Niles Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Several years ago while cruising through 1/48 aircraft kits on ebay I came across several kits by a manufacturer named High Performance depicting the bomber and night fighter versions of the 1950s French jet called Vautour 2. I always thought it was an intriguing airplane and I was very tempted by the thought of having a 1/48 example of the night fighter, the Vautour 2N on my shelf. After losing several auctions over the course of some months, I finally squeezed out a win by one dollar and shortly after paying out $82 for the kit the Vautour arrived in my mailbox in July of 2013. After returning to modeling after a hiatus of about twenty years I had just finished a Meteor NF12 from the Classic Airframes NF11 kit, my first taste of the limited production injection molded kit. The Vautour kit however set new standards of crudeness, making Classic Airframes seem like Hasegawa/Tamiya by comparison. After seeing many WIP threads on this site I thought I would go about building this in the systematic fashion I had seen demonstrated by so many of the experts here - totally organized in proper logical sequence with everything planned out in advance. Ha! Fat chance of that it turned out. It became more like a slow slog through the mud with many reversals and backtracks, but finally about a month ago a Vautour emerged from the chaos. My intent was to depict the aircraft with the speed brakes open, flaps extended, canopies open, the rear of one nacelle removed showing the engine, and the large 1300 litre external tanks and a pair of Matra R511 air-to-air missiles under the wings. None of this detail was of course provided in the kit. So, the Vautour photographed in natural light midmorning under a blazing sun and clear bright blue sky. Being a piano technician and rebuilder I'm quite used to using bronzing powders for mixing the gold lacquers that I use for refinishing the cast iron plates in pianos and I used the same technique here. The bare metal finish is done using fine grained aluminum bronzing powders mixed with clear lacquer. I try to get as much aluminum and as little of the carrier onto the surface, so I mix only a few drops of lacquer and lots of lacquer thinner then add the aluminum powder. I mix several shades - straight aluminum and darker shades by adding a few drops of black lacquer. I suspect that what I'm brewing up at my workbench is very similar to what's in the bottles of Alclad products. I didn't want to make the aircraft depicted in the kit decals (which were very fragile anyway) The serial number 314 and the squadron insignia on the vertical fin and the tactical number 30-OC on the nose I made myself. I scanned a number of photographs and working them in Photoshop I produced a decal sheet that I printed on decal film on my inkjet printer then sprayed with lacquer to waterproof. Ink is cheap so I gave myself margin for error on my decal sheet. It worked splendidly. 31 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niles Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 The Fowler flaps were a real project. From some photos of a Vautour being restored in a museum I could see they had tabs on the top front with rods that ran in tracks on each side of the cavities, so that's what I did. The inside of the speed brake opening was built with plastic sheet and the actuator from various sizes of aluminum tubing and brass wire for the fluid lines. 16 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niles Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 My homemade kit for the Matra R511 missiles - plastic rod and sheet... similar for the tanks. Test fitting: 14 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niles Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 The office. The paper thin vacuumform canopy would never do by itself if displayed open so I constructed frames that I glued the canopy sections over. And teal blue is a great color for the seats. Good French aesthetics at work. The kit seats, resin and photoetch brass. View from the front. The kit struts for the outriggers were abominable. I made my own from aluminum and plastic tubing and sheet. 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niles Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 The jet pipe under construction. Having a drill press is great for things like that rear bulkhead. The fit of the nacelles to the wings. Just add water and alligators and you'd have a moat fit for a king. Articulated brass tubing to fit the wings which were simply flat butt joints. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niles Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 A few shots in different lighting. On the concrete floor of my shop at night lit with a strobe flash. The first with the light directly on the model, the other two with the light bounced off the ceiling down onto it. And once again outside with a friend. 26 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Foghorn Leghorn Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Lovely finish on a lovely model Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swordfish fairey Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 First class modelling on the Vautour , it has always been one of my favourite aircraft and you have done it justice, great stuff. .....................Smudge Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snitok1983 Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Not to often guest here in a modeling workd! Very nice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
goon Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 That's a beauty. I have this model in the stash and know just how crude it is, and how much work you have put in to get that result. Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Great modelling. The ingenuity of modellers never ceases to impress! Well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Martian Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Great model of a very attractive aircraft! Martin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John R Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Two gold Stars to that man. One for the model and the other for effort. How did you do the yellow trim on the fuselage? Decals or mask and paint? John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
batcode Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 very nice work, nmf and great job on the finish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Dykas Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Excellent work!! Great detail and a wonderful paint job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Caerbannog Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Great job! I quite like the look of the Vautour and hope some mainstream kitmaker will do a 1:48 scale one. René Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
crobinsonh Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Fantastic work on this model - love this aircraft/ So unique. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Latinbear Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 That is very special indeed. A great post with all the work details included and very nicely photographed too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Great work on a very difficult kit Lovely subject matter also Congratulations Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Niles Posted May 27, 2015 Author Share Posted May 27, 2015 How did you do the yellow trim on the fuselage? Decals or mask and paint? John After the roundels disintegrated when put in water sending me out to buy some aftermarket French roundel decals, I expected the kit decal for the flashes on the fuselage and nacelles to do the same so I decided I had to paint them. That decision led me to make a Vautour with yellow trim which I liked better than the red of the example selected for the kit. I used the flashes on the kit decal as a pattern. I roughed up a sheet of clear plastic with sandpaper so that I could draw on it with a pencil and traced the outline of the flash from the decal onto it. With a french curve I cut it out to make a plastic pattern. This pattern was used to cut masks from airbrushing frisket paper which were applied to the model and the yellow flashes sprayed on. In retrospect after the success I had making decals for the numbers and squadron badge, I might have had an easier time just making a decal on my computer with Photoshop and printing it on my inkjet printer. Another finishing choice was whether or not to put a black anti-glare panel on the nose in front of the windshield. After looking at many photos of Vautours a pattern became clear. None of the Vautours with the anti-glare panel had the tricolor red-white-blue painted rudder, and none of those with the tricolor rudder had an anti-glare panel. It appeared that there must have been a painting standard issued after the Vautour had been in service for a number of years which added the anti-glare panel and had the tricolor painted out. Since I wanted the flash of color on the tail, my choice was made for me. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leonl Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Speechless..... Very impressive work... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ace From Outer Space Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 That is great! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jon Kunac-Tabinor Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Wow!! that is just superb - both modelling and finishing. I have this kit, and it is "challenging" to say the least. To get the result you have, shows endeavour, dedication, artistry and lots & lots of skill. Just lovely. Full stop. Jonners Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Spitfire31 Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 An excellent model of a seldom seen type. Maginificent detailing and NMF! An inspiration for the rest of us. Kind regards, Joachim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Monday Posted May 27, 2015 Share Posted May 27, 2015 Excellent result on a rare type. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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