Review Build Vultee Vengeance Mk.II 1:48 Dora Wings

[Mike]

I've had two migraines today, so not much progress.  I'm just starting to put the gloss black on the Claude at the moment, and may get round to putting the base coat of Dark Earth on the Vengeance if I'm lucky

[opus999]

This is really shaping up to be a terrific build. I have to second the motion that Arma should produce a 1/72 version of this kit...  

[Mike]

Thanks for the comments.  About 5 minutes ago I finished off the first coat of Mr Hobby H72 Dark Earth on the topsides, covering over a bit of aluminium I'd squirted round the high traffic areas.  You never know, it might work It's still a bit soft after spraying, so a pic will have to follow later.

[Mike]

Ok, so Gunze paint dries quickly.

 

 

lots of reflections and maybe even a few thin spots, but I'm really not bothered, as it'll probably add to the untidiness of the thing.  I'm half way through scanning and increasing the size of the profiles to ease my way through the camo, which is a first for me.  I've only ever used freehand or the occasional Blutak sausage.  I might still freehand them, but based on a pencil outline.  Jury's still out

[ianwau]

Marvellous! Hoping to get one of these...

[georgeusa]

The base looks great.  Sorry to hear about the migraines.  I hope you begin to feel better.  I heard through a friend who was told by an acquaintance that had read a comment about a post on social media that for sure paint fumes from overspray on aircraft models alleviates the symptoms of headaches.   It has to be true or else how could it be on the internet.  Now, I just have to protect myself from the lizard people that are now possessing the bodies of birds that really don't exist!

[Mike]

31 minutes ago, georgeusa said:

Sorry to hear about the migraines

I struggled manfully through the (migraine) hangover yesterday, and mapped out the camo using some blown up profiles, which was surprisingly easy. Then I freehanded the green in between roughly, with a view to sorting things out as I press on.  No pics yet, as the cowling fell off last night and had to re-tack glue the part so the camo lines up later.  I left it standing nose-down in the spray booth overnight  

[Mike]

Splurt! More paint in-between Easter eggs and general chocolateyness, mostly by my son of course.  The nose is back in place, and the green has been roughed-in so I know where everything will be going later.  There's a few bits of the edges that aren't 100% tight, but I can fix that on the way, as well as make some more issues as I go, no doubt.  I'll modulate both colours next, which is a time-consuming job, but not as much as if it had been a fully riveted build like the Eduard Zero.

 

Here's a quickie to show the current state:

 

[Mike]

Did a bit of modulation, although I was having some trouble with the airbrush blocking, possibly due to the fact that the paint had been in the brush overnight, or the fact that it was kind of hot when I was spraying.  I got a little of the brown done, and most of the green.  I'm about to touch-up/in the green, then give the brush a thorough going over so I can finish off the brown.  Here's how it looks at the moment:

 

 

I'm also going to have to give some thought to the roundels, as the finish is going to be pretty weathered, so big bright blue roundels could well look out of place.  Not sure if I have any masks on hand at the moment though, although I may have reviewed some several years back.  They may be knocking about somewhere, so I'll have to do some looking about.  Meantime, the metallics for the Claude have come in, so I've got no excuse not to paint that next after a bit of test painting to make sure they'll give me the finish I'm looking for

 

Too much or just enough?

 

 

Got caught out by the forum disappearing my thread there for a bit

[Mike]

I did a bit of tidying up of the modulation to reduce the contrast a little on the top surfaces, so it looks more like fading than a patchwork quilt.  I had to deep-clean both airbrushes and filter the brown, as it had gone quite gritty in the last day or so.  Popped it in the PS-770 for a bit more sharpness, and it paid off.  The PS-770 is always so much better at the really fine work Me on the other hand?  Not so much   Here's where we're up to now:

 

 

 

It's funny.  After I'd finished I went to refresh my memory about the state of the Vengeances out in the wild, and was slightly relieved to see that they got EXTREMELY grotty and worn in real life, and the exhausts are going to need some serious paint work once the decals are on.  This model is going to be filthy!  Jury's still out on the decals, but I'm wondering if I can maybe blow a bit of thin paint over them after application to make them look a bit careworn.  Anyone got any other ideas that might work better?

[Dunny]

1 hour ago, Mike said:

Anyone got any other ideas that might work better? 

Mike,

 

I've just completed a couple of Malta Spits, and to fade them just added the merest dab of light grey to the flat coat - seemed to work pretty well. Vengeance is looking lovely,

 

Cheers,

 

Roger

[Bertie McBoatface]

8 hours ago, Mike said:

on the decals

 

I like to get the decals on before I weather if possible then use the same or similar techniques on them as the rest of the airframe. Thin airbrushed filters, same as you are thinking. Also, something that I found very effective is to take a small scalpel and wound the decals along panel lines and wear areas - just a tiny bit of chipping really to give a slightly lived in effect.

 

8 hours ago, Mike said:

filter the brown

 

How did you do this and was it worth the bother, compared to buying a new bottle? It's always the earth pigments that turn to sludge, isn't it.

[mick b]

On 4/16/2022 at 8:51 PM, opus999 said:

This is really shaping up to be a terrific build. I have to second the motion that Arma should produce a 1/72 version of this kit...  

 

I think I read that Dora intended to produce a 72nd version eventually.

 

Mike

[Mike]

8 hours ago, Bertie Psmith said:

How did you do this and was it worth the bother, compared to buying a new bottle? It's always the earth pigments that turn to sludge, isn't it.

Normally I'd run it through some fine filter material that I have, but as I've mislaid that when I rebuilt the workshop, I stirred up the paint in a galipot (sp?) and left it to settle for a few crucial seconds, then decanted it, leaving the dregs in the bottom of the pot.  Seemed to work, but I must dig out my filters or get some new ones soon

 

Thanks for the likes & comments folks

[opus999]

That paint work is terrific!  Just when I've think I've got painting figured out, someone goes and raises the bar...   I love the camo... this is the scheme I saw in the first picture I ever saw of the Vengeance 6 or 7 years ago.

[Mike]

18 minutes ago, opus999 said:

That paint work is terrific!  Just when I've think I've got painting figured out, someone goes and raises the bar...   I love the camo... this is the scheme I saw in the first picture I ever saw of the Vengeance 6 or 7 years ago.

Thanks It's all thanks to my PS-770 airbrush and the paint.  This time it's Gunze Mr Color Aqueus.  The combination gives you the best tools available to do noodling & stuff.  I'm seriously thinking of getting another one so I can noodle two colours simultaneously, correcting errors as I go.

[Mike]

Took the masking off the Vengeance last night and noticed a few bits where the tape had come away in a few places, but it's nothing that can't be fixed.

 

 

 

If you're wondering why the bomb bay is looking a funny colour, it's because it's the closed bay that's going in the bin at the end of the day so I didn't bother wasting any paint on it.  It's just not going in the bin on this day

 

Probably going to get some clear gloss on it next, once I've done any touch-ups.  I'll be squirting some on the Claude while it's loaded in the airbrush, and also on the basic cockpit shade of yet another project I've started.  That's FOUR now!!!!!!

[LorenSharp]

Mike, you've got a regular armament assembly line going on there.

 

 

[Mike]

After much mucking about with many, many things, I finally got the clear coat and decals on in that order.  They went on really well as they're by DecoGraph, but on my early version of the instructions, the nose art was shown in a white rectangle that shouldn't be there.  I checked online and found that it's just supposed to be on an underside blue cloud, so I expanded the picture to actual size, cut out the blue bit and applied it to the cowling as a temporary mask, squirting a fine mist of paint before removing the mask and free-handing the rest of it.  I also put a bit of paler blue in the centre, which spat a bit, but I managed to remove any spits, so left it overnight to see what I thought of it.  I decaled the rest of the airframe while I cogitated, and decided that I'd only find out if I applied the decal, so put a couple of brush coats of Klear on the cloud and on it went.  Looks alright from a distance

 

 

 

I'll pop another coat of clear over the decals after buffing back a few bits that are a bit gritty, and then start the rest of the weathering process, while finishing off the few sub-assemblies that aren't done yet.  I need to decide on what to do with those bombs too.

[Mike]

I wasn't very happy with the surface of the wings especially, and the fuselage sides to an extent too.  I know this is a well-worn machine, but some of the gritty bits would have been almost as big as golf balls!  I attacked it with one of those skinny Galaxy Model sanders, wet sanding it and avoiding the decals, as they're not protected yet.  It might have been a better idea to do it after a coat of clear, but I didn't want to increase the texture any further, and I'd started before it occurred to me, so I just carried on.  Here's what she looks like now, covered with dried up sanding dust.  I'll take it indoors and wash off the mess shortly, and see how it looks.

 

[Mike]

I gave my PS-270 a thorough clean in preparation for spraying another clear coat over the model, and just as I left the workshop for the night, i spotted an area on the wing that looked like a drop of thinners had fallen on it, and was slowly melting the paint, causing it to exhibit a brain-like pattern on the surface, just clear of the wing roundel.  A close shave, as the job would have been much more difficult to fix.  I decided not to attempt any remedial actions at that point, but leave it until the next day after it had dried out.  I've just finished sanding it back flat, and it looks like that was the right decision.  The green paint has been displaced, leaving a swirly brown surface on which I'll need to apply some more green paint.  I'll need to make up some masks for the white leading edge and the roundel, but it shouldn't take me too long to fix.  Here's a pic of the wee catastrophe (catastrowee?) as it stands now:

 

[Mike]

Finished off the sanding back so I couldn't feel the difference when running my finger over it with my eyes closed, then made a paper mask for the roundel, as tape would rip the decal off at this stage.  I'll put my finger over it to press it down further when I'm using the airbrush so it doesn't sneak under

 

[Mike]

There we go!  Back on track after my little oopsie. I found another tiny dot next to it, which you can just see in the photo above, so I put a bit of paint over that too.  Happily, I'd decanted the remains of the modulation shade into a dropper bottle just in case, so I was able to put some of the same shade over the new green bit once it was covered.  It looks a little bit different because it's not under clear, but once it's overcoated it should blend in pretty well

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Nice save Mike

[Navy Bird]

Oopsies can be fun. Especially if the fix works.   

 

Great recovery.     👍

 

Cheers,

Bill