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

[opus999]

 Nice fix Mike.  I love it when the build gives you an unexpected thrill! A similar oops with a canopy forced me to discover that canopies can be sanded and polished back to practically new!

[Mike]

11 hours ago, opus999 said:

A similar oops with a canopy forced me to discover that canopies can be sanded and polished back to practically new!

That's a bit of a trickier job, especially if it's near a frame line

 

Should be able to get some clear on the thing today, so we'll see if the shades match up well enough

[Sir Dennis]

Mike, 

Lovely build so far 👍

I may be late into this project so sorry if I want to step back. Could you have the kindness to elaborate further on how you prepare and paint (tools in use etc) the instrument panel? Perhaps that can be a standalone post instead of in this thread 🤔

 

Thanks in advance and all the best, 

Dennis

 

[Mike]

Been faffing about hiding the decal carrier film by spraying successive layers of clear over them, then sanding them back until the edges disappear.  I've got them to a reasonable standard now, and have also started the exhaust staining, although from looking at this photo, I still have some work to do, as the camera seems to vanish most of it.  I've done a bit of other streaking and staining with the airbrush while I have it full of paint, varying the tones a bit so it doesn't all come out the same colour. 

 

Finally, I've glued the engine into position after marking the cylinder positions on the cowling with tape so I could put some dirt in there too, to prevent the interior from shouting "Hello, I'm too clean!" from round the sides of the engine. Here's the current state of play:

 

 

Next step is probably going to be a panel line wash, after which I'll stick some flat varnish on.

[Mike]

7 hours ago, Sir Dennis said:

Could you have the kindness to elaborate further on how you prepare and paint (tools in use etc) the instrument panel?

Sorry - meant to add some words after my pic about this, but forgot There's no real secret to it, really.  The panel was kit supplied and consists of a PE panel, a decal, and a plastic backing with extra detail moulded-in.  The panel was painted a very dark grey, dry-brushed with a light one, then washed with a black wash to darken it up again.  The back of the panel was painted the lighter colour, then the sections were picked out in the same grey and some dry-brushing went on there too.  I painted the section where the decal would go with some white, then applied the decal on a puddle of Klear floor polish, and test-fitted the completed PE part over the top so everything lined up.  It was a bit fraught for a moment, but the holes and decals lined up nicely.  Once I was happy, I flooded more Klear through the holes in the PE, then walked away until it had dried thoroughly.  A few tiny touch-ups were done with my usual W&N Series 7 000, after which it was flat varnished.  I put more dabs of Klear into the holes to build up a glazed look, and that's all

[Sir Dennis]

Thanks for taking your time and I learned something new from your post 👍 Filling the holes in the PE with Klear floor polish is news to me! 

Thanks, Dennis 

[Mike]

1 minute ago, Sir Dennis said:

Filling the holes in the PE with Klear floor polish is news to me! 

It fulfils two purposes.  It glues down the PE onto the decal/backing, and once you've flatted the panel off, it gives them a glassy appearance just like the recent Eduard PE sets have

[Mike]

I got a wash on the topsides last night, using a bit of Ultimate Dark Dirt_(tm), and after a bit of experimenting with shades, used their Cement on the white bits, and their earlier version of Dark Dirt_(tm) for the undersides, as it was a little bit paler than the later one and didn't look so stark.  Washing it off is a piece of gateaux, as it's water based, so a licky-tissue does the job, with moistened cotton-buds getting into the tricky areas.  A couple of panel lines had gone a bit soft due to either my sanding exploits, or because of the extra layers of clear gloss I'd put on while hiding the decal edges, so I tried a new technique for me.  I'd bought a few Gundam Markers a few years back, thinking they might come in handy for making good panel lines.  I used a mid-grey one on the white bits and a darker grey one on the rest, rubbing any off that got over the edges of the lines.

 

 

 

I think I'm ready to put some matt coat on it now, but I'll go over the model again just in case I've missed any wash.  I also blacked out the ammo chutes and a few depressions on the airframe with some Black 3.0 to give them the impression of depth.

[billn53]

Oh wow! This look very nice!

[Sir Dennis]

Excellent effects with the use of Black 3.0 👍 

Never occured to me that we can use it like this. 

How much do you dilute it? 

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Sir Dennis said:

How much do you dilute it? 

I used it neat.  Just take care not to blob it on, and use a small brush

[ianwau]

Thank you for the detail build/review - it looks fantastic! The Vengeance is always an aircraft I've wanted to do in 1/48 - just have to source one. 

[Bell209]

3 hours ago, ianwau said:

just have to source one

Craig at AeroWorks in Adelaide has a batch due in shortly

[georgeusa]

I thought your Claude looked good.  But this one really is fantastic.  It almost inspires me to try to finish my 1/48 shelf of doom AZ Vengeance.  Almost, but not quite there yet.  Those butt joined wings are still mocking me.  You have done wonders with this kit.  Cannot wait to see the finished product.

[heloman1]

Wow Mike, just found this review and build. You are making excellent progress and the kit although not to my taste looks exquisite.

 

Colin

[Mike]

Got the matt coat on, so I thought I'd peel a bit more of the masking off, as those bits didn't matter if they get a bit more matt coat on them down the line.  Here's a couple of pics:

 

 

 

The next job is to fix the tail wheel, although I might leave that until later, thinking about it.  I'm planning on putting some chipping on the exterior because these things were run to almost destruction, with only necessary maintenance on the agenda, by the looks of it.  I'll be checking my references to ensure it's real-looking, but I won't be trying to match the patina on this exact airframe, as I've not found any pics of it yet, but that might just be me being a bit blind

[Dave Slowbuild]

Really looking the business Mike, the kit and your paint finish.  Most impressive!
 

Dave

[Mike]

1 hour ago, Dave Slowbuild said:

Really looking the business Mike, the kit and your paint finish.  Most impressive!
 

Dave

Thanks Dave - just putting some yellow tips on the prop.  Couldn't get the damn lid off though, so had to boil the kettle

[Mike]

Progress has been a bit slow on the Vengeance for various reasons, although I'm working on the small parts presently, so it's bound to be.  The prop was painted silver initially, then overcoated with Klear, followed by yellow tips, some masking, then a coat of black.  I buffed the black off on the edges to give a worn effect, and did a little more work with a paint brush dipped in dark grey to give the impression of shallow scrapes, marks and other dirt, then coated it with flat varnish.  After that I used a little Mirror to paint the prop boss by hand.  I do need to do a little touch-up there, but it's not dry yet, so it'll have to wait.

 

I also assembled the bombs, checked they were round by spraying them gloss black, with a top coat of olive drab that was lightened in places.  I didn't bother doing the top sides because the wouldn't be seen, but I also added some faded olive drab and grey marks here and there to make them look a bit beaten up and grubby.  They fitted into the bay quite easily with the big mounts all getting CAd into place one after the other.

 

 

The next job is to finish off the weathering, adding more chipping with dark grey and even a bit of aluminium shade here and there.  You might have noticed that the vent under the nose has gone, but that was removed because it was being damaged by resting the model on its belly, so I removed it for later replacement.  The tail wheel strut is also a bit of a weak point, and that too came off with its masking material.  I just hope I've not lost it!

[HAMP man]

A little Mirror? 

Is that a paint, or a small reflecting device

 

Box on

 

Strickers

[Mike]

1 hour ago, HAMP man said:

A little Mirror? 

Is that a paint, or a small reflecting device

Mirror is a chrome paint by Stuart Semple.  It's the bestest chrome, and you can brush it on

[Mike]

I've not had much time for this over the last week or so, although I've just added the bomb bay doors, and one of the main gear legs.  Thinking about this, I was disappointed to see that the tail wheel yoke has run off while I've been building it, so now I've got nothing to hang the wheel on    It's a bit of a weak-point on the model, and I was already worried about it a bit, and in hindsight it was with good reason.  The main gear is tough enough, just the tail wheel strut is just not strong enough thanks to its size and styrene's weakness

 

The tricky part is what to replace it with?  I could probably build a new one from styrene or sleeved brass, but I'm going to need some dimensions, or it's going to come out looking either too small or too large If anyone's got the kit by now, I'd appreciate some dimensions such as widths and lengths of the various sections, and the length/width of the yoke.  If I can't figure it out, my Vengeance is gonna have a strange nose-up angle.

[Navy Bird]

2 hours ago, Mike said:

I'd appreciate some dimensions such as widths and lengths of the various sections, and the length/width of the yoke.  If I can't figure it out, my Vengeance is gonna have a strange nose-up angle.

 

The review for this kit on good old Britmodeller has nice square-on photos of the sprues. Measure the parts you're missing from those photos and scale accordingly to get the dimensions you need. You can figure out the scale by comparing parts you still have to those parts on the sprue in the photo. Math - it's like magic that works!   

 

Cheers,

Bill

[Mike]

Thanks @Navy Bird or Bill as we sometimes call you Your suggestion made me check whether I still had that sprue, and of all the many sprues, I still had the correct half of Sprue K! What're the chances of that eh?

 

I sucked it into PhotoShop and sized it to fit.  It took three goes to get it just right, as there must have been some difference between my printer's idea of a centimetre, and Adobe's.    Here's the end result:

 

 

Next job is to use those shapes to try to recreate the busted and missing parts.  @Ali62 if you're watching, the tail gear is weak, and could do with some of your bronze replacements with the benefit of hindsight.  Just parts K13 and K31 really, although K34 and K35 do perform some structural tasks, but they survived the mayhem.

[georgeusa]

Sorry about the tail wheel problem in this build.  It looks fantastic so far.  I am completely confident you will work out a solution to the tail wheel problem that will go along and blend in with this great build.