KittyHawk 1/32 OS2U Kingfisher

The Vought OS2U Kingfisher has been kitted in a variety of scales. When Kittyhawk released a 1/32 scale kit. I was excited to build a model to honor a relative that flew this aircraft in the Pacific during World War II.

Built mainly out of the box with the exception of Kits World 1/32 3D printed seatbelts and Eduard canopy masks. Some modifications were armor plating around the rear .30 caliber machine gun- made with sheet styrene per drawings in the Dana Bell book on the OS2U. Kingfishers had what appears to be shipboard modifications in the form of extra bracing on the wing floats. These were made with steel wire. Also, late war Kingfishers had a shoulder harness for the pilot. I used the Kits World seatbelts which were excellent.The aerials were made using fine steel wire. Wiring harness for the Pratt and Whitney R-985 and radio/navigational equipment was also fabricated from fine wire. Finally I scratch built a dingy in stowed bag with straps made from tissue and tape.

The only area of the kit that concerned me was the cowling which is made up of a variety of parts that have the potential for fit issues. But everything fit properly with a minimal of fuss. I attached the engine to the firewall with the supplied mounts (which are delicate and need care with handling. I then fit the nose ring and built the cowling up around that and the cowl flaps which were glued in place to the engine mounts. I used very little filler as the fit with careful planning was superb.

I would like to give a shout out to Squadron.com and their excellent customer service. During the build I ruined one of the greenhouse canopy sections. I emailed and they responded promptly and mailed out a new clear sprue free of charge!

Painted with Tamiya Acrylic paints as flown by my Cousin Lt JG Edwin Diersing off of the battleship-USS Pennsylvania (Sept 1944-Nov 1944). Edwin was my childhood hero. As a young boy hearing his stories as a shipboard floatplane pilot in the South Pacific, led me on the path to becoming a commercial seaplane pilot and instructor.

You can see a picture of him in the actual aircraft above the model and I attached a few more interesting pictures.

The Kittyhawk 1/32 scale Vought OS2U Kingfisher is a very nice kit that requires pre planning, careful review of instructions as well as research material.

Neal Campbell

30 June 2025

Copyright ModelingMadness.com. All rights reserved. No reproduction in part or in whole without express permission.

If you would like your product reviewed fairly and fairly quickly, please contact the editor or see other details in the Note to Contributors.