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This is a bit of a lump of an aircraft and far from a good-looking. Bit of back ground info - https://www.key.aero/article/database-vultee-vengeance It also looks like it might test my modelling skills. A lot of parts (for me) and PE to contend with, saying that it all looks nicely moulded with plenty of detail. Decals are by Decograph and there is also a vinyl canopy mask. George

Hi all My Super Mystere is almost finished, I decided to start a new build This time I choosed a kit recently in my stach : the Vultee Vanguard from Dora WIngs I already built a Dora Wings kit with the Miles Master and keep a good memory For the story you can go to the kit review at this adress If the kit propose 3 sweedish plane (one 1940 plane and 2 what if), I choosed the british model. For serial, because only one plane was tested I have only one choice

Next Dora Wings project is 1/48th (and later in 1/72nd) de Havilland Canada DHC-2/L-20A/U-6A Beaver kits. 👍 At last a post-WWII aircraft kit from Dora Wings ! Don't forget: https://www.caracalmodels.com/cd48107.html Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/pfbid01U3HoSAWtXQKgh5fMyoPn9HmSZVSBJwGSEjAKBJMSbiNbuhLGLQXD2mPA6BJTGkYl V.P.

New Dora Wings project: a family of 1/48th Caudron Simoun kits. - ref. DW48028 - Caudron C.630 Simoun https://dorawings.com/1-48/caudron-c-630-simoun - ref. DW48030 - Caudron C635 Simoun - ref. DW48040 - Caudron C.631/633 Simoun Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2496429487254280&id=1929101897320378 V.P.

Dora Wings is to release 1/72nd Noorduyn C-64 Norseman kits - ref. Would maybe proposed later in the 1/48th scale. Fingers crossed. Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/2961098897454001 3D renders V.P.

After the 1/48th kits (thread) here are the Dora Wings 1/72nd Curtiss-Wright CW-22 kits. - ref. DW72??? - Curtiss-Wright CW-22B Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?id=100067979693570&story_fbid=815442914065024 Test build V.P.

After the 1/48th kits (thread) here are the Dora Wings 1/72nd Curtiss-Wright CW-21 kits. - ref. DW72??? - Curtiss-Wright CW-21B Interceptor Source: https://www.facebook.com/story.php?id=100067979693570&story_fbid=815442914065024 Test build V.P.

The new Dora Wings project is a 1/32nd (later in 1/48th & 1/72nd scales) Dewoitine D.520 kit - ref. 32?? Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/pfbid02nVTphb3r5nrS5zz1s6716ivuM5zAkarsdDdaXmrf8AF8CKERA4Nv5L8y7YFxa8K7l First renders V.P.

Dora Wings is working on new tool 1/48th Morane-Saulnier MS.405, 406 & 410 kits. - ref. DW48031 - Morane-Saulnier MS.406C-1 - Battle of France - released: https://dorawings.com/index.php?route=product%2Fproduct&product_id=130 - ref. DW48038 - Morane-Saulnier MS.405C-1 Source: https://www.facebook.com/DoraWings-1929101897320378/ Update V.P.

Hi All (Still waiting for decals) So just started to build the above kit and sorting out which paint scheme to use. There are two suggested: 1. Republic P-43B Lancer, A56-6, 1 Photoreconnaissance Unit, RAAF Coomalite Creek, Northern Territory - Fuselage and tops of wings look like green (could be olive drab) and either brown or red brown, underside a grey (probably neutral grey - used for Lancer P-43A-1); and 2. Republic P-43C Lancer, 40-2897, converted as specialized photographic reconnaissance aircraft,1942 - Fuselage and tops of wings probably olive drab, with the underside neutral grey as well, with white engine cowling. I'm looking to paint scheme 1, so it would help if someone could tell me what 'brown' (if it is brown) it is. The list of required paints does not give any 'brown', nor does it show what paint to use where on the final build, it just shows where to put the decals! I checked the instructions on Scalemates (instruction pdf) and that had the same manual as I have. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.

After the 1/48th kit (link) here's the Dora Wings 1/72nd Vultee A-31/35 Vengeance kit - ref. DW72038 Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/3097956153768274 Final renders V.P.

I'm joining in with the Dora Wings Caudron C.630 Simoun, a quintessentially French light tourer and mail plane that was built in quite large numbers in the mid thirties. It rose to the top of my must build list when I saw this beautiful example at the Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget last year: F-ANRO, in the colours of Air Bleu, a pre-war French air mail operator, is one of the marking options in the Dora Wings kit, so that's the one I'll be building. Kit contents: Nice plastic (although there's a fair bit of flash), crisply moulded, with some PE and masks included. I've made a start and assembled the interior: Some classic short run features are present here (including the flash) - no locating pins, vague instructions in places, and some parts that are a bit trickier to assemble than they could be (eg the seats with four individual legs each). But everything seems to fit so far and it's shaping up to be quite a fun build. The kit includes a full engine and the instructions would have me spend a fair bit of time assembling it - but there doesn't seem to be much point as it's not going to be visible, so I'm going to see if I leaving it out causes any problems. more soon Julian

Noorduyn Norseman Mk.IV (DW72034) 1:72 Dora Wings The Norseman was designed by Robert Noorduyn who established his eponymous company in Canada in 1933, commencing production of the Norseman in 1935, and transferring the manufacturing to the Canadian Car and Foundry toward the end of the 50s, the latter company shortened to Can car by many. Over 900 aircraft were made of the type, selling to dozens of countries, with some airframes still in service today. It is a transport aircraft that was designed with a high wing to ease loading and unloading, and given the nature of light transport in Canada, it was initial designed as a seaplane with plenty of space between the wings and the floats, adding skis for the harsh winters when the lakes were frozen, and finally those new round things called wheels. It was typical of its era, being made with a steel framework with wooden and fabric structure making up the surfaces, and short fairings below the fuselage to which the various landing gear could be quickly and easily attached or removed, including a bolt-on tail-wheel or ski. After the first operational examples began service in 1936, it soon garnered a reputation for being reliable and rugged, as well as pleasant to fly, which resulted in slow but steady sales of fewer than 20 aircraft before 1940. It progressed through the variants quickly once production started, reaching Mk.IV by the time the design had fully matured into its definitive variant, and once the war began in earnest it was in demand with the RCAF and the USAAF, who became its largest customers, pulling sales out of the doldrums. When the US entered the war, they used it as the C-64A Norseman, with some minor modifications that included additional fuel tanks around the airframe. Its most famous wartime incident was that it was the aircraft that band leader Glenn Miller went missing in whilst crossing the Channel to France approaching Christmas 1944. After WWII production continued with civilian versions of the Mk.IV as the Mk.V, with Can Car creating the Mk.VII with a larger engine and metal wings that never reached production, whilst in the early 50s, Robert Noorduyn put together a deal to buy the jigs and rights back until the late 50s when he died unexpectedly, the last aircraft leaving the production line in 1959. The company continued to support the existing fleet until the early 80s when its assets were sold on to Norco, who continued support, but would not manufacture any new airframes due to the relatively expensive manner in which they were made. The Kit This is a new tooling from Dora Wings, and it arrives in a modest top-opening box with a painting of a yellow Norseman on the front with a Red Cross roundel on its side. inside the box are five rectangular sprues in greenish grey styrene, a clear sprue, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE), a sheet of pre-cut vinyl masking material (not pictured), a decal sheet, and the instruction booklet that is printed in colour in A5 portrait format, with profiles of the decal options on the rearmost pages. Detail is good, and a representation of the cockpit, engine and the passenger compartment are included, complete with ruggedised ribbed material on the insides of the fuselage where the passengers or load would jostle the interior. Construction begins with the cockpit, starting with the cranked control column with curved yoke, followed by two crew seats with separate legs and PE lap belts, then four more passenger seats that have four separate legs glued into depressions underneath, and later similarly fixed to the floor, so ensure you have them aligned properly before the glue cures. The instrument panel has a shallow coaming peak added to the top, with two decals applied to the front to represent the dials, adding PE levers and a throttle quadrant, with a pair of rudder pedals glued to the back of the panel. Triangular sidewall inserts are added to the fuselage sides under the cockpit windows, including a fire extinguisher under the starboard side, painting the interior in preparation for the rest of the detail. A firewall with a zig-zag engine mount that terminates in a ring at the front is made up in anticipation of closing the fuselage, as is the floor of the model, mounting the control column, crew seats, two struts between them and the load area, and four passenger seats, all having corresponding holes moulded into the floor. To close the fuselage, the cockpit floor, firewall and instrument panel are located on the lower ledge, adding a bulkhead to the rear and suspending the roof between the struts and a slot in the top of the rear bulkhead, gluing the two fuselage halves together after all the detail painting is completed. The side windows and doors are applied from the outside, and a three-sided canopy is glued to the cockpit opening, posing either of the two fuselage side doors open if you wish. To complete the fuselage, the landing gear sponsons are made from three parts and glued into the space under the fuselage, taking care to align them carefully to minimise clean-up of the seams. The aircraft in its Mk.IV guise was powered by a Pratt & Whitney Wasp S3H-1, which is supplied as a well-detailed assembly, making up the ancillaries with intakes around the circumference, then adding push-rods and a wiring harness to the nine-cylinder radial cylinder block, joining the two assemblies together and adding an exhaust collector ring to the rear, putting it to one side while the wings are built from a full-span upper, and two lower surfaces, fitting a dozen flying-surface actuators to the trailing edge of the wing from the PE fret, and a small clear lens for the landing lights, one under each wing. The rudder is separate, and has an optional antenna on the top, plus a PE trim tab at the rear, after which the wings can be mated with the fuselage with a rooflight added, then the elevators are slotted into the sides of the tail fin, gluing the rudder to the rear at an angle of your choice. Several sub-assemblies are next to be made, starting with the exhaust, which has a hollow tip added to the rear. The two-bladed prop has small boss and cam added to a recess in the centre, and the main wheels are each made from two halves, as is the tail wheel. The engine cowling is built from two halves plus a forward lip, and an intake on the top that has its lip moulded into the main part, extending back past the line of the main cowling. The main gear legs are short, but have two-part scissor-links glued to them before they are inserted into the sponsons under the fuselage and have the wheels added. The engine, cowling and exhaust are applied to the front of the fuselage, along with a two-part outlet on the starboard side, supporting the wings with large V-shaped struts that are braced by a pair of short rods at around the half way point. Another bump is glued to the fuselage behind the cowling, making passenger steps on both sides from two parts each, with the tail-wheel and strut under the rear, plus curved E-shaped PE parts located on either side under the leading edge of the elevator fins. The final steps include many small parts around the front of the airframe, a DF loop on the roof behind the wings, pitot probe, wingtip lights and the prop that you’ve hopefully not managed to lose yet. Markings There are four decal options included on the sheet, three in yellow, one in United Nations white. From the box you can build one of the following: No.2485, No.2 Training Command, No.3 B&G School, RCAF, November 1942 No.2471, No.2 Training Command, RCAF, March 1942 No.2487, Luftkommando Ostlandet, Jarlsberg, 1954 No.2471, United Nations, Rygge, 1956 Decals are by Dora Wings’ usual partner, DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion An attractive transport aircraft that played an important part in Canadian aviation as well as being seen in the skies of many other countries over the years. Detail is excellent, and it makes me wish we could have one in 1:48. Haven’t I got enough kits already? Very highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of

Dora Wings is to release Republic P-47B/C & D (early) Thunderbolt kits in 1/48th and later in 1/72nd. Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/3084255388471684 3D renders - 1/48th Republic P-47B Thunderbolt V.P.

Morane-Saulnier MS.406C.1 (DW48031) 1:48 Dora Wings distributed in the UK by Albion Alloys Ltd Developed in the years before WWII, the MS.406 was one of France’s mainstay fighters, although it suffered from some shortcomings, most notably its speed, which was found lacking by the time war broke out, topping out at around 270mph – far short of the more capable Bf.109 that they would face. A talented pilot could still make his presence felt however, as the aircraft was manoeuvrable and could take plenty of punishment before it fell from the sky, which was just as well under the circumstances. During the phoney was this wasn’t yet an issue however, but its weaknesses started to show once the level of fighting reached a higher pitch during the Battle of France, where its comparatively weak armament was also a disadvantage, particularly as the pilots needed to make every time on target count. They still gave as good an account of themselves as they could, racking up a total of almost 200 confirmed kills and another 80 probables to slow the roll of the Blitzkrieg. Poland made an order of 160 airframes, although they weren’t delivered before they were invaded, but the Finns and the Swiss took a number on charge and developed them to better suit their own needs. Powered in French service by a Hispano Suiza engine, it began a lengthy development process as the 405 in the mid-30s. The changes were substantial, including lightening and strengthening of the wing, plus the installation of its retractable radiator equipment, so the designation 406 was chosen instead. While the radiator could be tucked away for speed under suitable conditions, the mechanism that was used to facilitate this was heavy and complex, adding extra weight that was not always beneficial, and make the difference between success and failure in a high-intensity dog-fight where the engine would need all the cooling it could get. After delivery of the first 1,000 airframes, production was diverted to other aircraft types that were deemed by the ministry to be more worthy under the difficult and changing circumstances. The attrition rates once the fighting started in earnest were unsustainably high, resulting in whole flights being downed during one encounter with 109s at times, and those that survived suffering such heavy damage that could not be repaired. Although its ruggedness often allowed it to fight on after the first pass, it could benefit them little if their single 20mm cannon and two 7.5mm couldn’t penetrate the armour of the enemy before they the next pass. Although the pilots fought bravely, they were doomed to failure by having too few fighters, and those that they had were lacking in performance. The Kit This is a new tooling from our friends at Dora Wing in the Ukraine, who continue to work under difficult circumstances to bring us interesting and unusual model kits in various scales. The MS.406 has been tooled in my favourite scale, and as I mentioned to him at the time, I’ve finally got a model to glue my aftermarket pitot probe and guns to! Whether I’ll need those though, is another matter. The kit arrives in a diminutive top-opening box with a painting of the subject matter on the front, covered in their usual signature glossy highlight, which gives the model a quality feel straight away. Inside are eight sprues of greenish-grey styrene parts, a clear sprue in a separate Ziploc bag, a small sheet of Photo-Etch (PE) brass parts, a sheet of vinyl masks for the canopy, two decal sheets, and an A5 instruction booklet that is printed in colour on glossy paper, and has pages of painting and decaling profiles on the rear. Detail is good, which is what we have come to expect from Dora, including the ribbing on the wings, the cockpit and sculpted gear bays, plus the scalloped rear of the fuselage that harks back to its mid-30s origins in a similar manner to the British Hurricane. Construction begins the with cockpit, bonding the PE instrument panel fronts to the plastic supports, followed by applying the dial decals, then mating all three facets together, arrayed around the pilot’s eyeline, creating the lower panel by choosing one of two back plates, adding the centre console to the front, and applying one or two decals to depict the dials as appropriate. This lower panel is attached to the front bulkhead, while the rear bulkhead is joined to the floor along with an inverted-V roll-over bar around the moulded-in head cushion. Behind the bulkhead is another bar that is sloped to the rear, and rests on a ribbed shelf that has another small triangular bulkhead behind it. The pilot’s seat is fitted out with PE four-point seatbelts that are folded to shape and glued into position, allowing it to be perched on top of a short support and a cup on the bulkhead behind it, mounting a PE trim-wheel on a styrene base to the port side, and the control column in the groove between the two foot boards, then gluing the front bulkhead into place. The inner sides of the fuselage each have two raised vertical ribs moulded-in, which are augmented by a series of sidewall inserts and consoles, whilst adding backing plates to the rear of the exhaust slots that carry the internal splitters that will be seen from the outside. After painting, the fuselage halves can be closed around the cockpit, inserting a small grille under the front as you do, mounting a flat plate behind the prop, and a cowling panel over the engine bay, then plugging-in the two-part tail fin the rudder, which has an insert in the lower portion to achieve thickness without the risk of sink-marks due to thick plastic. The lower wings are full span, as with many low-wing monoplane fighters, and this part is prepared by adding the wheel bay inserts with V-struts placed across the roof for extra detail, gluing them into position using the raised ledges around the openings as a guide. There is a small bay for the radiator module between the main gear bays, which is made from two parts that are installed and painted before the upper wing halves are mated along with the elevators in their cut-outs, allowing them to be deflected if you wish. The fuselage is lowered into position in the gap between the upper wings, the elevator fins are slipped into each side of the tails, then finished by adding the flying surfaces, and rudder panel, all of which can be deflected at your wish. The elevator fins are supported by diagonal struts from above, the upper end mating with a faired socket at the side of the fin root. The three-part canopy is laudably clear, gluing the windscreen to the front, the fixed rear canopy over the shelf, and the opening central portion can be posed closed, or pushed back over the rear section in the open position. There is a choice of three windscreen parts, so be sure to choose the correct one for the decal options in this boxing, and don’t forget the two wingtip lights that are found on the clear sprue. The radiator module is built from four styrene parts into a thick, stylised T-shape, covered front and rear by PE skins that depict the radiator cores, adding a three-part zig-zag frame to the front, and mating it with the roof of the shallow bay on two pegs later. You have a choice of two styles of prop, both made the same way, but one with the muzzle of a cannon moulded-in. The blades are moulded as one part, adding an axle through the centre, glued to a styrene washer that is hidden away under the spinner you choose, finished by the back-plate, through which the axle slots. This is slipped into the front of the fuselage at the end of the build. The main gear legs are single struts with a retraction-jack added near the bottom, and gluing them both to a captive bay door. The two-part wheels are fitted to the axle, and during installation, another retraction-jack is added, along with a tiny additional door at the base of the strut. An aerial is glued under the fuselage in flat or extended position depending on whether the aircraft is airborne, adding a tail skid under the fin, and a pop-up landing light that is set flush or extended by using a different part for each option. Righting the model, an aerial is added on the spine behind the cockpit, an optional small PE part is glued to the canopy opener, a tubular sight with back-up PE ring sight is fitted on the deck in front of the cockpit, plus the prop, two machine gun barrels in the wing leading edges, and finally a pitot probe around mid-span on the port wing. Markings There are four decal options included on the sheets, three wearing a grey/green/brown camouflage scheme over a light blue lower, while the other has black uppers and pale grey lowers. A sheet of vinyl masks are included for the canopy, and while their locations aren’t documents in the instructions, it should be within the grasp of the most novice modeller to decipher. From the box you can build one of the following: No.906, Pilot Cpl. Eduard Uchto, Fighter Training Flight, DIAP Lyon-Bron, June 1940 No.1019, ‘Le Pirate’, Personal Aircraft of Général Amand Pinsard (27 Victories in WWI), Commandant Groupment de Chasse, May 1940 No.966, Pilot Capt. Robert Williame, Commander of 1st Sqn., GC1/2, Damblain, April 1940 No.101, Pilot Sgt. Miroslav Jiroudek, Groupe de Chasse III/1, 6 Esc., Norrent-Fontes, June 1940 Decals are by Decograph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion A new tooling of this type in 1:48 is long-overdue, and the level of detail that has been included is excellent, as we’ve come to expect from Dora. How they manage it with everything that’s going on is beyond me. VERY highly recommended. Dora have their eShop suspended presently, but you should be able to get yours in due course via their UK distributors. Available in the UK in all good model shops. Review sample courtesy of

Dora Wings is to release a 1/48th Cessna AT-17/T-50 Bobcat kit - ref. DW48053 Would most probably later proposed in the 1/72nd scale as usual for this creative as productive ukrainian brand. Source: https://www.facebook.com/dorawingsofficial/posts/2960857227478168 3D renders V.P.

After the 1/48th kits (link), Dora Wings is to release a 1/72nd Bell P-63 Kingcobra family. More: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2106721216225111&id=1929101897320378 - ref. 72005 - Bell P-63E-1 Kingcobra - ref. 72006 - Bell TP-63E Kingcobra - ref. DW72010 - Bell P-63A Kingcobra Racer (Sohio Handicap) Source: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.2118881271675772.1073741866.1929101897320378&type=3 Box art V.P.

Here all. Here is my recently completed build of a Savoia-Marchetti S.55 Torpedo Bomber of the Regia Aeronautica Italiana using the Dora Wings kit in 1/72 and was built as part of the World War 2 Twins GB. Built out of the box with only a figure and rigging added and mounted on a sea base. Build log here: This thing is big for me, taking the space of 4-6 of my 'normal' sized subjects... Stuart

With the Fokker in its later phase, it's time to look at a second build for this GB. After getting clearance from the group admin, I've opted for doing another float plane (as I have a few), a Savoia-Matchetti S.55 torpedo bomber of the RAI in 1/72 using the Dora Wings kit. In my view, this aircraft fitted nicely into the 'twins' GB nicely, it had twin hulls, twin booms and twin engines, the only question was whether it fitted into the 1935-1945 window but after looking at reference, it looks like these aircraft were in their endgame from 1935 and consigned to reserve by 1939. The stuff... The box Lots of plastic Glazing, decals, PE and resin engines. Glossy instruction booklet Never built anything from this manufacturer before so it will be interesting to see how this goes. I do have a civilian version of this also in the stash , so this'll be a pathfinder. I'll start this as soon as the Fokker is all but done, so shouldn't be too long. Stuart

My first build of the new year will be the Dora Wings 1/48 Curtiss-Wright AT-9 Jeep. A bit of an intriguing aeroplane - it doesn't look quite right to me, it's a bit oddly proportioned, and maybe that's because it was apparently deliberately designed to be difficult to fly (an unusual attribute for a trainer!), so much so that it wasn't offered for sale to civilians at the end of WWII. Box and sprues: It's a nice-looking kit, crisply moulded with some nice detail, although it relies on PE for some smaller details. I'm going to get cracking tomorrow. cheers Julian

First kits from new Ukrainian company Dora Wings (http://www.dorawings.com/) will be 1/144th and 1/48th Gee Bee R-1 & -2 racers. Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=1929166587313909&id=1929101897320378 See also Dora Wings 2017 catalogue: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/235016727-dora-wings-new-company-programmecatalogue-2017/ V.P.

Vultee Vengeance Mk.I/Ia (DFW72038) 1:72 Dora Wings Distributed in the UK by Albion Alloys The A-31 Vultee Vengeance was designed and built for a French order that couldn’t be fulfilled due to Nazis overrunning the country before any deliveries could begin. The British government became interested in the design and placed an order for up to 300 airframes, by which time the aircraft had garnered the name Vengeance. It’s unusual wing design that looked like a diving bird had a 0° angle of incidence that made for an accurate dive with no lift from the wings to draw it off course. After America joined the war the type was investigated for their own use and given the number A-35 for their own and export use. Changes to the wing made it a little less accurate, but gave the pilots a better field of view, and an uprated engine from Mk.Ia onwards gave it a bit more power. By the time the Vengeance reached British service, the losses taken by the Stukas that it had been designed to emulate gave them pause for thought, and they weren’t allocated to the European Theatre of Operation (ETO), but were instead sent to India and Burma initially, although they were later phased out in favour of more capable machines before the war’s end. They eventually found their way to an anti-malarial spraying job, as mosquitos and the malarial plague they brought with them was taking a toll on troops and locals alike. Many of them finished their days as target tugs after being stripped of their weapons. Australia made a larger order and they found them to be much the same as the British did, seeing most of them out of service late in 1944, although a few lingered for a while. The Mk.II that followed was a slightly improved version of the original Mk.I, with just over 500 made. The Kit This is a new tool from Dora Wings of this peculiar beast that looks more like a creature than most. We received the awesome 1:48 kit of the Mk.II in early 2022, and now we’re getting a first look at the 1:72 kit of the Mk.I/Ia. It’s brand new and thoroughly modern, with a level of detail that gives the impression that a shrink-ray has been applied to its larger companion, except for a slight change in sprue layouts, and the fact that shrink rays don’t yet exist. The kit arrives in a small top-opening box, and inside are seven rectangular sprues in a greenish-grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts, a fret of Photo-Etch (PE), a sheet of pre-cut vinyl masks (not pictured), decal sheet, and the instruction booklet. It’s a comprehensive package, and there is plenty of PE at this scale to help you get some serious detail into your Vengeance. Examining the sprues, there has clearly been a lot of effort expended in creating this tooling, as detail is everywhere, and it’s good quality with engraved panel lines and some raised panels giving it a professional finish. Construction begins with the cockpit, which is of a larger size due to it having two crew members. The pilot’s instrument panel is a well-detailed part applying two dial decals, which has more styrene and PE parts plus an sloped wrap-around section, hanging a pair of styrene rudder pedals from the rear of the console. A compass with decal fits to the right diagonal section on a PE bracket, then the floor and bulkheads are made, which doubles as the roof of the bomb bay, as is common. Two seats are built from individual sections including PE diagonals and have PE four-point belts included for the pilot only. He also gets PE head armour and a styrene head rest on the bulkhead behind him, and a pair of side consoles that are built up in the same detailed manner as the instrument panel. The pilot’s seat is fixed to the floor on a ladder frame in front of the bulkhead and is hemmed in by the addition of the instrument panel and side console at that point. The gunner has a complex suspension mount for his seat that fits on a recessed circular section of floor with some additional parts around the area. The fuselage halves have a large area of ribbing engraved into the interior that covers the cockpit and bomb bay, and is further detailed by the addition of various PE and styrene parts before it is put to one side while the cockpit/bomb bay are finished off. The rear section of bulkhead is built up with PE and styrene, creating the base for the mount of the twin machine guns that are made later. A radio box is also put together for later. The bomb bay can be modelled open or closed, but it would be a shame to close the doors on all that detail. The instructions allow you to do that though, as it’s your model after all. Steps 19-27 & 48 cover the bombs with PE fins, a cylindrical tank, the door mechanisms, plus adding constructional beams to detail up the bay to an excellent level. The tail wheel is also made now with yet more detail, and this level of effort also extends to the twin .50cals on their mount, with sighting and bullet-shield parts, plus the twin-spade grips for those defensive moments. With a laundry list of assemblies complete, you can close the fuselage halves on the cockpit and tail wheel assemblies, adding two more detail parts in the area behind the gunner. The top of the fuselage is open forward of the cockpit, which is rectified by adding an insert and convex bulkhead to the front, and an A-frame roll-over bar between the two crew. Attention then turns to the big radial engine up front. The Vengeance Mk.I was powered by a Wright Cyclone R-2600-A5B, the Mk.Ia using a R-2600-19, with twin banks of pistons that are both are present on this model. Work begins with the front bell-housing and ancillaries, which has a drive-shaft for the prop pushed through the front and is held in place by a washer at the rear. Each bank of cylinders is made from front and rear halves, with a star of push-rods and wiring harness added to the front, capped off with the bell-housing. Its exhaust stubs are each made of two halves for fitting to the model, one per side. The engine assembly is attached to the front of the fuselage ready for its cowling later. The oddest part of the Vengeance are the wings. Before they are closed, the main bay walls are added to the upper wing, which has the roof detail moulded-in, augmented by PE ribbing, plus some additional detail added to the front walls. As the two wing halves are brought together, an insert is fixed into the trailing edge that has a curved outer edge to accept the flying surfaces. Two of these are made up, and joined by three flying surfaces with an additional pivot point fixed into the wing as you go along. This gives you plenty of leeway for posing these parts to your whim. The forward sections of the main gear bays are built up with three additional parts that are applied to the sides and front of the detailed roof. If you’ve opted to open the bomb bay, the two bombs are attached to their Y-shaped yokes and laid flat in the bay, then the wings and the angular elevator fin are fixed in place along with the rear gun and radio box in the cockpit. It’s looking like an aircraft now, and the transformation continues as you make up the cowling from two main halves and lip parts, into which the lower intake trunking is installed along with two PE splitters. Care here will reduce any hiding of seams later, which is always nice. The cooling flaps are moulded into the cowling in this smaller kit, making use of PE parts to recreate the dive-spoilers, which can be posed deployed with PE supports, and should look very realistic once painted, especially if their fit is as good as those on the 1:48 kit. The elevators and rudder are all separate assemblies that can again be posed deflected if you wish. The canopy is a large greenhouse with plenty of frames to terrify the masking averse, but they needn’t worry, as Dora have included a set of vinyl masks in translucent grey, pre-cut for your convenience. There are five canopy parts, beginning with the windscreen and working back to the gunner’s windows, all of which are slender and clear within the limits of injection moulding. There is a short vertical aerial on the centre section, which should be rigged with a length of fine line to the forward tip of the rudder fin, which is visible on the box art to assist you in getting it right. The main gear is similar to many American dive bombers, consisting of a straight, thick leg with PE oleo-scissors and detail parts, and a captive “spat” at the bottom of the leg that is a lot less usual. Four small side bay doors are also included with PE openers that are easy to lose as I found out in its larger cousin, and throughout the various bays, detail is excellent. The legs are fixed into the bays with a retraction jack added behind, installing the lower dive-spoilers and the bomb bay doors in the next step. If you’re closing the bomb bay, there is a single part for you to use, but leaving them open you have four parts, two per side, as the doors fold-up into a sharp V-shape at each side of the bay. As an aside, I used the closed bomb bay part as a mask for the open bomb bay in my 1:48 build, cutting notches where the door actuators extend beyond the walls. The fit was so snug that it was held in position by friction alone. A small PE exhaust outlet is inserted into a slot in front of the bomb bay, and at the rear of the aircraft the PE tail bay door is rested against the leg. The propeller is made from a single set of moulded blades that have a combined boss and spinner added to the front. Pop the pitot probe under the right wing, and fit two circular landing lights into their recesses under both wings, and that’s it done. Markings There are a generous four decal options on the sheet, although they’re all wearing the same basic brown/green camouflage scheme, with sky blue undersides, differentiating by their codes and lettering styles. From the box you can build one of the following: Mk.Ia (EZ804), 110(H) Sqn., Burma, 1944 Mk.Ia (EZ977), 8 Sqn., IAF, India, 1944 Mk.I (AN590), 1 GBPi, Brazil, 1943 Mk.Ia (EZ957), 110(H), Sqn., Burma, 1944 <ul style="list-style-type:upper-alpha"> Decals are by DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas. The profiles contain thanks to both Steve Long and the director of the Camden Museum of Aviation for their assistance with this project. Conclusion This is a superbly-detailed model of this lesser-known combatant in the Pacific theatre during WWII, with its weird wings and massive engine cowling making it stand out on your model shelf. The 1:48 kit was a treat to build, and there’s nothing to suggest that this will be any different, with barely any difference in the level of detail supplied. Very highly recommended. Available soon from Dora Wings in the Ukraine, and in the UK from importers Albion Alloys. Review sample courtesy of Available soon in the UK in all good model shops. Distributed by

Fairey Delta 2 (DW72009) British Supersonic Research Aircraft 1:72 Dora Wings distributed in UK by Albion Alloys Following WWII, British aviation technology still lead the world, giving away first place to the speed of sound to the Americans by cancelling the Miles M.52 project and sharing the data. The delta wing had been considered as a new wing planform for early jets, and Fairey was tasked with looking into it along with a great many other new aspects that came alongside jet engines. The Type-R project was originally intended to be a VTOL undertaking, but pivoted to supersonic flight and renamed it the Delta 1 project. An initial contract for three airframes was curtailed once the initial prototype had flown, as it was a difficult aircraft to fly with many vices, although Fairey continued flying it as a test-bed until 1956 when they bent it in a rough landing, grounding it for good. The FD2 originated as a single-engined transonic interceptor, but morphed into something different due to Fairey’s inventiveness and dissatisfaction with doing just what was asked of them. The early data that was gathered during the FD1 project and the experience of the new chief engineer they imported from Hawker gave them a start, although the Gannet project took priority during this period, slowing down progress for a time. Rebels that they were, the FD2 was developed upon a specification that would outstrip requirements by a substantial margin that eventually led the aircraft to be the first in the world to reach 1,000mph. Two prototypes were built, and care was taken to ensure that military equipment could be added later if it reached service, taking to the sky toward the end of 1954. A flameout of the first prototype due to loss of fuel supply resulted in serious damage to the rear end after the main gear failed to deploy in time for the emergency landing. Once back in the sky, supersonic flight became commonplace for the aircraft in France after the Ministry refused permission over the UK because they mistakenly believed that sonic booms could be dangerous at low-level, although no claims for damages were ever lodged in France. Its proximity to and collaboration with French engineers gave Dassault plenty of data that helped in the design of the Mirage III, which shared many of the same characteristic of the FD2, save for the droop-snoot that was later incorporated by the Concorde engineers. The two airframes went on to perform a great deal of test flying, part of which included flying at supersonic speeds without the use of reheat in 1955, despite almost total lack of support from the Ministry, who were under the sway of Duncan Sandys, and only had eyes for missiles. The record had previously been held by a North American F-100 Super Sabre, and after many hurdles were crossed, including reticence from Rolls Royce and the Civil Service (some things never change), Fairey went ahead on the 10th March 1956, reaching 1,132 mph or Mach 1.73, which was 37% more than the previous record. Once the competition had got over the shock, they put their best efforts into taking the record back, which was finally done by the USAF flying an F-101A Voodoo at the end of 1957. Despite the success of the prototypes, Fairey could not manage to convert that success into a completed project, although some of their data and ground-breaking design-work went into the Concorde project in the 60s, including a heavily re-designed FD2 with new wings called the BAC 211. The Kit In true Dora Wings style, this kit is a little out of the ordinary and was unexpected but very, very welcome, especially by the 1:72 modellers on this here forum. I was happy that they are happy of course, and can’t wait for a similar announcement in 1:48. I can dream, can’t I? The kit arrives in a small top-opening box with a painting of the FD2 in-flight over broken cloud, and inside are five crisply-moulded sprues in grey styrene, a small sprue of clear parts, two decal sheets, a small fret of Photo-Etch (PE), a sheet of vinyl masks, and a portrait format A5 instruction booklet printed in full-colour on glossy paper. Detail is excellent, as we’ve come to expect from Dora Wings, who seem to improve with every kit. The exterior of the model is sleek like the real thing, with fine engraved panel lines, super detail inside the upper wing halves, moulded-in sidewall detail in the nose, cockpit, gear bays and legs that wouldn’t look out of place on a kit of a larger scale. Construction begins with the cockpit, starting with the narrow instrument panel with decal, covered by a coaming and set aside while the ejection seat is built from five parts plus decals representing four-point seatbelts. The shallow cockpit tub receives the seat on two tabs, plus the short control column with the instrument panel in front, and an oval bulkhead in front of that. The rear bulkhead finishes the cockpit, which is inserted between the nose halves, separated from the fuselage at the pivot-point for the droop-snoot. The canopy is furnished in two parts, which is good news for this scale, then the spine and underside are fitted with aerials and PE vanes on the pitot probe, which are probably left off until after painting. The fuselage has its intakes fleshed-out inside by two additional parts per side, and the exhaust tube is made from two halves plus a forward bulkhead that has the rear face of the engine moulded-in, then it and the nose gear bay are trapped between the two fuselage halves, adding a flat spar between to support the wings. These are built from upper and lower halves, adding aileron and flap to the trailing edges, and an actuator fairing to the ailerons, briefly stopping to admire the detail included in the gear bay mouldings before you slot them onto the spars, following up with the rudder, which can be posed deflected if you wish. The nose can be fitted drooped or straight for in-flight by using one of two bulkheads supplied, glued into the flat front of the fuselage, mating the nose once the glue is cured, and taking note of the two diagrams that show the correct angles from the side. A gaggle of auxiliary intakes are scattered over the upper fuselage, and PE strakes are fitted into shallow grooves in the upper wings, flipping the model over to fit the landing gear and bay doors. The main bay struts are braced by a V-strut, while the nose gear leg is an A-frame with extended central strut and a Y-brace near the top of the retraction jacks. Another retraction jack is fitted as the main legs are installed in their bays, fitting a single main wheel to the axle inboard, with a captive bay door on the outer face. The nose gear leg is installed as-is, slotting two wheels on a cross-axle near the front of the bay. Markings You might expect these prototypes to be bare metal only, but they also got to wear some colourful schemes, especially at shows. From the box you can build one of these four options: WG774, March 1956, World Air Speed Record – 1,132mph, pilot Lieutenant Commander Peter Twiss WG774, 2nd September 1955 WG777, RAF Musuem, Cosford, Shropshire, UK WG774, SBAC Show Farnborough, September 1958 Decals are by Dora’s usual partner, DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin satin carrier film cut close to the printed areas. Conclusion The only thing that could make this a better FD2 if it was in 1:48. I know I’m harping on about that a little bit, but I figure if I mither Eugen often enough he might cave in. It’s a great kit with plenty of detail, including the droop-snoot if you feel the urge, just don’t be tempted to fill that join line. Very highly recommended. Available in the UK in all good model shops. Review sample courtesy of

Dora Wings is to release a 1/72nd Fairey Delta FD.2 kit - ref. 72009 Source: https://www.facebook.com/permalink.php?story_fbid=2106721216225111&id=1929101897320378 V.P.

Dora Wings new project is a 1/48th Vultee P-66 Vanguard Source: https://www.facebook.com/1929101897320378/photos/a.2872448652985693/2872448836319008/ V.P.