kingfisher

Olivier
Good old Kingfisher...

Johan van Meerloo
yeah, it looks like a good kit, missing some details (adding them) and the turret ring of the rear cockpit doesnt fit when two halfs are closed so need to solve that, and the two halves still will give a gap that needs to be filled.

Erik Leijdens
I browsed through your albums Johan and it looks like you like the old kits mate 🙂. Great work

Johan van Meerloo
yeah this one will be in MLD colours 🙂

Johan van Meerloo
there is a whole story about the old kits, not my planned but kits are better build then shelfed
got an 1960ish airfix S6B that is going to be build when I got my paint for it

Johan van Meerloo
im still a noob though

Erik Leijdens
Looking forward to your builds Johan. Scalemates is a great source of knowledge, lots of Mates of different skill levels here who are always there to help 👍

Johan van Meerloo
yeah thanks, dont know yet how all works here, but got projects, stash and stuff sorted, all my kits are in this database now

Olivier
Take your time finding your way around.

Guy Rump
Have one of these in my stash, following Johan 🙂

Johan van Meerloo
it build quite good, although the rearcockpit ring of the turret doesnt fit after two halves are cemented so you need to be aware of that, and the lack of detail in cockpit and rear cockpit are crappy so I added some stuff to the front and the back

Johan van Meerloo
got the decals for the registration and roundels sorted! big step 🙂

Gordon Sørensen
Nice cockpit painting, Johan! I remember building this kit as a kid.

Johan van Meerloo
I added loads of stuff, was missing one blade of the propellor, and the seat for the pilot.
made one from the sprue and made a radio, 2 liferafts and other stuff from the sprue

David Taylor
Are you doing FAA or US.

Johan van Meerloo
Im going to do MLD, dutch navy

David Taylor
Different.I've got the old 1/48 Monogram one which I plan an FAA one.

Johan van Meerloo
well Im dutch so thats part of it, and they have a strange background, to be honest the RAAF ones have a very strange background

Andrew P
Ambitious! The real problem with this kit is the canopy. What's the plan there?

Johan van Meerloo
well, probs loose, so can use all configurations for that

David Taylor
Coming along nicely.

Johan van Meerloo
yes now the struggle how to put the roundels on, there are multiple sizes and places I can put them, but before they go on need to know that all is painted correctly and that I dont mess up after applying

David Taylor
I usually do the usual gloss varnish with Humbrol decalfix,only let me down once.

Johan van Meerloo
yeah but this one gives some issues, the decal is under the foats, as in the struds of the floats go thru the roundel

David Taylor
Ah,gloss varnish, decal,matt varnish,cyano.

Johan van Meerloo
yeah but the strut is going thru the decal place so.. gives me a little headache

Olivier
Could you partially slice the decal to allow shifting around the strut ?

Johan van Meerloo
well its right in the middle of it

David Taylor
Is the decal on the centreline float or the wing floats.If its on the centre line you will have to cut out the shape of the strut.

Johan van Meerloo
on the wing and the strut supporting the float goes thru it

David Taylor
Have you committed to painting on the insignia.Decided to finish mine after watching you build yours.

Johan van Meerloo
well, there are drawbacks on what my plans are but also some pro's for it,
to start with I painted the tail (didnt have the right decals for the tail) that worked out perfectly and although I have the decals for the underwing insignia the struts that go thru the insignia decal will maybe crapup the decal and Im just a noob so I dont want to mess up this nice build.
I did cut out the insignia size for looking at positions so I could now easily tape arround it.
I will do the fuselage decal due to it being small and okay for that.
before I found these decals I was planning on painting them all on.
I think this will save loads of time If it got messed up.

David Taylor
Faa scheme is much simpler to apply and loads of generic decals out there if I screw it up LOL.

Johan van Meerloo
going to make it with floats or wheels?

Johan van Meerloo
the FAA option in this kit is with the right decals and with wheels, thats one ugly plane with wheels

Olivier
Did anyone built it with the wheels ?

Johan van Meerloo
the option is in my instructions and the kit has got the wheels for that version in it aswell

David Taylor
Definitely building mine with floats.Odd looking with wheels.My kit has no FAA option, later ones do but aeromaster Kingfisher pt2 has an FAA option.

Ben M
I saw one with wheels in Havana. I like the orange tail Johan - will it have orange triangles or dutch roundels?

David Taylor
National markings have come out a treat.

Johan van Meerloo
yeah still need to finetune the tail though, not 100% happy with that but underwing it came out perfect

Johan van Meerloo
still happy I painted them, was scared to put a strut thru a decal

Johan van Meerloo
Almost done, should I add noseart yes or no? Got loads of nosart in my stash

David Taylor
If it's artistic licence go for it.

Johan van Meerloo
yeah got some ideas but will be nose art from other planes 🙂

Tony May
Not a bad build at all, bravo, Mr. Meerloo!

You mentioned being a noob to the hobby? That's a fun period so don't knock it! When I was a teen I painted stuff how I wanted to paint it & my excuse was, "I'm sure there was at least one out there like this!" I had a lot of fun model building like that & I'm not going to ridicule or condemn anyone who still possesses that innocent zeal for the hobby!

As for me though, I stopped being so random about the paint schemes & I became more conscious about details. I started scratch-building details to the best of my abilities. I'd put in days or even weeks into the process - months if you counted the research phase. I was in my 20s when I first discovered Hyperscale but now I'm in my mid-40s. I still do scratch-building, where necessary, but if there are aftermarket details available I'd rather spend the money on those to expedite the project. I know I won't live forever, I've already had two mini-strokes that resolved themselves & the doc couldn't figure out what caused it even after 2 years. Therefore, at least for the moment, my time is more valuable than money.

Anyway as far as this kit is concerned; I have the MPC release of the same kit. I knew it would need a lot of work to be brought up to modern standards. It'd need panel etching, work on the cowling, some minor reshaping of the wings, I'd need to remove the control surfaces so I could move them from a fixed position to "bring it to life" & fabricate or obtain a new pitot tube as well as the antenna. The navigation lights will be replaced by those fabricated/polished from clear sprue too. I might have to pay particular attention to the wing float struts as I think they're a little too thick & might not have the right airfoil look.

I also picked up a set of White Ensign Models Photo-Etched parts which fills out most of the cockpit nicely, especially when combined with a Gaspatch M1919 .30 cal MG. There are a few parts for the exterior but I see some things that need to be added that aren't included. To get the markings I wanted I had to purchase a whole variety of decals from Print Scale. I picked up a set of Clear-Vax Canopies that include those for this kit so that all the nifty details inside could be seen even IF I seal the cockpit. I also barely managed to score myself an Engines & Things Pratt & Whitney R-985 Wasp Jr. to replace the kit's obviously deficient offering literally days before the business shut it's doors for the last time.

Normally I'd want a canopy mask set but nobody makes one yet. I COULD sign up to send the clear parts from my kit to Kit Masx so they could manufacture a whole new set of masks but I don't want to wait that long to build it. I'll mask it by hand, which will take longer, but it'll get the job done.

One more thing that's keeping me on edge is uncertainty; Nautilus Models makes a shipboard trolley for the SOC Seagull & OS2U Kingfisher. I don't know whether I want to try my hand at a resin "water" base, use the standard beaching gear that comes with the kit (as well as improvements to it from the photo-etch) OR if I want that shipboard trolley. If I really wanted to get fancy White Ensign makes a catapult kit out of photo etched parts but I don't think that'd fit in with all my other float planes.

One last thing; Just because I talked about all this advanced jargon don't let it get to you, build YOUR way & enjoy every minute of it. I'll be enjoying watching your projects progress in the meantime. 🙂

Johan van Meerloo
thank you, this was one of my first kits, but I still like it, also building adds to the kits. furthermore I like doing the odd stuff, crappy kits and different topics.

Tony May
You're very welcome! I like this build up as well - it has real character to it. You could write a fan fiction about this aircraft's exploits! 😉 I can certainly understand that feeling you have towards those first kits. I felt the same way about many of my firsts.

What are your favorite "odd topic" aircraft? I also really enjoy odd topic stuff but that's a LONG story. lol

Crappy kits oftentimes just goes with the territory. Usually you can doctor them up to fix them but I've built some that were just irredeemable. A great example of this is the OLD Airfix Vickers Wellington. It didn't sit on my shelf long as I thought it was an eyesore & I was able to replace it with the Matchbox kit which was FAR better!

David Taylor
It's nice to go off piste sometimes to clear the building blues.

Johan van Meerloo
I did a dutch navy UH60, and an Ukranian RF-4F, those 2 are fictional and were fun doing

Johan van Meerloo
both are projects in my account with full build pictures from start till finish

Tony May
I forgot to mention it earlier but I applaud you on masking the Dutch markings on one of your very first kits. I have only masked markings ONCE in my life & that's because it was a sci-fi project so the markings didn't exist in real life. I was curious about one thing though; I noticed that you painted the black first & then the orange. I noticed with your build up of the old fashioned Revell B-17F you also painted the OD green before the neutral gray. I always though that painting the lighter color before the darker color was kind of a standard thing unless you're doing preshading?

Johan van Meerloo
I brush paint all, so I cant do preshading, I dont have airbrush or anything else like that, just brushes and revell and humbrol enamel paints