During
WWII, the Mexican Air Force (F.A.M. – Fuerza Aérea Mexicana) received a total
of 12 Vought OS2U-3 Kingfishers as part of its modernization program. All of
these machines had a fixed landing gear and were painted olive drab over neutral
grey. In 1943, five of these planes were transferred to the Mexican Navy (Armada
de México), to form a squadron to patrol the Gulf of Mexico against the threat
of German submarines. These planes had the same land based configuration used by
the Air Force, but had their olive drab upper camouflage color replaced by dark
blue. In 1945, two of these machines were converted to seaplanes, having EDO
floats installed. In addition, they received a new camouflage scheme consisting
of two tones of grey. A third plane was also received in that same year, this
one already with floats. Unfortunately, one would be lost in an accident a short
time later.
The
Kingfisher served with the Mexican Navy until the late 50´s, the last survivor
returning to the U.S. in 1964 to be exhibited in the USS Alabama museum.
My
Kingfisher represents one of the seaplanes belonging to the Mexican Navy (Armada
de México), as it appeared when operating out of San Juan de Ulúa, Vera Cruz,
in 1945. The kit is the old Monogram Kingfisher, upgraded with the cockpit, the
main floats, and the cowl resin sets recently released by Cutting Edge. I’ve
also opted to drop the flaps and reposition the flying surfaces. This was, by
far, the toughest part of the whole construction process.
My
inspiration to build this kit came from the 1/72 Lodela (ex-Airfix) Kingfisher,
which comes with three of the schemes used by the Mexican Kingfishers. The model
I’ve built is one of the options of that kit. Painting and decaling was mostly
done based on the Lodela instruction sheet. Since I could not obtain a wealth of
additional information on the use of Kingfishers by the Mexican Navy, I had no
other choice but to trust the Lodela instruction sheet.
Another
problem that I’ve had was finding detailed pictures of the Kingfisher. Apart
from the Squadron “In Action” volume on the type, there seems to be no other
publication, currently available, that presents an in-depth coverage of that
airplane or a detailed scale plan. This is even more surprising when we consider
that there are some examples preserved in museums around the world (US, Chile
and Cuba, as far as I know).
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The
first step, before assembling the kit, was to rescribe all panel lines using the
tip of a saw blade and Dymo label tape for proper alignment. It was also at this
stage that I detached all flying surfaces. A comparison of the kit wings with
pictures of the real thing shows that the joint between the flaps and ailerons
and the main wings are grossly oversimplified in the kit. If one wants to build
a model that more closely resembles the actual airplane, there’s no other
choice but to remove the flaps and ailerons, and try to reproduce the pronounced
gap that exists between them and the wing structure, especially when viewed from
below. As there’s no resin set commercially available to help fixing that
problem, I’ve had to scratchbuild the whole area using sheet styrene and the
pieces that had been cut out from the kit. The kit was then assembled by loosely
following the Cutting Edge instruction sheets. Although the instructions warn
modelers on the high complexity of using the sets, I’ve found no particular
problem in that respect. On the other hand, the accuracy and sharpness of some
of the resin parts could be a bit better, in my opinion, particularly compared
to other products from the same manufacturer. However, this does not represent a
serious problem, and the use of those sets will, no doubt, improve the
appearance of the completed model.
Once
the fuselage, minus engine and cowl, was completed, I´ve started to assemble
the main float. In order to provide a strong support for the float, I´ve
drilled a couple of small holes in each pylon, as well as corresponding holes in
the bottom of the fuselage and the top of the main float. I’ve then inserted a
piece of brass rod in each hole before gluing all the parts involved in this
step. After the main float had been assembled, I’ve glued each wing half to
the fuselage, ensuring proper alignment and dihedral.
Next, I’ve assembled the two wing floats and the canopy, which I had
replaced by a vac-formed item from Falcon. I’ve improved the beaching gear
with some scratchbuilt details. Also, I’ve replaced the kit wheels with P-51
resin wheels from True Details, which closely resemble the real ones. After
masking the canopy, and before painting the model and the parts that still
needed to be glued (flying surfaces and cowl), I’ve completed the engine. As
suggested by Cutting Edge, I’ve replaced the kit engine with a P&W R-985
from Engine & Things (item # 48011). As it is, the engine does not have any
pushrods or ignition wires, so I’ve had to scratchbuild those details using
copper wire, soldering wire and styrene rods.
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Before
painting the model, I’ve airbrushed it with thin Mr. Surfacer and sanded using
2000 grade sandpaper, to eliminate any scratch on the plastic. I’ve then
primed the surface with White automotive acrylic. The model was then painted
using automotive paints, custom mixed to resemble FS 26231 Dark Gull Grey (upper
surface) and FS 26440 Light Gull Grey (lower surface). Lighter shades of the
main colors were airbrushed in the center of the panels. The next step was
applying the decals to the painted model. The national markings came from an old
Aeromaster decal sheet designed for the Hasegawa P-47 and also from the Lodela
decal sheet. The “BO5” black codes on the wings and the rudder stripes were
made by masking the appropriate areas and then painting them with an airbrush.
Before finishing the model with clear semi-gloss automotive acrylic, I’ve
enhanced the panel lines with some dark grey water color. The final step was to
assemble the cowl, moving surfaces, exhausts, propeller and the antenna wire
(made with 0.004” ultra thin fishing line).
Overall,
this was a very enjoyable project that spanned over one year, working only on
weekends. I can only hope now that some main stream manufacturer issues an
updated 1/48th scale kit of this interesting airplane, and that more
articles, books, and websites covering the type become available.
Ivan
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