how to build a replica Kingfisher for the Uss Texas?

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 8:41 pm

I've got a real tough one here. I was talking to some guys from the USS Texas BB35 today and they are thinking of having a mocked up Kingfisher to mount up on turret number 3. Seeing as how Kingfishers aren't in every bone yard, it looks like the best option is to throw together a not to accurate replica. Just looking at images of a Kingfishers, I think a Vultee BT-13 fuselage that is lengthened and has heavy modifications to the tail and canopy might work. I'm sure BT13 wings are going to be rather steep in price, but maybe a set of Beech 18 wings might suffice. I'm having to give them a bid on this giant toy plane, so any leads or ideas would be appreciated. Of course I would have to come up with floats as well ad eventually make the best of recreating the catapult system that would be mounted to the turret. So here I go head first into another disaster. Keep in mind that it will never fly and no one can get up close enough to it to see just how cobbled together it will be. So, if you know of any Bt-13 parts piles that might be made into a fuselage again please let me know. The USS Texas Foundation is doing all it can to raise money to get the ship dry docked permanently so money will be tight on this project if I can collect enough parts to build the replica---- of course it would all be tax deductible.
Jason Barnett

http://www.cityofart.net/bship/tx_kingfisher.jpg

pjg43 · **Joined:** Thu Aug 09, 2012 9:31 pm **Posts:** 2

I would think that they would want to fix the hull first.

Chunks · **Joined:** Fri Jun 15, 2007 10:02 am **Posts:** 361

I tried this once, and after linking my 306th photo my computer decided to reset...as I said previously...I would go to Pensacola for inspiration. Try to get a used main float somewhere that would be "close enough" and work from there. I've included a few pics for comparison.

Chunks

Wildchild · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:04 pm

Could they make a fiberglass replica instead of making one out of a BT-13?

Those things are rare nowadays....

N3Njeff · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:15 pm

Anyone good a photoshop??? Take a set of floats off the N3N and put em on the BT...........might be smaller in scale as to the actual Kingfisher but to the BT, I bet there close

Cherrybomber13 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:18 pm

Considering that the home of the Kingfisher, Stratford can't get one from anywhere, A fiberglass replica would be the way to. do it. Id start with a Nanchang CJ-6 as a base if I were going to build a toy version. Have to agree that their hull would be a bigger concern.

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Mon Mar 11, 2013 10:28 pm

pjg43 wrote:

I would think that they would want to fix the hull first.

Getting the ship into dry dock is the top priority right now, but they want to further the restoration once it is dry docked. This idea is something that they were just kicking around and asked me to come up with ideas to build it. I'm not opposed to fiberglass especially since it doesn't corrode, but I sure hate working with that itchy stuff. I think CHUNKS idea of going to Florida is a necessity for measurements and ideas.

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 4:01 am

Isn't there a project Kingfisher over at Chino now (Yanks or POF)? Something in pieces might be better for making molds...

JohnB · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:41 am

IIRC, Tora, Tora, Tora had a fiberglass(?) Kingfisher replica on one of the battleships.
I have a slide of it (taken from the film and sold by a licensee of 20th Century Fox many years ago from an ad in the back pages of Air Classics..anyone else remember those?...and bought for a university history project I did on the raid) somewhere.

airnutz · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 8:20 am

Yup, go fiberglass...and you'll have the moulds at the end of the day which will put you in the Kingfisher replica bidness when the other ship museums/or films "gotta get one o' them too"...or when a hurricane comes along and absconds with the Texas' example.

carlisle1926 · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 10:17 am

Well I suppose fiberglass will most likely be the way of going. I have had to make fiberglass molds before and the process is extremely labor intensive and if you think the price of fuel has gone up wait until you have to buy fiberglass resin in large quantities. But, the idea of possibly being to sell replicas to other museum ships is a promising idea. Also, my first concern with placing anything made out of aluminum out in the open that is exposed to the caustic moist air around the Houston Ship Channel, so fiberglass is probably the only reasonable option. Now I'll start calling around fiberglass businesses to see just how much this will cost. Thanks for all of the advice.

CAPFlyer · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 11:40 am

The other thing I'd do is reinforce the fiberglass with some very dense expanding foam and strategically placed concrete (aka in the bottom of the floats) to add weight. James May's "Airfix" Spitfire (which is fiberglass) weighed about 400 pounds fully assembled, so this would be much too light for external display. I would say your final weight would need to be more in the range of 2,000 pounds (still half the weight of an empty Kingfisher) to give it enough mass and strength to hold up through any tropical cyclones that it'd be exposed to. Also as important would be that you'd need to build in and support the tie downs for the plane the same as the original so they can properly lash it down once in place for the same reason. Not a huge deal since you'll need a steel skeleton anyway, but it will affect where the steel goes.

Chris Brame · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 2:36 pm

Quote:

IIRC, Tora, Tora, Tora had a fiberglass(?) Kingfisher replica on one of the battleships.
I have a slide of it (taken from the film and sold by a licensee of 20th Century Fox many years ago from an ad in the back pages of Air Classics..anyone else remember those?...

I have that set too:

Rajay · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:15 pm

I hate the idea of a fiberglass replica!

The Vought OS2U Kingfisher never struck me as being all that complicated an aircraft. With all of the talented "miracle-worker" qualified warbird restoration shops out there, I'd bet one of them could actually build a new Kingfisher from scratch - and that a complete set of blueprints is probably available from either the Smithsonian or the National Archives - they were/are for the Grumman JRF series Goose. After all, just like the Goose, the Kingfisher was also a significant US Navy type in service during WW2.

I heard that a team of volunteers restored the Kingfisher that is on display on the battleship USS North Carolina (BB-55) in Wilmington, NC. I'm sure that anyone willing to undertake such a worthwhile project on behalf of the USS Texas could probably count on being able to find a lot of people willing to volunteer for it as well.

And if that same shop were to build any more than just that first one for the USS Texas, somebody would end up with one heck of a unique warbird at airshows, etc!

Just my 2 cents.

Wildchild · **Posted:** Tue Mar 12, 2013 7:48 pm

If your going to make a fiberglass replica, make it look really, reallyyyyyy good. I've seen other fiberglass replica's and... yea.

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how to build a replica Kingfisher for the Uss Texas?

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