Dora Wings Vultee Vanguard Mk.I/J.10 (DW48050) 1:48

[Mike]

Vultee Vanguard Mk.I/J.10 (DW48050)

1:48 Dora Wings of Ukraine

 

 

The Vanguard began with grand aspirations in the design offices of Vultee, where they imagined a suite of aircraft for various purposes that were built around a set of standard components, consisting of wings, tail and rear fuselages.  The plan was to create four types, when in actuality only two came from the initial designs, the Vanguard sharing common parts with its stable-mate the Valiant.  The Vanguard had some teething troubles due to its intended sleek cowling causing overheating of the 30L radial Pratt & Whitney R-1340 engine, and after an accident during trials, the more traditional cowling was adopted to avoid extra weight of ducting to solve a problem that was of their own making.  Sweden made a sizeable order, but following the unexpected raid on Pearl Harbour that drew America into WWII, the exports were embargoed and the US was left with a bunch of aircraft on hand that they hadn’t planned on having.  The British made representations to take at least 100 off their hands to use as trainers in Canada, but after using them in trials, they handed them back with a resounding “thanks, but no thanks”.

 

It was decided to send them to China for use by additional Tiger Squadrons of the American Volunteer Group (AVG), minus a number that had been written off in ground-loop accidents that it seems to have been prone to.  They were sent via India, where even more were lost in trials, and even mislaid in transit, resulting in few of the original consignment reaching China, where American involvement was waning as the pilots returned home to fight the war with Japan and German instead.  Chinese pilots were assigned a couple of squadrons of aircraft, and although they appreciated the manoeuvrability of the airframe, they were pitifully slow compared to the faster types in use by the Japanese, and adding its similarity from a distance to some of the Japanese aircraft, many were lost in incidents that we refer to today as blue-on-blue.  They did have some success in action however, but generally relied upon hit-and-run tactics to get in, hit the enemy and get out before they woke up and fought back.  It can’t have been much fun for the pilots, or the mechanics that had to keep them operational, as they were mechanically frail.  Many were destroyed in strafing attacks on the ground, leaving too few to have a meaningful impact on the conflict, so the few remaining Vanguards were mothballed with the possibility of use in the anticipated fight against communism that would be on the horizon once WWII ended.  There’s a good chance they’re still there unless someone thought to scrap or move them.

 

 

The Kit

This is another new tooling from our friends at Dora Wings, who are continuing to create great models despite the trials and tribulations that Ukraine has been suffering for the last year.  This is their second Vultee aircraft model, and I had a hoot building the first one, the Vengeance last year.  If this one is anything like it, it will be more modelling fun.  The kit arrives in a modest top-opening box, and inside are seven sprues in a greenish-grey styrene, a sprue of clear parts, a bag containing decals, Photo-Etch (PE) sheet, and pre-cut vinyl masks (not pictured), rounded out by the A5 portrait instruction booklet, printed on glossy paper with colour throughout, and profiles on the rear pages.  Detail is excellent, with fine engraved panel lines, rivets and fasteners alongside raised and engraved details that are of top quality.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Construction begins with the cockpit, starting with the instrument panel that is laminated from a flat backing plate, decal with dials, and the PE instrument panel, which is probably best painted first before being “glued” to the freshly applied decal on the back plate with some clear gloss for alignment purposes.  The sloped lower panel is laminated from a styrene plate with PE panel over the top, and the main panel is slotted into the top, with more decals, styrene and PE controls/levers.  The rudder pedals are suspended from the back of the panel, then it is set aside while the other parts of the cockpit are made up.  The seat is a simple design to which you add lap-belts, and four sub-assemblies are put together for later inclusion in the sidewalls.  The sidewalls are tubular frames, which receive the sub-assemblies and individual parts dotted around within reach of the pilot, then these too are set aside to create the cockpit floor.  The floor is a flat panel to which you add two boxes as if to receive two seats, but only one is sited atop the forward hump with its control column, with the rear backed by a two layer A-frame and bulkhead that slots into the back of the floor.  The port side frame is then attached to the long edge of the floor, followed by the starboard side, remembering to place the radio box on its palette as you do so.  The front bulkhead is prepared with two .50cal breeches projecting into the cockpit, and on the front is a two-part tank and reservoir that will be within the engine compartment shortly, after being surrounded by zig-zag tubular frames that make up the engine mounts.  An A-frame is added behind the pilot’s head and is braced against the rear of the cockpit, with a headrest for the pilot’s comfort.

 

The fuselage sides have internal details moulded-in, and have additional components added above inserts that hide the wing root before they are closed around the cockpit - after painting of course.  The Vanguard is a low-wing monoplane, so the lower wing is full-span, with a long spar and PE divider separating the gear bays within, dropping the upper wing halves over it, and adding the long two-part ailerons to the trailing edges.  The fuselage is lowered into position between the two upper wing halves, after which the tail-feathers are prepared, making up the elevator fins from top and bottom halves, the upper side having the entire tip moulded-in to give a slender edge.  The elevator flying surfaces are also two layers, with the trailing-edges moulded into the top half to obtain a sharp boundary.  The fin and rudder are both two halves each, the rudder having the tip and trailing-edge moulded into the port side for the same reasons.  The Pratt & Whitney engine is moulded as two separate banks with additional push-rods, wire loom, bell housing and connecting hoses, plus a central axle and top-mounted magneto installed on the bell-housing beforehand.  The ribbed fairing that covers the front of the fuselage has six detail parts inserted inside before it is glued to the nose in preparation for mounting the motor later.  First, the three-part cowling, collector ring and hollow-tipped exhaust are assembled around the engine, which by now will have been painted and if you’re feeling dedicated, you’ll have wired up the pistons too.  At this stage the tail feathers have all been slotted into the rear of the fuselage, taking care to set them perpendicular to each other.  The cowling is completed by a very neatly engineered lip and three sections of PE cooling gills, which you will need to roll and bend to match the profile of the styrene cowling.  They sit on a lip hidden within the cowling, so as long as you put enough super glue to hold them, they should stay in place, and having carried out this same task on my Vengeance last year, it’s not too tricky, and the end result is worthwhile.  The completed cowling is offered up to the cylindrical hub on the nose, and glues in position along with an intake on the port side that fixes to a lip in the edge of the cut-out.  Each of the wheels are assembled from two halves, and as they’re treadless you shouldn’t have any lost detail once you’ve dealt with the seams.

 

The canopy is a three-part affair, with an optional fixed rear section that has different glazing layout, one having fewer panes than the other.  The windscreen glues to the front of the cockpit aperture, and the sliding centre section fixes in the middle, sliding back over the fixed section to open.  A pair of top-mounted clear wingtip lights slot into holes in the wing surface, with another on the spine behind the cockpit.  The landing gear legs are each single parts with a separate scissor-link and three-part captive bay cover, the smallest of which projects out away from the vertical, and are joined by another that hinges from the outer edge of the bay cut-out.  More wingtip lights glue into the lower wing, and the tail wheel strut with small door, onto which the smaller tail wheel slides if fitted under the tail.  A landing light is inserted into a hole under the port wing next to the pitot probe, adding a crew access stirrup and blade aerial under the cockpit before installing the three blade prop, which is a single part and is gripped from front and rear by a two-part spinner with a small o-ring inserted inside without glue – hopefully.

 

 

Markings

There are four markings options on the decal sheet, two of which relate to real airframes in service (sort of), while two more represent what-if airframes of the Swedish Air Force, as if the export hadn’t been embargoed.  From the box you can build one of the following:

 

• Vultee Vanguard Mk.I (c/n 502) California, 1940
• Vultee J-10 (c/n 501), California, September 1940
• Vultee J-10 (c/n 2393), 1 Division F13, Norrkoping 1943 (what-if)
• Vultee J-10 (c/n 23103), 3 Division F11, Norrkoping 1945 (what-if)

 

 

 

Decals are by Dora Wings’ usual partner, DecoGraph, which is a guarantee of good registration, sharpness and colour density, with a thin matt carrier film cut close to the printed areas.

 

 

Conclusion

I feel kind of sorry for this ill-fated and mediocre little aircraft, but this kit of it is excellent, and should bring this diminutive fighter a little bit more prominence than it has received so far.

 

Very highly recommended.

 

 

Review sample courtesy of

 

Available in the UK in all good model shops.

Review sample courtesy of