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SPAIN: Republican Air Force 1937-39 Vultee V-1 (Azur in 1/72nd)


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My country for this one is Spain, and as the legitimate government of Spain was the elected Republican government during the Spanish Civil War, I will be doing a republican plane, and not a Nationalist (rebel) plane.

I am still going through my stash of kits, so the particular craft is not yet decided, but will be at the start of the GB in January. Possibilities at present are the SB 2M-100 "Katiushka" (ICM kit in 1/72nd) or the Polikarpov I-16 (Eduard kit in 1/48th) or possibly the Vultee V-1A (Azur kit in 1/72nd).

Advice on which of these to choose would be gratefully received in the meantime...

Thanks,

Philip

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Hi Philip.

It's nice to see that you've chosen the colourful side in the Spanish Civil War B)

My personal vote for your build would go to the Vultee. One of the things that I find interesting about the Republican Air Force is the way that they pressed all sorts of unlikely aircraft into front line military service. The Vultee is great example of that.

I am sure others (most importantly, you!), will have other preferences, so this is just my :2c:!

Cheers

Cliff

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Ok folks - thanks for the suggestions :thumbsup2: .

The clear favourite - by far - is the Vultee V-1a. So that's what I will be building..

It's an Azur kit, in 1/72nd, so apart from the kit (for which I can find absolutely NO aftermarket goodies), I will stock up with lots of filler and sanding materials.........(and some patience!) :winkgrin:

Philip

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The clear favourite - by far - is the Vultee V-1a. So that's what I will be building..

It's an Azur kit, in 1/72nd, so apart from the kit (for which I can find absolutely NO aftermarket goodies)

Philip

A great choice Philip. Do you get any resin or PE goodies in the kit?

Cliff

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Thanks Cliff. On the contents: no real goodies - only a very small resin set, comprising two cockpit control yokes and two engine exhausts - that's the lot. The rest is simply normal injected plastic - no PE at all.

Oh yes, the canopy is vac-form (which will be my first effort at vac-form canopies - luckily there are two provided!)

Will put up the usual sprue photos tomorrow, and will begin during the coming week. Knowing (from my various trawls through the internet) that the kit is a bit of a beast, I intend to start early, so as to have some hope of finishing by the deadline (and as I'm also entering the Sci-fi III GB in February).

Philip

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Thanks Antoine

This is the kit:-

BoxLid.jpg

Inside, you get two sprues of fairly soft plastic, with a little bit of flash (especially around the engine and cowlings):-

Sprue1.jpg

Sprue2.jpg

There are also a few (tiny) resin (the DF loop is not used for this particular boxing - it's for the civil version):-

resincomponents.jpg

And the transparencies consist of some injected side windows and a vac-form canopy (with roof). The decals are fairly simple too:-

transparenciesanddecals.jpg

The kit gives two marking options, one with simple green uppers and the other with some desert yellow "speckles" on the green. I'll probably go for the latter.

markingsoption2.jpg

markingsoption1.jpg

I'll get started tomorrow (off to see the Hobbit tonight!)

Thanks for looking,

Philip

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  • 2 months later...

Well, it's been a while, but I haven't forgotten about this (honest, I haven't!). No pics at the minute, but I have cleaned up the fuselage pieces and assembled the cockpit. I have also painted the interior (I went, after some checking, with RLM 02, rather than RLM 63/Lufthansa Grey). Needed to get some replacement items for the airbrush - nozzle and O-rings - and this set me back a tad.

Will put up some pics of progress during the coming week.

Philip

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well, as promised, if a little belatedly, here are a couple of shots of the progress. The interior pieces (what there are of them) have been put together, less the seats and their bases (which have been removed).

I decided that it would be nice to give an indication that the one time civil airliner had been converted into a bomber. Checking through the net, I could not be certain whether bombs were only placed externally (as Azur would have you believe), or whether bomb racks were placed inside. One internet source said that the bombs were placed internally, in cases/racks made up in one of the local metalworking workshops. So, basing my design (roughly) of photos that do exist of how Ju 52.s in the SCW were converted into bombers in this way, I scratchbuilt three little items from strut and plasticard, which were painted aluminium, and then the "holes" in the metal that were there (to lighten the assemblages, presumably) were simulated by black dots or areas (the items were too small for my ham-fisted attempts at making holes)

Here they are, on sausage stick stuck into blue-tack, just after the paint had dried, with the two fuselage halves below them.

interior%201.jpg

And there they are, fitted in to the former passenger compartment.

interior%202.jpg

Hopefully, they will be seen by the eagle eyed viewer, once everything is closed up (or at least an impression of bomb racks).

interior%203.jpg

Next thing is to finalise the cockpit, finish the instrument panel and mate the two fuselage sides (my dry runs so far have shown that there will be a need for some filler!)

Philip

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  • 3 weeks later...

I am sorry to say that I have not managed to finish this one. Combination of a dreadful kit (lots of filling and sanding to get the fuselage halves to join up to one another, and then the wings to the fuselage!), plus, unfortunately, a family illness and subsequent bereavement (with funeral just this week) that has kept me from the modelling table for the past three weeks.

Sorry folks! :weep:

Philip

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Really sorry to hear your sad news Philip and thank you supporting the GB as you have.

I do hope that we will get to see your Vultee in completed in due course....

All the best

Cliff

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Thanks, Cliff

I will try to finish over the next month or so, and will post up the result here.

Congrats to all who have finished - some great, no - really great - builds here. Great idea for the lesser-built forces as a GB.

Philip

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