1/48 Monogram OS2U Kingfisher

by Ivan Pliopas on Aug 6 2003

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During WWII, the Mexican Air Force (F.A.M. – Fuerza Aérea Mexicana) received a total of 12 Vought OS2U-3 Kingfishers as part of its modernization program. All of these machines had a fixed landing gear and were painted olive drab over neutral grey. In 1943, five of these planes were transferred to the Mexican Navy (Armada de México), to form a squadron to patrol the Gulf of Mexico against the threat of German submarines. These planes had the same land based configuration used by the Air Force, but had their olive drab upper camouflage color replaced by dark blue. In 1945, two of these machines were converted to seaplanes, having EDO floats installed. In addition, they received a new camouflage scheme consisting of two tones of grey. A third plane was also received in that same year, this one already with floats. Unfortunately, one would be lost in an accident a short time later.

The Kingfisher served with the Mexican Navy until the late 50´s, the last survivor returning to the U.S. in 1964 to be exhibited in the USS Alabama museum. 

My Kingfisher represents one of the seaplanes belonging to the Mexican Navy (Armada de México), as it appeared when operating out of San Juan de Ulúa, Vera Cruz, in 1945. The kit is the old Monogram Kingfisher, upgraded with the cockpit, the main floats, and the cowl resin sets recently released by Cutting Edge. I’ve also opted to drop the flaps and reposition the flying surfaces. This was, by far, the toughest part of the whole construction process.

My inspiration to build this kit came from the 1/72 Lodela (ex-Airfix) Kingfisher, which comes with three of the schemes used by the Mexican Kingfishers. The model I’ve built is one of the options of that kit. Painting and decaling was mostly done based on the Lodela instruction sheet. Since I could not obtain a wealth of additional information on the use of Kingfishers by the Mexican Navy, I had no other choice but to trust the Lodela instruction sheet.

Another problem that I’ve had was finding detailed pictures of the Kingfisher. Apart from the Squadron “In Action” volume on the type, there seems to be no other publication, currently available, that presents an in-depth coverage of that airplane or a detailed scale plan. This is even more surprising when we consider that there are some examples preserved in museums around the world (US, Chile and Cuba, as far as I know). 

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The first step, before assembling the kit, was to rescribe all panel lines using the tip of a saw blade and Dymo label tape for proper alignment. It was also at this stage that I detached all flying surfaces. A comparison of the kit wings with pictures of the real thing shows that the joint between the flaps and ailerons and the main wings are grossly oversimplified in the kit. If one wants to build a model that more closely resembles the actual airplane, there’s no other choice but to remove the flaps and ailerons, and try to reproduce the pronounced gap that exists between them and the wing structure, especially when viewed from below. As there’s no resin set commercially available to help fixing that problem, I’ve had to scratchbuild the whole area using sheet styrene and the pieces that had been cut out from the kit. The kit was then assembled by loosely following the Cutting Edge instruction sheets. Although the instructions warn modelers on the high complexity of using the sets, I’ve found no particular problem in that respect. On the other hand, the accuracy and sharpness of some of the resin parts could be a bit better, in my opinion, particularly compared to other products from the same manufacturer. However, this does not represent a serious problem, and the use of those sets will, no doubt, improve the appearance of the completed model.

Once the fuselage, minus engine and cowl, was completed, I´ve started to assemble the main float. In order to provide a strong support for the float, I´ve drilled a couple of small holes in each pylon, as well as corresponding holes in the bottom of the fuselage and the top of the main float. I’ve then inserted a piece of brass rod in each hole before gluing all the parts involved in this step. After the main float had been assembled, I’ve glued each wing half to the fuselage, ensuring proper alignment and dihedral.  Next, I’ve assembled the two wing floats and the canopy, which I had replaced by a vac-formed item from Falcon. I’ve improved the beaching gear with some scratchbuilt details. Also, I’ve replaced the kit wheels with P-51 resin wheels from True Details, which closely resemble the real ones. After masking the canopy, and before painting the model and the parts that still needed to be glued (flying surfaces and cowl), I’ve completed the engine. As suggested by Cutting Edge, I’ve replaced the kit engine with a P&W R-985 from Engine & Things (item # 48011). As it is, the engine does not have any pushrods or ignition wires, so I’ve had to scratchbuild those details using copper wire, soldering wire and styrene rods.

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Before painting the model, I’ve airbrushed it with thin Mr. Surfacer and sanded using 2000 grade sandpaper, to eliminate any scratch on the plastic. I’ve then primed the surface with White automotive acrylic. The model was then painted using automotive paints, custom mixed to resemble FS 26231 Dark Gull Grey (upper surface) and FS 26440 Light Gull Grey (lower surface). Lighter shades of the main colors were airbrushed in the center of the panels. The next step was applying the decals to the painted model. The national markings came from an old Aeromaster decal sheet designed for the Hasegawa P-47 and also from the Lodela decal sheet. The “BO5” black codes on the wings and the rudder stripes were made by masking the appropriate areas and then painting them with an airbrush. Before finishing the model with clear semi-gloss automotive acrylic, I’ve enhanced the panel lines with some dark grey water color. The final step was to assemble the cowl, moving surfaces, exhausts, propeller and the antenna wire (made with 0.004” ultra thin fishing line).

Overall, this was a very enjoyable project that spanned over one year, working only on weekends. I can only hope now that some main stream manufacturer issues an updated 1/48th scale kit of this interesting airplane, and that more articles, books, and websites covering the type become available. 

Ivan

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Photos and text © by Ivan Pliopas