Vintage Revell kit. Vought Kingfisher. 1/72.

[Markh-75]

This is build No. 4 in a series of 4 small models including floatplanes and biplanes!

 

This was a ship borne, catapult launched scout/observation aircraft, it succeeded the Seagull and the Seamew. It was available as a wheeled aircraft for carriers or on land; my model will be the seaplane version.

 

It is a pretty simple, no mistakes kit really, I think it must be the old Monogram kit, as some of their kits were the same way. My Tigercat (old Monogram kit) was a pretty simple construction and built in the very same way; the wings and tailplane slot into one side of the fuselage and the other half of the fuselage closes around them, its just all the other parts that are fitted to that. Mine will have a little more interior detail than the pretty basic interior supplied; I'm fitting a gun ring mount in the back along with a suitably sized machine gun, I also have a loop aerial to put in. The gun ring is quite simply a thin slice of a plastic tube, its diameter is a tiny bit too big for the slot its going in so I have cut a notch out and when its fitted in the gap will never be seen!

 

The engine on this kit was a tad malformed but I have been able to fix it and have painted the engine face, I still have the crank-case to paint and the inner of the cowling; this comes with NO engine exhausts so I will make a pair myself, I have found some pretty good parts for this. I also used a small saw to emphasise the cowl flaps, once painted no-one would ever know.

 

This version comes with undercarriage as an option but I am making this the seaplane version, so the two square holes under the fuselage I have filled with PVA for now, just to block them; once I'm ready I'll back-fill the holes with proper filler and rub it down. I've painted inside the fuselage for now and assembled the two halves of the wings together, I have also assembled the main float.

 

The Propeller was broken in the box but I remember once trying to make a kingfisher a while back which didnt work out, I still had the prop and it was painted but I've rubbed it back for a repaint because I didnt think it was good enough.

All of this at least gets me started on this model, I wasnt feeling too good this morning but I seem to have recovered at lunchtime, so I thought I'd go and do a bit to get it rolling!😀

 

Thank you for watching!😁

 

[RJP]

I don't think that's Monogram, theirs was 1/48.  I know it isn't Airfix from the parts breakdown but Lindberg did a Kingfisher and it looks like their work.

[Markh-75]

29 minutes ago, RJP said:

I don't think that's Monogram, theirs was 1/48.  I know it isn't Airfix from the parts breakdown but Lindberg did a Kingfisher and it looks like their work.

Thanks for that, I wasn’t aware that Monogram made this in 1/48. Cheers, Mark.

[Ray S]

Hello Mark, that certainly is old skool! I remember building lots of kits in the dim and distant 1960's where there was a slot for the wings and they just slid through the plane. I am almost surprised that there are no embossed markings for the transfers!

 

I really hope you thoroughly enjoy this nostalgia build!

 

Ray

[Markh-75]

I remember having the Airfix version but it wasn’t very very clever and I was unable to assemble it properly and it had to be abandoned, it was a pretty poorly moulded kit.

[bigbadbadge]

Nice start Mark on this old kit.  Was looking at a Sword kit the other day, but decides to wait a while.

Chris

[dogsbody]

Definitely a repop of the Lindberg kit. It was my first Kingfisher kit, way back in he late 60’s. A few years later, I replaced it with an Airfix kit.

 

 

 

Chris

[AdrianMF]

Looks good! 
 

I can never quite understand why the Airfix kit is so reviled. To me as a kid, its only failing was to be moulded in dark blue plastic, making it harder to paint,

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Markh-75]

The one I did was in grey plastic, but the plastic on the one I had was rather poor, some areas were so thin that when I started painting it, it deformed, melted a hole in it. Had it been better plastic it could have been okay. This one is in blue plastic; I think the idea was it might not need painting but once this one is made I'll prime it before it gets any paint.

After this one I have a Stearman Kaydet! That'll be fun!😁

 

Thanks chaps.😀

[Markh-75]

Got some more done on this today.

Painted the inside of the engine cowling and the engine crank case in neutral grey before It was fitted to the fuselage. I joined the two halves of the fuselage together around the wings and tail, looks much more like an aeroplane now.

 

Its a nice easy kit to make but I am adding a few bits and pieces that I want on it. I found good engine exhausts and even drilled a hole in both, and found some nice P.E. parts for the pilots cockpit, control panel and a pilots seat. I glued the gun ring into the back area and prepared a few other bits to be fitted in.

The blue 'thing' is the seat that came with the model! It will not be fitted.

 

 

The main float I assembled yesterday and today I rubbed it back and then filled the areas that needed filling, and another rub back.

I even found a perfect little rudder for it!

 

I rubbed the model down after I had painted a line of liquid poly around the wing and tail roots as they were rattling in the fuselage, I filled the holes where the undercarriage would have been fitted, once dry I rubbed the areas back and then wiped the whole model down with a panel wipe so that I could prime the airframe and the main float. I widened the gap that the piolts seat fits into, to take the new seat I have for it, looks good! Its not glued in yet.

 

I'll let this dry over night now before I do anything else,  This is coming along quickly now, once I've built up the cockpits I'll start painting the underside, I have the wing floats assembled too but they need to be rubbed down. I wont fit these until the decal is on the underwing but I'll get them painted, ready.

 

More tomorrow!😀

 

[Courageous]

Flying along on this build .

 

Stuart

[Markh-75]

Thank you, It’s not a hard build, but I’m adding bits.😀👍

[Markh-75]

Wasnt able to do anything today; I didnt sleep well at all last night, and I felt "urghh" all day, so have been resting all day even though the weather is nice outside! Hopefully back at it tomorrow!

[Markh-75]

Got a little done today; still not feeling great though. Its the skin on my face, it flared up and my face looked absolutely scarlet; felt red raw! Plenty of ointment on it to try and calm it down again, but it was rather inflamed and itchy, kept me up most of the night trying not to scratch it! Eventually it was time to try and sleep but I couldn't get over, the slightest thing that touched my face made it even more itchy. I tried a good wash, let my face dry and put on moisturiser and that did help but it didnt take the problem away. I dont cope well the next day if I dont get sleeping and the only way now was with a sleeping tablet; it knocked me out until mid-morning! I dont know what it was that set it off, sometimes it just does that, its not pleasant. Normally happens in winter. Yesterday I was just whacked, couldn't do a thing, no concentration as I was very tired so I went back to bed in the afternoon and got to sleep until this morning. 

 

Anyway;

After the primer had dried I went around the wing crevices at the wing and tail roots with some PVA to close up any crevices and gaps there. Always looks better for it after painting.

 

I've done most of the interiors, just last minute stuff to fit later.

 

 

 

This is the stored position for the machine gun, I only fitted it to show but havent glued it in yet as it needs painting.

 

I found an instrument panel in my PE box, painted the area behind it white; painted the PE part with black and fitted it. Its not really going to be seen once the canopy is on and I've painted the lines on it.

 

a few bits and pieces i painted in the rear area.

 

 

You can see the little part I fitted behind the pilots seat, looks far better than just a flat plain rear bulkhead, and I found some seatbelts! I painted outside the edges of the instrument panel with black and painted the coaming.

 

The machine gun for the rear, drilled, set on a piece of pin and painted up; I've made a loop aerial too but the machine gun and the loop aerial wont be fitted until I'm ready to fit the rear canopy! Saves my fingers from accidentally damaging them when I'm painting the fuselage!

 

The exterior of the fuselage needed some work too, I still had the tailwheel slot to fill and I fitted the engine exhausts!

 

Pleased with these! Made from a corner part of a parts sprue, cut back, shaped, shaved flat on the back and a hole drilled in what was the bend! A little bit of tidying to be done around them.

 

I'm ready to start painting the outsides now; light gull grey on the undersides and intermediate blue upstairs!

Tomorrow.
 

 

 

 

 

[Ray S]

Good work there Mark, the interior looks great and it was a wonderful solution for the exhausts.

 

Cheers, Ray

[Markh-75]

Thanks Ray👍😀

[Bandsaw Steve]

Great subject and some nice tidy work too! 👍

[Markh-75]

7 hours ago, Ray S said:

Good work there Mark, the interior looks great and it was a wonderful solution for the exhausts.

 

Cheers, Ray

 

1 hour ago, Bandsaw Steve said:

Great subject and some nice tidy work too! 👍

Thanks Chaps; the first big model I made (about 3 years ago now) was a Privateer four engine Naval bomber by Matchbox and there were no exhausts for the engines; after doing a bit of research I found that they were on the inboard side of each engine, so I added them. Made from short lengths of clean WD40 straw fitted into a hole in the nacelles, since then I have always made sure that all engines have exhausts, many do have them moulded in and some have little short stubs that I drill out to look like a little pipe. Others didnt have them so I did the same thing as I did with the Privateer; maybe with them being on the inboard side of the nacelles Matchbox felt they wouldn't be seen anyway, I dont know but I added them to mine. The Revell version of it is the same, its just a rehash of the same moulds that Matchbox used. H,hmm I digress a tad!

 

I made these ones from a little bit of thin sprue with a bend in, cut to a length that my big ol' tree trunk fingers of mine can handle, shaved flat on the back and drilled out! Simples!

 

Thanks for your comments Ray and Steve😀

[Markh-75]

Today I started painting the undersides, first coat on, tomorrow it'll get another coat. Primed parts will probably get away with 3 coats, but unprimed parts (the wing floaties), probably 4.

 

 

I wont fit the wing floats until its all painted because the stbd side has a decal inside the area of the floats spars on the underwing; I can paint the parts though.

[Markh-75]

Not much to report on this other than after its first coat I found a few 'depressions' in the fuselage and the floats, so I've filled them and primed over them and then gave the undersides its second coat.

 

One more coat to the undersides and I'm ready to paint the upper half!😀

[Markh-75]

I've finished painting the underside, and started painting the topside; as it was primed I think I'll cover this in 3 coats; its looking okay colour-wise already because Colourcoats intermediate blue is a good cover colour! (especially on grey primer).

I also found a set of beaching gear that will suit it; once its all painted I'll get the float all decaled and fit the beaching gear before attaching it to the underside of the aircraft. I need to start painting the canopy real soon too.

To paint the floats I masked them, I mounted the two outer ones on cocktail sticks and used a big bulldog clip for the main float.

 This colour is a good solid fill and gets even better with each coat; its been primed and had one coat which has coloured it but I think another 2 coats will be fine. 

 The two wing floats are mounted on cocktail sticks and masked. On a side note; The Klear bottle is in the lid of a primer aerosol, its just the right size for the bottle; I KEEP it in there because if not, the bottle gets bumped it will spill everywhere! and get wasted, I have lost a bottle that way, so now, in the spray can lid it can't be knocked over! Any bottle that size is put into a spray can lid when one becomes available.

The beaching gear is good but I need to paint two wheels and tyres for it; that wont take long.

[AdrianMF]

Looking very nice so far. Good catch on spotting the decal under the struts too - that will make things a lot easier!

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Markh-75]

Thanks Adrian, been caught out like that on other models before! One I just managed to fit one between the spars as it was just the right size to roll and slip in between the struts, getting it squeezed free of air was another story! But it worked and my finger nails were very short after it! There are no worries of any issues this time as it will get the time to dry and be sealed down before I need to find the holes in the wings for the struts again!

I dont know why they couldn't have just fitted the marking just inboard of the wing float !? They did for later national insignia (star and bars).

[Markh-75]

Gave this some more colour today, Its looking better each time! 

One more coat makes this colour solid.😀

 

One more coat and this colour is done other than for touch-in, I left the strip along the wing roots for a reason, its a walkway, one on both wings. So I started painting in the lines on the canopies, and completed the prop.

This is the first coat, I gave it a good couple of hours to dry before I cleaned the lines; tomorrow both canopies will get a second coat and I'll clean them a second time. The idea is to clean the lines, removing excess paint after each coat applied has dried because if the paint is left too long to dry it can be harder to clean the lines and remove the excess paint and its hard to see the lines if two coats are left to dry; it can also chip off and need to be repainted in places leaving the finish uneven, or the clear panes can get scratched from too much rubbing at them! You can also rub too hard, hold too firm and break the canopy! Needs good support in my fingers while I work.
 

 

[Markh-75]

This has had all the painting it needs now, I just need to mask off for the wing walkways and paint them in.

 

 

I also gave the canopies another coat; left them an hour or two and then cleaned them, they're now finished, I'll give them a gentle brush to remove any trash before I fit them (remembering of course, to fit the loop aerial and machine gun first!), I also pencilled in the line at the joins between what would be the moving parts of the canopies. Looks better.

 

 Hmm; I can see I still have a ragged edge or two! I'll wait until tomorrow and go over them again! The remainder will clean better tomorrow when its dried a bit longer.

 

 

 

 

 

I have a little tidying to do along the lines between the two colours on the fuselage and the main floatation thingy, remove the masking from the floats and mask for the wing walkways. Then its just stuff like the exhausts to paint before I can seal it and apply decals. I can't fit the stbd float until the decal is on and sealed so I wont fit either of them until I'm ready to. I'm waiting for the decals to arrive for it; this model is NOT going to be done like the one on the box!