Workbench Hiatus is Over - MikroMirs Vickers Valiant B1 - XD818

[Mikey-1980]

Afternoon all,

 

After a 2 year hiatus and working on the 1:1 scale Human build now entering its 23rd month of moulding, I have decided to get back to the workbench after the boy is soundly off to sleep of an evening.

 

So onto the subject in hand. Mikro Mir's 1/144 scale Vicker Valiant, though this is missing a few bits....such as the clear parts, photo etch and the decal sheet. No problem as I have contacted Mikro Mir for assistance and in the hope that they have not been effected (too much) by the ongoing conflict in Ukraine.

 

This build is set to be Valiant XD818 and Operation Grapple......the testing and first drop of Great Britains H-Bomb that was detonated at Christmas Island on 15th May 1957. This is the Valiant that is currently sat in the Cold War hanger at RAF Cosford. Hand for me as it only 40 minutes or so down the road.

 

The problem is, I cannot find the decals for XD818 in 1/144 scale that dont cost a small fortune and more than I paid for the kit in the first place. I also noticed that the fuselage registration number is in light blue, these decals appear to be black.

 

eBay Decals - XD818 - HOW MUCH!?!?

 

Paint scheme will be in Anti-Flash White and posed in flight

 

 

Pathe News for the testing

 

Christmas Island - 1957 

 

 

Edited October 5, 2022 by Mikey-1980

[David H]

Cool!

Thanks for the link to the Pathe newsreel footage.

[binbrook87]

Nice to have you back Mike 👍😁 Great subject I'll keep an eye on this one 🤓

[Mikey-1980]

Cheers Gra! 

 

Need to do a complete inspection of the kit later this evening too. Maybe even a soft assembly. 

 

 

[binbrook87]

Those decals are cheaper direct from the manufacturer bud....

 

https://www.ctamodels.com/decals/scale-1-144

 

You'll struggle to get light blue codes in any scale i think? 😕

 

I would bite the bullet as you then have loads left over for all the V bombers on that scale. Mikromir have got their colours all wrong on the decal sheet 🤨

[Mikey-1980]

Well.....this could be a non runner right from the start.

 

Upon inspection of the kits contents, the clear section for the cockpit section is most definitely required.

 

Hopefully @Mikromir or @mikromodell can assist in the supply of the clear parts and photo etch bits? 

 

 

 

 

[Mikey-1980]

Recieved a nice message from Mikro-Mir this morning just asking for my address.....hopfully the clear parts, photo etch and decals will be on their way soon.

 

So here is how the kit arrived

 

 

All parts bar the bits missing seem to be present

 

 

 

Just the small issue of the canopy needing to be sourced.

 

 

So I thought I would press on and at least get the air frame sorted, and any niggles done before the parts arrived. From looking through the instructions, the clear parts can be added later. I'm also not bothering with the cockpit as it is so small it just wouldnt be seen.

 

 

 

Seem lines are not the best....I foresee lots of filling and sanding over the next few nights?

 

 

Dry fit of the upper wing section fo a sense of scale

 

 

That was it for last nights dabble.....lots of sanding and fettling tonight I think

 

Another interesting video of Opperation Grapple Y

 

Dropped from another Valiant, but shows the sheer scale and the disturbingly beautiful mushroom cloud as the H bomb detonates

 

 

 

 

[Dave Swindell]

17 hours ago, Mikey-1980 said:

This build is set to be Valiant XD818 and Operation Grapple......the testing and first drop of Great Britains H-Bomb that was detonated at Christmas Island on 15th May 1957. This is the Valiant that is currently sat in the Cold War hanger at RAF Cosford. Hand for me as it only 40 minutes or so down the road.

 

The problem is, I cannot find the decals for XD818 in 1/144 scale that dont cost a small fortune and more than I paid for the kit in the first place. I also noticed that the fuselage registration number is in light blue, these decals appear to be black.

If you're looking to depict XD818 as it was on 15th May 1957 for Grapple 1 it still carried standard full colour markings at this time, the pale markings weren't applied until later, definitely by the Grapple Z tests in 1958 (for observations, these weren't air drops) Possibly for Grapple X (8th Nov 1957) or Grapple Y (28th April 1958)

For Grapple 1,2 & 3 the Valiants were painted overall white with gloss undersurfaces and matt uppers. Full colour roundels of standard size were carried and full-size serials in normal position in black (or possibly a special green antiradiation paint)

There are a few mods you may want to make to represent the Grapple configuration :-

Underwing fuel tanks weren't fitted

There was a stub fairing on the nose for the refuelling probe (not fitted)

The external fuel line fairing round the port side of the canopy was fitted

The tail cone was cut off at an angle leaving a flat face fitted with various instrumentation (varied with each test and airframe)

Lastly these aircraft were fitted with internal shutters for the windows - they were flying blind when they dropped the bomb - so you could paint the inside of the clear parts white to represent this.

The mods and markings are well illustrated in the first isssue of the Airfix kit which depicts XD823 on Grapple 3

https://www.scalemates.com/products/img/4/2/1/120421-83-instructions.pdf

The second issue of the kit includes the later pale markings for XD818 as she is now depicted at Cosford.

[Mikey-1980]

Thats fantastic! thank you @Dave Swindell

 

Those little bits of extra detail will help, especially with the pain job etc. I've ordered some better pitot tubes for the wings as well.

 

the Airfix instructions will help as well with any extra details and from your advice too.

[Mikey-1980]

Just an intermediary  post for the moment.

 

I found these 2 photos on a XD824 during Grapple X mission - most helpful in the paint scheme and set up of the air frame

 

 

 

 

 

[Dave Swindell]

1 hour ago, Mikey-1980 said:

I found these 2 photos on a XD824 during Grapple X mission - most helpful in the paint scheme and set up of the air frame

I'd suggest from the full colour markings those were taken during the Grapple 1, 2 & 3 series of tests, not Grapple X when it was most likely in the toned-down markings.

Note the standard tail cone, not all of the Valiants involved got the chisel tail fairing with instrumentation, this seems to have been fitted to the airframes dropping the live weapons (as they'd be gallantly running away at full speed when the bomb triggered, this was the ideal location for the instrumentation)

XD824 acted as "Grandstand Valiant" for Grapple 1, this was the chase plane for XD818 which dropped the bomb, and was sufficiently far behind to observe the whole event.

[Mikey-1980]

Thank you,

 

Your knowledge on Grapple is superb! 

 

May I ask how you gain your knowledge on the aircraft for this operation please? 

 

The fuselage for the Valiant I'm building does have the chamfered tail come and not the extended standard tail. 

 

 

[Dave Swindell]

1 hour ago, Mikey-1980 said:

Your knowledge on Grapple is superb! 

May I ask how you gain your knowledge on the aircraft for this operation please? 

The fuselage for the Valiant I'm building does have the chamfered tail come and not the extended standard tail. 

I know a bit about Grapple, but I'm by no means an expert on it - most of its come from researching the Valiant online and in published references, Wikipedia has a reasonably good summary of the operation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Grapple, there's a bit on 49 sqn's involvement here http://www.49squadron.co.uk/assets/pdf/operation_grapple.pdf, The Aerofax book on the Valiant has a whole chapter on the Grapple tests (including a photo of XD818 in full colour markings with the chisel tail fairing for the early Grapple tests, can't find a copy of this on line though, sorry), then there's Facebook groups such as https://www.facebook.com/groups/1101039843360004 which has loads of photos and diagrams for the Valiant.

[Mikey-1980]

Thanks for the pages @Dave Swindell I'll check them all out. Just awaiting approval for the Valiant FB page

 

In the meantime, some work bench progress

 

 

 

 

The external fuel tank pin holes will be filled in as they were not used as I am led to believe

 

 

 

Some additional filling may be needed once everything is solid and dried. The fit is actually pretty tight, however the engines were a particular pain and will need some adjustment

 

I'll get as much as I can done whilst waiting for the spare parts from Mikr-Mir

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[Mikey-1980]

Not many developments as yet. Awaiting a reply from Mikr-Mir to see if they were able to ship the spares I requested.

 

Anyways, plans have begun regarding the mounting of the Valiant on a 5mm clear acrylic rod and this patch found on eBay.

 

 

[Adam Poultney]

This model is certainly jumping back into the deep end, it's not an easy kit. I must build one at some point... 

With regards to the decals, you could quite easily print some yourself if you have a decent printer. It's a white scheme, so you won't need to worry about opacity it or being able to print white parts. 

All the decals for this model, a repainted and improved diecast model, were designed and printed myself. I also did the canopy as a decal; I have a feeling there are shape issues with the panels of the Mikromir one, I'd be happy to share the files for these if you want them. 

 

 

 

[Mikey-1980]

Cheers @Adam Poultney I appriciate the offer, but I am going to stick with the standard kit. It is tricky but no where near as bad as the Blackburn Beverley kit. Great kit, just very fiddly.

 

As for the decals, I dont have a decent printer unfortunatelt, I should do, but not gotten round to getting one.  From looking at the pictures I've seen of aircraft that took part in Grapple, their markings were faily simple, so should be reasonably OK to simulate.

 

Do like your example though, great build! 

[Mikey-1980]

Small update,

 

The fine people at @Mikromir kindly sent the spare parts I'm missing from the Valiant

 

 

Decals and some fantastic postcards from Ukraine

 

 

Clear parts and the photo etch too

 

 

 

When I can find a little more time, the build will continue

 

 

[Mikey-1980]

A little help please with regards to regstration number sizes

 

I am in the process of sourcing 1/144 scale RAF numbers & letters, what I cant quite figure out is the size of the on the underside of the wing and fuselage.

 

I suspect that the fuselage ar 24" and the underside of the wings are 48" in size?

 

Any advice and assistance would be most helpful.

 

Cheers

 

Mike

[Adam Poultney]

Yep 24" and 48", some Valiants had them in the nose wheel doors as well which I think were 12"

[Mikey-1980]

Just now, Adam Poultney said:

Yep 24" and 48", some Valiants had them in the nose wheel doors as well which I think were 12"

 

Thats brill, thanks @Adam Poultney massive help.

 

I dont think XD818 had them on the front gear doors, but I will double check.

 

 

[Mikey-1980]

Small build update......Prinicple parts all put together with just the photo etch parts to figure out. Problem is the resolution from the website down load is so poor its really hard to figure out what part is which and where it goes.

 

annoyingly, the gear parts really dont sit too well, especially the front nose gear doors. A little more filler and sanding required

 

 

Top side and the best I could do to work out the masking required for the canopy so far.

 

 

 

 

 

[binbrook87]

Coming along nicely Mike! 👍👍

[Mikey-1980]

Cheers Gra, taking a while but slowly getting there.

 

The CTA decals you pointed me in the direction of turns out he's a rather nice Russian chap and Putin is causing issues surrounding Paypal payments for him. he is exploring other methods of payment but everything else is on hold at the moment.

 

 

[binbrook87]

Ah I thought that CTA were a Ukraine company but yeh i can see issues with them coming from Russia.😯 I'll keep my eyes peeled on eBay for ya 👍