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Vickers Vanguard - finally Ready for Inspection This post is intended to illustrate the completion of an Airfix 1/144 Vickers Vanguard, built as a gift for a on friend whose next birthday is approaching, who had often remarked about his love of the aircraft type and his desire to one day own a model of one. Having started aircraft modelling again just a few years ago, I’d kept this in the back of my mind and last year undertook more of an active search for a more recent re-boxing of this 1962-tool based model. I managed to pick up an example of the 2015 rebox that had the right transfers, in the middle of last year and having cleared the decks of other projects, started it in September last year. The kit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I compiled a WIP thread for the build that covered the stages of working this model to produce something that I hoped would be reasonably respectable at the end, so I’ll not repeat any of the build details here. However, in summary, I rescribed the fuselage and parts of the wings; made a rudimentary cockpit with seats, IP and console and rear bulkhead from scratch; added a floor section and further bulkhead at aft of front cabin, and added ballast to the entire forward underfloor area; used clear epoxy for the cabin windows; cut off the cockpit crown to allow the poorly fitting windscreen to be better fitted and the crown reapplied after, sanding everything smooth afterwards; removed the outer nacelle bulges and made intakes from scratch; removed an awful lot of flash; spent many hours cleaning up parts to aid fit. Paint was primarily Tamiya, but with some Ammo Mig one shot primer followed by A-Stand Black base (which I now can’t get any more of despite having some on backorder now for three months and having just had another order cancelled on me), with A-stand polished aluminium and chrome for the wing leading edges, props and nacelles. Red was Insignia Red from Mission Models. Mig Ammo metallic acrylic brushed for landing gear legs and wheels, with a drop of Molotow chrome for the gear leg oleos where these are visible. Aqua Gloss was used to seal everything. I used Thunderbird vinyl masks which were very thick and didn’t conform well to curved surfaces (windscreen) but were all I could find for this model; they were good enough. Decals were from the kit, but I painted the main black markings. Shape wise, I added the small radome on the nose, providing a slightly more Vanguard like and less Nimrod-like profile for the model. The base was described in the WIP thread… suffice to say, it looks ok to plant the finished model on not that it’s complete. Photos to follow (a bit of a mixed bag of photos from a few sessions with the camera and trying out different backgrounds and editing techniques) Vanguard RFI #15 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Vanguard RFI #17 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Vanguard RFI #18 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Vanguard RFI #16 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Vanguard RFI #13 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Vanguard RFI #14 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Viscount RFI #5 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Viscount RFI #12 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Viscount RFI #7 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Viscount RFI #9 by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Undersides by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr and a cruel cockpit close-up. You really can only just see the seats and console in there, but at least it's not an empty void. Vanguard cockpit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Thanks for reading/looking. Jonathan

An Airfix Vanguard This is an aircraft that I’d always had in the back of my mind to do a model of one day because it is my friend’s favourite aeroplane. Many years ago (when I used to do that sort of thing) I did a fine art pencil drawing of one in the very early BEA scheme. That drawing still hangs framed in his house and a RFI post on this forum encouraged me to go and see if the old Airfix kit was available anywhere so that I could build him one. The thread, by ‘Strangeways’ is here And the brief notes that were made about the build gave me a few points to consider for mine. One of these was using clear epoxy resin for the cabin windows. More research found this further thread by ‘SuperTom’ that I read with interest, bookmarking it to come back to when I’d found a kit After much (I’ll admit, quite half hearted) searching, whilst more actively searching for other stuff (as we tend to do), I found a ‘newish boxed’ version for a reasonable fee on an auction site and acquired this. The kit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Whilst the box was probably less than 10 years old, and therefore the transfers were ok, the same could not be said for the rest of the contents, which, although bagged, contained far more plastic than I’d expected. Whilst the kit has been reboxed and given new decals over the years, I suspect the molds may well have been original (or nearly) and date from its origins in 1962. I found raised panel lines (expected) and more flash than I’d ever seen in a kit. I forgot to photograph the fuselage and wings (the worst elements) as I set about trying to clean them up a bit almost immediately, noticing that these alos had a few chunks taken out of them where they’d been torn at some point off their sprues… but I remembered to take a photo of this sprue which was by far the best of the bunch, but some flash is still evident. Cleaning up would be the order of the day for this build. A sprue example with flash by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Fuselage So… all in all, some work would be needed. A look at the clear parts revealed that they were all there, but that some work may be needed, or an alternative approach sought (as mentioned previously). Initially, I decided to close the main doors to keep it all cleaner, and these needed padding out a bit to give a more-flush finish with the fuselage skin. Padding out the main doors by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr In order to provide some secure space for ballast and to give a more secure ‘fit’ of the two halves, I added a new bulkead to the rear of the cockpit and a floor that would later allow a little bit of cockpit detail to be scratch built for. The cabin would remain blank, but I didn’t expect the cabin windows to be too transparent once finished. New bulkhead and floors by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Floor and bulkheads by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr With the halves taped up, I tried a test fit of the windscreen. Not good. I tried some cleaning up and further test fits but eventually gave up. I recalled the comment in ‘Strangeways’ post about removing the crown so opted to look into this late on. Test fit poor windscreen fit by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Rescribing. Ok, this is probably my least favourite part of any build or preparation and this needed a lot. Rescribing begins by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr This is my main scribing tool, a HIQParts 0.004 tool, and I use plenty of dymo tape. Good old dymo tape by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr An application of Tamiya panel liner shows all evils and mistakes afterwards. I’ll be rubbing most of this smooth at the end as airliners rarely show panel lines except when dirty or on an aged bare metal finish and this will have neither… but it serves to get most of it right to begin with. Not perfect but.... by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Back inside the fuselage, I boxed up one half of the lower bays using plasticard and sprue goo to seal everything in; the basic seats and instrument panel/console are evident here. Cockpit seats and panels and ballast bays by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr And then I took the fuselage and placed it on to an artists canvas board that I picked up from Lidl, which will make an ideal slightly textured base once this is finished. Artist board for base size check by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Resin windows. So, per the previously mentioned threads, I bought this stuff and thought I’d give it a go What I used by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr By following the instructions and mixing up far more than I needed (I need to learn here) I taped up the outside of the fuselage halves (covering the outer of the windows using a PVC tape that was quiet smooth, and gently poured some of the resin in to the halves from the inside. I used a cocktail stick to try to rid it of all the small bubbles and got most (but a few appeared during curing annoyingly on the outside of the windows so will be filled with something like gluenglaze at the end of the build. Once this was done, I put the two parts aside on a dust free covered shelf for 48 hours to cure. Clear epoxy resin poured and cured by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Once dry, I pulled the tape from the outside and cleaned off any tape glue residue and was quite pleased to see a relatively flush set of windows that would sand and polish up quiet well. Flush windows by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Holding the two joined halves up to the light, a suitable amount of transparency was evident, but not too much. Transparent enough by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Having let this settle, I painted the interior parts a few shades of dark grey and black to just tone it all down, and added a few little paint marks to the instrument console that might be visible through the windscreen later. I then taped the halves together, put a a little glue on the two parts of the crown and then taped over this to mark a cut line to remove the crown. Masking for a cut by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I cut through this using a razor saw and then set about padding out the rear part of windscreen aperture a little aith plasticard. The cut by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Some fettling followed and I added a little plasticard along the cut face to pad it back out again… evident in later photos. I then glued the bulkheads and floors and added a great deal of liquid gravity (delux lead balls) sealed with rocket hot CA glue, and let to dry. I was not going to allow this to be a tail sitter. Bulkheads glued in and ballast added. by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr To check balance, I took the wings and horizontal stabilisers off their sprues, taped the halves together and popped them in their slots (after cleaning up the slots that were full of flash). This would represent most of the additional weight of the kit (apart from paint and glue) and I could then check the CofG pivot point. I balanced the model on the tin section of some tweezers moving it fore and aft until it balanced. This was just forward of the wing leading edge, about 2 to 2.5cm forward of the main gear, so it should sit fine. At this point, you’ll also note that I decided to add thin plasticard strips along each side of the fuselage to represent the strengthening plates on the airframe. I thought that this may be better than my poorly executed engraving and once sanded back to a very thin profile, wouldn’t be too bad… hopefully under some paint it’ll look fine. Balance check by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I glued the fuselage halves together with some Mig Ammo night blue thin cement. I started at the nose, applied the glue liberally allowing it to work into the seam and applied pressure and then taped it. I did this to resolve the slight warp in the two halves. Once the front was cured, I applied more glue to fuselage behind the cockpit and along the top and bottom, squeezing applying tape and slowly working all the way aft to the tail and cone. Once dry, the tape was removed and the security of the joint checked – all good. Fuselage halves glued by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr I then set about sanding these joints to remove further flash and secure a good rounded surface. Holes in the upper surfaces were filled with some delux putty and smoothed whilst curing. And filled and sanded by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr The windscreen and crown were then taped in place and then glued in with Tamiya thin. Their fit wasn’t brilliant; I had to pad out the join between the crown and the windscreen with some plasticard, and I did try to smooth out some blemishes on the inside of the windscreen before fitting, but they were mostly inside the material. Hopefully they’ll not show too much at the end of the build. Adding the windscreen and crown by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Not a bad fit but sanding needed. by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Once the parts were dry, I set about some fairly crude re-shaping, starting with a 200 grade standing stick to start to get the shape to what it should be. Coarse sanding by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Some finer sanding then followed (400 grade sanding stick, then 600 grade) slowly improving the shape and smoothing the surface. Finer sanding by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Then I moved on to a 1000 grade sanding stick, then a 1000 grade sanding sponge, then 1500 and 2500 grade sponges, slowly improving the smoothness of the plastic and glazing as it went. Smoothing off by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr Further sanding with the 2500 grade sponges, then 4000 and 8000, then some micromesh and then just the sponge side of the sanding sponges… followed by some Tamiya polishing compounds (coarse and fine) produced a relatively smooth and shiny surface which will suffice for now. The result of more smoothing and polishing by Jonathan Hughes, on Flickr This has ‘rounded’ the screens off a bit but I’ve found a set of masks that I’ll carefully add later which will hopefully help redefine the screens with some paint. That’s the hope anyway. This is going to be a generally simple build but hopefully the result will be ok in the end. But yes, my build never end up being simple. Thanks for reading. Jonathan.

As a change from plastic, this build will be of a 1/64 scale, wooden rowing* boat. Specifically, a 32' Pinnace from the mid-1700's or early 1800's. The kit is mostly wood, with a brass floor and details * I may add mast, rigging and/or sails if I can find suitable reference.

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

Hi I finished my Vanguard Don't search weatherinf on this plane. In the temperate scheme the Vanguard was used only for test and didn't have any operational history in British Color The kit is slighty difficult The tubular structure is fragile The gear legs construction lack support surface But at last you have on your deck a beautifull kit and an very uncommon plane Thanks to Dora Wings for his interest to this aircraft And other pics at this link Vultee Vanguard

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

This is the newly-boxed kit - same 60s tooling but with new box art and decals. I suspect the moulds have been cleaned up a bit though as the parts fit very well on the whole and the styrene was nice and shiny... I re-scribed it, replaced the windows with clear resin and added a few details here and there.

One I’ve had on the shelf a while now the airfix vanguard. A somewhat simplistic model (though I think a rather old mould) that came out rather well. No real issues with decals or fit just a few minor adjustments to the paint based on pictures online eg the black outboard nacelle. Well worth adding to your collection if you see it available.

Wilde Sau Resin (ex-Models by 109ace) - https://www.ebay.com/usr/wilde-sau-resin / https://www.facebook.com/groups/452003448710021 / https://www.facebook.com/groups/1640062399608085 - is to release a 1/48th Vultee P-66 Vanguard resin kit. Source: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1640062399608085/permalink/2672157543065227 V.P.

This is my completed Gene Hooker Vacform 1/72 Vickers Vanguard, in BEA livery G-APEP, which has taken me a while to finish, and is the only model I have fully completed this year in 2014, I hope you like Build thread http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234924057-172-vickers-vanguard/

As promised, to support @Rabbit Leader's inspirational GB, here is my entry - an Airfix 'Red Stripe' boxing of the Vickers Vangaurd. This aircraft beat me to it in 1959 as it first flew in January of that year whereas I didn't appear until September - I'm sure it had most of it's 'wrinkles' sorted out by then. OK, I'll admit it - it's just another excuse to build an ancient Airfix kit but another one I didn't do as a kid so a bit of catching up going on! The usual exciting box art... Here are the parts and they include two 'poppers' for the decals over the windows, since there were two sizes of oval windows. Someone has been in and put some paint on the fuselage but no matter. The transfers look to be cracked in parts but I won't rush to replace them just yet. Outside of the Instructions.... Inside of the Instructions - looks like they made a mistake when feeding some through the photo-copier - done the same myself, many a time! I 'll have to download a set of the Instructions from the Airfix Tribute website. Fairly simple build, though. I must tick off the ones I've got.... This kit was first released in 1962 and the Instruction Sheet opens with 'Airfix introduce the Skyking Series......' - stirring stuff! It's great to read everything about the Vanguard in the present tense - at that time, the Vanguard was a fresh fact of life rather just a misty-eyed memory of a powerful old aircraft, as it is today - a bit like myself, really (no tittering at the back, please!) Wiki says 44 were built and were flying up to 1996 (as cargo 'Merchantmen'). A long and successful career, I think,

Having a soft spot for all things Postwar Vickers aircraft, I thought I would try my hand at this Vacform model produced by Gene Hooker of USA, I think originally the moulds may of come from a Travel Agents desk model as the kit is not supplied with any props or wheels, but looking at the plans I have it looks quite accurate. This shall be a challenge as I intend to have the passenger doors open with scratch built steps, I shall be constructing the front part of the engines and making resin moulds from these, also the Aeroclub props are from the Britannia which will be modified, all the windows and doors will need cutting out, I am thinking of making the windows from clear resin, the only thing I shall need to find is some suitable wheels. Once I have constructed the basics such as the wings and such I can then add extra detail and start scribing Hopefully as this will be a challenge it will be painted BEA red square colours. The 4 photos below were taken from Carlos a memeber on Britmodeller and can be deleted at his request, as I did not take any photos showing how the vacform model looks straight from the box, but gives a good indication on how basic the model is and what work needs to be done to make it acceptable.

I finished it! Dog of a kit, but very satisfying to complete such a beautiful aircraft. I made this as a father's ay gift for my dad. I wanted to make it in flying jack (my favourite BEA livery) but it turns out my dad hated it! (though it clearly looked better on the Trident) Some of my earliest memories are of us going round the Vanguard at Brooklands. Stand arrived a week after this was completed too thanks to Humbrol digging through their warehouse. They don't make them like this anymore!

Hi All, I'm working on the re-released Airfix Vanguard (144) in the BEA red square scheme. Im conscious how those plastic strip windows (which I think it comes with) always look a bit cack. Can anyone offer ideas of how to fill in windows a different way? I'd like it to look as pro as possible, as it's going to be a father's day gift. Ideas welcome. Chris

Vickers Vanguard, pics thanks to Frank.

Blimey its big, even in 1/350th. Not quite as nice a mould as the Hobbyboss Astute or the Airfix Traf, but makes an excellent comparison. As supplied in the box, it is missing a few key details (like flank arrays), but I resisted the impulse to try to add them as scratching in this scale is beyond me. Oh and I had what was in effect an ND of a Trident D5, which the carpet monster now has (hence the empty port launch tube ). FredT

A bit of a rarity this one, I've hardly ever seen any built up examples. I bought a couple of these kits back in 1994, the last time it was released by Airfix, with the intention of building one in BEA red square and another in Air Canada. Roll on nearly 20 years, and at last I discover a set of Air Canada Vanguard decals on Two Six's website. Air Canada (TCA as it was at the time) ordered a total of 23 Vanguards and started scheduled services with them in February 1961. There were teething troubles with it as might be expected with a combination of new airfame and new engines, but it settled down to be a popular aircraft with the crews, being both tough and powerful. Unfortunately, as BEA found, it entered service at the same time as the new generation of jets and suffered from lack of passenger appeal, as everyone wanted to 'jet away' and not travel on what looked like an old fashioned propeller plane, despite the fact that those props were turned by jet engines. Disposal of Air Canada Vanguards started in 1969 with the last passenger service flown in 1971. Most of them found work with other airlines, notably Invicta in the UK who flew them in a barely changed Air Canada scheme. I chose to model mine as CF-TKD as it went from Air Canada to Air Viking! The Airfix kit dates from 1959, and isn't bad but I needed a fair amount of milliput and sanding. Decals are laser printed from Two Six. And that Viscount gets into yet another camparison shot! I still have the other Vanguard in the stash, and Two Six's Silk screen set for BEA Red Square. I'll try not to leave it another 20 years before building it to join this one. Thanks for looking, John