Clearwater Models: January 2020

Dai Nippon Imperial Airways H6K4-L "Ayanami" in 1:144 scale by Trumpeter Models.

Dai Nippon Kōkū Kabushiki Kaisha (大日本航空株式会社) or Greater Japan Airways (Imperial Japan Airways), was the national carrier of imperial Japan until 1945. Civilian airlines were then banned by the USA occupation forces until 1951 and the formation of Japan Airlines.

Thirty-six of the Kawanishi (川西航空機) H6K4-L (x20 airframes) and H6K2-L (x16 airframes) large flying boats were produced for civilian air transport service. The aircraft made it's maiden flight 14 July 1936. It could carry up to 18 passengers. The military name for the aircraft was the Type 97 Large Flying Boat (九七式大型飛行艇) .

The airline used the ultra-long range aircraft on three routes:
1) Yokohama - Saipan - Palau - Timor
2) Saigon - Bangkok
3) Yokohama - Saipan - Truk - Ponape - Jaluit
The Yokohama - Saipan route is 2340 km and took about 7.5 hours.
The Saipan - Palau route is 1492 km and took about 6.5 hours.

The maximum speed was a slow 340 km/h, with a cruising speed of only 222 km/h. Fully fuelled and without passengers it could reach a maximum range of 6000 km. It was possible to keep the aircraft aloft for up to 24 hours.

Aircraft J-BFOZ was named "Ayanami" (綾波). There are no known survivors of this production aircraft, having all been destroyed during WWII (Pacific) or scrapped in the post-war period.

I replaced the tail struts with metal wire as the plastic parts were too thick. I added stretched sprue wires for radio antennae. Paint is a single shot of Alclad gloss aluminium. The bottom is painted Vallejo's hull red. Topcoat is future floor wax. Decals are OOB.

Early Notes: This is a work in progress, as the next step is to put it in a water scene. It was photographed early as I fear the water scene may destroy the plastic. Stay tuned.
Later notes: Wow, that did NOT work at all. The E-Z Water from Scenic Woodlands set yellow then cracked. It went into the garbage hours after setting. I went with a sheet of glass painted a mottled blue and green for a display base.