1/72nd Valom Vickers Wellesley, 45 Sqn, pre war 1938-39 wearing the short lived temporary desert scheme.

[Wulfman]

Another excellent build, lovely paint job !

 

Wulfman

[Graham Boak]

I'm sure that Vickers were entirely aware of the double meaning, but the Wellington was named after the city in New Zealand, in accordance with the Air Ministry rules on naming bombers at the time and because of the early NZ interest in the design.  Which leads back to the place in Britain from which Wellesley took his title, and after which the NZ town was named.

 

The Handley Page Halifax was not named after the Civil War general (not the contemporary politician); the Avro Lancaster was not named after John of Gaunt nor a string of other historical characters that were "Duke of..."up, postdating the aircraft, to our current Queen.

[tonyot]

7 hours ago, kapam said:

Excellent work!

Quite an odd-looking plane in my view - as if Homer Simpson designed an aircraft.

Thanks mate,..... I see what you are saying,...... but it was actually designed by Rex Pierson under the supervision of Barnes Wallace of dambusters fame,..... who designed the geodetic structure and this was the first aeroplane to use this form of construction, which led to the Wellington! The large wings,  although ungainly looking,.... gave it incredible range,...... something like a pre waR WB-57? 

 

7 hours ago, Dunny said:

Lovely work Tony - she sure was a strange looking hulk, but the Light Stone is a lovely looking scheme (particularly next to the Blenheim!)

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

Cheers Roger,. strange looking indeed,...... glad you like the scheme mate. 

 

3 hours ago, SafetyDad said:

That's a lovely job there Tony - very impressive!

Excellent painting skills as others have said 

 

 

SD

Cheers SD,.... thats very kind of you.

 

2 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

I've always had a soft spot for the Wellelsley. It's range performance was phenomenal for its time - sort of a pre war Martin WB-57. 

 

I also like the idea that the two geodesics based designs produced by Vickers were both named after the same person - Arthur Wellesley.

Thanks Eric,.... yeah it was a groundbreaking design and I`d never really thought about the Wellesley and Wellington being both named after the Iron Duke,..... of course,..... two fantastic aeroplanes named after an incredible man. 

[tonyot]

49 minutes ago, Wulfman said:

Another excellent build, lovely paint job !

 

Wulfman

Thanks Wulfman, very kind mate.

 

 

[Sandeha Lynch]

Nicely done. I do have a soft spot for this plane and will do another at some point.

[tonyot]

4 hours ago, Sandeha Lynch said:

Nicely done. I do have a soft spot for this plane and will do another at some point.

Thanks Sandeha,..... yeah an interesting type for sure. 

[russ c]

Fantastic Wellesley there Tony, love the desert theme too, really nice work

[tonyot]

38 minutes ago, russ c said:

Fantastic Wellesley there Tony, love the desert theme too, really nice work

Thanks Russ,.... glad you like it mate. 

[Eric Mc]

Regarding the point raised about Vickers' choice of name for the Wellesley and the Wellington, I'm well aware that the British convention for naming transports and bombers was based on geographical locations - usually towns. However, with these two aircraft, Vickers obviously took the opportunity to honour the Duke of Wellington AND adhere to the naming convention as well - very clever in my view.

 

As a fellow Dubliner, I'm a big fan of the Duke.

[djos]

One from my TO-DO list, your model is great inspiration.

Beautiful

Regards Djordje

[jackroadkill]

Very nice, Tony.  An interesting aircraft on so many levels, the Wellesley; your paintwork shows it off perfectly.

[tonyot]

6 hours ago, Eric Mc said:

Regarding the point raised about Vickers' choice of name for the Wellesley and the Wellington, I'm well aware that the British convention for naming transports and bombers was based on geographical locations - usually towns. However, with these two aircraft, Vickers obviously took the opportunity to honour the Duke of Wellington AND adhere to the naming convention as well - very clever in my view.

 

As a fellow Dubliner, I'm a big fan of the Duke.

My Dad`s family are from Dublin too,...... people don`t realise that many of Britain`s finest generals are actually Irish!! 

 

3 hours ago, djos said:

One from my TO-DO list, your model is great inspiration.

Beautiful

Regards Djordje

Thanks Djordje,..... it is a nice kit so good luck,..... I`m sure your model will be lovely. 

 

1 hour ago, jackroadkill said:

Very nice, Tony.  An interesting aircraft on so many levels, the Wellesley; your paintwork shows it off perfectly.

Thanks mate,... yes an interesting aircraft and glad you like the paint job. 

[Putty Animal]

Really lovely.  I think it might well be the nicest Wellesley I've ever seen.

[Andy Dyck]

What a bird, never saw this before! It turns out very nice. It looks like an oversized motorglider to me. 
 

Cheers 

 

Andy

[opus999]

Unusual paint scheme for a subject I don't see very often.  It is a beautiful build -- the paint job is so well done!  Nice work!

[tonyot]

On 8/22/2021 at 5:22 AM, Putty Animal said:

Really lovely.  I think it might well be the nicest Wellesley I've ever seen.

Thanks mate,..... well that is very kind of you,.... cheers. 

 

On 8/22/2021 at 6:36 AM, Andy Dyck said:

What a bird, never saw this before! It turns out very nice. It looks like an oversized motorglider to me. 
 

Cheers 

 

Andy

Thanks Andy,..... yes I believe the long wings gave it a tremendous range and it did hold the record for flying between the UK and Australia for some time using modified airframes used by an experimental RAF Long Range Flight before WW2.

On 8/22/2021 at 6:21 PM, opus999 said:

Unusual paint scheme for a subject I don't see very often.  It is a beautiful build -- the paint job is so well done!  Nice work!

Thank you,.... so glad you like the subject and the paint job,...... cheers.  

 

[MACALAIN]

On 18/08/2021 at 21:21, tonyot said:

Hiya Folks,

                 Another one for the 45 Sqn collection and built alongside a 45 Sqn Blenheim wearing the same colours,..... this is the Valom 1/72nd Vickers Wellesley from the same unit wearing the pe war DD code letters and the short lived temporary desert finish,...... in which the Dark Green of the standard Temperate Land Scheme was overpainted with a Light Stone colour that soon appeared to wear off! Here are some photos depicting the scheme on real Wellesley`s,...... the first, coded DD-I is the aircraft that I chose to model,..... it may have had the unit insignia on the fin inside the standard bomber `grenade' shaped frame,..... the other are from 24 Sqn,...... all pics from my own collection;

              

 

Here is the WIP;  

And here is the model,..... the base coat of Light Stone was applied using a Tamiya Rattle Can of Light Sand,..... the rest was brush painted using Humbrol acrylic Dark Earth and Black. Decals came mainly from Modeldecal generic code, serial and roundel sets;

 

 

And the Blenheim and Wellesley together;

 

I snapped the wing in half while making the Wellesley,..... hopefully nobody noticed!!!

Cheers,

           Tony

 

A lovely one, once again

 

Alain

[Valleyforge]

Fantastic build of a strange looking plane. Ill have to look this one up. Great work.

[Remus389]

Good job on that unusual rare aircraft.

 

Never seen this type or similiar, happy to see it. 👍