Alliance 1/72 Vought O2U-1 Corsair with Floats

History

Unfortunately I have no history on the Vought O2U Corsair.  One avenue to look at is the big scratchbuilt O2U-3 as showcased in the September 2000 Internet Modeler.

The Kit

The Alliance kit consists of 48 resin pieces and a sheet of clear for the windows you make from scratch (which is much too thick in my opinion).  There are decals for one scheme only, that of machine “A-7536” from the U.S.S. Raleigh, 1928.  There are no options in the kit – you have to select ahead of time if you want the version with the floats or the landing gear, and Alliance sells them separately.

All in all this is a very impressive kit.  While I have three air holes in bad places (one in the upper wing tip, one in the horizontal tail leading edge tip and the other on one of the wing-tip floats, all three going all the way through) the rest of the pieces show little to no air holes overall.  Unfortunately, since I have no references, I can’t tell how accurate the kit is; however, it does look like an O2U, so if you’re not too pedantic it’s an accurate model.

While cockpit detail is quite sparse, I plan on using the article on the scratchbuilt Corsair to better detail this model.  In addition, I plan on replacing most – if not all – struts with either brass Strutz or Contrail injected strut material.  Replacing the resin struts will definitely provide more strength. Especially in terms of the main float, which is thankfully cast as a solid piece of resin.  I will definitely be using brass Strutz on attaching the float to the fuselage for added strength.

Conclusion

This is a very nicely done kit.  As soon as I come upon some references I plan on seeing if it’s accurate or not, but as I said above, it looks like a Corsair.