Ok I have this Revell (Monogram) OS2U Kingfisher kit that I got sometime back, not even sure where...It's really old and there is enough flash included at no extra charge to build another one, I'd say. I found the (c) Revell 1977 notice in the wing, but an even smaller (c) MMI 1967...Monogram Models Inc, I guess. I opened it and found the kit was bashed, literally - One fuselage half had a 2" long crack, and the rear third of the pontoon was broken off, the pontoon piece was n the box. On the other fuselage half, the rear pontoon support was severed from the plane's belly. I glued the crack and support up and will put the pontoon end on after the halves are put together. Since it is so well pre-bashed for me I thought I'd be daring and bash it some more.These pics show some cockpit modifications I made based on images from navsource.org (a great reference for model ship builders I'd say) they include the hoist for pulling the plane back aboard ship - the noose looking rig beside the pilots seat, the hand grips over his shoulders, what looks like a map case by his right leg on the side of the arm rest and more details in the rear cockpit - gun restraining bars and gunner position items.
On the body I will make my first ever try at cutting and lowering the flaps as well as the cowl flaps I will try to open, This model doesn't really have a separate cowl, the flaps are molded in the fuselage halves, so I will be cutting the front section on the fuselage off and putting some plastic inside it to attach the cowl to.

Oh boy! wish me luck - I will post more progress pics as I go.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Next issue - the wings are warped...

Ok I may be putting lipstick on a pig here but it will have the prettiest lipstick I can find for it...

Remember Bullwinkle and his sidekick Rocky the Flying Squirrel? I'm gonna name this plane 'Rocky' because its a real 'squirrely bird'...
... I have been bashingaway at this, dissected the flaps, didn't consider the holes they'd leave in the fuselage, ...whacked the cowling off the front fuselage halves...this model has a confounded way of going together, especially considering the pontoon underneath. You have to build the wings first, slide them into the right fuselage half, then slide the left fuselage half on and glue the wings and body halves all together at once. I usually use rubber bands to clamp the fuselage together but that was pretty hard considering the pontoon is attached to it and has to be glued together at the same time too...but I got it done. Lotsa putty and sanding etc before I even think of painting it.

I cut those cowl pieces off them sawed between the flaps, then took a pair of needlenose pliers and gripped each flap and bent it out until I could feel it just starting to break...looking inside the cowl I could see each one was cracked so I dabbed some glue in the cracks to keep them on. The pictures I see of Kingfishers with open cowl flaps show them standing out almost perpendicular to the body, so I wanted to bend them as far as I could.

Here are a few pics of how its coming along.

3 attached images. Click to enlarge.

It looks like decorative cake icing, but it is 'tacky' over the raised seems, taken before I put Krylon Matte spray on it. If you read the instructions for that stuff, it says if you apply too many coats it will make what you spray it on look 'whitish'. It did that on the interior alright, and this time it is going on the wings and other 'dark sea blue' surfaces. The illustration I am going by shows a lighter blue than that for the wings.

Progress on this has been slowed by an upgrade to the 'model cave', as my daughter calls it. I acquired a used, but nice, 6'x3' office desk, with a thick, very heavy, particle board & Formica top and metal frame with a shelf above it and 2 drawers. Getting it installed by myself was a chore, but it is much better than the folding card table I was using.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.