Airfix 1/72 Vought OS2U Kingfisher

AIRFIX 1:72 VOUGHT OS2U KINGFISHER

Reviewer: Richard Stracey (rec.models.scale)
Kit Review submitted: 31 August 2003

Kit Details:

Airfix # 02021 / MPC #1-4012 1/72 -- VOUGHT SIKORSKY OS2U KINGFISHER

Aircraft History:

The Kingfisher first flew in March 1938 and entered service with the US Navy in August 1940. It was used in the scout/ observation role as well as air sea rescue. Most of the WW11 allies used the Kingfisher as well as Argentina, Chile, Dominican Republic, Mexico and Uruguay. Powered by a P & W R985 redial engine, the OS2U had a span of 35’11” and a length of 33’10”.

The Kit:

This Series II Airfix kit hails from 1967 and has been re released frequently since then including by MPC in 1984.

The kit consists of just over sixty parts in hard dark blue plastic including one and a half crew figures and, with earlier releases, a stand. There is an option for wheels or floats with beaching gear for the float version. The instructions are adequate but painting instructions are a bit vague. Decals are supplied for two aircraft, which two depends on the release.

Construction:

I am often pleasantly surprised on how good some of these “oldie goldies” are but not in this case! Even by ’67 standards this could not be considered a good effort.

The interior is very basic and I left out the crew, gun and gun ring and added a more realistic pilots seat from my spares box. The cowling is very thick and the gills crude. Time has not improved them. The engine bears no relationship to any known brand and if I had one handy would have replaced it with an Aeroclub EO12 9cyl. P&W Wasp Junior. The example that I made didn’t require a gun but if it had I would have used an Aeroclub GO18 Browning .30.

Various holes need drilling depending on which version you are depicting. Airfix have moulded the wing roots in with the fuselage. I have no objection to this as the joint then follows the edge of the walkway but the flaps actually continue all the way to the fuselage. This means that quite a bit of sanding, filling, cutting and re scribing is needed to get this feature correct.

After all this the matt black anti slip walk way actually extends over the flap to the trailing edge. The work, however, still needs to be done. The beaching gear is about as crude as the rest of the kit. All this pales into insignificance when compared to the transparencies! What a mess and there isn’t much that can be done about them. I white glued mine in place in the hope that, one day, Falcon release their Kingfisher canopy singularly under the Squadron Signal banner rather than in a set.

As I want to make another Kingfisher with wheels I don’t really want to buy two sets of Falcon US Navy sets. Finally there is a small amount of rigging around the float attachments.

Versions/ Decals:

The decal options are for a chrome yellow/ aluminium machine on USS North Carolina in April ’44 and a blue/ aluminium one on USS Lexington. The MPC decal is for the North Carolina version only. None of the decals were worth using. The latest re release have US Navy and Royal Navy options. As it was, using bits and pieces from my decal box I made an RAAF machine A48-4 from No.3 OUT Rathmines NSW in July ’42. I have decals to make a Mexican land plane sometime.

Conclusion:

References can be found in Profile #251, Illustrated Encyclopaedia of Aircraft V13 p.3073 and Scale Aviation Modeller of September ’00. Scale Aircraft Modelling of June ’96 reviews a re release and in the September ’02 issue there is a comprehensive article on RAAF Kingfishers. Although I haven’t seen one in ages, Lindburg made a 1/72 Kingfisher. Being even older than this one I doubt if it is much better. Come on Airfix, this sort of kit does nothing for your reputation. How about scrapping the dies and presenting us with a nice new one before Academy or someone beats you to it?

RHS/79

Related Reviews:-

Airfix 1/72 Vought OS2U Kingfisher - [Paul Wherran]

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