Vought OS2U Kingfisher - Monogram 1/48

Started by George R Blair Jr · 246 · 1 year ago · 1/48, Jim Sullivan Group, Monogram, Vought OS2U Kingfisher
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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    When I joined this group, I looked through my Squadron publications and discovered I had a large number of the books by Jim Sullivan. I was particularly interested in two books that are not on a specific airplane, but rather on a theme. These two books are "Bent and Battered Wings: USN/USMC Damaged Aircraft 1943 - 1953" and "Golden Wings: USN/USMC Aircraft of World War II". These books are prime material for a build since they cover a large variety of aircraft.

    As I was leafing through these books, a Vought Kingfisher on p. 52 of "Golden Wings" caught my eye. Not only is it painted in the Atlantic paint scheme, which is one of my favorites, it is also a land-plane version without a float. I have the aged Monogram 1/48 model of the Kingfisher, and it allows you to build either a float version or a wheeled version. I have read a number of reviews on this kit that all point out that the float is noticeably smaller than it should be. Building the wheeled version neatly bypasses this problem. I did a quick search through my usual online shops, as well as Ebay, and failed to find any of the cool add-ons, like canopy masks or photoetch. I want to do a little extra detailing on this model, so it should be a good test of my scratchbuilding. Now that I am done with my CB-25J, I should be warmed up for this build. See you all soon.

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    said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    Kingfishers are cool, I didn't know there was a land-plane version. I like the Atlantic paint scheme myself, this will be awesome to see!

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    Thanks, Anna-Elizabeth (@tankgrrl). I just finished a Monogram B-25, so I am looking forward to jumping into another old Monogram kit. There is still some life left in the old kits.

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    said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    @gblair - Monogram kits are treasures. When I was a teen, Testors and Monogram were the models in reach of my budget. The Monogram Tomcat, Hornet, and A-10 were particular favorites, I used to have a B-25J as well.

    I still have a few 1/48s, I have been given the newish Revell re-box of the F-14A with "Top Gun" movie markings, another friend gave me a B-58 Hustler, and a new friend just sent me a Pro Modeler F-84G. What a lovely kit!

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    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    George R Blair Jr (@gblair)
    This is an excellent choice ! I have a few pictures I found a while ago of a collision between two Kingfishers in a nearby Naval Air Station that was called Banana River back then. Now it's a part of the Space Center complex. This same place is where the Martin PBM Mariner took off from on December 5th, 1945, in search of the missing 5 Avengers that eventually became world famous as "Flight 19".

    Later the same day the Mariner disappeared too. However there was a flash / explosion observed in the skies offshore, and this very well could have been what happened to the Mariner.

    Kingfishers are really cool, and your approach here will definitely solve some problems that have been stated about this kit. Personally, I would build it as is with the float, but they look really neat on wheels too.


    Check this out. Here's a cool picture that caught my eye a while ago. These are "Yellow Wings" planes to boot.

    You can definitely count me in as a follower here. Thanks for joining and participating in our ever growing group.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    You have some really nice kits, Anna-Elizabeth (@tankgrrl). The F-14A rebox is a good one. I am old enough to have been around when all of these first came out. My Monogram favorites are the F-86D, F-102, and F-106. I am looking forward to seeing your B-58 and F-84 on iModeler. You almost never see a B-58 built, and the F-84 has some really cool paint schemes.

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    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    George R Blair Jr (@gblair)
    I forgot to mention it, but the Kingfishers in the collision were painted in the Gray / White ASW scheme just like the one you picked out. This is a great look for any Navy plane.



    Here are the photos I'm talking about. Someday I would like to build up one of them. I like to build models of planes from our local area during the War.

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    said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    I was touched by the generosity of the friends that gave me these kits. The B-58 was a super surprise, my friend in Texas told me he had two, and I think he was surprised I knew what a B-58 even was - I saw 61-2059 "Greased Lightning" at the SAC Museum in 1986 - so he sent one to me. I want to build up my NMF game before I tackle that beauty.

    Tom Bebout @tom-bebout just sent me the F-84G. It's a lovely kit, I want to start it soon.

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    said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    @lgardner - those "yellow wing" Kingfishers are such handsome airplanes, the photo is spectacular.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    Great pictures, Louis (@lgardner), thanks for posting them. I really wanted to do an Atlantic Scheme, and this one caught my eye. I am thinking about also doing an SNJ Texan from one of the books for the group. I always wonder how to display planes that have floats. The Kingfisher has wheels that attach to the floats which somewhat fixes the problem, but I was drawn to the land-based version because you almost never see one built. I still have a couple of the Kingfisher kits in the stash, so I am sure a float version is in my future. I always wanted to build a diorama with the Kingfisher sitting on a catapult, but I suspect scratchbuilding a catapult would be pretty ambitious.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    Thanks for the photos of the crash, Louis (@lgardner). There is some great detail in the photos. It is really hard to see the dark gray on these planes thanks to the peculiarities of the old black and white film.

    Anna-Elizabeth (@tankgrrl): I just did my first all-NMF on the B-25 I just finished. I have been building models for about 60 years, and I managed to avoid building a NMF model till now. Now that I have tried it, I can tell you that it is just a matter of jumping in and getting some practice. I also watched a bunch of YouTube videos. :o) I am embarrassed that I avoided it for this long. Tom is a very generous man. After I commented some years ago that I still liked building the old Monogram kits, he sent me a Monogram 1/48 Typhoon IB.

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    An amazing entry, my friend @gblair! You are right, most of us picture the Kingfisher with the float and you don't see many land versions done. Yours will look pretty cool and I cannot wait to see it tackled by your excellent skills!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    You've got some Monogram treasures, my friend @tankgrrl! Looking forward to see them tackled by you!

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    As always, you have come with amazing pics and ditto info, my friend @lgardner!

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 5 months ago:

    This will be a great addition to your recent Mitchell, George @gblair
    Looking forward to it.