1/72 Airfix Kingfishers

[Warbird Kid]

After recovering from the 1/18th scale P-38F contract job, I wanted to do something simple and straightforward. (ya know... instead of tackling and finishing the 20+ other modelling projects I have that are on hold...)A few months ago I received a box of older models and in the lot were two 1/72nd scale Airfix/MPC Vought-Sikorsky Kingfishers. I knew the original decals were not even worth trying, so I bought a decal set on Ebay and got to work. These are pretty basic kits but they can come out to be decent little replicas. I built both out of box and didn't even try to do any detailing.

I was able to finish the first one in time for Pearl Harbor Day on Saturday. We have a temporary display up for Pearl Harbor this month in the museum, and it was the perfect addition to it. The markings are for "1-0-2", one of USS Arizona's three Kingfishers that were onboard during that fateful morning.









Friend of CASC, close family friend of my father and I, and master modeler: Bob Bracci (who is a Pearl Harbor historian and expert in his own right) saw the display had a Val and Zero, but no Kate. So he decided to rectify that... and built this 1/72 Hasegawa kit in two days...







You might know Bob's work if you've visited the Pearl Harbor Aviation Museum on Ford Island where his detailed diorama of Pearl Harbor has helped educate thousands of visitors. Here is a shot of the display before the Kingfisher, Kate, and display placards were installed. I'll try and remind myself to take a picture of the finished display tomorrow.



The second Kingfisher is in the works that I hope to finish ASAP. Stay tuned!


Chris

Last edited by Warbird Kid on Tue Dec 10, 2024 1:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[JohnB]

Chris

Nice work. Not many people, even warbird fans, think of the aircraft as a Vought Sikorsky.

Many American modelers tend to overlook the old Airfix offerings. When I was a kid back in the day, they were somewhat hard to find, though in the mid 70s, their partnership with MPC (best known for car models) certainly helped.
With the readily available offerings from Revell, Monogram, Lindberg, Hawk/Testors, Aurora and the like, we didn't need them, however they were a valuable addition to kit makers.
If you wanted a 1:72 C-47 or H-19, they were your only hope.

Their downside: terribly thick glass of uneven quality and laughable decals.
Their plusses: nice 1:72 offerings and sheer variety of types, even if many were pretty obscure UK machines.

A suggestion for next year's Pearl Harbor display...a Airfix Grumman J2F Duck. Although the kit represents a later variant (a -6), several Ducks were there.
I built one back in the day, as a postwar USAF OA-12.

It got me on an amphibian kick, I soon built Airfix kits of the Grumman Widgeon (which I built as a USAAF OA-14) and A British Supermarine Walrus. Too bad they never did a Grumman Goose considering the RAF operated several (a friend has restored and flies an ex-RAF example).

[Warbird Kid]

Thanks so much John! Yeah I found the kits a bit tricky in some spots but nothing too bad, and of course I can see how one could loose themselves in aftermarket detail sets to add to the authenticity.

Welp, I finally finished the other Kingfisher! I was planning on giving it to its new owner on New Year's Eve, but I ran into some complications near the end!

Plane:
It's straight out of the box. No frills (except the aftermarket decals from the same set the Arizona bird came from). The paint scheme was a bit hard to spray and mask at that scale. Not to mention the design is a bit delicate in my meaty fists. The figures are aftermarket from my bag of 1/72nd(ish) people. I originally thought of including more but scaled it back. The wires were a last minute decision and I was successful in stretching some of the sprue from this kit fairly thin. Getting it glued into place, then painting it in situ was on the other hand... frustrating. I then had to paint the side wire first, and glue it into place. I also scrtchbuilt the wheel chock.

Base:
I originally was thinking of having it in a flying attitude, or at least water landing, but for simplicity sake, I went with a ramp and water base. I built the angled ramp out of spare sheet styrene and covered it in putty. I let that dry and used a palm sander to smooth it out in short order, thinking I was saving time. I was a bit too heavy handed and forgot I was sanding thin sheet plastic, and ended up cracking it and breaking, which required more repair, glue, putty, and sanding. I tried to not sand all the putty down smooth so I left some of the craters and crevasses to allow colors and washes to get in them. After various wet and dry color passes, I used some chalk colors, and eventually earth tones to get a well rounded concrete color look.

Water:
As stated, the Woodland Scenes "Realistic Water" effect was tricky and I now know more of it then I did. Which makes me eager to try a different water based diorama to achieve even better results. Due to the shrinkage of the water, I had to reapply 3-4 layers. Once level and dry I applied mod-podge, followed by a 50/50 white glue and banking soda mix to make the water breaks.

















Thanks for looking!

[JohnB]

Nice work on the water.
I like the "Command blue" fuselage.
With the yellow wings, I'm sure someone will mistake if for a USAAC training aircraft.

[phil65]

Nice work Chris..

I still think the museum should have bought that Pratt engine and test bed...

Phil

[mazdaP5]

Very sharp!
Good work on the water effects too.
From what I've learned, the best thing for water effects is patience, and there just isn't enough of it.