Richards Kingfisher kit

I recently bought an OS2U “Kingfisher” Carrier bird kit from Larry Richards. A word of caution: Richards kits are not for beginners. There’s just too much you need to have done once or twice that Larry doesn’t spell out. Detailed instructions you want, get thee to a Guillows. Also, the kit didn’t have much hardware, but I knew what I wanted to use and got it separately. Those are the only downsides to a Richards kit.

Wood quality was excellent, balsa and ply. All parts are sawn, not die-crunched or laser-burned. The fit of parts “A” to parts “B” was also excellent, maybe even a bit snug. Better that than all loosey-goosey. The sparless wing built straight and warp-free. I pegged and glassed the vertical stab to the fuselage, and gusseted the horizontal stab in place.

This being the first carrier bird I’ve built, I only included operating flaps and rudder, actuated by down elevator. Well, yeah, I used a Brodak throttle bellcrank and handle, and an adjustable lead-out guide. No new-fangled sliders, though. I thoroughly despised the “helicoptering” flight path of WAM carrier birds of the days of yore, and vowed never to build such an aircraft.

I used Monokote on the wing and finished the fuselage and empennage with Minwax polycrylic and OO silkspan, covered with color Lustrekote. Got a batch of vinyl markings from Kirby’s Kustom Graphics, to make the bird look like a prewar “Kingfisher”.

The bird weighed in at 44 ounces and balanced about 1-1/2 inches aft of the leading edge. With a Webra 36 and a 10-6 APC prop it flew faster than I had any right to expect. The slow flight was leisurely beyond belief and stable down to the point of snagging the cable. All this “off the board”, no trimming jiggery-pokery needed. This bird makes me look very good.

I’ve built three Richards kits so far, and am going to build at least one more. Got to try for a 32 ounce “Kingfisher” with a slider. Now if I used a carbon fiber pushrod, 1/16” landing gear and a titanium hook...

Best regards,
John D.
Reno Nevada

Nevada John

Can anyone give me info on ordering Richards Control Line kits?

Hi Jim. Please have a look at my site when you have time. It's www.richardskits.net. From there you can visit all of my kit lists and each has the prices and shipping info you might need. You can also reach me at: [email protected]. Thanks for looking in. Larry