Inter-Island Airways "Kauai" - Sikorsky S.38 - CMR 1/72nd resin

 

Blue Skies and Blue Seas 

(Newsreel with the christening of sister planes:

https://digital.tcl.sc.edu/digital/collection/MVTN/id/6680

Inter-Island Airways was the first company to fly scheduled services between the islands of the then still territory of Hawai'i in 1929 (it became the 50th State much later, in 1959). Today we know it as Hawaiian Airlines.

A Bellanca CH-300* was first used by the incipient airline for promotion and to familiarize passengers with the still, in those times, somewhat scary prospect of flying. After the flights with the Bellanca, as a landplane -that only flew site sightseeing tours- the Sikorsky S.38 amphibious (that is, capable of landing on terra firma and alight on water) were put to work.

There were four of them, numbered #1 (NC111M, "Hawaii"), # 2 (NC112m "Maui"), #3 (NC305N Kauai) and #4 (NC4V, "Molokai").

I went for "Kauai", as I am very fond of the beautiful island and its kind people. I used the Draw Decals set that caters for these versions.

The release by CMR of this kit has been warmly received, as many modelers love this plane, being not only beautiful in its own way, but historically significant. CMR deserves praise for producing a rendition of this very complex plane, but the same complexity makes production (not to mention building) quite the challenge. The kit was released a number of years ago, and compared with the S.39 of the same manufacturer, is notably less delicate in detail, and my sample had several issues that needed fixing. Neither CMR´s S.38 or S.39 are for the beginner, as they present a number of problems. My sample suffered from casting mishaps, deformation of parts, and engineering issues. These particularities are dealt with at length and in detail in the building post:
https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/09/sikorsky-s38-cmr-172-resin.html

The two S.39s, by the same manufacturer, as a comparison, can be found here:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/12/spirit-of-africa-sikorsky-s39-cmr-172nd.html

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2021/12/sikorsky-s39-varney-air-ferries-cmr.html

I am glad I built both kits (three models in total, two S.39 and the S.38), but they took a long time, a lot of effort, and were cause at times of quite a bit of frustration. All required some degree of correction, remediation, research, scratching and improvisation. If you have either kit, you are fortunate, as they replicate two most beautiful and desirable planes, and are a starting point after all, but be prepared for a bumpy ride, and you will have to be very patient and resourceful. Still, the CMR kits of these Sikorsky amphibians are the only game in town so far, therefore much gratitude goes along with the (well-deserved) nitpickings. 

*I have build two of these Bellancas from the nice Khee-Kha Art Products vacuformed kit, one for a friend:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/07/172-vacuformed-khee-kha-art-products.html

and another commissioned for the CEO of Hawaiian Airlines on their 85th anniversary:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2014/11/khee-kha-art-products-bellanca-ch-300.html

In case you need to use the toilet:

My friend David, for whom I built the model, is quite elated by the results, as you can see here: