Hasegawa 1/72 Shinmeiwa 1/72 US-1 'Rescue Bird'

The Shin Meiwa PS-1 and US-1A is a large STOL aircraft designed for anti-submarine warfare (ASW) and air-sea rescue (SAR) work respectively by Japanese aircraft manufacturer Shin Meiwa. The PS-1 anti-submarine warfare (ASW) variant is a flying boat which carried its own beaching gear on board, while the search-and-rescue (SAR) orientated US-1A is a true amphibian.

Development of the PS-1 has its origins in flying boat research performed by the Shin Meiwa during the 1950s. The company, believing that their design was capable of regular use upon the open sea, petitioned the Japanese military to acquire the type as a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA). Following the demonstration of a converted Grumman HU-16 Albatross testbed aircraft, referred to as the UF-XS, the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) awarded Shin Meiwa a contract in 1966 to further develop its design via two further prototypes, which were designated PS-X. During 1969, the JMSDF placed the first order for an eventual fleet of 21 ASW aircraft, designated PS-1; orders for the SAR variant, designated US-1A, were also issued during the 1970s.

Shin Meiwa were keen to develop additional variants and derivative aircraft, including substantially larger designs which they had studied, but many of these ambitions remained as paper projects only. During the 1980s, the JMSDF decided to adopt land-based Lockheed P-3 Orions, displacing the PS-1s from the ASW role and leading to the variant's retirement during 1989. Following the withdrawal of the last active US-1A in 2017, the type has been replaced by the ShinMeiwa US-2, a modernised variant.

First released in 1972 as the PS-1, it was reissued a half dozen times in that configuration until this release in 1996 as the US-1. It has since been reissued a number of times as either type with the most recent in 2023. Since it is a 50 year old tooling, you can expect the surface detail to be mostly raised.

The kit provides a rudimentary cockpit and that is pretty much it for the interior. Since this is the SAR bird, you don't need to build the torpedo pods. The kit has what appears to be working flaps. The fuselage is split into left and right halves with a separate lower forward hull. It requires the nose gear bay to be installed prior to closing things up. Though instructions show the nose gear attached before installing the gear bay, you should be able to put that off until after painting.

The T56 engines are a simple construct with right and left nacelles and a single forward section into which the props are installed. Wings are an upper and lower half for each side. You'll need to fill the holes for the torpedo pods and searchlight on the lower wings as those are not used in the US-1. You also won't need the MAD boom.

Now for the biggest change and that is the landing gear housings on the side of the fuselage. As the US-1 can alight on land, those are larger and beefier than what is with the PS-1. They are part of the resin suite that includes not only the gear sponsons, but also a new upper fuselage VOR antenna and another item (probably a light) that is on the fin, which you can see in the box art covered by the yellow fuselage stripe.

Instructions are well done and in Japanese. In fact, they are the original design from 1972 and so look quite dated. An addendum sheet is provided for the US-1 variant. You get a large decal sheet with completed digits for two planes from the only unit to operate them, 71 Squadron. A variety of additional number are included so you can do any US-1 in the fleet for which you have a photo. Wing walk area decals are also provided.

I have seen this built before and it makes into a large and impressive model. It is fairly low parts count as these things go and while you may baulk at building a raised panel line kit, it is seriously the only option in this scale.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shin_Meiwa_US-1A

September 2024

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