1/72 Vickers Vanguard

[kev67 1,567]

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.

Edited May 2, 2014 by kev67

[Radleigh 3,092]

Looks nice and clean, Was waiting for this thread to appear after seeing your other one! Are these kit's still available?

[kev67 1,567]

Yeap you can still get these from Gene Hooker

sherwoodchatfield@yahoo.com

I think it cost £40-£50

but you will need to email him he also does the C-133 Cargomaster

Just to add, some of the vacform is very thin, so don't expect Dynvector vacform quality

[woody37 8,283]

Really looking forwards to this Kev, if it turns out half as good as your Varsity, it'll be a stunner

[perdu 22,487]

put me down as a "subscriber" too Kev

always loved the Vickers propjets

The price would have put me off, couldn't buy many of them on my pension, but I'll see how yours comes along

I like where you are with this

And I'm also a fan of the Red Square BEA livery

win win

[kev67 1,567]

Would anyone have any spare Lockheed Orion wheels, I have heard that these are similar in size to the Vanguards, I will measure the ones on the plans to see what size they are in mm first

[Vulcanicity 1,702]

Looks a challenge, but you're well-qualified to take it on! Good luck...

[kev67 1,567]

Working at a snails pace with this, cut the front passenger door out, also added some strengthening to the wings, with some cut plastic and a brass metal bar to stop any wing drooping,
emailed Brooklands yesterday, as I was not sure if both passenger doors on that side of the aircraft are the same width, but they emailed me back and said they were

Edited April 29, 2014 by kev67

[Jessica 2,813]

Does the kit come with decals? I'd love to do the old Air Canda colour scheme.

[kev67 1,567]

Hi Jessica, the kit only has basic decals for the BEA aircraft, but I think you can ask for Air Canada but you may find they are not all that good anway

[Sean1968 151]

The Vanguard is a beautiful looking bird, I'll be following this one closely.

[kev67 1,567]

I have decided to make this particular aircraft G-APEP as I believe this is the one that is at Brooklands
I have also progressed more with the model as I have cut out all the oval windows and added the frame work for the pilots windows, still need to cut out the cargo doors as these will be opened, not worth showing any photos but will do when I can show more progression, both wings have also been done but need to do the centre section and make a spar for the wings, I will build a template to make sure the wings are at the correct angle. Once I am happy with all this I can then concentrate on scratch building the interior, having a go at resin casting as all the seats will be made, but I will not go to mad on the interior as most will not be seen but as the windows are quite large I think its best to show that there are seats inside.

[Bri48 1,100]

Hi Kev, My dear friend and work colleague who sadly died several years ago worked in the old drawing office where the Vanguard was produced and he always raved about it. I built him the old Airfix kit which took pride of place on his desk. Keep up the good work on this truly beautiful aircraft....

Brian.

[kev67 1,567]

Hi Brian

Thanks for the comment, I have been told by a number of people that it was a noisy beast as well, would like to go to Brooklands when they start the engines up, if they still do that is.

This is going to be a long build, and I am not the quickest at building models its really only when I can get the time, but as i only concentrate on one model at a time, I am hoping that I shall see it to the finish line, there is going to be some modeling skills I have not done before, especially resin castings as the engines wheels and seats are going to be cast in resin and the windows are going to be clear resin.

[kev67 1,567]

Not much to show,but it does show that I have cut the windows and doors out plus the cargo doors. Just got back from Brooklands, Weybridge, taking loads more photos and measuring some stuff on the Vanguard, got to chat with a pilot who used to fly the Vanguard as well.

[bzn20 2,074]

Great job on the cut outs kev! About 1959 i can remember the prototype Vanguard flying over our house ,1000 ft or less, in Feltham on finals to heathrow,not BEA colours BTW.I was about 4 or 5,my dad told me what it was!

[woody37 8,283]

Wow, the cut outs look great, if I did them, they'd be all shapes and sizes !!

[hovis 206]

Crikey!! First glance Nimrod or what??

[kev67 1,567]

Cheers, the oval shapes of the windows were not to bad as I used the decals as a template and just cut out near to the decal and then sanded theses to shape, there are a few that need adjustments but they are all straight, anyway I have started scratch building of sorts the front part of the engine, this then can be cast in resin for all the front engines

[kev67 1,567]

Started to try and improve the front of the engines, the photo shows the original vacform part, all I need to do is add some panel lines and some air vents and other small details , the front prop cowling is only there to show the position, this will be a separate cast in resin as well, the props will come from a Super Transell but as they are smaller I shall cut these down to right length.

[Tony Whittingham 177]

Brings back memories... I flew from Jamaica to Toronto on a "Scare Canada" Vanguard, on July 1st 1967. My first overseas trip, 6.5 hr. at 400 mph to Canada!

Tony

[Viking 5,335]

Fantastic job! I would so like to get one of these kits.

Cheers

John

[tomprobert 4,680]

Looking great Kev, looking forward to seeing this progress.

[kev67 1,567]

Cheers John, I think I posted the email address of the person in the USA who does these

Very slow at the moment, I wish I could build as fast as you Tom, at the moment I am detailing the front landing gear wheel well

[madaboutmodels 206]

looking good, is there any where i can get one from?