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Vultee Vengeance Mk.II 1:48 Review Build


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Well if you are only going to build one a year you may as well do it right! It's a cracker and the weathering is particularly worthy of mention. A great job all round.

 

Duncan B

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Very nice indeed. 👏One of my favourite aircraft. My next one (when they're officially available) will hopefully be an overall Foliage Green one.

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39 minutes ago, keithjs said:

My next one (when they're officially available)

They seem to be available, although I'm not sure where.  I heard from a friend that their pre-order direct from Dora had arrived, so maybe that will happen soon? :)

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21 minutes ago, Mike said:

They seem to be available, although I'm not sure where.  I heard from a friend that their pre-order direct from Dora had arrived, so maybe that will happen soon? :)

Hi Mike. Yes , mine came from a Dora Wings pre order. Totally amazed when it arrived!

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On 5/30/2022 at 3:47 PM, Fred piket said:

Mike, I think you've done a cracking job. Paint finish and weathering is on spot! I don't think it's an ugly duckling, it's just odd with a different opinion how to set your wings..

Can you tell me if there's a specific reason for the white tail? Just deco or is there a practical reason?

It was stipulated as a theatre marking in Pacific theatre aircraft. Lifted from another site aircraft.net I think:

 

White Theatre Markings

Trigger-happy pilots and gunners in the air and on the ground in the New Guinea war zone were too often firing first, then checking the identity of their targets. Mistakes were occurring. The USAAF decided upon the application of distinctive white markings to all friendly single-engined fighter aircraft, effective from September 1943. To be painted White were wing leading edges and the whole of the tail assembly. Spinners were frequently painted white also. This measure affected considerable numbers of RAAF and USAAF 5th AF Aircraft (RNZAF P-40s too- Evan). In due course, white-tailed aircraft were to be seen in Australia as it was desirable to have aircraft given these markings prior to moving to the New Guinea war zone, and retired aircraft would return with them. Until May 1944, the RAAF also stipulated that the white fins of it’s aircraft should continue to carry the blue portion of the fin stripe. In August 1944 the USAAF decided that the white markings need no longer be applied to uncamouflaged (i.e. bare metal finish) aircraft, and the RAAF followed suit in September. Then this change was overtaken by the decision in December of that year to no longer require the white markings at all. However, it should be understood that abandonment of the white New Guinea theatre marking was not a requirement to remove it, and many aircraft would continue to wear their white paint until the end of hostilities.

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  • 1 month later...

Gidday folks, I'm new here and I'm from Australia. The white markings on our aitcraft during WWII were for identification purposes as at the time most of the radial engined aircraft were of Japanese origin and a few Australian operated aircraft were shot down or shot at by Americans. Specifically Boomerangs, Catalinas and Vengeances. One famous American ace is actually photographed next to his P-38 and has an Austtralian flag on his scoreboard for sucessfully shooting down a Boomerang, (but not killing the pilot).

 

Some years ago I talked to a number of members of 24 Squadron who operated the Vengeance, and they said that their very first operation with the aicraft was rushed to the extent that radios had not been fitted, and some did not even have squadron codes. As they flew towards Moresby they were fired upon by the navy and had to take quick evasive action. They were then grounded until white markings were painted on to their machines.

Some of their stories were almost unbelievable, such as the pilot who got into a diving contest with a P-38 and ended up having to put both feet on the instrument panel to gain the leverage to pull out, and also ruptured his eardrums. Another occurance that was quite common in 24 Squardon was to end up with shrapnel from your own bomb in the tail of your aircraft.

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9 hours ago, Flea said:

Another occurance that was quite common in 24 Squardon was to end up with shrapnel from your own bomb in the tail of your aircraft.

Cool story.  Does that mean they were incredibly low, or just slow to pull out?  My guess is the former :)

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Yeah they often pulled out late. Also the targets they were given were often difficult to hit being at the bottom of steep valleys so they would just keep going until they were sure to hit it. 24 Squadron had an eviable record for accuracy, I think it was consistantly within 15m of the target. Another good story involved the second pilot in the formation releasing early and the leader finding a pair of bombs formating on his wingtip!

Nice model Mike. I have one that I wish to make in1:72, the canopy has yellowed, but I reckon I can get around that. MIne will be in the markings of the guy who told me the stories, Geoff Stephenson DFC.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Extraordinary! I've joined the Vengeance Mk.II club. Mine arrived today after breakfast; fantastic start to the week. Ordered from the manufacturer during the first week of the invasion, I didn't expect it and I've no idea how the folks at Dora Wings did this under the circumstances. Profound thanks to them and thoughts their way.

 

Dora-Wings-Vengeance-Mk-II-arrival.jpg

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sorry, I lost track of this one you finished.  The look is great and the build is great.  I also wanted to let you know the items I ordered from Dora Wings in April finally arrived in Texas.  I never expected to receive them and was treating the payment as more of a donation to the Ukrainian cause.    I think this build and the new Vultee kit may even persuade me to finish the partially built AZ kit.  Thanks for sharing your build, your review and your excellent finished product.  Oh, and thanks for all the extra stuff you do to make this site so welcoming and run so well.

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2 hours ago, georgeusa said:

Sorry, I lost track of this one you finished.  The look is great and the build is great.  I also wanted to let you know the items I ordered from Dora Wings in April finally arrived in Texas.  I never expected to receive them and was treating the payment as more of a donation to the Ukrainian cause.    I think this build and the new Vultee kit may even persuade me to finish the partially built AZ kit.  Thanks for sharing your build, your review and your excellent finished product.  Oh, and thanks for all the extra stuff you do to make this site so welcoming and run so well.

 

1 hour ago, 28ZComeback said:

What George said. I got mine yesterday from the Ukraine. 

 

Thanks guys, and everyone else :yes: Get 'er done @georgeusa.  I'm now building an F4F-3 Wildcat, and a couple of other things are lingering on to my shame :blush:

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Quality rather than quantity!

 

Superb job on this one! I love the nice sharp lines in the paint edges, very neat and tidy! Great detail throughout especially the bomb bay, I have a Special hobby kit of this yet to build in 1/72, not sure if it has the option of an open bomb bay but if I can get mine looking like this it will look pretty good!:goodjob:

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On 5/29/2022 at 4:53 PM, Mike said:

I reviewed this model and as I didn't even finish a single complete kit last year, I wanted to get at least a couple done this year, which I've now managed :phew:

 

It's the Dora Wings Vultee Vengeance Mk.II in 1:48, and it was painted up with Gunze Mr Color of the Aqueous and the other ones (I forget the name - they start with C, rather than H).  It's pretty much OOB apart from a few bits that I lost and had to replace by scratch-building them.  I'm going to have to have a word with that wormhole on my workbench soon :hmmm:

 

Anyway - it's picture time!

 

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Note: the tail-wheel went for a lie down just before I took this pic. :doh:

 

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...and that me old dears is it. :shrug: I hope you enjoyed looking at the pics as much as I did building the kit, and if it encourages you to pick one up, just go for it.  The fit is good, the finish is excellent, and it's a doozy of a kit of a weird and ugly looking aircraft, which is probably why it appealed to me ^_^

 

Next up is the painting of the Special 1:48 Hobby V-1 Reichenberg and the delayed completion of the Eduard 1:48 Zero from the tail-end of last year.  if you can bear to watch along, I'd be glad to see y'all ;)

Mike, the dark earth caught  my eye.  Do you happen to recall the manufacturer and color?  I am partly blind but can tell the dark earth has a greenish shade. Very impressive and my favorite build of the year on these pages so far. Thank you sir. 

Edited by 28ZComeback
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