Reviews : Glencoe Duck J2F2 Amphibian BiPlane

A rather large model for a bi-plane, the kit goes together rather nicely. Little need for putty to fill seams on the fuselage. Some sanding was needed to smooth out the join lines. The cockpit detail is sparse. Pilots are two well molded torsos and need to be replaced if possible. Careful painting of the pilots will make them acceptable. A full cockpit canopy which includes a rear facing gun is supplied. The engine detail is wonderful. The pistons are well molded and you get the exhaust ring that is clear visible behind the engine cowl. Propeller stencils are included. The alignment of the top wing is problematic. I recommend rigging the model beforehand as the box art and directions gives a good idea where the wires go. Aligning the struts to the wings is a bit of a challenge but Pro-weld will alleviate many issues. For rigging, I used a 0.20 gauge music wire cut to size and glued using white tacky glue. Exhaust staining achieved through slight application of Tamiya pastels. I built my model in flight. I had to cut a slot for the borrowed stand and created a cover for where the landing gear would have extended. No parts to do this are supplied with the kit. I used alternate decals for a plane in U.S.M.C. markings.

Glencoe models. Glencoe Avenue in Venice California was the home address of Revell when I was a kid; became aware of Glencoe a couple of decades later, when they started showing up with unpopular kits in the 70's/80's, like the Hiller tilt rotor, among others, that were Revell kits at an earlier time. Ex, employees taking over the Venice address when Revell moved? Something to look into. I am beginning to run out of American WWII aircraft to build, and am glad to see older kits reissued by new companies; I have warmed to them; their old style plastic material, their old style instructions, like Hawk, Lindberg, etc. Anyway , here I have this Duck. This is a great old kit, of an obscure but classic plane. The kit is primitive, yet with a surprising level of details, like the wing and pontoon mounts. It needed some putty (mine had a warped fuselage halves) and sanding, but other went together well It offers four different versions, with excellent decals for each, and good instructions on painting them. Three of the four versions are readily available online; they are dead on. Like all biplanes (at least for me) putting the pair of wings on is a pain and a half, but what a fun kit! lets hear it for retreads, and odd ducks

This kit is a very old design with minimal details but can be built with extra details to highlight this unique aircraft. There are many gaps that require filling. Especially the large gap on the bottom of the main float. The gap originally housed a rubber band powered wheel that was included by the original company. None of the parts are included in the Glenco kit but the opening is still there. I chose to scratch build the cockpit and crew area. There is plenty of room to do this. I replaced all clear parts with vacu-form versions for clarity and appearance. In the end it was an interesting and fun kit to build while utilizing scratch building skills. I would recommend this kit.

This kit was one of the most challenging models I have ever built. At the same time the model fills another gap in the model aircraft world. The parts are all over- molded with many places where I had to remove flash and the fit was very frustrating in the long run as I had to hold pieces together even using the strongest of super glues. I had heard the company Glencoe was an off- spin of another model company but I don't know that much about the history, although this was often common practice with model companies. Warped parts, over molded parts and improper fit plague this kit and the decals have to be replaced with others but this kit will look great with the others from WW 2.

This kit is a gem. It is not super high tech. Thank goodness, for biplanes are hard enough just tackling the wings. Photos of this plane has prompted me to buy & do multiples for schemes & themes. Murphy's war, with Peter O'toole. Prewar paint schemes & catapult projects. A beautiful aircraft & a really nice kit. What a modeler friendly price for what you get. As a collector of float & amphibious aircraft,...Bingo!

This is a quite little kit that will fit nicely into any American WWII model collection. Goes together well and I have more than one, I highly recommend this kit

an Awesome plane that once finished looks really cool. Who wouldn't want to add an Amphibious Biplane to their collection.

As a former Coast Guard aviator, I love seeing USCG kits available. This was a fun build, with nice decal options.