Otaki's 1/48 scale
Kawanishi K5Y2 Willow

by Bill Cronk

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Here is my 1/48 scale K5Y2 Willow.

This is the old 1/48 scale Otaki kit though aged it is still a good ole kit as far as fit and dimensions. The Otaki kit is a K5Y1 and can with a little work be made into K5Y2/3. The differences between the two are the Y2 has a larger engine and larger vertical stabilizer and two floats.

With the help from fellow modelers and pics I started my conversion project with the construction of the floats. I made a master and vacuformed the floats using .30 styrene. This was my first attempt at building floats and I had a few trial and errors until I was happy with the outcome. I started scratch building the cockpit and engine details. The cockpit ( which is still minus some small details) I used different shades of Testors light green mixed with grays and yellows to give me some depth inside.Concerning the engine I had to enlarge the engine ring and kit bash a engine using the old Tamiya Zero cylinder heads. The back portion of the engine is my best attempt at duplicating the details located there. One of the hardest parts of this conversion was the float braces. I had to build a jig and keep everything square and make double sure it was strong.Other then the N struts I used Contrail's struts throughout the kit. The rigging was .10 wire and .07 plastic.

When it came time to paint the dreaded "ORANGE" I used Gunze Japanese orange yellow toned way down with Gunze white.

I used Testors flat acrl.green toned down with white and lightly sprayed over a base coat of light grey. I gave the model a light wash using my favorite combo odorless thinner and tube oils.

This wash is simple and does not effect the acrl.paints.

The markings were from the Aeromaster Japanese marking sheet.

This was my first serious attempt at building a biplane. I will be waiting awhile before I tackle my old 1/50 scale Pete.

I hope you all enjoy the Willow. I had fun building it.
 

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Model, Images & Text Copyright © 2007 by Bill Cronk
Page Created 05 October, 2007
Last Updated 24 December, 2007

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