Kiwi Ventura

[tonyot]

Hello Folks,

Having built my first Revell Ventura as a Canadian GR.Mk.V my second will be finished as a Kiwi PV-1 flown by the RNZAF in the South Pacific, using a combination of Zotz and Ventura decals and with resin cowlings and propellers from Vectra.

To start of, here is the cockpit, it has been converted to single pilot status by removing the co-pilots seat and controls and replacing them with the `jump seat' provided on the sprues which is probably intended for the forthcoming RAF Mk.I/II kit? Having been unsure about the bulkhead provided in this kit for the flightdeck for a while, I have finally found enough information (with especial thanks also to Peter Mossong for some great internal info) to discount it as incorrect for a Ventura which had a similar arrangement to the Hudson, both having a solid bulkhead behind the single pilots seat only and leaving the rest of the area open, I really don`t know where Revell got their information from, maybe it was from a later variant of the Harpoon? As an experiment into making the floor look more realistic, empossed silver foil from a sweet wrapper was glued into place, painted black and then scuffed.

Because the radio operators position can be clearly seen in the real aircraft I decided to scratch build another for this model, just as I had with the RCAF model earlier-starting with the basic table and another bulkhead, both made from plastic card;

The end result, after cutting the table to a more accurate shape and adding bits and pieces from the spares box plus painted paper was used to represent curtains and a lamp was made from fuse wire and white glue. The seat cushions have been painted green as crew members often commented on the plush green leather on the seats of the Ventura! ;

Parts are included in the kit to fit out the radar operator/bomb aimers position in the nose so although these are not mentioned in the instructions they were inserted into place, with a lump of painted resin to act as the radar set. The .5 Brownings in the upper nose complete the detailing here which is sufficiant as not much can be seen anyway. Most photos of the real aircraft show the sun shields for the cockpit roof which ran on wire runners so these were made from painted and carefully folded paper which was attached to runners made from guitar string. The fuselage halves were joined and the radio position can be seen behind the pliots seat;

Thats it for now,

Tony O

Edited May 24, 2012 by tonyot

[tonyot]

As a further update, here are the cockpit canopy with the sun shields in place and the Martin mid upper turret;

Moving on to the engines, here are the cowling parts from Vectra which come with opened cooling gills. The propeller set also comes with a new crankcase for the engine so the coresponding part from the kit engines has been sawn off with a razor saw, although I`m not too enamoured with the fit of the replacement part. After joining the wings the forward section of the engine nacelle has to be removed and replaced with the resin part seen in place here;

The model is now basically complete and ready to be painted;

Cheers for now,

Tony O

[tonyot]

I thought that I`d try a new technique (for me!) that I`d never used before to best represent the colour scheme of this Ventura, namely the `Blu Tack' snake method of making indiscriminate demarcation lines using spray can paint! The undersides were painted White using a Tamiya spray can and then the `Blu Tack' snaked were applied along the lower part of the fuselage and the underside white was masked off with tape and paper. For the sides a can of Tamiya Intermediate Sea Blue was utilised and here are the `snakes' being removed following a couple of coats of this colour;

The same method was used again for the Sea Blue upper surfaces, again using a Tamiya Spray Can, but I was not over impressed with the resulting demarcation lines so these were tidied up using a good old paint brush and Polly Scale colours which were a good match, although not a perfect match, which helped to weather the model! As mentioned previously the decals came mainly from Zotz Decals but they have got the size of the upper wing roundels totally wrong and they are far too big, so replacement from a Ventura Decals sheet were used which were suitably lighter as per the original aircraft that I am trying to represent. As this aircrat has plain white bars on the upper left wing the bars from the Zotz sheet were cut up and applied to the Ventura decal,.......does all of that make sense?? Here is the model having had a coat of Humbrol enamel gloss varnish brushed on and the decals applied;

Oh bum,......I`ve just realised that I`ve applied the White bars to the wrong wing without double checking the photo ,.......however as it was the left wing that should have had these (which is where the original US Star and Bar would have been, and where the outer blue frame was most likely to be retained, my reason for using the plain white bars on the other wing instead!), logic dictates that both wings probably had the White bars after all,.....so I`ll add some to the other wing too!

Next update soon after some weathering has been applied,

All the best

Tony O

[Calum]

nice one Tony (een withteh boo boo) I'll save this one for reference .

[Pete M.]

Hi Tony. Nice job so far, but one major problem with your paint scheme! The leading edges of the wings and tailplanes were Ns.Sea Blue, not Intermediate Blue.

The upper wing and horizontal tailplane surfaces from the usually 5-8% of the chord leading edge in the matt finish back, should be in Semi-Gloss Sea Blue when clean and fresh - I usually aim for an 'eggshell' finish before weathering.

Cheers,

Pete M.

[tonyot]

Hi Tony. Nice job so far, but one major problem with your paint scheme! The leading edges of the wings and tailplanes were Ns.Sea Blue, not Intermediate Blue.

The upper wing and horizontal tailplane surfaces from the usually 5-8% of the chord leading edge in the matt finish back, should be in Semi-Gloss Sea Blue when clean and fresh - I usually aim for an 'eggshell' finish before weathering.

Cheers,

Pete M.

Cheers Pete,

I`ve gone off photos of the actual aircraft on page 48 of the Ventura Classic Warbirds No. 8 and an upper surface view of a similar aircraft (same style of roundel etc) on page 44 of the same book plus some views of SAAF Venturas that I have which all appear to show a lighter colour along the leading edges, applied on unit' to cover the bare metal where the rubber de icing boots have been removed. My subject, NZ4540 also has a lighter colour applied over the leading edges of the fin, where the rubber boots have been removed and similar repainting was also seen on RAF/RAAF/SAAF operated Venturas in the Med. I may darken the wing and tail leading edges a little bit to represent a different `mix' of Sea Blue but it is certainly a different and lighter looking shade!

Cheers mate,.....and by the way your interior info was a very big help indeed, so thanks again

All the best

Tony O

[tonyot]

Duplicate!!

Edited May 29, 2012 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Ooops......another duplicate!!

Edited May 29, 2012 by tonyot

[Pete M.]

Cheers Pete,

I`ve gone off photos of the actual aircraft on page 48 of the Ventura Classic Warbirds No. 8 and an upper surface view of a similar aircraft (same style of roundel etc) on page 44 of the same book plus some views of SAAF Venturas that I have which all appear to show a lighter colour along the leading edges, applied on unit' to cover the bare metal where the rubber de icing boots have been removed. My subject, NZ4540 also has a lighter colour applied over the leading edges of the fin, where the rubber boots have been removed and similar repainting was also seen on RAF/RAAF/SAAF operated Venturas in the Med. I may darken the wing and tail leading edges a little bit to represent a different `mix' of Sea Blue but it is certainly a different and lighter looking shade!

Cheers mate,.....and by the way your interior info was a very big help indeed, so thanks again

All the best

Tony O

Hi Tony. It's not really a lighter colour, it's the Ns.Sea Blue against the Semi-Gloss Sea Blue of the wings. Due to the different reflective qualities between the semi-gloss and the matt paint, it does appear to be lighter! Have another look at the photos in Malcolm's book, specialy the underside shot of NZ4616 on page 44.

This effect can also be observed on the forward upper cowls of Glossy Sea Blue F4U-1D's where the anti-glare panel was added with Ns.Sea Blue. It does appear to be much lighter in tone to the Glossy Sea Blue!

I do agree the leading edges of the upper tail fins on NZ4540 are certainly lighter, but they also appear to be much lighter than Intermediate Blue! The lower sections below the tailplanes are darker, and what I would interpret as being in Ns.Sea Blue.

I have first generation prints of many of these Ventura photos, and they generally all conform to the standard US Navy '4-Tone' painting schemes for the period.

Cheers,

Pete M.

[Silver Fox]

Pete,

is there any evidence that later batches of Ventura were delivered without de-icing boots? The first batch certainly were but I have a theory they may have been deleted at source.

cheers

Andy

[tonyot]

Hi Tony. It's not really a lighter colour, it's the Ns.Sea Blue against the Semi-Gloss Sea Blue of the wings. Due to the different reflective qualities between the semi-gloss and the matt paint, it does appear to be lighter! Have another look at the photos in Malcolm's book, specialy the underside shot of NZ4616 on page 44.

This effect can also be observed on the forward upper cowls of Glossy Sea Blue F4U-1D's where the anti-glare panel was added with Ns.Sea Blue. It does appear to be much lighter in tone to the Glossy Sea Blue!

I do agree the leading edges of the upper tail fins on NZ4540 are certainly lighter, but they also appear to be much lighter than Intermediate Blue! The lower sections below the tailplanes are darker, and what I would interpret as being in Ns.Sea Blue.

I have first generation prints of many of these Ventura photos, and they generally all conform to the standard US Navy '4-Tone' painting schemes for the period.

Cheers,

Pete M.

I see where you are coming from Pete, I did have an idea what you meant but thanks for confirmation. I will sort it out by repainting the leading edges at the end of the paint job using fresh paint! I did paint the fin leading edges in a lighter colour than Intermediate Sea Blue but when I applied varnish ready for the decals this lighter paint became much darker,.....arrgghh!! So these will be repainted too.

I`ve just finished painting the Vectra propellers and received a set of Ultracast wheels in the post (I could only get a set without hub covers so these will have to do, temporarily at least!) so construction is coming on nicely, I`ll add some progress pics soon,

Cheers

Tony O

[tonyot]

Duplicated again, oh my!!

Edited May 29, 2012 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Duplicated,.....again,.....my computer must be playing up!!

Edited May 29, 2012 by tonyot

[Pete M.]

Pete,

is there any evidence that later batches of Ventura were delivered without de-icing boots? The first batch certainly were but I have a theory they may have been deleted at source.

cheers

Andy

Hi Andy. I suspect they were removed at the depot in Hawaii, or even back at the factory in Burbank, as they certainly weren't needed where they were going! Hardly even required in NZ.

I must have another look at my photos, but I can't recall seeing any with the de-icer boots fitted.

Cheers,

Pete M.

[Pete M.]

I see where you are coming from Pete, I did have an idea what you meant but thanks for confirmation. I will sort it out by repainting the leading edges at the end of the paint job using fresh paint! I did paint the fin leading edges in a lighter colour than Intermediate Sea Blue but when I applied varnish ready for the decals this lighter paint became much darker,.....arrgghh!! So these will be repainted too.

I`ve just finished painting the Vectra propellers and received a set of Ultracast wheels in the post (I could only get a set without hub covers so these will have to do, temporarily at least!) so construction is coming on nicely, I`ll add some progress pics soon,

Cheers

Tony O

Hi Tony. I look forward to seeing the results.

Cheers,

Pete M.

[tonyot]

Had a bit of a disaster last night,............brushed Pactra acrylic matt coat onto the model ready to start weathering it and it reacted with the decals!!!! Some were OK but most crinkled up and some were totally ruined, so I`m a bit hacked off to say the least!! I`m currently trying to salvage what I can with a bit of detail painting to replace the lost decals!

Cheers

Tony O

[Silver Fox]

nightmare, pm me if you need any spares>

[tonyot]

nightmare, pm me if you need any spares>

Thanks Andy,

I may just take you up on that, I`m still trying to save the model and I should know how successful I have been by tommorrow!

All the best

Tony O

[tonyot]

Well it is finally finished!!! The damaged decals were touched up using a very fine brush and it was weathered using MiG pigment powders.

More pics on Ready for Inspection,

Cheers

Tony O