Vickers Valetta 1/72 build

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Vickers actually did some nice human factors engineering when it painted the left-side levers red, and the right-side levers green, like port and starboard lights.  I attempted this in my own build of the throttle quadrant.  One of the levers (for the cowl flap? mixture controls?) has gone missing, however.  No matter; we press on.  I also used bits and pieces left over from a C-54 to fashion the Valetta's cockpit overhead panel and dangling compass mount.  The compass mount is one of those highly visible recognition items in the cockpit, which I think the Viking lacked.  I also modified a spare C-47 floor to build the cargo floor aft of the wing spar.  The Valetta is almost two scale feet wider.

 

Edited October 18, 2020 by TheyJammedKenny!
added photos

[LaurieS]

Nice work Alex. Still waiting for the Viking

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

2 hours ago, LaurieS said:

Still waiting for the Viking

Thanks, Laurie!  It'll come.  If it's anything like the Valetta, the parts breakdown should be similar and it will be of very high quality, particularly with the transparencies.  You'd need to scratch-build the passenger interior, though, including the floor.  Luckily, there are resin seats available from after-market providers like Ha Hen.  You'd actually be able to see seated passengers' faces--if you chose to go that route.

[LaurieS]

40 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Thanks, Laurie!  It'll come.  If it's anything like the Valetta, the parts breakdown should be similar and it will be of very high quality, particularly with the transparencies.  You'd need to scratch-build the passenger interior, though, including the floor.  Luckily, there are resin seats available from after-market providers like Ha Hen.  You'd actually be able to see seated passengers' faces--if you chose to go that route.

Looking forward to it. Think my problem is going to be accommodation for all these beasts at my airport.

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

A little bit of excitement going on here in DC--yesterday our street was Party Central.  That aside, here are some of the latest photos.  The crew are now strapped into their seats using the kit's PE parts.  From photos I've seen, it appears that Transport Command pilots were not normally in the habit of wearing their harness while the aircraft was in flight.  As the flight crew figures came with harness molded onto their flight suits, I'll just say that they are expecting a monsoon or other bumpiness soon after they become airborne.  I also modified the kit's control yokes slightly per photos I've seen elsewhere.  The kit's supplied instrument panel is pretty nice.  The little white dots marking the location of the control yoke axles actually line up, so I drilled little holes into the decal.

 

 

Here's the obverse side of the paratroop door, with the blue cheat-line applied.  This will be visible through a passenger window.  The other piece is the cockpit rear bulkhead, with 2mm of extra floor added and some reinforcement to keep everything aligned.

 

 

I used a mix of decals from the kit and the ESCI R4D/C-47 to add some "life" to the navigator's and R/T consoles.  All windows have now been cemented into the fuselage using white canopy glue:

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

I added the other details to the wings and tidied them up a bit.  I've also marked the engine nacelles "right" and "left" to ensure decent fit relative to the carburetor and oil cooler intake assemblies.  Slow progress on this otherwise...

 

[Norman]

I am enjoying this build so much ! 

[LaurieS]

Nice work Alex & great progress.

 

Must publish some of my Dakota just got carried away with problems on it.

 

Laurie

[71chally]

Superb work Alex, that really is coming on a treat.

Great extra work, the cockpit in particular is well worth while the effort.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

4 hours ago, Norman said:

I am enjoying this build so much ! 

 

Thanks so much!  I am here to entertain you--only please don't expect scenes from Gladiator!

3 hours ago, LaurieS said:

Nice work Alex & great progress.

Must publish some of my Dakota just got carried away with problems on it.

Sorry to hear about that, Laurie!  It does sound frustrating.  The Airfix kit should be a joyful experience, and not something merely to be "endured."  Do please send photos when you can.  Maybe the "brains trust" around here can help with a million different suggestions.

 

3 hours ago, 71chally said:

Superb work Alex, that really is coming on a treat.

Great extra work, the cockpit in particular is well worth while the effort.

James, again, thanks so much for your support.  The cockpit is something I really want to have look "about right" for my own entertainment, and be interesting to those who dare peer inside--once we start having in-person shows again.

 

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Tardy update here in honor of Remembrance Day, or Armistice Day--whichever seems more appropriate.  I completed installation of the fuselage interior and found that it was no easy ride, especially in getting the floor to stay put.  Made a few mistakes along the way, which meant some hand-brushing here and there, but nothing that couldn't be explained away as "touch-up" for cargo-induced damage on the real thing.  Just a matter of letting everything firm up now.  The hardest part is that the cargo floor seems to "ride high on the port side" when I close the fuselage halves together, which means that it probably needs to be trimmed a little.  I want the fit to be tight, though, so I'm wondering whether liquid cement, applied through the door opening, will do the trick at holding it down.  The wing spar creates a few fit issues of its own, too.

 

 

Here's what the cockpit looks like when the thing is closed up.  I put the control yoke in the pilot's hands, so it doesn't line up perfectly with its location on the instrument panel, but no matter.  The navigator (right seat) should only take the stick if asked!  The shadowy presence behind them is the signaler.  There should be sufficient light through the large windows to allow him to be seen, too.

 

 

 

[LaurieS]

Great work Alex. The pilots are first class. All looking superb.

 

Laurie

[Ptmvarsityfan]

Lovely work on the interior!

Paul

[TheyJammedKenny!]

13 hours ago, LaurieS said:

Great work Alex. The pilots are first class. All looking superb.

Thanks so much, Laurie!  I appreciate the compliments.  I still have PJ Productions civilian pilots I can use elsewhere.  These guys underwent head transplants with the Airfix RAF set, and the operation was successful!

 

2 hours ago, ptmvarsityfan said:

Lovely work on the interior!

Paul

Thanks, Paul!  Most of it won't be seen, but I suspect that if I enter it in competition, the judges will shine penlights into the dark recesses of this thing to have a look-see.  It probably won't compete well against the usual aircraft with MGs, splinter camo, and "crooked crosses," but who knows?  Perhaps someone will take pity on a British post-war type.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Some slow progress here.  We'll start with the fuselage, which I've now assembled and sanded.  The work I did with styrene strips to reinforce the fuselage join had an unintended side effect: it created a ridge on the top and bottom of the fuselage due to slight differences in plastic thickness between left and right.  I sought to exploit this by cementing strip styrene along the join all along the top, and to fair it in place using Mr. Surfacer, applied layer by layer--allowing 24 hours drying time between layers.  When sanding this, I tried to ensure the thicker side got more attention, and the results are satisfactory.  Instead of a "flat" top and bottom, there's a slight curvature all along the seam, which I verified using a contour gauge.  It may not be completely to spec, but there it is.  

 

 

As you can see from the dry fit of parts above and below, my evil plan with the forward fuselage is to raise the "crown" just a tad, and try to impart more curvature, as on the real aircraft.  This may or may not work.  The "eyebrow" windows are a little too flat up top, and I've tried to change their shape to impart a "sharper" curve at about halfway along where they join the fuselage.  Unfortunately, there isn't much clear plastic to work with at this location, and there's some risk that if I'm not careful, I'll sand through the whole clear part in my zeal.  I've had to add back some of the shape I sanded away earlier in the form of Mr. Surfacer, but I'm hoping that this will blend smoothly with careful work.    I'll leave off the astrodome until I've got the area in the shape I want.  BTW, the flattish shape on the model's roof (as it approaches the transparency) seems truer of the Viking, from what I can tell.

 

 

Edited November 28, 2020 by TheyJammedKenny!
clarity

[LaurieS]

Well done Alex admire your determination. Keep at it man. No slacking

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Rear fuselage with emergency equipment looks good with "glass" over it.  I'll mask this to create the correct shape of the "window" before I paint.  With some persuasion, the cargo floor blends well with the door lower frame, so I'm happy.  What's up with the string?  Well, it's attached to a wad of masking tape covering the cockpit entrance door from inside.  The idea is to prevent dust from entering the cockpit once I seal it off with the clear parts, and I'll give this ad-hoc apparatus a sharp jerk to remove the tape much later in the paint process.  I may need to use high pressure air to clear dust from the cargo area, and I don't want to blow it into the cockpit.

 

 

 

 

Below is the fuselage underside.  My sanding removed panel lines on the top and bottom that I'll need to carefully re-scribe.  You can see from the layers of putty where I had the biggest problem with seam-line overhang.  Again, that's self-imposed--because I wanted to make this a strong join.  Left to its own devices, the kit fits together relatively well, but lacks locator pins.

 

 

 

 

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

For the port and starboard navigation lights, I'm trying something new.  There simply isn't enough surface area to drill a tiny colored "bulb" into the clear part, so I cut thin slivers of green and red clear plastic, but the effect was not as good as I hoped.  Still, it's a try, and careful masking of this area may improve the looks of it.  The intakes on the engine nacelles, top and bottom, are now fully faired in.  The landing gear bays are not bad.  My impression is that there may be room for a little detail work, but it won't be visible.  At a minimum, I definitely need to add brake lines and landing lights to the main gear struts.

 

 

[LaurieS]

Wow Alex you are getting me really worried about the Viking.

 

Viscount Miles Aerovan now Alex, you Jammed Kenny,  are digging another hole for me.

 

As the song goes some friend some friend you turned out to be.

 

 

[71chally]

Lovely work, coming on a treat Alex, the nav lights look great to me.

 

I'm not sure Valetta's had landing lights on the gear legs though, they were usually on the wing undersides.

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

@LaurieS: "Wow Alex you are getting me really worried about the Viking"  Please try not to worry--I want to encourage you.  This is miles ahead of the Miles Aerovan in quality.  The shape of the forward fuselage looks better suited to the Viking, so you should not need to reshape.  Very funny of you to roll out the Barry Manilow tune!

1 hour ago, 71chally said:

Lovely work, coming on a treat Alex, the nav lights look great to me.

 

I'm not sure Valetta's had landing lights on the gear legs though, they were usually on the wing undersides.

 

Thanks so much, James!  You are correct about landing lights being on the wing undersides, and I've put them where they belong.  Close inspection of photos I have of in-service Valettas also reveals a single taxi light, or landing light (unsure which) located on either the right or left fork of each main gear unit.  It seems to have been fitted to either side.

[EDCS87]

Love the work you've done on that fuselage seam, I'm learning a lot just from following this thread! 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Thanks @EDCS87!  I know that I'll need to "hide" some seams and other imperfections beneath layers of primer, but I'm relatively confident things will work out as intended here.  Flat white on the top should hide some "sins."  Painted silver on the underside will be more revealing, however.  My plan is to split the primer color--white Stynylrez for the upper fuselage crown; black Stynylrez for the lower fuselage, wings and tail.

[Jfgred1]

Very good work you are doing with the Valetta... and with the other models you are working on for that matter.

 

Need to figure out how to get into the multi-builds wave... The only time I tried, finished one and the other two had been languishing in the paint boot for more than 4 years......

 

But please, don't stop, keep them coming.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

@Jfgred1: Thanks for the compliments!  I'm doing multiples, because two other projects are now stalled, awaiting delivery of a specific metalizer, which seems in short supply this side of the Atlantic.  

 

Just re-scribed most of the panel lines I'd removed earlier.  Now I need to carefully emulate the access hatch outlines, which are curved at the corners.  I have photo-etch metal templates I purchased from Verlinden years ago, but have always found them a little difficult to work with.  What's the easiest way to re-scribe these hatch outlines?  Cut out the individual template shape and tape to the model?