Biplan floatplane by Marushin

[PierreMarch]

Looks great...

[CFBC]

Hey - Thats interesting....... 1/48th scale - Hmmmmm. :)

[PierreMarch]

How comes nobody care about scale 1:48? What the hell is the problem with them?

[Hoverbug]

Just picked up one of these myself. Haven't got it together, but it looks very nice.

[PierreMarch]

Really? Tell us when you receive it!

[CFBC]

You have to assemble them? How do they come?? Kit form? :)

[PierreMarch]

Yes, the Marushin planes come as kits, but you don't really need glue. A screwdriver is necessary, though. All you have to do is put the wings, the propeller and the tank. It takes 15 min.
I've got 2 zeros home: sliding canopy, retracting landing gear.

[NeilD]

are they 'metal' or plastic?
Neil

[Hoverbug]

I've got it now, but haven't had time to put it together. I also picked up the land-based version. It's nice to see some diecast floatplanes. I'm also looking forward to the Armour Rufe. BTW, these are metal with some small plastic bits like antennas, exhaust rings and canopies that need to be attached. Generally, they are very nice. My Betty is a very imposing and very hefty model.

[planejunky]

How comes nobody care about scale 1:48? What the hell is the problem with them?

Size, and no mansion to store them in! ;) :D

[PierreMarch]

are they 'metal' or plastic?
Neil

It's full metal.

[Ara1]

Very nice-- is it a Willow trainer? I love Japanese aircraft!

[tsingtao]

I have about 20 of the Marushin 1/48 models. These are HEAVY metal, very solid and well done.
Some minor assembly problems: a couple of the models have a rubber O ring that slips on over a metal plug before you slide the cowling onto the fuselage. The cowling may jam and not seat tightly to the fuselage no matter how hard you try to shove it on, and then the damned thing is hard to remove for reseating. I leave the O rings off and use Super Glue or something similar to get the best fit.
Also, on a couple of them the wings could be a bit better machined - if you screw them on there is a small gap between the two wings on the bottom of the aircraft, the wings are "angled upwards" just a bit too much. Try the wing fit with a "partial screwing" to check for this.
I always glue the horizontal stabilizers in place after adjusting them to the proper angle with respect to the wings.
I do not trust the plastic canopies to stay in place when "snapped on", so I use a little bit of SuperGlue. Some of the landing gear have to be adjusted a little by eye so they hang properly and the wheels do not turn in or out too far. I always SuperGlue them in the down position.
A real annoyance: all of the wing mounted machine guns, pitot tubes, and joysticks are just little pieces of shiny metal, not tapered correctly, and some of the machineguns/cannon I think are too long. On some models the pitot tube is too fat to fit into the hole drilled into the front edge of the wing, the tube cannot be inserted far enough to hold in place. Some scraping and digging and SuperGlue works here. A purist could paint the MG's gunmetal grey and cut them to proper dimension, but I am too lazy so far to do this!
Another annoyance: Marushin has apparently changed the numbers on some of the kits, so the kit number on a website may NOT be the same kit number in the Marushin catalog! Best to request a kit by specific name of the aircraft, e.g. "Mr Shiga's Zero". I recently ordered a "Jack" and a "Tony" from an excellent website and received them immediately, but they were listed as a "Frank" and a "George" on my invoice, and the Marushin kit numbers on the boxes did not match the kit numbers on the website!
There is no weathering on the models, and very few have any camo, they come in standard paint schemes as if from the factory. But you can weather them as you wish.
All in all, I like the Marushin models a lot and it is fun to assembly them!

[rdenham]

I have about 20 of the Marushin 1/48 models. These are HEAVY metal, very solid and well done.

Wow, 20 Marushin's you a very impressive collection. Marushin 1/48's have always been a point of curiosity for me; would you be able to post any pictures of you collection?

[tsingtao]

Sorry, cannot post pictures of my Marushins. Good pictures are given by Aiken's Airplanes website in USA (am I allowed to say this? I am NOT advertising for them, but they do have Marushins, which are apparently difficult to get from Japan). The models are sturdy, and very nice looking in my opinion. The Germans and Brits seem to have had the most colorful aircraft of WWII, with many camo schemes. Japanese had simple color schemes, and often their "camoflage" was produced by simple weathering or slopped on by mops or brooms using paint available in the field. We Yanks tended to have lots of girly picture nose art. I read of a case of a B-29 shot down over Japan in 1945, which carried on its side a large painting of a nude woman. This part of the bomber remained intact and unscarred, and many Japanese men walked for miles just to see it!

[PierreMarch]

I've got 2 Marushin zero's myself. I must say that I love them. It's just a pity they are so difficult to find. I also recommend hlj.com - the cheapest seller (it's in Japan).

[tsingtao]

I assembled Marushin's biplane floatplane last week. It looks superb, and is especially enhanced by the six wire stringers that connect between the upper and lower wings. They are easy to insert with a little patience. I have a few Marushin catalogs with great photos, if you want one, email me and give me yor mailing address.

[Rusty]

Hey there,
Just emailed you - if anything can get me started on a new range, it's a real, hold-it -in-your-hand catalogue!

[Rusty]

I assembled Marushin's biplane floatplane last week. It looks superb, and is especially enhanced by the six wire stringers that connect between the upper and lower wings. They are easy to insert with a little patience. I have a few Marushin catalogs with great photos, if you want one, email me and give me yor mailing address.

Arrived this morning - thanks!
Too bad I can't read japanese.... but there seems to be some sort of Japanese Carrier diorama kit on the back page which looks cool! Great pics and a great catalogue - thanks for sending it!

[Hoverbug]

I sent an email to the company inquiring about the diorama, but it's several thousand dollars and they won't ship out of the country as it's so fragile.


Arrived this morning - thanks!
Too bad I can't read japanese.... but there seems to be some sort of Japanese Carrier diorama kit on the back page which looks cool! Great pics and a great catalogue - thanks for sending it!

[Rusty]

I sent an email to the company inquiring about the diorama, but it's several thousand dollars and they won't ship out of the country as it's so fragile.

Ah. there go my dreams of a 1/48 scale Japanese Carrier.....

[PierreMarch]

I have about 20 of the Marushin 1/48 models. These are HEAVY metal, very solid and well done.
Some minor assembly problems: a couple of the models have a rubber O ring that slips on over a metal plug before you slide the cowling onto the fuselage. The cowling may jam and not seat tightly to the fuselage no matter how hard you try to shove it on, and then the damned thing is hard to remove for reseating. I leave the O rings off and use Super Glue or something similar to get the best fit.
Also, on a couple of them the wings could be a bit better machined - if you screw them on there is a small gap between the two wings on the bottom of the aircraft, the wings are "angled upwards" just a bit too much. Try the wing fit with a "partial screwing" to check for this.
I always glue the horizontal stabilizers in place after adjusting them to the proper angle with respect to the wings.
I do not trust the plastic canopies to stay in place when "snapped on", so I use a little bit of SuperGlue. Some of the landing gear have to be adjusted a little by eye so they hang properly and the wheels do not turn in or out too far. I always SuperGlue them in the down position.
A real annoyance: all of the wing mounted machine guns, pitot tubes, and joysticks are just little pieces of shiny metal, not tapered correctly, and some of the machineguns/cannon I think are too long. On some models the pitot tube is too fat to fit into the hole drilled into the front edge of the wing, the tube cannot be inserted far enough to hold in place. Some scraping and digging and SuperGlue works here. A purist could paint the MG's gunmetal grey and cut them to proper dimension, but I am too lazy so far to do this!
Another annoyance: Marushin has apparently changed the numbers on some of the kits, so the kit number on a website may NOT be the same kit number in the Marushin catalog! Best to request a kit by specific name of the aircraft, e.g. "Mr Shiga's Zero". I recently ordered a "Jack" and a "Tony" from an excellent website and received them immediately, but they were listed as a "Frank" and a "George" on my invoice, and the Marushin kit numbers on the boxes did not match the kit numbers on the website!
There is no weathering on the models, and very few have any camo, they come in standard paint schemes as if from the factory. But you can weather them as you wish.
All in all, I like the Marushin models a lot and it is fun to assembly them!

I've got two zeros with retractable landing gear, but I haven't got any Marushin plane with a double undercarriage (one for down position, one for up). How do those u/c look like? Are they easy to use? Is it the same system as on Corgi planes?