OS2U Kingfisher by Kitty Hawk

[BlrwestSiR]

While the fuselage was setting up, I went and did the cross braces on the main float.

The pads where they intersect was done using some Tamiya tape.

I also glued the wing halves together.

So some significant progress for the day.

[Bomber_County]

Carl, almost wants me to build one. Only trouble what’s taken you 2 weeks tops would six months for me.......looking good.....

[DocRob]

You are definitely firing up the 'want one' urge with your great build. I love the Kingfisher and am tempted not for the first time.

Cheers Rob

[BlrwestSiR]

On 9/10/2019 at 12:39 PM, Bomber_County said:

Carl, almost wants me to build one. Only trouble what’s taken you 2 weeks tops would six months for me.......looking good.....

Phil, I'm definitely enjoying the build process. One way to look at it is you'd be good for six months. That's a decent ratio of smile per hour. 

Hopefully

On 9/14/2019 at 1:20 PM, DocRob said:

You are definitely firing up the 'want one' urge with your great build. I love the Kingfisher and am tempted not for the first time.

Cheers Rob

Thanks Rob! I'm actually considering getting another one. But I need to finish this one first. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Normally I don't bother to paint the insides of my canopies but I decided to on the Kingfisher as it's so big and open. I started by masking off the vertical frames and painting those first. 

Then I unmask them and do the horizontal ones. 

When it comes time to do the outer frames, I'll still spray a dull dark green base coat before the blue just to be sure.

I also worked on my replacement engine mount/cradle attachment.

I also did a test fit of the canopies and they're a good fit. 

[Clunkmeister]

Looking great, Carl.this is gonna be awesome!

[BlrwestSiR]

Ok, time to mount the engine and cowling. I mounted the upper three cowl panels to the cowl ring. I left the lower one off until I had the cowling in place as it needed to clear the exhaust pipes.

Then the engine was mounted.

I then slipped the cowl over the engine and glued it in place.

Finally the lower panel went on along with some tape to hold everything in alignment while the glue dried.

 

[BlrwestSiR]

I sprayed the outer colour on the canopy bits last night.

It seemed that I ended up mixing more paint than I needed so rather than wasting it, I used it up painting various bits. Turned out to be a whole lot of paint...

[Clunkmeister]

Carl, it's looking great.  I've always called Kitty hawk kits "thinking man's" kits. You definitely need to stop and determine which way to proceed, but once you do, it assembles great.   You're knocking this one out of the park, man.  I'm LOVING IT!

[BlrwestSiR]

58 minutes ago, Clunkmeister said:

Carl, it's looking great.  I've always called Kitty hawk kits "thinking man's" kits. You definitely need to stop and determine which way to proceed, but once you do, it assembles great.   You're knocking this one out of the park, man.  I'm LOVING IT!

Thanks Ernie!

One definitely can't just plow through the kit that's for sure. It did catch me off guard a bit initially but it's been fine once I figured that out. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Time for some unconventional fuselage painting. With the large canopies and some fairly fragile cockpit details I decided to mask and paint around the cockpit openings in tow steps. 

First I masked off the vertical sections. They're not perfectly sealed against the vertical sections intentionally as I didn't want to pull off any detail bits when I removed the tape. 

Then I airbrushed at an angle to keep overspray from going into the cockpit.

 

[crazypoet]

That’s a great approach!

[Ryan]

Good method Carl.

[BlrwestSiR]

7 hours ago, crazypoet said:

That’s a great approach!

 

6 hours ago, Ryan said:

Good method Carl.

Thanks Earl and Ryan! It's a bit more laborious but I think ultimately easier. 

[BlrwestSiR]

Unfortunately I forget to get some pics of where I masked off for the horizontal section of the cockpit openings but those were next. I left them in place and then did the intermediate blue as well.

I then did a dry fit of the wings to see how it looked. 

Comparing it to my reference pic, I need to bring the intermediate blue down the sides a bit more aft of the wings.