Yaks float plane build. The Aichi M6 A Seiran

[yak face]

Heres my TB victim (?!) A very interesting aircraft from the late ,some might say desperate, stages of the war in the pacific. Its the Aichi M6a Seiran , a floatplane designed to be launched from a huge submarine. The Idea was for the Sub to get as close as possible to the US mainland then launch the aircraft to strategically bomb high value targets . The 390 ft long submarine , the I 400 , had a 100 foot long , 11 foot diameter watertight tube on the deck which contained 3 Seirans , folded up with the floats being separate also. On surfacing the aircraft would be assembled and unfolded then launched from the catapult , the floats only being used for training ,on the actual mission it would go without them- being a one way ticket!. Fortunately for the US they never saw active service , only 1 entire example surviving of the 27 or so built. The kit is the Tamiya 1/48 and looks to be nicely detailed as per usual Tamiya standards , with nice engraved lines , detailed cockpit and even a ballast weight provided for the front of the floats . Heres the box and some rather poor in bag sprue shots! Tony

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[Ian M]

Nice one. I'll look forward to that.

Ian M

[Guest]

Very nice one Tony!!

Polux

[tanktrack]

the 2014 builds seem to throwing up some very unusual models that we may have not seen otherwise which I find very interesting keep it comming

[papa 695]

Nice to see you in on this one Tony and a very nice choice

[colin m]

Looks great Tony. With around only 27 built, I'm surprised an kit manufacturer decided to make them, oh hang about, Tamiya, now it makes sense.

[Guest]

Looking forward to the build Tony & plenty of pic's.

John

[yak face]

Its been a long time coming but heres an update on the Seiran. Ive got the cockpit done at last , it went together very easily but the seat belts proved to be the sticking point. Firstly the kit supplies only a very vague looking decal , not an option for me I'm afraid. So off to the spares box where I find a Reheat P.E. fret of assorted Japanese seat belts , success!? NO , the instruction sheet is terrible and doesnt give any clues as to how the different parts should go together ,plus theres several different styles of harness on the fret ,each with several different types of strap. Off to the Internet then , but again no joy, there are virtually no pics of Seiran cockpits or seats and loads of conflicting images of various Japanese seat belt layouts. I ended up going for the strange lopsided style with only one shoulder strap and 3 on the seat pan seen on some IJN aircraft, if its wrong then shoot me.The build should speed up a bit now ,(its going to have to , Ive only got 2 weeks till the deadline) the fuselage and wings are together and the floats and beaching trolley have also been assembled, cheers tony

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[papa 695]

That's looking very good Tony

[Vaughan]

A really nice start Tony.

[Ian M]

A very nice start on the office. Good photos as well ;-)

Ian M

[flyjoe180]

Great cockpit Tony. As Ian says, nice pics too.

[monica]

real nice start Tony will be watching this one ,like the jap planes, and maybe find out some info on the paints you use,

[Guest]

Very nice work Tony! This cockpit looks genial

Polux

[yak face]

real nice start Tony will be watching this one ,like the jap planes, and maybe find out some info on the paints you use,

Thanks Monica , I'll make a point of listing the numbers of the Tamiya paints I use during the build .The cockpit for example was done with Tamiya xf 22 , cheers Tony