rob Lyttle Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 A quick marker to declare my intention to have a go at this little stash-dweller. Novo decals are shot, but my Dora kit has several civil options and my intention is to utilise some of those. There's a bit of an issue with the front windscreen. The military Proctor has a rounded shape whereas the Vega Gull is made up of flat panes. But let's see how it goes 😎 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 18 Share Posted March 18 Nice choice of subject. If you are aiming for a Vega Gull, does that mean you have to smallen the fuselage? Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 10 hours ago, AdrianMF said: does that mean you have to smallen the fuselage? Ah, I see what you mean. Compared with the Dora Wings Vega Gull there is obviously an issue 🙄 Well, the abrupt answer would be No. I'll have to think along the lines of a repurposed Proctor in civil decor Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 19 Share Posted March 19 Sorry about that! There are plenty of post-war civilianised ones though. Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 19 Author Share Posted March 19 I've been reading up a bit on the type, trying to get some elementary info. It seems that the Proctor 1, 2, and 3 were very similar to the V Gull and kept the original's capabilities to a large extent. (Excuse the normal numbers instead of the roman numerals-- I'll be honest with you, I just can't be bothered with that .) By the time the mk4 came out, the design had been messed about with to the extent that the plane's performance was compromised. Whereas the early types were 6inches longer on the fuselage, the mk4 may be somewhat different. The Frog kit is given as a mk4. Viewed beside the Dora Wings fuselage side, the difference is significantly more than a scale 4" I'm not going to get bogged down in fine details with this. It's getting done as a fun build. Like AdrianMF says, there's plenty of surplus Proctors got bought and put on the civil register. So far, I have this, ... and I'm now trying to get them to fit in the fuselage such that the two halves meet,. Now, Lady Sherborne flew her's in the remarkable 1952 King's Cup air race at Newcastle and I have the decor on the Dora sheet. Looks promising. Beryl Markham is out. That was nothing short of foolhardy and she was lucky to get away with it. The unfortunate plane, not so much. Scott and Guthrie won the Schlesinger Race to South Africa in a Vega Gull in 1936 and that's on the sheet, but of course that's prewar and pre-proctor, and a genuine Vega Gull. Lady Sherborne's plane had military origins that I should go back and read again but I'm thinking this is the one Jolly, isn't it 😎? The cowling though, could that be polished metal? 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 20 Author Share Posted March 20 That was easy.... The wings are just dry fitted in the slots here. The internals were not overdone, with a rear bulkhead and a bench seat fitted, and a strip of thin styrene up front to give some kind of coaming inside the windscreen. The kit rear windows got honed a little and masked before fitting. The two sides were having difficulty in mating up and I traced the fault eventually to the big internal ribs on which the floor sits. The front upright bits were interfering with Lady Sherborne's feet, and her companion. Rib lumps suitably removed and all was well. There are a number of sink marks around the fuselage, mostly underneath and a couple on top. And some stretched sprue was added on the cowling for hinges. This airframe was a prewar Vega Gull that got taken on by the RAF, served it's time, and went back on the civil register after the war. Turns out that this plane crashed killing the pilot and his family, just a few weeks after Lady Sherborne sold it. It happened only a few miles away from me, on take off from Southampton Eastleigh Airport for the short hop to Middle Wallop aerodrome. They were returning from a holiday on the continent. Sad. But in happier times it seems like the Lady Sherborne had some good flying out of the little Percival. I must research her some more. I bet she spent her wartime years ferrying Spitfires, Mosquitoes and Lancasters around the country. 9 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 22 Author Share Posted March 22 The issue with the difference in windscreen design between the Proctor and the civil Vega Gull is well illustrated in the Dora Wings instructions, probably by mistake or oversight. Here's the illustration for the Vega Gull canopy assembly... They have it very nicely represented with a number of separate parts and the opening gullwing doors can possibly be fixed in the up position. Nice. But their next illustration shows this... ...which is clearly the curved Proctor windscreen. How weird is that 🤔? Dora do a military Proctor version and I guess someone has copied and pasted that drawing. Anyway it serves to show the difference. Lady Sherborne's aircraft should have the civil styling as in the 1st picture but the Frog kit is clearly the 2nd type. I've tried a couple of times to make glazing bars with strips of Ali foil in the style it should be, but they looked rubbish. I'm thinking I'll overlook the issue, just like I'm overlooking the other differences like length. It would be interesting to get the Dora Proctor kit to have a close comparison between the two. From what I've read it's the mk4 Proctor that suffered from excessive modifications while the first 3 marks were closer to the original Vega Gull. Well, there you have it. Meanwhile the wings are fixed, rudder is on, and I'm trying to pick out the details on the one-piece Frog transparency to give some idea of the doors structure. The wing fit is quite good after a bit of surface preparation. The odd bit of filler is applied here and there around the airframe but all things considered it's not that much. I had a count up of all the parts which were rattling around loose in the bag and I think all are present 😇👍 Good news 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CliffB Posted March 22 Share Posted March 22 A great little build Rob and I'm looking forward to seeing the civvy colours 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JOCKNEY Posted March 23 Share Posted March 23 On 19/03/2024 at 22:07, rob Lyttle said: Looks terrific, and really glad to see the crews dandruff cleared up before the canopy was fitted Cheers Pat 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rabbit Leader Posted March 24 Share Posted March 24 Nice to see the Proctor taking shape so quickly and the comparison with the Vega Gull is quite interesting and should convince silly modellers like myself that you can't / shouldn't build a Gull out of a Proctor! Cheers .. Dave 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 On 24/03/2024 at 09:00, Rabbit Leader said: shouldn't build a Gull out of a Proctor! Quite so, Dave 🤭 Still, it's gotta get built sometime.... I've been painting, Sure brightens the thing up. I also installed a piece of Ali tube in the front piece as a bearing that will take the propeller's metal shaft eventually, and painted the piece red I'd better take a look at the undercarriage parts and get her up and standing 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 28 Author Share Posted March 28 She's up on her dainty legs and I'm ironing out a few snags and details. The trouble is, the more I look the more differences I see between a Vega Gull and a Proctor mk4!. Never mind, I've decided to press on. 🤭 And I decided to use the Dora Wings decals for the Sherborne race plane. I've seen the pictures and this airframe is not the right one for G-AFBC, but it would be on the shelf of doom otherwise. Only to discover that Dora have messed up, showing race numbers in 6 places, fuselage, fin and above and below one wing tip, and only supply 4 items on the decal sheet 😶 This folly has been covered on the BM review of the kit,along with discussion of whether the fuselage should be blue or red-- always tricky when referring to black and white photos! Well, accurate representation is not on the agenda here....also noticed that the nose should not be red, but silver 🫣 Just the spinner should be red..... or blue....😅 Come what may, this little Cinderella shall go to the Ball 💃 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterB Posted March 28 Share Posted March 28 Not to worry Rob,, After all it is a FROG GB so we are not expecting anything like total accuracy - I doubt I have ever built a really accurate kit in my 65 years modelling, though the kits are getting better nowadays!😄 Pete 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 1 hour ago, PeterB said: have ever built a really accurate kit in my 65 years modelling, though the kits are getting better nowadays!😄 🤩Yes, we can still find ways to screw'em up to the usual standard 👍 1 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 29 Share Posted March 29 15 hours ago, rob Lyttle said: accurate representation is not on the agenda We won't tell It's looking colourful and convincing! Regards, Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rob Lyttle Posted March 29 Author Share Posted March 29 I gotta confess I got distracted by a little side job. And it's not even a Frog kit 😁 You know the Airfix beach buggy...? Reissued in the Vintage Classics range. With the girl in a bikini 👙 Well, the cool dude got some serious gender reassignment and there's now 2 girls, for a beach life guard vignette. Just while I had the red paint on the go. Sssssh🤫 Percival will go in the gallery soon, my 1st Frog finisher 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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