The LunaDiver is one of those instant classics from MaK. It’s a perfect balance of organic design and mechanical details.
In 2009 Jason Eaton recreated Kow’s original 1/20 design as a pattern for a resin cast kit. I was not able to obtain one at the time of release and accepted my fate. Fast forward to 2023 and Jason was cleaning out the last of his MaK items and generously gifted me his original master. The master had some wear and broken pieces over the years of storage and took some minor shipping damage before I received it.
The main body was broken into two large and heavy halves plus a separate piece for the tail. The whole thing weighs a little over five pounds. My first step was to hogg out some of the epoxy putty to lighten the load. This step allowed me to secure a mounting point for a 1/4-20 screw thread and thoroughly secure the tail with epoxy glue and screws.
The most time intensive part has been blending putty for the part halves and multiple primer and sanding steps to smooth out the surface from the assembly and repairs.
This is easily the largest model I have built, measuring at twenty-one inches long and twelve inches wide.
To display and support the model, I used a camera mount with a ball joint. This was mounted to a large piece of MDF to maintain stability.
All the smaller bits and pieces will be added once I am satisfied with the surface. I plan to use brass pins wherever possible. I still need to replace rivets and panel lines too.
This is quite daunting, yet I’m super happy to be working on it.
