1/72 Vickers Vanguard

[Fritag]

I have completed priming the Fuselage with Tamiya fine primer, this was then micro meshed down to get rid of the roughness spraying from a aerosol can can cause, now for the tricky part of getting the wings and fuselage together and getting every thing lined up.

Just read this through from the beginning Kev. Inspiring and educational work. I see that good advice to dry micromeshing Tamiya primer was based on considerable experience

Steve

[perdu]

That machine simply oozed classiness

Vickers aircraft were great

As this is

love the work on the fuselage detailing

[kev67]

Cheers Steve, not sure what other modellers do, but I found this gives a better result to use micro mesh dry on Tamiya primer. I'm glad that I could help as that's what model making is all about

[kev67]

Thanks Perdu, Vickers aircraft are one of my favourite, hoping to do the VC10 in 1/72 later on, once this is finished

[kev67]

Small update, I have finished off the retractable staircase that was fitted to the Vanguards, I thought I would have some problems with this but actually in the end came together with little fuss. Using the diagrams of the stairs which I had taken photos of at Brooklands, enabled me to see how things went, I also have a head on photo which shows the 45 degree angle which the stairs are from the aircraft. Just need priming and some paint.

This photo shows how everything will look with the props on and passenger door and stairs loosely attached, I have also attached the undercarriage to see how it sits, luckily for me its not a tail sitter

Just some areas that need tidying up, and then I can start applying some paint, I will use Tamiya fine white for the top of the fuselage, and on the wings where the red will go, micro mesh this back and then airbrush semi gloss Tamiya white to give a smoother finish.

[Sean1968]

This is an excellent build. A great lesson in "more than just injection moulded kits out there."

[noelh]

just came across this build. It looks brilliant. I see you are building G-APEP. As it happens I worked for Hunting Cargo airlines as a maintenance planner back in '96 and I knew Echo Papa well. Although it was outside my remit as I was only responsible for the Electras and 727s. I found it necessary, ahem! for me to inspect the 'paperwork' every time it stopped over in Dublin airport. It was of course known as a Merchantman back then. I used to sit in the Captain's seat make vroom, vroom sounds, admire the view and inhale the never to be forgotten smell of those old planes.

You did a really good job on the flight deck, it's exactly as I remember it. It was a very roomy cockpit. Reminded me of a ship's bridge. The crews and engineers who worked on them were proud of them. It was one of the fastest turboprops I believe.

I must visit it in Brooklands one day. Look forward to seeing yours finished.

[Fritag]

Small update, I have finished off the retractable staircase that was fitted to the Vanguards

beautiful bit of construction that kev

[robvulcan]

That is very tidy, What sort of wire did you use ?

Cheers Rob

[kev67]

Cheers chaps , for the comments, for some reason I can't multiquote on my computer

Rob the wire is just electrical wire I acquired from work, which has a purple coating, this had to be scrapped off as I found that it would not glue properly

[kev67]

OK, another small update of this model which is taking me some time, how do people make models so quick ? anyway, I have scratch built some of the smaller detail which has been primed and painted

Main undercarriage, which was made from plastic card various sizes of plastic tubing reinforced with brass tubing to give it some strength, as the model is quite weighty

all the pipe work is from lead wiring from little cars, painted using Tamiya cockpit green, then a dark wash followed by a dry brush of lighter green for the highlights

The wheel hubs have been painted as above, tyres are a mixture of black and grey and dry brushed with light grey, the spokes in the hubs were from a home made decal I printed out, as I found this easier than trying to recreate it in the mould process when making the wheels

This shows the main undercarriage attached to the wheels, and the front undercarriage as well

Main undercarriage doors, I made up a master for this and vac formed these so they had the curvature I was looking for, my first vacform

smaller main undercarriage doors, made from plastic card and detailed, still need to add the hinges to these though

Front undercarriage doors

Finally front passenger door which had to be scratch built

There are other smaller details that I have made for the main undercarriage but I had forgotten to take any photos.

Next stage for me now is masking some areas up and applying some paint, but might have to wait until I get some good weather as it will be a coat of Tamiya fine white primer for the top part of the fuselage and tail

[Sean1968]

This is coming along brilliantly, always had a soft spot for this aircraft. Can't wait for the next update.

[perdu]

Fabulous scratchbuilding of the undercart, always a 'make or break' for a model

You get M A K E in headline letters

Nice vacforming too, fun innit

And the front door, simply great

b

[general melchett]

Lovely stuff Kev....don't worry about making stuff quickly ! It's done when it's done and not before ! I couldn't care less how long the process takes (with the exception of magazine dead lines or commissions of course) and I certainly wont ever rush a job......take as long as you need, looks like it'll be well worth it.....

[Tomjw]

This looks fantastic. Excellent progress being made.

Cheers,

Tom.

[Gimme Shelter]

stunning work and still a pleasure to follow - I cannot wait to see the completed build

[Ex-FAAWAFU]

Only just caught up with this one. Having worked with RR Tynes in their marinised form (the Type 42 destroyer and the early Type 22 frigates both had 2 x Olympus and 2 x Tyne), I can vouch for how noisy they are at full power.

Seeing modelling like this, having witnessed what you started with, is so inspiring.

[garryrussell]

Brilliant job.

I see you didn't miss the door handle detail difference between the BEA and TCA versions

Edited August 26, 2014 by garryrussell

[Murdo]

[woody37]

Those decals for the wheel hubs are great Kev, great idea

[Viking]

Coming along nicely, and looking very, very nice.

Cheers

John

[Glen]

I've been in touch with a Gene Hooker over the last couple of days. He's got 8 Vanguards left! He's in his 70s and his vac former is in his 80s so there may not be many more produced.

[goggsy]

Epic win, some real modelling going on here.

[aceebee]

Hi Kev

We met at Modelfest Farnborough where I you had this work in progress. I was immediatley impressed by the level of detail & work on what is a very basic starting platform. A very rare and special project. I'd love to have a go at this 1/72 Vanguard and although I've taken on complex vacform builds like this before I've no doubt this would be the ultimate test and can't imagine getting anywhere close to the level of finish & detail I anticipate you are aiming for. I'll get in touch with Gene Hooker and see if I can get me the vac kit, as primative as it is.

Keep at it and will wait patiently for the end result. Great work so far.

Cheers

Alastair

[AntPhillips]

Wow, I've only just come across this build how I missed it previously I don't know.

Awesome workmanship and some great techniques demonstrated, rest assured I'll be keeping an eye on the thread from now on.