Vought's forgotten hero: OS2U-1 Kingfisher, Admirals plane (Bu. Nr. 1681)
Structure behind the seat completed.
Rails on the fuselage for the canopy sanded smaller. In the middle an engraving. On the top an additional flat profile.
Support plate for the instrument panel in place. 0,303” gun and his support added (CE’s detail was not clear and not sharp enough).
Ammo box and the “ammo feeding channel” (white).
Bulkhead in place: fits.
Molded in engine removed.
Reworked openings for the exhaust tubes.
Panel lines and fasteners added.
Engine completed. I intend to install the ignition wires into the cylinder after painting.
Flaps and ailerons need to be reworked: only the ailerons have (narrow) cut outs. First step: filling of all cut outs.
Second step. Control surfaces sanded smooth. Fitting and detailing will be follow after installation of the wings.
New research results: head rest was mounted with a distance to the bulkhead (see next pic).
Foto: Cees Hendriks, IPMS Netherland (thanks for sharing🙂.
Raised panel lines sanded away. New recessed panel lines. (moveable) spoiler has wider and deeper lines as contrast to the true panel lines.
Cut out for the position light (wingtip). Outer circle as base for the blue formation light. The inner circle is not a light but a inspection panel.
New research results: the inlet on the right side is placed not in the middle of the wing chord but with an offset to the bottom.
Attachment points for the 4 float struts.
top left: formation light (amber green red).
Oversized openings for the bomb racks filled.
NASM, Washington DC.
Ailerons, step 2: cut outs in correct shape and position. Ribs in correct number and position.
Ailerons „refurbished“. Rudder “under construction”.
As usual I used mother board block - connection pins from brass for attaching the moveable surfaces.
Rudder reworked and in place. On the lower side I added an axis made of 0,55 mm wire.
NASM, Washington DC.
Unfortunately all kit parts for the landing gear are very simple and particularly not correct. So I decided to make the most parts from scratch.
Both bulges (covers for the attaching points) are too flat.
It was the right decision to adjust the landing gear before installing the wing. It took so long, too. And I suspect it would hardly possible to manage it the other way around.
Prepared for gluing fuselage and wings together.
Tamiya tape as control/ adjustment of the correct dihedral.
Wings installed without problems & mess. CA applied from inside.
Triangle shaped openings in the fuselage (flap area) filled and sanded smooth.
Rear edge of the wing box was closed. Filled with plastic wedges and Presto-Green putty.
Ailerons in place. 0,45 mm wire for middle & inner and 0,4 mm for outer.
Flaps installed via 0,55 metal rod (squared profile).
The tail wheel was detachable. Installation point was a bulkhead, the opening was covered with a sheet metal screwed to the fuselage with 19 screws (step 3 in picture). Bulkhead added.
Template made of Brother p-Touch tape (step 1).
Contour for the milling engraved (step 2).
Instrument panels completed.
NASM, Washington DC
I left the rear half of the observer’s panel and add the parts (pieces of 1,2 mm round rod) to the front half.
I used first time any elements of Anyz sheet AN005. I’m enthusiastic them the result is fabulous. 🙂
“Moulded on” wires replaced with wire. Anyz knobs & scales.
Parts for rear cockpit nearly completed in place. For better handling I divided the long cockpit bathtub in 2 parts.
Lower level of radioboxes.
Hoisting cable, handgrips and doubler on outer side added.
I found that’s easier to scratch any parts than clean the resin.
Cockpit completed. Prepared for installation of the fixed part of canopy.
New research results: the doubler on the fuselage ends few mm behind the trailing edge of the stabilizer.
The opening for the retractable landing light reworked / moved a bit afterwards.Bulge on the trailing edge and screws added.
Cowl flaps:
Stripe 0,13 mm thick and 2 mm wide divided in 14 parts (length about 4 mm). Glued to another stripe, 0,25 mm thick and 2,9 mm wide.
Stripe 0,13 mm thick and 2 mm wide divided in 14 parts (length about 4 mm). Glued to another stripe, 0,25 mm thick and 2,9 mm wide.
One edge of the 0,13 mm pieces sanded down.
2,9 mm wide stripe separated from Athen Rest of the sheet and cold blended.
Stripe separated in 14 equal parts (cowl flaps).
Last step: short pieces of 0,5 mm square rod glued to the inside.
Cowl flaps in place (1/3 open position)
Yellow, walkways and aludope for underside and tail finished.
One of three clear canopy parts in place.
The last hurdle is taken: windscreen in place glued with CA without mess in place. 🙂
Colour test for the Admiral blue. 2/3 HU190 (Blue Angels) and 1/3 HU189 (Lufthansa Blau SM): tone OK, shininess OK, surface quality @ 1,8 bar OK 🙂
Admiral blue is completed. Masks removed without mess: very satisfied🙂
Today I planned to apply all decals and noticed, that the Bu-Nr. 1681 was a OS2U-1 and not 3… so I hat to fix my mistake. Blue light on top on the front of the stabilizer, white light on the tail.
In the white area of the roundels I removed the black stripes from the wing: the stripe was clearly visible through the white.
As usual I used DIY made antiskid mat.
Formation lights: red, green and amber.
Screws and pitch control weights added.
Gun blast tube (2 o’clock) and carburetor inlet (5 o’clock seen from rear) are well noticeable.
At last I scratched the tail wheel and support.
Oversized hole in the prop filled with two plastic tubes and added a piece of 1 mm brass rod. 1,2/1,0 mm brass tube in the engine as counterpart for the prop axis.
Gun blast tube and carburetor inlet.
Cooling flaps actuators made of spare etched parts (Eduards ignition ring for an R-2800)
The exhaust tube has a “cuff”.
The first time on own legs. 🙂. Right: 38,5 mm from ground to the bulb. Left: 39,5 mm… I think this is ok for this kingfisher narrow track.
Comments
83 4 July 2023, 15:11
Hanno KleineckeWohoho, did you really manage to squeeze that thing into the closed fuselage ? Respect !
4 July 2023, 18:53
Bernhard SchrockJou; war ein bisschen Arbeit. Hab sowohl die Wände im Rumpf wie auch die der Wanne dünnergefräst / geschliffen. Auf der Unterseite der Resinwanne einen tiefen Einschnitt mit der Säge gemacht, damit sich das Teil auseinanderbiegen lässt. 🙂
4 July 2023, 19:25
Thomas BischoffI can't miss this! I started this kit years ago and know what you are to face
4 July 2023, 19:47
JensHello Bernhard, another model that belongs in the top 10 as Yellow Wing 🙂 I've tried one before...., now the 32 Kitty Hawk and also the 48 Monogram Kit are in stock, but there aren't any accessories 🙁 I will definitely remain an observer, because the Monogram Kit has a few pitfalls
5 July 2023, 16:04
Bernhard SchrockHi Mates, welcome on board! 🙂
Jens: I know you Kingfisher. Just for building this classic kit you should get a medal! I'm thankful for all information you can share.
6 July 2023, 19:39
Michael KohlOh, there shouldn't be any clouds of dust. Consider wet sandind. Extends the life time of the sanding material too.
With or without clouds anothers build of yours I will follow with keen interest.
9 July 2023, 08:57
JensHello Bernhad, how should I be able to help? I built the kit OOB and then tried to make the whole thing worth seeing with paint. My skills in model building are far behind yours and the knowledge about the individual versions, I completely miss constructive features, what the kit offers and the construction plan shows is glued and hidden under paint 🙂 Maybe you have enough time in March for that Exhibition in Siebenlehn, it's 100% worth it 😉
11 July 2023, 14:58
Hanno KleineckeBeautifully and perfectly rescribed ! This will be my next task…….
17 July 2023, 16:41
Alec KYesss, taking a seat for sure. Great subject, have a built Revell 1/72 specimen somewhere.
17 July 2023, 17:26
Dennis WallentinYou're a great source of inspiration 👍 Looking forward to follow this project now that you have rebooted it.
Btw, what brand is this?
All the best,
Dennis
19 July 2023, 20:40
Bernhard SchrockThank you mates. Dennis: do you mean the brand of the kit? It's the old Monogram.
It was the right decision to adjust the landing gear before installing the wing. It took so long, too. And I suspect it would hardly possible to manage it the other way around.
2 August 2023, 12:22
Hanno KleineckeSo beautiful, these legs ! 👍
Of course the kitpart only very rudimentary depicts the real thing. How much did you add to the fastener bulges, 1mm ?
Did you lengthen the main gearstrut as well, or did you just improve the oleo-parts ?
3 August 2023, 08:24
Bernhard SchrockMoin Hanno, thx for you praise🙂 the bulged are CA glued to 0,8 mm plastic. Legs: I cut only the „oleo & axis area" and replaced them with 2,3 mm tube & 1,6 mm rod.
3 August 2023, 08:52
Hanno KleineckeHa ! Anyz ! Ich dachte schon, Du bist jetzt endgültig zum Arbeiten umterm Mikroskop übergegangen……😄
Sieht großartig aus ! Die brauch ich auch !
14 August 2023, 12:09
JensHello Bernhard. simply fascinating how meticulously you turn even the smallest parts of the model into the most important thing 👍
I happened to come across my OS2U Kingfisher in the middle of moving, according to your pictures it is packed in a box and stored in the new basement 😉 maybe I'll be able to build the Kitty Hawk OS2 in 1:32 by Siebenlehn, but I'm sure it will be that can only be a shadow of your perfection 🙂 just WOW what you conjure up again 👍
16 August 2023, 01:21
Carlos CisnerosI was wondering how the resin detail parts would work out. Doing the improvements with scratch work does sound more appealing.
24 August 2023, 20:04
Thomas BischoffAwesome work on this old kit. Thanks for sharing all the details 🙂
26 August 2023, 09:02
Bernhard SchrockThank you mates. It was like playing with fire again: gluing clear parts with CA. 🙂
3 September 2023, 13:12
Carlos CisnerosThis keeps getting better and better. I know that you're adding quite a bit, but man its hard to believe that this is the old Monogram kit.
5 September 2023, 18:46
Bernhard SchrockYesterday I airbrushed the admiral blue… just removed all paper covers and Tamiya tape masks from clear parts. Only on two edges I have to fix minor imperfections with small brush🙂
8 September 2023, 16:33
Bernhard Schrock🙂🙂🙂 thx.
Just finished the decals including fixing a small mistake concerning the plane type (IS2U-1 and not -3).
9 September 2023, 14:02
Hanno KleineckeSo beautiful ! Superclean work on the clearpart- paintwork and tailwheel-construction. 👍
13 September 2023, 21:16
Carlos CisnerosI just realized that you're doing this one with the floats removed and fixed wheels installed.
14 September 2023, 01:29
JohnWow - never knew that the aircraft's forward firing gun was poking out between cylinder heads.
15 September 2023, 22:44
Bernhard SchrockThank you mates for the great comments. Today I managed to finish my "forgotten hero" and shot a few quick pics with my smartphone. Better picture iI will post tomorrow. 🙂
17 September 2023, 19:13
bughunterAgain a WOW model!
Do you secure the prop axle from the back, or is it just glued in and cannot rotate?
17 September 2023, 19:32
Bernhard SchrockThx Bughunter! As usual the prop is not glued but It can rotate
17 September 2023, 19:41
bughunterThx! I found it also practical for packing the models for transport, that the prop can be rotate. But (mostly due to the rotary engines) I cannot remove them. The bearing is secured on the back side.
17 September 2023, 19:48
Hanno KleineckeTadaa , Completed ! What a little gem you squeezed out of this old chewing gum !
This particular kit can call itself lucky, having fallen into such skilled Hands that turned it into such a beauty 👍
More pictures please!
17 September 2023, 22:12
JensI am overwhelmed by the sight, what tops it off are the cockpit parts, they give a wonderfully clear view of the cockpit, plus the many small conversions and additional parts, a real gem and I hope that I can still see you from Siebenlehn can convince in March 2024, such a gem should be shown in public 😉
18 September 2023, 02:13
Bernhard SchrockAs promised I shot today more "better" pictures.🙂 I noticed that my old Nikon 995 has problems with dark blue and because of that I "reactivated" the Canon for several additional pictures.
18 September 2023, 18:42
Carlos CisnerosExcellent finish! All of the added details and corrections turned this into a real top notch build!
18 September 2023, 23:58
Bernhard SchrockHi Martin, thank you for the "invitation". I looked on the map: it is unfortunately too far for me. With the traffic on our highways I would need with break 6-7 hours🙁🙁. As it looks, I will exhibit the kingfisher first in Lingen.
22 September 2023, 13:36
Album info
Similar to the TBM-3, I started this project several years ago (probably 10?). After a bit sawing and gluing both fuselagehslfed together I ran out of air 🙁 Thanks to Hanno's idea, I have now taken a deep breath. 🙂. Game over!
Group Build
Vought OS2U Kingfisher - groupbuild
3. July 2023 until 3. January 2024
3. July 2023 until 3. January 2024