1/48 Monogram Kingfisher X2, FINALLY DONE !!!!!

I can't wait to see these ones come together. I love the idea of building a Kingfisher, but I don't have the patience to do what you're about to do to these. I'm looking forward to this one.

-BD-

I am really looking forward to these Kingfishers in your capable hands.

I have started one of the Monograms but hit a wall when trying to AM the interior. i ordered the resin from Lone Star but twice had problems with it . Once it got lost in the mail so I never received it and the second arrived in the wrong scale. Where did you find the Cutting Edge interior?   The only one I've seen on Ebay the clown wants $150 for it. Way too much for a 1/48 interior in my book.

I found the CE cockpit on evilbay some time ago. I watch for them from time to time and buy them when I find a good deal. I don't recall what I paid, but it wasn't all that bad.

BK

This will be a fun build to watch especially with all that AM parts.  You have my attention!

Toshi

Ok, so.....day one. I'm off and running. I just finished up my Tamiya Beaufighter which was a splendid kit. And I started work on these two today. Now I have to say I'm already scratching my head with how bad the fit and flash is on these two kits. But, since most of the kit parts are being replaced or reworked I'll just have to press on. I also have a Kittyhawk 1/32 Kingfisher that I may build along the way to help give me some details for the 1/48 kits. 

"Build two Monogram Kingfishers they said. It'll be fun the said."

As you can see in the pic below, I've cut off the kit float to make room for the Lone Star Models float which is much more accurate. I will be leaving it off until I have the cockpits done and halves closed up. But, I had to show you something.

BK

Looking forward to seeing this build as it progresses, Brandon!

This sir will be an interesting build.  I'll Definately follow this one!

Toshi

Hi BK

Sorry to hear about the problems with Lone Star. I met Mike at the 2012 IPMS Nats here in Orlando but was out of the resin KF pits. He did not charge me for the shipping when I ordered mine since we had talked in Orlando aboit it. The resin details look very good and will enhance the pit details.

I have this kit along wit the KH 1/32 one which looks awesome but has been reported with some fitting issues here and there from reviews I have read.

Your build will be an interesting one since you have so much AM items.

I built that kit between forty and fifty years ago. I really enjoyed that build. It turned out pretty nice even OOB, so yours should be fantastic.

Thanks gents for the words of encouragement. I am nearing the completion of the first pit and assembly is challanging to say the least. The resin kit from LSM is very detailed, but the resin didnt come out too well on this one so a lot of work went into making it presentable. Still, its far better than the kit parts. I should have some pics up tomorrow.

BK

I'm anxious too see how the LSM pit came out and what you did with it to make it fit right.

Well, as promised here is the latest update on the first Kingfisher. The LSM cockpit kit is a massive improvement over the kit parts. It is loaded with tons of detail far beyond my ability to scratch build. The kit I recieved was not the level of quality one would expect from Cutting Edge, but when it's only done by one guy on his own, I think it's fine.

The kit does take a great deal of work to make it fit the fuselage as the pours are rough and there is a great amount of overpour and clean up involved. Again, even with its problems it is a huge improvement.

The part I had the most trouble with is the textured surface of the resin made painting it very very difficult and I had a really hard time making it look presentable. I am not overly happy with the result with regard to my painting, but given the surface I was working with it will have to do. The Cutting Edge kit will work far better, but those are getting rare and very expensive. LSM is really the only game in town for these pits.

I have seveal pieces that still need to be added in to the rear pit but those will wait until I have the seam work done so they are not in the way while I work on that. This kit is similar to the Monogram P-40 in that it will take a great deal of work to make it really nice. At this point I am rethinking making the engine on this one exposed. I may simply swap it out for the kit part and move on. I need to think it over more.

Thanks for looking.

BK

I've been so busy this year that I haven't had much time to work on these, but I am making slow progress. So, here is where I am at so far.

I have cut off the cowling in order to open the flaps and make way for a Vector R-985 resin engine. This is gonna take a great deal of work to make it fit but so far it looks promissing. 

I also plan on adding in some exhaust tips to the cowling as well. I also closed up the firewall area so I could shape it to the flaps and fit the cowl back on in the same place it came off, only open now. 

This is the final result of the shaping of the firewall and rounding it in for the flaps to fit over correctly.

I left the flaps attached to the cowling and simply cut them into seperate pieces. I then sanded the tips down to make them appear as thin as possible and I took a pair of PE plyers and bent them all outward which cracked the plastic on the inside. So, I simply put Tamiya thin cement on the cracks and it actually forced the flaps to stay open. This is the result.

I then turned my attention to the kit engine and cut it away with a small saw. I then used a knife to remove the left over bits and followed that up with some sanding and shaping for the correct fit to the cowl. It came out perfect.

I also began work on the Vector R-985 kit. Once I had this assembled, minus the details, I can begin work on the cowling opening and the cylinder heads to make it all fit together. The cowling is thick and I used a Dremel to thin it down as thin as I dare and I will need to remove the tips of each cylinder to make it fit. The engine will need to be set in from the front as the cowl is oblong toward the rear and the engine will never fit in from there. I plan to get it to fit, detail it out, set it in and then close the front of the cowl. This will complicate the paint, but there is no real alternative. 

In this shot you can see I've thinned the cowl quite a bit and it still needs a tad more room, so the cylinder heads will get it next. They won't be seen anyway.

I have been working on the float as well. The kit part is grossly misplaced and the kit resin float will look tons better. I will get to that in the next few days and post up some more pics. More to come on this journey. Thanks for looking.

BK

Gosh BK you are breahing life into this old Monogram kit And it's looking incredible. 

Can't wait to see more!

My hat's off to you pushing your limits in the modelling skills dept. Looks like you're succeeding admirably. This'll be a thread to which I will subscribe.

Phew, lotsa work so far but it looks like you're up to it. Good job. It's going to be interesting to see how you make the wings fit thru the fuselage with the LSM interior in the way.

Jay Jay

It's going to be interesting to see how you make the wings fit thru the fuselage with the LSM interior in the way.

LOL, that part is already done. I have the wings completed and ready for install. It was the first thing I did after the cockpit, and they needed significant mods to make it work. I haven't installed them yet as I want the extra room to finish up all the extra work on the nose and float. I am close to putting them on. 

Thanks for the kind words gentlemen.

BK

"I have the wings completed and ready for install. It was the first thing I did after the cockpit, and they needed significant mods to make it work"

I sure would like to see how you did the wings if you wouldn't mind,  I'm building the same kit and AM stuff and kinda gave up when I saw how the wing to Fsg. joins up. kudos to you for figuring it all out.

Nice work, will you be doing a WIP for the Kitty Hawk Kingfisher?

Your friend, Toshi

Jay Jay

"I have the wings completed and ready for install. It was the first thing I did after the cockpit, and they needed significant mods to make it work"

I sure would like to see how you did the wings if you wouldn't mind,  I'm building the same kit and AM stuff and kinda gave up when I saw how the wing to Fsg. joins up. kudos to you for figuring it all out.

 

BK

Toshi

Nice work, will you be doing a WIP for the Kitty Hawk Kingfisher?

Your friend, Toshi

 

I may or may not. I'm working on getting a new job that will take 70+ hours a week with odd days off and non together except every 5 weeks. So my build time is gonna take a major hit if I get it, but the income is worth it. Fingers crossed.

BK

Alright folks, sorry for the huge delay on the wing work, but I've been working two jobs and one takes 50+hrs a week so I have very little time to model at the moment.

As promised I will show how I managed to get the wings to work with the resin pit installation.

As you can see by the photos I had to cut the wings in half but before I did this I glued on two pieces of tubing to provide correct alignment once I put them back together. I also inserted tubing inside those to act as pins. Once this was done I actually cut the wings in half. I then removed a large portion at the front and rear of the wings to allow for fit around the new pits, front and rear. This is a trial and error effort and I just kept wacking away until the wings fit how I wanted them to. I have not attached them to the plane yet but preliminary dry fitting shows they will no longer pose any clearance issues.

 I am nearly done with the resin engine and when I am I will also install the cowling and engine for the final time and them I will be putting the wings on for the final time as well. I am moving quite slowly due to lack of time to work on it but if anyone has questions I can usually reply by the next day.

Thanks for looking.

BK

Absolutely amazing work Brandon! Thanks for posting the WIP. Heck, I haven’t even gotten to my PBY build yet. I’ll save it for the next Boats and Floats GB.

Steve

Thanks Steve. I would like to spend more time on it now that the new year is here. These big thrashes tend to take quite a bit of work and time to get them to look decent. I'll keep plugging away at it.

BK

Very clever how you managed to get the AM pit to fit. TY for posting and I'm taking notes Mate

Jay Jay

Very clever how you managed to get the AM pit to fit.

Thanks. Once all the bits are added you cannot see down in there and the wing connections are hidden. I also glued the tubing on before I cut them up so the wings maintained alignment. I hope this helps, it worked well for me.

BK

Yes my friend, your valuable info helps a great deal and many thanks for helping me be a better modeler.

A good mate gifted me that Kingfisher (with PE....THANKS Rik!!)....and I picked up the Cutting Edge resin cockpit - just lovely.  But I was too dumb (and too slow) at the time to grab the Cutting Edge floats and cowl.  Duh.
Lonestar has a pretty good resin float replacement - SOOOO much better than the kit float (estimates calculate 25% too small in volume....what were they thinking!?)- and the dude that runs Lonestar was great - even though his website said "OOP"....oops....one arrived very quickly!  THANKS LONESTAR!!!!  You rock.
I can't wait to see your finished work.  I love that plane.  And I can't wait to get stuck into mine.
Evidently, the Kingfisher was a joy to fly - and was pretty darned stable on rough water that would kill a lesser floatplane.
Thanks for posting your pics, mate - looks great so far!

Great work so far!  I'm sure all your hard work will pay off in the end!