Patriot's Point Maritime Museum's Model restoration updated February 12, 23

May 16, 2022

Feb 12, 23:

Last three Kingfishers models for the Patriot's Point museum. These models depict the OS2Us onboard the USS Baltimore (CA-68) circa 1944.

Sept 25, 22:

3 more Kingfishers for USS North Dakota (BB-57)

May 16, 2022:

The Coastal Carolina Modelers Association of which I'm member is restoring several ship models at the Patriots Point Naval and Maritime Museum. The USS Yorktown (CV-10) is the center of the museum and where most of the model work is taking place.

My latest part in the restoration effort is the building of the model aircraft to be displayed on the ships. The first planes are two float planes to display on the battleships and cruisers. Club member Gary of GT Resins fame is casting the models in 1/96 scale: the scale of the ship collection.

Here are two kits of the Vought OS2U Kingfisher with a 3 inch/ 8cm ruler:

Here's the main floats; the aft strut isn't quite long enough. Some of the resin flash and super glue served as filler to extend the strut.

Engine cowls drilled out for the prop shaft.

Here's the in progress assembly.

I didn't use sandpaper to work the gaps. Superglue followed by accelerator was filed to shape for casting bubbles and large gaps. Tamyia white putty took care of the rest of the gaps. I smoothed the excess putty to shape using a paper towel dampen with lacquer thinner. The resin proved impervious to the hot thinner.

Painting is complete with one in the tri-color scheme and one overall dark sea blue. A Hellcat has joined the mix. This resin model is from the museum collection. It was pretty beat-up. I striped the old paint off and filled in the holes and gaps. It, too, was painted dark sea blue. The hardest most time intensive step in this project is depicting the canopies. I masked the framing with strips of masking tape and simulated the windows with Alclad aluminum.

Mike E. working with Draw Decal provided the decals for this project. All involved were kind enough to lend their time and talents to produce about 150 sets of markings. Decals applied and ready for final assembly.