trickyrich Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Model: Collect-Aire 1/48th North American RA-5C Vigilante Paint: Mr Hobby (main) and Tamiya Acrylics, Model Master Metalizer Lacquers Decals: CtA “Welcome to the Jungle” USN Camo set Extras: Aires RA-5C Cockpit set Aires RA-5C Exhaust Nozzles set Aires RA-5C Wheel Bays SAC Undercarriage set This was a bit of a hard build in as much as the original model suffered from warping and I added to the work by fitting aftermarket bits that's were not designed for this model. For those that don't know this model it is a full resin model made around....well a long time ago. They're pretty rare now but they're still considered to be the most accurate model of the Vigilante available in 1/48th scale. There was a lot wrong with the model which I knew would require quite a bit of work, but for $40 USD for a Collect-Aire model, I figured how bad could it be. well quite bad actually, and I had considered leaving it on the shelf or selling it until I found the CtA decals. The scheme was part of a test carried out by the USN at the start of the Vietnam war on various USN carrier based aircraft. Some aircraft from RVAH-6 and RVAH-11 were painted in different test camouflage schemes to test their effectiveness. These schemes varied form aircraft to aircraft, RVAH-6 aircraft were painted in Green/Green and Green/Green/Grey schemes while RVAH-11 ones were painted in Green/Green/tan schemes. None of these schemes proved to be successful and were more trouble than they were worth. By the end of their deployments these schemes were removed and all aircraft went back to their normal USN colour schemes. She's not perfect by any means, but I managed to build her and she looks the part. I much rather see models like this shown and built than to be a shelf queen stuck forever in a box in some collection somewhere waiting for the price to go up! Thank you for looking. ...and with her Recon partner, though not quite the same era...an RF-111C 48 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tbolt Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Very nice work. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Excellent Vigilante, the `111 looks great too 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spitfire Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 I think that it looks amazing in that colour scheme, nice one. Cheers Dennis 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Unfinished project Posted June 18, 2018 Share Posted June 18, 2018 Very nice build makes a pleasant change to see a Vigilante in camouflage scheme. Looks good sitting next to that cracking F-111 👍 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modelling minion Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Great job Rich, really well done. The camo looks great, different than the usual grey and white, not that you see many Vigie's nuilt. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMCS Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Love the scheme 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RJ-WobblyHands Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 great job love the camo - just glad I did not have to do it .. even after reading the WiP thread on making the demarcation line 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted June 19, 2018 Author Share Posted June 19, 2018 1 hour ago, RJ-WobblyHands said: great job love the camo - just glad I did not have to do it .. even after reading the WiP thread on making the demarcation line thanks. Mmm it scared me at first, I nearly baled from that scheme to do one with a normal line. But I eventually got the idea of how to do it even if it took two attempts. Next time I'll do a better job. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted June 19, 2018 Share Posted June 19, 2018 Real nice Rich, that's a super look for one of my favourite classic jets & I reckon you've nailed it. 👍 Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amo Aero Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Great looking Vigilante! Good on you for persevering through the challenges. I know how rough Collectaire kits can be. I had their F6U Pirate. It had a solid resin fuselage that was warped like a banana. I contacted Lou about it (this was what, 25 years ago?), and he was kind enough to send a replacement fuselage--that was just as badly warped! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted June 20, 2018 Author Share Posted June 20, 2018 5 hours ago, Amo Aero said: Great looking Vigilante! Good on you for persevering through the challenges. I know how rough Collectaire kits can be. I had their F6U Pirate. It had a solid resin fuselage that was warped like a banana. I contacted Lou about it (this was what, 25 years ago?), and he was kind enough to send a replacement fuselage--that was just as badly warped! thanks, my Collect-Aire Demon had a slightly banana shaped fuselage as well, but I didn't notice this until I had block sanded the fuselage sides flat! Had a big job to get it back in shape, currently it's sitting in the naughty corner as the wings are covered in billions of small air bubbles! I'm going through a stage of just building 1/48th resin at the moment. Next up will be another Collect-Aire beast (I have 8 or 9 all up), their F-86D,K,L Sabre Dog, it looks to be a fairly straight forward build....hopefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Built to perfection, I'd say, from where I'm viewing! Before scrolling down to the last three pics, I was thinking how similar it looks to an F-111! Certainly a build to be proud of. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kev The Modeller Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 Lovely build mate 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amo Aero Posted June 20, 2018 Share Posted June 20, 2018 16 hours ago, trickyrich said: thanks, my Collect-Aire Demon had a slightly banana shaped fuselage as well, but I didn't notice this until I had block sanded the fuselage sides flat! Had a big job to get it back in shape, currently it's sitting in the naughty corner as the wings are covered in billions of small air bubbles! I'm going through a stage of just building 1/48th resin at the moment. Next up will be another Collect-Aire beast (I have 8 or 9 all up), their F-86D,K,L Sabre Dog, it looks to be a fairly straight forward build....hopefully. Good luck to you sir with the Dog Sabre ! Now that you have conquered the Vigilante, I'm sure you will bring that puppy to heel! I saw a fellow modeler's Collectaire Demon at a club meeting many years back--it looked awful rough! I always felt that if Collectaire's kits had been vacuform I probably would have bought at least one of everything they produced in 1/48. The subject matter was right up my alley, but their rough execution in resin and high prices were too much for me. I do have their Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak in the stash. I decided to pass on buying the Special Hobby kit when it was available, now I'm wondering if that was the right choice. It does look decent in the box compared to their other kits, so maybe it won't be too bad a build. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted June 21, 2018 Author Share Posted June 21, 2018 1 hour ago, Amo Aero said: Good luck to you sir with the Dog Sabre ! Now that you have conquered the Vigilante, I'm sure you will bring that puppy to heel! I saw a fellow modeler's Collectaire Demon at a club meeting many years back--it looked awful rough! I always felt that if Collectaire's kits had been vacuform I probably would have bought at least one of everything they produced in 1/48. The subject matter was right up my alley, but their rough execution in resin and high prices were too much for me. I do have their Douglas D-558-1 Skystreak in the stash. I decided to pass on buying the Special Hobby kit when it was available, now I'm wondering if that was the right choice. It does look decent in the box compared to their other kits, so maybe it won't be too bad a build. The basic bits of the demon aren't too bad, it's just the billions of bubbles on the wings that are giving me real grief. They just take so long to remove and you always end up loosing detail and opening them up again when you try t re-do the panel lines. From what I can gather with Collect-Aire models a lot depends on who and where they were cast. Some are beautifully done while others.......my Skyknight is a bit of a worry but the others look to be fine. As you say the prices they want for them now is crazy and as a result most will never be made which is a shame. I want an XB-51 for a mod I did to a 1/72nd scale one, but they want around $500 USD when they come up, I've never paid more than $90 USD for mine. It maybe sacrilage to do this but it looks really impressive! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amo Aero Posted June 21, 2018 Share Posted June 21, 2018 20 hours ago, trickyrich said: From what I can gather with Collect-Aire models a lot depends on who and where they were cast. Some are beautifully done while others.......my Skyknight is a bit of a worry but the others look to be fine. As you say the prices they want for them now is crazy and as a result most will never be made which is a shame. I want an XB-51 for a mod I did to a 1/72nd scale one, but they want around $500 USD when they come up, I've never paid more than $90 USD for mine. It maybe sacrilage to do this but it looks really impressive! Yes, apparently Collectaire owner Lou Maglio contracted out all the pattern, mold, and casting work, so the quality of kits could vary. Supposedly the kits produced by "the Russian" were the best (I don't know which kits were the Russian's). $500 for a kit is insane! That would provide me a lot of motivation for a scratch building project! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted June 21, 2018 Author Share Posted June 21, 2018 scratch building is an option but finding the time with all the other projects is the trouble. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Amo Aero Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 3 hours ago, trickyrich said: scratch building is an option but finding the time with all the other projects is the trouble. I hear you. I would love to complete some scratch building projects (started a few, never finished any), but with all the kits in the stash and so many other obligations it is near impossible to find the time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeaton01 Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Nice Vigilante. As an aside, I have the XB-51 among other Collect-Aire kits and mine has some shrinkage issues. It's gonna be a task to build. I've built the Curtiss Ascender and the P-51H and neither was very difficult and they look nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted June 22, 2018 Author Share Posted June 22, 2018 8 hours ago, jeaton01 said: Nice Vigilante. As an aside, I have the XB-51 among other Collect-Aire kits and mine has some shrinkage issues. It's gonna be a task to build. I've built the Curtiss Ascender and the P-51H and neither was very difficult and they look nice. thanks, I'm very envious! This is the third Collect-Aire I've built (building) and while challenging in places not as bad as some of the others I've build, Craftwork's 1/32nd Macchi M.202/205 still gives me nightmares. While most of the Collect-Aire models are very buildable, there's nothing really in the range I would consider unbuildable, just some need a little bit of extra attention (RB/WB-57F for one). My collection consists of; X-15 B2 (building....slowly) F3H-2 Demon (in naughty box and covered in tiny bubbles!) F3D-2 Skyknight RA-5C (Built) XF-107 Ultra Sabre (have plans to make a Vietnam operational version) B-57B/G Canberra F-86D/K/L Sabre Dog Sukhoi Su-15 E-2C Hawkeye (cost me $10 USD) I may sell a couple/trade a couple of these, but I'm always on the look out for more...at the right price! my wish list: F-108 Rapier XF-103 Thunderwarrior A-12A Avenger II OV-1B/C/D Mohawk XF-8U-3 Super CrusaderYF-23 Blackwidow B/RB-45A/C Tornado only a few thousand dollars worth there! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted June 22, 2018 Share Posted June 22, 2018 Awesome work, looks great in that scheme 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PattheCat Posted June 24, 2018 Share Posted June 24, 2018 The Vigilante is such a nice aircraft. A shame no one did a new gen kit but you got it right and it looks so good in an unusual camo scheme. Stunning F111 too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
trickyrich Posted June 24, 2018 Author Share Posted June 24, 2018 1 hour ago, PattheCat said: The Vigilante is such a nice aircraft. A shame no one did a new gen kit but you got it right and it looks so good in an unusual camo scheme. Stunning F111 too! Thanks. I see you din't mention the Trumpy model. That one has issue and is not for the faint hearted, it's biggest problem is the fuselage tends to collapse on itself or go out of shape when it's joined together. To get around this you need to assemble a structure inside the fuselage to keep it the right shape, not an easy task, though there is an aftermarket solution available. It would be great to see Tamiya produce one in 1/72nd and/or 1/48th, even nicer would be the A3J version, even a conversion kit would be nice. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jeaton01 Posted June 25, 2018 Share Posted June 25, 2018 Cutting Edge made an A3J-1 conversion for the Trumpeter kit, CEC48493. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now