Signifer's 1/48 scale
Grumman JRF-5 Goose

by Etienne Mulsant

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This is my 1/48 scale Grumman JRF-5 Goose seaplane from Signifer built almost entirely from the box as nearly everything is furnished in this kit. I have never seen such a complete model before.

Inside the box we even find sections of copper wire for the engines spark plug wires, pre-cut transparent windows and pre-drilled clear resin parts for the landing lights!

No use of any after-market sets and no real need of detail improvement is required during construction, except a pitot tube and aerial.

There are numerous nice resin parts perfectly cast (74 out of a total of 101). Only minimal attention is required when cutting them from their casting blocks.

General assembly is not really simple and sometimes turns to a true challenge. Constant dry fit is highly recommended, especially before gluing the main injected-parts to the resin items.

I used a combination of CA and two-part epoxy glues.

Despite this extra effort, the result is worthwhile (click thumbnail at right to view larger image).

The shape of the fuselage windows is incorrect but I missed this detail until it was too late.

The kit offers four marking options (US, French during Indochina war, English from the Fleet Air Arm and even Japanese after WWII).

I wanted to finish my JFR-5 in the tri-coloured scheme used by the US Navy during the mid-war period. I found a photograph of a “Goose” at Grumman’s Beth Page (NY) during the summer of 1942 in the book Carrier Air War in Original WWII Colours (Motorbook International, Lawson & Tillman ed. 1996).

The model was painted using an Evolution Harder & Steinbeck airbrush fitted with the fine 0,15 mm tip.

I used Gunze acrylics (H 85 sail colour) for the interior (suggested colour is “light fawn”); and Sea Blue (H 55 + 20 % white +20 % orange), Intermediate Blue (H 67 + white + a drop of yellow) and White (H 1) for the camouflage.

Details were highlighted with oil paints, mainly Mars Brown and Payne Grey.

This model is not easy to build, but the final result is really nice. I preferred Signifer’s kit to its equivalent from Czech Model, because of the higher level of detail and the great number of really beautiful resin parts.

It is possible to order directly from Signifer, as I did, on their website: http://signifer.chez.tiscali.fr 

And take note, “Goose” fans, this is a limited edition run!
 

Model, Images and Text Copyright © 2005 by Etienne Mulsant
Page Created 14 January, 2005
Last Updated 14 January, 2005

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