Grumman J2F Duck

Other than the ancient ITC kit in 1/50 scale (and Glencoe's repop of this), the only other mainstream kit of the Duck is from Airfix, and was initially released in 1971. It's one of their better efforts, but not without it's faults. I picked this one up at the 2009 Nats at Columbus, in one of those "5 for $5" piles in the vendor room. Since these old kits will never be super accurate AMS contest winners, I just like to build them for enjoyment, adding a few improvements along the way, but staying away from excessive detailing.

[I vac-u-formed a new canopy using the kit part as a master, but with the thick frames and upper wing you see much in the cockpit, so I kept it simple. ]

For starters the fuselage features the oversize rivets common to kits of yore. Thick clear parts, minimal cockpit detail, a clunky engine and cowling, and a general heaviness to most of the parts will all need some attention. There are shape issues with the float and engine cowling too, but I'll try to correct some of these. Starting with the 2-seat cockpit, I added some generic do-dads and seatbelts, but the heavily framed canopy and upper wing won't let you see much anyway, so I kept it simple. I cut away the tail control surfaces and repositioned them for a better look. The two body halves were joined, the seams cleaned up and the rivets sanded down to a more scale appearance.

[The engine was painted gunmetal, washed, dry-brushed and installed, and two small pieces of 1/16

The engine is actually well molded, but the thick cowling needs work. In most radial engines, you can see daylight thru the cylinders out the back, so I cut away the heavy plastic between the cylinders and thinned down the trailing edge of the cowl. The engine was painted gunmetal, washed, dry-brushed and installed, and two small pieces of 1/16" tubing were added for the exhaust stubs. Another problem is the large oil cooler intake below the engine, as its louvers are poorly molded. The hole was cut open, and small slats were glued in at an angle. It's not perfect, but it does look better.

Back in the 1920's, when most "airports" were still just grass fields, amphibious aircraft were developed that could fly from both land and sea bases. While this greatly increased their operational usage, they were usually a design compromise, being burdened with extra weight and equipment, and possessing relatively poor performance. Loening Aeronautical built several good amphibious planes, one of which the Navy expressed interest in, but Loening's factories were purchased by Curtiss-Wright in 1929. When one of Loening's engineers, Leroy Grumman, went out to form his own company, he was eventually picked by the Navy to produce the leftover Loening amphibian. Initially called the XO2L-1, it was first flown on April 25th, 1933 as the XJF-1 Duck.

The Duck was a 2-seat biplane with an enclosed cockpit, cowled engine, variable-pitch prop, and a metal fuselage, all advanced features back then. The hallmark of the design was its single centerline float that was faired into the fuselage, equipped with landing gear that could retract flush into the sides of the float. Small outrigger floats were installed under the outer wingtips, and the enclosed space between the fuselage and float was used for extra cargo or crew. During WWII, the Duck performed many tasks it was never designed for, usually without much recognition. It was used as a transport, photo recon, bomber, scout-plane, target tug, smoke layer, ambulance, air-sea rescue, anything that was needed at the time, usually because there was nothing else available.

A remarkably rugged plane, it was used by the Navy, Marines, Coast Guard and Air Force (as the AO-12), and flew from carrier decks, primitive dirt strips, far-flung island lagoons, concrete runways, choppy seas, and was even stressed for neck-snapping launches from catapults aboard battleships. Though only 632 were built, they were used all over the world, soldering on well into the 1950's. An unlovely, awkward plane, it worked much better than it looked, providing sterling service and saving many lives.

[I chose an early war scheme of navy blue-gray over the light gray under sides, and the red-centered insignia and tail stripes used up until May of '42.]

The ribbing on the wings was a bit heavy, so this was sanded down a bit, the hand-holds drilled out, and the ailerons re-scribed. Joining the wing of any biplane is a tricky affair, and this was no exception. I wanted to add rigging later, so I pre-drilled tiny holes right thru the wings at all the appropriate locations as well as some at the base of the lower wing. You have to paint the kit before adding the upper wing, so I selected an early war scheme of navy blue-gray over the light gray under sides, and the red-centered insignia and tail stripes used up until May of '42. Once the two colors were shot, I went back to add the upper wing.

[I had to fabricate new outer N-struts from plastic strip because the kit parts are far too short.]

While the center struts are accurate, the outer N-struts are far too short, and using these would force the lower wing up at a way too much dihedral. I had to fabricate new struts from plastic strip, sanding the edges to a smoother shape. Rigging was done with .005 thousands nylon "invisible thread", which has a gray smoke color and is tough and flexible enough to take a fair amount of mishandling. To rig the plane, I anchored one end of the thread with a drop of super glue, touched that with a drop of accelerator, then fed it thru the appropriate hole at the other end. This was pulled tightly right thru the wing and glued like the first end, and then trimmed off with a sharp knife. When all was finished, a few drops of touch-up paint hid the tiny holes.

The kit decals were in poor shape, so I used some MicroScale replacements from the spares box, including the red/white tail stripes. I vac-u-formed a new canopy using the kit part as a master, and added all the final details. Weathering was done with a dark wash to accentuated panel lines and oil streaks, then pastels for exhaust stains. A light gray pastel was used to fade and mottle the upper surfaces and a little silver paint was dry-brushed on the prop and cowl to simulate chipped paint. Finally, the radio wires were done with .004 thou thread, using the same process as the rigging. Done.

[Weathering was done with a dark wash to accentuated panel lines and oil streaks, then pastels for exhaust stains. ]

In conclusion, this is a nice little kit, with good fit except for the too-short N-Struts. It goes together well, and provides a fun trip back to my early modeling days, when kits were usually under a dollar, reference material was non-existent, and girls weren't very interesting... Yet.