Mike Allen, Pensacola, Florida
“I bought this Monogram 1/48 scale OS2U-1 Kingfisher from a friend who is no longer building models. It was dated from 1972,” Mike says. “I have built it as Adm. Husband E. Kimmel's staff aircraft, attached to Naval Air Station Ford Island, Pearl Harbor, from Oct. 1940-Aug. 1942.” Mike painted the plane with enamels: Humbrol blue (No. 15) and Testors Model Masters orange yellow, flat aluminum, and dull dark green interior. The aft position is scratchbuilt. Other of the many added details include: armature wire wound around a No. 70 drill bit for radio-aerial tension springs; copper-wire brake lines; and a life raft made with a blanket roll from a 1/35 scale tank. But Mike wasn’t through: Float attachments are made from soda-can aluminum; the exhaust system is drilled and polished aluminum tubing and stir straws from a restaurant; and the cowl-flap doublers behind the exhaust were made from thin flash out of an old Aurora kit. Mike applied Aeromaster decals but painted the wing walks on his award-winning model.