Dennis_C Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 (edited) Hi All, With this post I'm finishing the series of trainer aircraft I have recently completed. This is the model of an aircraft that remains pretty obscure type, although it was the most numerous trainer aircraft of the USAAF during the WWII. This is a model of a Valiant, but not of the Valiant the British modelling community expects to see 😉 So here you go - Vultee "the Vibrator" Valiant BT-13: The 1/72 kit is produced under Admiral label by AZ Models of Czech Republic. Construction was fully out of the box except for aerial wiring and exhaust pipe. Actually, I do not think any aftermarket exists for this kit. At the same time the box includes some nice goodies such as PE fret with instrument panels, seat belts, gear scissors, and flaps hinges. Also several resin parts are provided including engine and engine cowling, cockpit struts, aerial mast and pitot tube (both very fragile!). Decal sheets has three options - two for Navy SNV variant and a very colourful USAAF option. Construction was not shake and bake however without major issues. Some fitting was required for cockpit arrangement. Instruction is not very clear so I relied on photo references to understand where rear seat instrument panel cover should be placed and subsequently where seats, instruments panels etc should be located. Also photos helped to understand how exactly internal struts in the cockpit should look like. Be mindful to dry fit all these structures to make sure canopy fits later. Expectedly canopy was not a perfect match to the fuselage especially on its ends. I had to add some plastic stripes on the rear side to make sure canopy fits okay. Wing to fuselage jount was good. Engine construction is a bit tricky. There is nothing inside the cowling to attach the engine. Also engine is smaller than the cowling internal diameter. I attached a wider circular plastic sheet to the engine back side so that engine firmly sits on the appropriate place. Fragile aerial mast was replaced with a brass tube. Plastic exhaust pipe is useless so I replaced it with a wider brass pipe. Landing lights are provided in the kit and worked good. Masking canopy was huge fun. As you can see windows are not at all rectangular so this design was adding a bit of entertainment. Luckily now there is a Peewit masking set available but I was too quick to assemble my model Painting is made with Tamiya yellow, Vallejo blue and Hobby Color red and olive drab. Model is covered with Future and probably looks very polished. Let's think cadets were diligently washing their machines. Lastly there are some group shots. First is for size comparison next to a Hurricane. Valiant was not a small aircraft at all! Second is with two other yellow-wing peers that I have in collection: And the last is with all other trainer aircraft I have. I showed a group of three of them recently. Here is the complete bright and colourful trainer collection. Hope you enjoyed! Best regards, Dennis Edited September 12, 2020 by Dennis_C 34 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelh Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 Really nice, love yellow wings. I think they're most famous for their conversion to Japanese dive bombers in various movies. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis_C Posted September 12, 2020 Author Share Posted September 12, 2020 2 minutes ago, noelh said: I think they're most famous for their conversion to Japanese dive bombers in various movies. Haha! That is true. I wonder if Valiant could actually dive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
noelh Posted September 12, 2020 Share Posted September 12, 2020 6 minutes ago, Dennis_C said: Haha! That is true. I wonder if Valiant could actually dive. Interesting idea. Probably once . The question is whether the vibrations would disintegrate it before it hit VNE. I suspect more than one overly enthusiastic young cadet tested that idea. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jackson Duvalier Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Tidy build of an important but undermodelled subject. 🤩 Hats off to your canopy masking. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ForestFan Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Very nice and colourful! Not a subject that I imagine is often built so kudos for this. Quite a collection too! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vulcanicity Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Excellent build of an unusual subject (were Valiants really more numerous than Stearmans?!) Love the colour scheme, the red on top of the yellow/blue is pretty eye catching! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Duncan B Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 A really colourful and interesting subject to have in any model collection. It looks great. Duncan B 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis_C Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 Thanks to all for kind words 46 minutes ago, Vulcanicity said: (were Valiants really more numerous than Stearmans?!) I think in reality the three major types - Stearmans, Valiants and Texans were in similar quantities in USAAF during the war. However of all three Valiants are definitely the most obscure aircrafts probably because of short post war career. Actually a question - do I understand correctly that cadets were trained subsequently on Stearmans (primary trainers) then Valiants (or other basic trainers) and then Texans or other ATs such as Bobcats etc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangor Lad Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 What a gorgeous build! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ryan Hothersall Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Nice build of a rarely seen type. I was fortunate to see a flying BT-13 at a small country air show here in South Australia a few years ago. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matthew1974 Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 First time I have seen this kit built up and you have done her proud. Love it! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SAT69 Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Excellent build! Really like the paint work and I too admire how well you did masking and painting the cockpit enclosure. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis_C Posted September 13, 2020 Author Share Posted September 13, 2020 (edited) 4 hours ago, Matthew1974 said: First time I have seen this kit built up and you have done her proud. Love it! I think I have not seen any other completed Admiral (AZ) model... I saw couple of Pavla models on modellingmadness I believe. In fact it's strange as the model is not super complicated and builds quite okay. 2 hours ago, SAT69 said: Excellent build! Really like the paint work and I too admire how well you did masking and painting the cockpit enclosure. Masking was challenging indeed. And I should notice that the canopy has quite soft surface details so masking was often made using pictures rather than following molded framing. Edited September 13, 2020 by Dennis_C Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dogsbody Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Wow! That's a great build. The painting looks perfect! Chris 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted September 13, 2020 Share Posted September 13, 2020 Nice Valiant, but I do prefer the V Bomber Valiant lol 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kapam Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 I had to look at this, not really knowing what a Vultee Valiant is. Your model is excellent - and a most welcome burst of colour. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted September 14, 2020 Share Posted September 14, 2020 That looks great, Sir! An arresting sight. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dennis_C Posted September 14, 2020 Author Share Posted September 14, 2020 Hi guys, thanks a lot for kind words! You likes and appreciation help motivation to build more and more models! 15 hours ago, kapam said: I had to look at this, not really knowing what a Vultee Valiant is. I would not know either should AZ do a less attractive box art Isn't it surprising that the 31st world's most produced aircraft (according to Wiki) is not known to everyone even in the modelling crowd? 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