Vickers Valetta 1/72 build

[TheyJammedKenny!]

1 hour ago, LaurieS said:

Wow that all looks great fun Alex.

 

Great work nice crisp & precise.

Thanks, Laurie!  7 days of decal application.  Parts of it were "fun," others not so much.  The walkways, for instance, are fabricated from strips of Superscale decal that I cut to narrower diameter.  You can just imagine what that was like.  Valom gives you no stenciling or anything useful, so you have to draw from your own resources.  The yellow window "cut here" decals came from a Danish AF C-47 decal set for the ESCI kit.  The red "cut here" decals came from a 26 Decals 1/144 BA 747 decal sheet (thanks, @26Decals: will you make something for the Valetta/Viking? LOL.).  Looking forward to seeing the Dove!

 

1 hour ago, Max Headroom said:

I really do like that paint job. Looks well handsome.

Thanks so much, Trevor!  I liked the looks of the real thing, and this particular color scheme has some advantages, like the position of the blue cheat-line, which conveniently runs beneath, not over, the nose humps, and the absence of ROYAL AIR FORCE MIDDLE EAST titles on the fuselage uppers.

[LaurieS]

Just now, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Thanks, Laurie!  7 days of decal application.  Parts of it were "fun," others not so much.  The walkways, for instance, are fabricated from strips of Superscale decal that I cut to narrower diameter.  You can just imagine what that was like.  Valom gives you no stenciling or anything useful, so you have to draw from your own resources.  The yellow window "cut here" decals came from a Danish AF C-47 decal set for the ESCI kit.  The red "cut here" decals came from a 26 Decals 1/144 BA 747 decal sheet (thanks, @26Decals: will you make something for the Valetta/Viking? LOL.).  Looking forward to seeing the Dove!

 

T

On the Dart Herald Alex there are no masks available. I thought of using a masking solution but all the scale model stuff I have found to be not very good.

 

So got some Windsor & Newton masking solution which is use mainly by artists to use on paper. Very impressed as it is thin easy to apply in detail.

Plus it release very easily. As it is thin it does not tend to tear the paint edge.

 

Ouch I hope my Viking has none of the decal problems. I just seem to choose kits with problems.

 

Laurie

 

PS Alex hope you are not in any of these hot spots we read of in the UK.

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

1 minute ago, LaurieS said:

hot spots

If you're referring to Corona Virus, no.  DC is very safe.  I think our adult vaccination rate is close to, or exceeds 70 percent.  It's just very, very hot, weather-wise, but this is July, and it's DC, so that's entirely normal for the season.

[LaurieS]

1 hour ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

If you're referring to Corona Virus, no.  DC is very safe.  I think our adult vaccination rate is close to, or exceeds 70 percent.  It's just very, very hot, weather-wise, but this is July, and it's DC, so that's entirely normal for the season.

Refering to the heat problems while we are below normal temperature.

 

Covid. No very annoyed with our authorities. A month a go we have had 2 known covid types out of 107,000.

Now we have just under a thousand. No need for masks, hospitality open. People going around thinking it is over.

 

The only good thing is that all over 40 have had the two vaccinations. So it is those below 40 who are suffering & mostly likely to not care.

 

Fortunately just 2 in hospital. Just have the feeling "what the hell" the young ones are getting it & not badly just let it rip.

 

Oh god I am in a moany mood.

 

Laurie 🤣

 

 

 

 

[kev67]

Looking really good, I will have to get started on mine soon

[TheyJammedKenny!]

6 hours ago, kev67 said:

I will have to get started on mine soon

Please do, by all means!  Any ideas of what subject you'd like to build?  My choice was determined by relative ease of the color scheme, a machine from newly reactivated 233 Squadron, which took aircraft directly from ferry and maintenance units.  Vickers completely reconstructed WD159 during 1957, so in 1960, the year I've depicted, it would have been relatively fresh-looking.

[kev67]

I have two of these plus I’ve just ordered the Viking, I will probably do the Flixton one as I have plenty of photos of that particular aircraft, I will at some stage go to Brooklands again as they have a Viking and the guys their are full of info in Vickers aircraft 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

All: this is pretty slow-going.  I've applied all the gloss coat, and attached the landing gear doors, which match up nicely with the push-rods that make them go up and down on the real thing.  Trouble is, I found pictures on TonyOT's Valetta build that show the actual WD159 in Aden with ROYAL AIR FORCE TRANSPORT COMMAND titles, some tail embellishment that looks like a diamond--half yellow, half black--and what appears to be a large red squadron crest aft of the cockpit.  Sigh.  So I tried, unsuccessfully to dodge the bullet of having fuselage titles on this project.  The red squadron crest is beyond me, but I can probably cut up decal to create a diamond-shaped symbol on the vertical stabilizer.  The other thing that impressed me was how clean the aircraft looked, considering where it was.  That said, I will add a wash to some areas, exhaust staining, and of course go over it with flat.

 

 

 

[Ruskin Air Services]

Looking good, just lost patience with mine. Been spoilt building kits that actually fit and not have to be sanded to oblivion! 

[LaurieS]

11 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

All: this is pretty slow-going.  I've applied all the gloss coat, and attached the landing gear doors, which match up nicely with the push-rods that make them go up and down on the real thing.  Trouble is, I found pictures on TonyOT's Valetta build that show the actual WD159 in Aden with ROYAL AIR FORCE TRANSPORT COMMAND titles, some tail embellishment that looks like a diamond--half yellow, half black--and what appears to be a large red squadron crest aft of the cockpit.  Sigh.  So I tried, unsuccessfully to dodge the bullet of having fuselage titles on this project.  The red squadron crest is beyond me, but I can probably cut up decal to create a diamond-shaped symbol on the vertical stabilizer.  The other thing that impressed me was how clean the aircraft looked, considering where it was.  That said, I will add a wash to some areas, exhaust staining, and of course go over it with flat.

 

 

 

 

Well as per all your work Alex I admire your precision work excellent.

 

Looks as though it will soon be ready fro apron practice. 😉

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

11 hours ago, Ruskin Air Services said:

Looking good, just lost patience with mine. Been spoilt building kits that actually fit and not have to be sanded to oblivion! 

Thanks so much!  I understand the feeling.  There's been a fair amount of sanding on this project, some of which has been due to my own mistakes!

 

9 hours ago, LaurieS said:

Looks as though it will soon be ready fro apron practice.

Thanks again, Laurie!  The gear assemblies hold out quite well, and are strong; just take care with cleaning up the forks on the main undercarriage units and try not to break the retraction bits once you start your Viking.  Also, the Viking gear sits 90 degrees to the nacelle, whereas the Valetta's gear are more like 100 degrees or so.  

[LaurieS]

Just now, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Thanks so much!  I understand the feeling.  There's been a fair amount of sanding on this project, some of which has been due to my own mistakes!

 

Thanks again, Laurie!  The gear assemblies hold out quite well, and are strong; just take care with cleaning up the forks on the main undercarriage units and try not to break the retraction bits once you start your Viking.  Also, the Viking gear sits 90 degrees to the nacelle, whereas the Valetta's gear are more like 100 degrees or so.  

Ouch with brain deterioration your may have to remind me Alex.

 

Love to start it as the next kit. But a little Dove just to clear the tubes.

 

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

I applied the fin badge for WD159, which may or may not be a Ferry Service Squadron badge, rather than 233's.  This aircraft came directly to Aden from the FSS, after having been assigned to a maintenance unit for several months.  As I understand it, 233 was reactivated using aircraft from 84 Squadron and those from FSS and maintenance units in the UK.  It may have taken a while for the squadron to shake down all of its new aircraft and get them to appear more uniform.

 

You'll note that I also applied some panel wash to the cargo doors and the control surface breaks.  I made this from a simple mix of Vallejo dark grey, water, and Future.  

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Here are the tires and chocks.  The tires are Vallejo dark grey mixed with a little Testors acrylic cockpit black.  I'll weather them a bit after they fully dry.  

 

Based on photos I've seen of WD159 at Aden, the chocks were similar to those used in WWII for heavy bombers, so I simply used the chocks contained in Airfix's RAF Bomber resupply set and painted them a mix of Testors acrylic dark gull gray, Vallejo white, and Vallejo PRU Blue to approximate the slightly faded RAF blue-grey used in Aden.  

 

[LaurieS]

Lovely work by the Washington Maestro.

 

Nice work & finish Alex. Getting close now.

 

Got the same kit & also since the Viking as you know.

 

Will not be building the Valleta.

 

However we have over here an organisation called Models for Heroes. They ask for models to be given free.

 

It is, for instance Soldiers in Afghanistan, who have had trauma in the fighting there. A lot of good work

 with this organisation has helped many veterans who have suffered. So with another two models & the Valetta

few duplicated tools passing these on to help these men & women with their families master their troubles.

 

They looked after us we must look after them.

 

Whoops apologies for the intrusion Alex.

 

Laurie

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

we have over here an organisation called Models for Heroes. They ask for models to be given free

 

Thanks, Laurie!  Definitely a worthy organization.  I'm unaware of anything directly comparable, model-wise, here.

 

Alex

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Here's the Valetta with the Vallejo clear matte applied.  I went easy on the upper fuselage, because I wanted the light to reflect off the curvature at the top and show its roundness.  I applied extra coats to the wing areas adjacent to the engines, because these saw a lot of foot traffic from aircraft maintainers, as well as thrown up oil, avgas, and grease.  The ROYAL AIR FORCE TRANSPORT COMMAND titles are a little short.  They should come all the way back to the rear-most fuselage window, but the decal sheet intervals did not allow me to do this with ease.  The decals, from Model Art's sheet 004, are the proper 8" scale height, but the interval between words is only 1/16."  Even if I had expanded this interval to 1/8," the results would have been modest: lengthening the titles by 1/4."  Given how delicate these decals were (they easily folded over on themselves), I had enough difficulty simply orienting them in the horizontal and vertical.  Had I cut them into smaller bits, I would have traded sanity for accuracy.  As it stands, I ended up destroying so many of the decals from mistakes that I was down to just one "TRANSPORT," and I stopped after I had both titles successfully oriented on either side.

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

All: it looks like a Valetta to me!

 

I still need to add the HF wire antennas between the tail mount (which you can see) and the two tie-down points either side of the astrodome--a process I'm not looking forward to.  Aside from that, there's a little touch-up to do here and there, but it's mostly final...mostly.  I like the photo with the ghostly visage of the navigator peeking across the nose.   If you really squint at the last photo, you'll see the paratroop door bolted to the side wall opposite.

 

 

 

 

 

[LaurieS]

Ah beautiful Alex. very nice workmanship.

 

Those thin black stripes on the wings. Stressful to do that.

 

Superb stuff.

 

When Dove is finished it is the Viking.  I suspect that the Valetta  will have landed on Jersey Airport.

Many pictures of RAF stuff around the 50/60s

 

The RAF use our runway as a practice unit with many of their aircraft. They will practice with spoof landings.

Other times the attraction of Jersey Restaurants entails staying overnight.

 

Laurie

 

[TheyJammedKenny!]

54 minutes ago, LaurieS said:

Those thin black stripes on the wings. Stressful to do that.

 

Superb stuff.

Thanks so much, Laurie!  Yes, I had to redo them a couple of times, but they came out ok.  My original plan was to use dark gray stripes, but the ones I had fell apart, so I went for the backup.  I imagine Valettas made occasional stops in Jersey, and one may even have dropped paratroopers on a celebratory occasion.  I'll have to look it up, but if it's the event I'm thinking of, it was circa 1956, and involved an engine fire (safely extinguished) which gave the paras an extra incentive to depart the plane quickly.

[LaurieS]

2 hours ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

Thanks so much, Laurie!  Yes, I had to redo them a couple of times, but they came out ok.  My original plan was to use dark gray stripes, but the ones I had fell apart, so I went for the backup.  I imagine Valettas made occasional stops in Jersey, and one may even have dropped paratroopers on a celebratory occasion.  I'll have to look it up, but if it's the event I'm thinking of, it was circa 1956, and involved an engine fire (safely extinguished) which gave the paras an extra incentive to depart the plane quickly.

Think it was Guernsey Alex. There is nothing recorded in the accident list for Jersey.

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_Channel_Islands#1950s

[TheyJammedKenny!]

@LaurieS : I just rechecked, and the incident to which I referred happened at Sharnia airfield at Guernsey in 1951, according to Bill Overton, the author of The Valetta: Vickers's Last Piston Transport.  Have you been there?

[LaurieS]

35 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

@LaurieS : I just rechecked, and the incident to which I referred happened at Sharnia airfield at Guernsey in 1951, according to Bill Overton, the author of The Valetta: Vickers's Last Piston Transport.  Have you been there?

Yes many many times Alex.

 

Guernsey is only 24 miles away & visable. Sister Island to Jersey.

 

We were at an earlier time a boating family. Guernsey was always our first port of call in the new season.

Like Jersey beautiful with very rugged coastlines.

 

Guernsey also has 3 other smaller Islands under it's wing.

 

All including Jersey were occupied by the Nazis in WW11.

 

Not me I was being bombed by Hitler in Surrey in England. Ha ha he missed.

 

Think there is an error as no mention I can find in 1951. Plus there is no Sharnia Airport.

Mixed perhaps with Sarnia which is the Latin name for Guernsey.

 

Laurie

 

Not 1951. I wonder if this is the one refered to. It was an RAF type.

 

https://www.deanephotos.com/photo_14532661.html

 

[LaurieS]

Alex this is the list of accidents crashes for both Islands..

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_aviation_accidents_and_incidents_in_the_Channel_Islands#1950s

 

Laurie

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Thanks, Laurie, for all the references!  Ok, I'm declaring this project finished--at least, as finished as I choose to make of it.  Now in RFI at long last.