1/48 Kawanishi E7K1 Alf Scratchbuild

Gallery Article by Jesse Belding on Mar 11 2012

  In memory of the victims of the 3-11 Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan 

 

 

 This is a full scratchbuild of the Kawanishi E7K1 Alf in 1/48 scale. The Alf was the Imperial Japanese Navy's main recon plane prior to the E13A Jake. It served aboard most warships equipped with catapults, they saw service in the China theater and throughout the Pacific War. The master kit was molded and cast in resin. The camouflaged one is off the Light Cruiser Jintsu, the Aluminum one is from a shore based unit.

 

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The Maru Mechanic issue on the E7K Alf was an invaluable reference and allowed for a fairly complete cockpit to be built.  The E7K carried 2 aft defensive machine guns, one in the belly through a sliding hatch door which was modelled open on the Jintsu plane.  For light bombing and anti-submarine missions it could carry 4 60Kg bombs.  I was inspired to build this as a companion to Hasegawa's very nice 1/48 scale F1M2 Pete. The scratchbuilding and molding took well over a year, though life often got in the way of progress. Rigging was done with fine gauge wire, the decals were borrowed from other IJN kits, the tail codes were spliced together.

Next up will be the E7K2 radial engine version of the Alf...

Jesse Belding

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Photos and text © by Jesse Belding