Nichimo 1/20 Cessna 172 "Juliet" Back after a long absence

[Hawkwrench]

For 2023, I've decided to temporarily shelf all my helo builds so that I can concentrate on building this model for a friend's dad using the OOP Nichimo 1/20 Cessna 172 model.

I reached out to Josh Flowers (Aviation101) on YT about building his father's airplane from years ago as a surprise gift. 

Josh is all for it and we are supposed to surprise his dad with the model the week of the 2023 Nats in San Marcos, Texas.

His dad's 172 was N9812J. He called it "Juliet".

It carried this exact paint scheme except the wheel pants were all white.

The model requires alot of scratchbuilding especially on the inside to accurately show a 1980 model 172 instead of the early 70's 172.

The first hurdle was the rear passenger seat. The Nichimo model's seat looks nothing like the later version on the seat, so many nights were spent scratchbuilding the new seat. It still needs painted and seat belts, but I wanted to show off the seat.

 

 

Comments welcome!

Tim

Edited March 15 by Hawkwrench

[rafju]

Wow great start with this new seat.

Thanks for sharing, of course I'll follow ;-)

 

[MikeMaben]

[Hawkwrench]

Next up is the cockpit and cabin floor. I filled in all the holes with styrene rod and sanded them flush.

I cut off the pilot's seats rails and they are not on the actual airplane and filled them in with .040 strip styrene.

Next up will be the 2 pilot's seats. 

 

Tim

[Anthony in NZ]

Lovely start! Great to see a civvie build…. Although I do love helicopters a lot.

 

 I’m looking forward to watching this progress. Nice work 

[Jaro]

Cool topic! Havn't seen this model ever before.

 

The seat is awesome!. Worth time spent. Keep going

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by Jaro

[John Everett]

You'll see that the kit floor will leave a 3mm gap on either side of the fuselage once you get the side joined. It's not a problem if you model the cabin doors closed. But you'll need to address the gaps if the doors are opened.

(I've still got the file for a replacement floor on my hard drive at home. Let me see if I can scribe out a couple copies for you.)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bhuVFnD2GMKaR7qQ9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4YEizCWa4EL1X13Q8

 

 

Edited January 1, 2023 by John Everett

[rafju]

Tim, 3D printing for your seat?

[Hawkwrench]

7 hours ago, John Everett said:

You'll see that the kit floor will leave a 3mm gap on either side of the fuselage once you get the side joined. It's not a problem if you model the cabin doors closed. But you'll need to address the gaps if the doors are opened.

(I've still got the file for a replacement floor on my hard drive at home. Let me see if I can scribe out a couple copies for you.)

https://photos.app.goo.gl/bhuVFnD2GMKaR7qQ9
https://photos.app.goo.gl/4YEizCWa4EL1X13Q8

 

 

Thanks for the heads up on the gap John, and thank you for all of your help so far.

My plan is to have both doors open so he can see the interior. I thought about opening up the small cargo door, but I'm not 100% sure yet.

Your builds were/are my inspiration to even tackle this project!

I have alot of your build pics saved for reference. 

 

Tim

Edited January 1, 2023 by Hawkwrench

[Hawkwrench]

7 hours ago, rafju said:

Tim, 3D printing for your seat?

Not sure what you mean???

I scratchbuilt this seat. 

 

Tim

 

 

[chrish]

Oooooooh this is gonna be good in the hands of the master!

if I remember right I built one back in the early 70’s when I was just a kid, not even a teen yet. I think it was motorized? I’d love to try building one again but daaaaaam they’re expensive now!

ok I’m pulling up a chair, I’ll get a big bag of Doritos and a Drink

[Dpgsbody55]

 

 

Cheers,

Michael

[rafju]

9 hours ago, Hawkwrench said:

Not sure what you mean???

I scratchbuilt this seat. 

 

Tim

 

 

Ok Tim thanks I was only asking if you used a 3D printer to get your seat.

Congrats, your skills are outstanding.

[John1]

What a cool change of pace.   I’ll be following along for this build.   

[Hawkwrench]

8 hours ago, rafju said:

Ok Tim thanks I was only asking if you used a 3D printer to get your seat.

Congrats, your skills are outstanding.

Thanks.

The optional child's seat in the kit looked close to the real passenger seat, so that's why I used it.

The kit's rear passenger seat looked more like airline seats!

 

Tim