Monogram 1/48 KINGFISHER

Started by Franco Damiani · 16 · 1 month ago
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    Franco Damiani said 1 month ago:

    hello everyone, I'm working on building a monogram kingfisher in 1/48 scale.

    the total reconstruction of the main float required a lot of work but it was also a lot of fun, I think that self-construction is an important part of our hobby.

    soon I will publish some photos of the progress of the work.

    I would need your help to decipher the colors in this photo.

    Logic would say that the color scheme is the standard pre-war one, overall aluminum dope and chrome yellow on the wings. But to me it looks like the fuselage is light gray, the main float aluminum dope and the wings chrome yellow. If that were the case I would paint it like that. It would be very attractive.

    18 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    John vd Biggelaar said 1 month ago:

    Fantastic entry, Franco @franco_speciale_damiani
    You did some great work already, all looking fine.
    I agree that the fuselage seems to have a grayish tint.

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    Stephen W Towle said 1 month ago:

    Franco (@franco_speciale_damiani),

    I am working from a tablet and can't provide a link. However, if you go to gettyimages/.com/photo and type g 19 Vought King Fisher they have color photos. One of which has a all gray King Fisher entitled " U.S.Navel Air Base in Bermuda." With a red and white rudder. On the fuselage are the numbers 201-5-5? This photo may help you in proving that gray paint was painted on the fuselage and maybe the center float of your photo.

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Stephen W Towle said 1 month ago:

    Another source go to "Inch High Guy" he has a section on the "Vought OS2U Kingfisher Pacific Theater Camouflage And Markings" His references are based on time periods of the WWII. With regards to marking directives, "On 30DEC41 BuAir is issued a directive that all Fleet aircraft were to be camouflaged. Ship-based aircraft types were to be painted in non specular light gray overall,".

    1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

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    Franco Damiani said 1 month ago:

    TANKYOU John, being a training unit the wings should be yellow and this would make a rather unusual and interesting livery for me but I don't want to make a big mistake

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    Franco Damiani said 1 month ago:

    thank You Stephen I will do more research following your directions. the photo I posted you can find here:
    https://www.warbirdsresourcegroup.org/NARG/os2ukingfisher.html

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    Franco Damiani said 1 month ago:

    even the photo of the light grey colour with the stripes on the tail is a rare livery because at that time there shouldn't have been any

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    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 month ago:

    Excellent job so far, Franco (@franco_speciale_damiani)! Indeed, the fuselage looks to be light gray, cannot comment on the wings' shade, though.
    Looking forward to your progress!

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    Franco Damiani said 1 month ago:

    I will definitely continue to post new photos as the work progresses. Thank yoy very much for your post

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    Christopher C Tew said 1 month ago:

    Franco, using your link and then zooming in on the photo, I offer these observations for what they're worth. These birds have national insignia on the top of both wings. The horizontal stabilizers and elevators are the same color as the wings, and both look darker than the fuselage. Were they the same color, the horizontal surfaces should look lighter than the more vertical surfaces. The floats of 64 and 54 might be the fuselage color on top with the lower lighter color brought up higher than 6? in the far back, whose float looks to definitely be in the fuselage color. 66 and 68's floats are lighter yet than the upper fuselages, indicating that they are either a different color or freshly painted with no or very little of the fuselage color on the top. The outboard floats seem to match the main floats pretty much. If you look at the wing and elevator shadows, the sun is coming from above and behind us as we view the photo. The next to last photo in your link is a color shot (original or processed?) that does show OS2Us with yellow wings with obvious black walkway markings (missing n your photo) and what appears to be aluminum dope fuselages. The Navy did use all-aluminum coloring very briefly in early 1940 before switching to all-gray through most of the summer of 1941, and then to two-tone gray in late-summer 1941. Your photo is captioned as from 1941 and the planes from the newly opened NAS Corpus Christi, the largest naval training center of its day. A case might be made for one or two-tone gray with training yellow wings and an as yet unpainted aluminum float. All of this is very conjectural as photographers back then often used colored filters to bring out or reduce b&w contrast. This link is one of several helpful but not conclusive sources: https://tailspintopics.blogspot.com/2012/12/early-world-war-ii-usn-paint-and.html

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    Dan DeSilva said 1 month ago:

    Hi Franco,
    I took great pleasure in seeing the images from the book or article you shared with images of the US (NAVEL) Naval air base! The colour image most certainly shows the kingfisher lifting off from Somerset in Bermuda. There is a road called "Seaplane Lane" which would allow Kingfishers to taxi across the main road to roll off a slip into the water. Very cool to see your reference images.

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    George R Blair Jr said 1 month ago:

    Hi, Franco (@franco_speciale_damiani). Nice work on this Kingfisher. I built a Monogram Kingfisher on wheels a year or so past. It takes a ton of work to get an accurate, detailed model. In my research back then, I can tell you that paint colors get more and more complicated and confused the more you look. This is especially true when using WW2 black and white photos for your source. There were lots of exceptions to the painting rules, especially early in the war and especially on training bases. My guess is that it might be a faded blue-gray on the fuselage and an aluminum float. Good luck. Looking forward to your progress.

    2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

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    Stephen W Towle said 1 month ago:

    Franco (@franco_speciale_damiani),

    George @(gblair) photos raise some interesting observations. The fuselage of your photo could be a light grey with the float being natural aluminum or painted in the same color. If you could find the date that the photos were taken that would move you closer to color call outs. I've seen photos of Kingfishers flying in formation with each aircraft having variations of colors as George has written about.

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    Franco Damiani said 1 month ago:

    Thankyou Christopher for your detailed and helpful observations I will look at the link you sent me. I am glad that the livery could be as you said because it is certainly in pole position among the many. thanks again

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    Franco Damiani said 1 month ago:

    Thanks Dan