Kitty Hawk OV-10D Bronco VMO-4

[dodgem37]

From whom did you purchase this kit?

 

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mark

[Out2gtcha]

From whom did you purchase this kit?

 

Thank you.

Sincerely,

Mark

 

 

Hi Mark,

I didnt. This WIP is for a build review for KH Models & LSP.com.

[phantomdriver]

How odd..

 

I saw one on a SIG table at Telford Saturday( or rather the box...)

[Out2gtcha]

How odd..

 

I saw one on a SIG table at Telford Saturday( or rather the box...)

 

 

Im not sure if Glenn and KH have started shipping these to the distributors quite yet, but Im sure he had full production review samples ready to display and possibly even sell (was not there myself) at Telford.

 

Previously, Glenn did indicate that LHS should have them by the end of Nov:

 

 

Dist's should have them mid November.

after that shipping to LHS. so LHS should have end of Nov

[williamj]

First one out of the gate....it all looks good,like the clear sprues in their own box.

  Got to follow along on this one.  

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks William. 

 

 

Now then on to some actual build progress!

I started off following the instruction order per KH, and as normal, kicked things off with the pit (s).  I have a ton of great documentation on the pilots and observers pits, and there is a TON of room for the super-detailers to go nuts with this thing!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KH provides the basics along with some nicely molded structures for the air-cond/collision/radio/warning panel behind the observers pit, as well as decent seats. As normal, the AM guys might bump this up a bit, but even so with some minor additions like wire bundles, and some cleaver paint and shadow work, the OOB pit should look really great IMHO.

Here you can see a few of the basic OOB cockpit parts for both the pilot and observers pits. Again, once all together, this should be a cool looking two holer in the end:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A quick dry-fit of things already gives me a hope that this kit will fit as good as it looks.

As noted, nothing is ever perfect in any kit, and the Bronco follows suit. The basic pit fits quite well in the fuselage, and things seem to close around it well enough even without any kind of serious clean up of the fuselage joints. KH has done a really wonderful job at hiding as many injector marks as they could but again nothing is perfect. They also have put any pin marks that are in plain sight, in places that are either hidden out of view once complete, or are hidden by other parts glued on after the fact.

The oddly and severely widely placed observers foot controls are one.................there are some pin marks at the foot of the lower observers IP, but this is hidden by the  rudder pedal bar. KH has these slightly too wide, and there is the accurate solid foot rest bar between them, but they should be just a smidgen closer together....................this doesnt really bother me much at all, as most of it will not be seen once completed, and the difference between where KH has them placed and where they should be is negligible.

 

You can see here the main fuselage with the basic cockpit structure dry fit in it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There are also really no IP marks to deal with on the pit itself, but there are at least 1 on each side of the observers pit, and maybe even part of one exposed on the pilots as well. Shouldnt be too big of a deal though:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back in a min with more.....................

[Out2gtcha]

 

 

For those wondering about the possible fiddly nature of how KH has chosen engineer the kit, all things considered, it would be MUCH worse. The D nose demark breaks at a point where there does not seem to be an actual panel line on the 1:1. I used a dead flat piece of ceramic floor tile to add each fuselage 1/2 to the two D nose sections.

You can see here where the demark is, VS the 1:1, and I cant seem to find any actual panel line where this demark is:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can see, other than having to possibly having to fill that panel line, the fit is pretty great, and it turned out to not be that big of a deal in the end:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

There is a very tiny step on the underside, but that might have been my doing......................either way, it shoudnt take much to get it back in line:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KH also has another VERY convenient feature on this kit...............at least for me anyway. KH has all of the color call outs in Model master enamel color numbers. Im sure some (especially abroad) will not find that very handy, but with Model Master being very prevalent around here, and me liking their enamel paint so much, its very easy and very handy to be able to go to my LHS and just pick the exact colors that KH is calling for.

Thie scheme Im doing for VMO-4 calls for about 3 or 4 shades of gray, and the only issue I had was finding the wheel well color, which KH calls out as FS36622. I could NOT for the life of me find it in bottle form...................then I figured out why..................Testors discontinued that color, so hopefully KH will find a replacement or suitable other color of equal value.

 

I lucked out and found 1 last rattle can of FS36622 at my local Hobby Town, so I will have to decant that when the time comes to spray the wells.

For the remainder of last nights work, I sprayed on a couple coats of FS36231 (Dark Gull Gray) as KH calls for on the pit parts. This is just the base color, and I will continue this with some shadowing, highlights and maybe some minor wire work in each of the pits:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Movin right along on this one fellas. So far so great!

More work to commence this week, and if all goes to plan, part 1 of my KH build review in the next few weeks as well.

 

Cheers!

[LSP_K2]

It might just be the angle of the photo, but these fins look straight to me.

 

[Out2gtcha]

It might just be the angle of the photo, but these fins look straight to me.

 

 

 

 

They are indeed Kev. However, I think (maybe Danny can confirm 100%) there appear to be two styles of tanks, and this is the other. The style that the KH offering comes with (with the stepped looking nose) seems to always have the swept back fins:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Although the kit itself comes with the straight fins for some reason, even the KH box art shows the swept back fins on this style of wing tank:

 

 

 

[Out2gtcha]

This example of a D model appears to have both style tanks on it with the stepped tank being on the starboard side, and a smooth nose tank on the port:

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Guest Peterpools]

Brian

Great start on the Bronco and the detailed information and comparison photos are very much appreciated. Nice to see the color call outs are for MM Enamels making it a bit easier on our side of the pond.

 

Keep 'em coming

Peter

[marauderdriver]

I didn't realize how much I Like this Kit

 

The shape reminds me of my Sea Vixen..........that I made into an "Arabian Vixen" .... Desert Camo.....  Royal Saudi markings....looks COOL

 

Now will have to focus on Cutlass till this come out.

 

When will this be available to us "COMMONER'S ?

 

watch'in you 

 

jack

[LSP_K2]

OK, Brian, you've left me in the dust; I had no idea there were so many iterations of the tanks.

[Out2gtcha]

Thanks guys. K2, to tell you the truth, neither did I!

 

Until I started researching from Dannys heads up on the fins I had no idea what was out there or what was suppose to be out there. This might take a bit more research on my part...............

 

Jack,

Im not 100% but from Glenns post it seems that the dist should have them "mid November" so that should mean by the end of this month, they should start showing up at the LHSs.

 

Cheers guys, and thanks for all your inputs..........................more learning curves ahead!!!!

[FunkyZeit]

Awesome Brian!

 

Justin