kit unfortunately nope 🙂. Fine thread partially glued with CA and any small pieces of thin plastic were the solution.  

ResKit wheels are very much better than in the kit. Each wheel has a separate wheel hub (better for painting). 

My usual technic for clean installation of windows: paint the surface first and install the windows at last.  

The door window need a little bit work for flush fit with the fuselage. 

All windows protected.  

Gaps between engine area an cabin sealed with Humbrol maskol and foam (sanding dust protection) 

Restored reinforcing sheet stripe on the edge.  

Japanese version has two small side roof panels. Unfortunately I have no exact informations about the size. 

As usual I intend to install the switches (made of silver wire) after the painting. The holes are well visible.  

Lower edge of the fuselage should be get a 0,3 mm stripe to prevent the gap.  

Triangle shaped main attachment points and two auxiliary mounting brackets for lower mirror boom. 

3 mounting points (additional metal sheet on the original heli) for the upper mirrors.  

Grips with triangle shaped reinforcement and mounting plate for the large pitot tube. 

Windscreen wipers axles (2 x 2). 

Next painting step: nose and upper fuselage light grey.  

Lower side of the bow (and part of tail) are painted a bit lighter orange than the rest of the lower fuselage.  

Reworked/new axle with unlock bar: ready for light grey.  

Middle section of the hinges are “part” of the foldable tail.  

Mr. Color 68 (red madder) is more orange than red and should be lighter than the red of the insygnia. The other color should be a little bit lighter than orange and is not a fluorescent paint (despite the offect original photos).  

I decided to use a fine brush for painting the intakes dark grey.  

Winch support unit in place.  

Modified winch unit (left). Search light (right). 

Forgotten diagonal strut and wiring added. Mirror booms; the first attempt of round plastic failed so I made the booms a second time from brass rod.  

Main landing gears completed with tie down rings and brake line.  

Eduards etched oleo scissors are nicely designed but to thinn. Because of that I reworked the kit parts.  

Remaining 2x4 wires added. Ready for installation in the wheel well.  

Wheel well prepared for gear installation.  

Winch in place.  

Searchlight  

Left antenna wire completed minus painting the booms orange and isolators white and black 

Right antenna is a bit shorter than the left because the large door.  

Isolators (cotton swab heated over a candle and “pulled” thinn) in place.  

Eduards etched wippers are too fine designed so I decided to make them from scratch.  

Upper mirrors in place. The mirror surface is made of bare metal foil.  

Pitot tubes of two different brass tubes and a piece of fine wire.  

Fuel dump tube. Stripes are decal.  

0,4 mm brass tube as support struts.  

Painting completed.  

Blades separated for easier cleaning and detailing.  

Painting completed minus dry brushing.  

Tail rotor completed and in place.  

Blades as warm up for the rotor head. Right: kit. Middle: modified kit blade & Helo Stuff hinge. Left: completed blade.  

Remember: each 2 blades folds in different direction. “Red” blade is fixed.  

Kitpart (2 halves) + 55 additional parts. Will be continued.  

Blades completed: 34 parts per each blade (kit part, connection plate of Helo Stuff and 32 additional parts).  

Actually rotor status quo (ARSQ): 227 parts.  

Each blade has an vibration damper. In the kit it’s no really represented. ARSQ: 277 p. 

4 blades have a hydraulic engine for turn the blade when folded. ARSQ: 313 p. 

All 4 foldable blades have a hydraulic distributor/boss. Because of complex shape I had to simplify this parts (beige block). ARSQ: 341 p.  

Rotorhead-side of the hinges. 2x left folded and 2x right folded. Lower side and outer side completed.  

Upper side coming soon. ARSQ: 441 p. 

Top side hydraulic distributor, wires and blade links not yet in place. ARSQ: 469 p. Will be continued... 

Main electrical cables in place. Different small parts here and there... ARSQ: 510 p. 

24 wires and hydraulic lines later. ARSQ: 534 p. Will be continued.  

Cable laying completed. ARSQ approx. 580 p. Blade pitch links come at next.  

(Forgotten) Main hydraulic lines added and nearly completed. ARSQ: 585 p. 

“Taumelscheibe” (swash plate) and blade pitch links completed. ARSQ: 632 p. 

Last fixed parts of the rotor head: “Taumelscheibe” - scissors. ARSQ: 644 p. 

Leading edge in steel & yellow stripes at next.  

Last parts for the rotor: 5 x axis and 10 x locking bolt. ARSQ finished: 674 p.