Accuracy of 1/72 Ventura by Academy/Minicraft

[IS_]

Hi,

Are any serious major shape issues known about this kit? Are the plans by Paul Matt accurate enough to be used as a reference?

Thanks in advance for any input.

[Trevor]

Vic S.'s indepth review

Vic has also been posting a series of detail photos, taken from a Ventura restoration in Edmonton, AB, Canada.

As for the kit. It does look like a Ventura, and its the only game in town. Unless you're a masochist like me, and carve a Ventura out of the Fondrie Miniatures 'kit.'

[Grey Ghost 531]

One error is Academy put a door on each side of the fuselage. The PV-1 only had a door on the port side. Fill the one on the starbord side.

There are some nice resin bits available for it.

[Steve N]

The oil cooler intackes on the underside of the nacelles also need some work. They're shaped nothing like the real thing.

I've got several Academy/Minicraft Venturas, and the canopies don't fit on any of them. I highly recommend getting the vac replacement canopies from Squadron.

SN

[IS_]

Thanks a lot to everyone! In fact I am already in possession of the kit (meanwhile for some 10-12 years...) as well as of the vacu canopy by Squadron,

photo-etched parts by Eduard, both interior and control surfaces sets by Pavla and decals by Zotz. My only concern was just to make sure it is really OK shape-wise before I start. As a lot of major surgery and re-shaping has been the case with all my latest projects, I'd rather select something at least correctly shaped. The only replacement item which still doesn't exist for the PV-1 are the wheels. Maybe they were identical with the ones used on some other a/c?

[Steve N]

As I recall, the kit wheels are pretty good. The only real shape issue I have with the kit (aside with the aformentioned oil coolers) are the engine cowls, which don't look quite right to me. They are pretty much a straight taper, when they should be a bit more curved..a little work with sandpaper will take care of that. Also, the carberator intakes on top of the cowls are too tall. I sawed them down by about half, the used a bit of sheet styrene to replace the tops. All-in-all, a relatively quick fix, but if you don't want to bother the model to still look OK.

Detail on the engines themselves is a bit sparse. I used some bits of styrene to make magnetos and other details. I don't know if the Pavla set includes engines, but the P&W R-2800 is available in resin from several different aftermarket outfits.

I looke at the Pavla interior set, but ultimately passed. It's beautiful and very comprehensive, but 90% of it will be invisible once the model is finished.

SN

[Scooby]

Vic has completed his Ventura. Expect to see a full review soon.

[RCAFFAN]

Look at it this way...In 1/72 you have the choice of the Academy, the Frog (as later cast in the USSR) or the Rareplanes vacuform. THe Academy is the best of those and really the only choice. Its not bad at all. Have fun..

Cheers

Bruce

[agboak]

What, better than Rareplanes? What heresy!

Kidding aside, I think you've missed the point. The question wasn't which was the best kit, but whether the Academy kit needed things doing to it to improve it, and if so what references to use.

[Steve N]

I think the only reference I had when I built mine was Squadron's "PV-1 Ventura In Action." Not sure if its currently in print, but it shouldn't be too hard to find.

SN

[Chuck1945]

Look at it this way...In 1/72 you have the choice of the Academy, the Frog (as later cast in the USSR) or the Rareplanes vacuform. ...

Cheers

Bruce

OT slightly. I did keep the Rareplanes Harpoon to use as the basis as a conversion of a PV-1, but since SH has now done a Harpoon as well ...

[Steve N]

Here are the mods I made to the Ventura (built about 17 years ago.) You can see I added a "roof" to the oil cooler intake, and reduced the hieght of the carberator intake. I also tried to "round off" the cowl a bit.

SN

[Chuck1945]

I built 2 of those back when it was a new kit. One as a glass nose turretless PV-1A (I think that was the designation) and one as a RAF Ventura using the Aeroclub BP turret and a home made vac canopy replacement - this before Academy released the kit as an RAF example. From what I vaguely recall, the forward side window was also misplaced, but I could be wrong.

Unfortunately I made two cross country moves since building those kits and they did not survive the experience.

[RCAFFAN]

Agboak...other people had already given info as to the Academy kit (I've commented here on the two side doors several times in the past) so I guess I was just reassuring him that he had the best starting point at the momment so if he was going to build it, there was no point in waiting or looking further....Any one interested in a USSR pop of a Frog kit as I'll never build it???

Cheers

Bruce

[andyf117]

Hi,

Are any serious major shape issues known about this kit? Are the plans by Paul Matt accurate enough to be used as a reference?

Thanks in advance for any input.

My only real gripe with the kit concern the engine nacelles, which continue in a straight line aft of the cowling cooling gills - I spent some time carefully scraping and sanding away the plastic to achieve a gentle curve to the front edge of the nacelle to improve the appearance....

[IS_]

Thanks a lot to everyone again. As there are no fatal shape faults known, I'll give Academy a try after completing my current projects (almost scratch building...).

The engines are definitively no problem. The best choice would probably be Quickboost. I'll probably use also the gun barrels from this manufacturer. Regarding the wheels I'll have to see, how the kit parts can be improved.

As for the references, I have currently

- plans by Paul Matt,

- In Action,

- Vega Ventura - the Lockheed's Lucky Star by Schiffer

- PV-1 Units by Osprey

- Ventura - Classic Warbirds N°8 - Pacific twins - P-38,B-25,PV-1

- walk around photos from web.

However, any additional photos, especially of VPB-133 and 150 would still be of great interest. For instance, the available photos of the Octopus-decorated Venturas don't show the wheels (with or without covers) and the the under-wing area, where the HVAR racks could have been installed.

[sabre6]

The Ventura and Northern Wings

By Vic Scheuerman

Ventura Trophy

As the participants of Northern Wings 2007 know, the Lockheed Ventura is to be the first of the theme aircraft for the contest. What makes this new addition so exciting is that the Theme Aircraft Trophy will be a piece from the actual aircraft. In that regard, the Ventura Memorial Flight Association (www.rcafventura.ca ) that is located at the Alberta Aviation Museum ( www.albertaaviationmuseum.com ) has donated a section of Ventura 2179 painted with Disney fuselage art (see photo). This particular Ventura G.R.V served with No 8 BR Squadron, RCAF on the West Coast during the later half of WW II. The artwork was researched and painted by Mr. Clarence Simonsen of Alberta.

The 1/72 scale Academy/Minicraft Ventura will be built to help promote the contest. On completion the model will be part of the Northern Wings Plastic Model Airplane Contest 2008 show poster. It is planned to paint it as a Ventura II of one of the Operational Training Units based in Canada so it can be donated and displayed in the Alberta Aviation Museum’s BCATP display case. The final mileage from the kit will be a Bulletin build article showing some of the kit assembly pitfalls and some extra information for those that my want to detail their kits for this October 18th contest.

In box review of the 1/72 Minicraft Ventura II

This kit has over 70 cleanly molded light grey and clear molded parts. The only readily noticeable flash found on this kit was on one propeller blade and cylinder head and there are ejector pin marks on the cockpit fuselage wall and three noticeable ones on the vertical control surfaces. While the surface is engraved, it is very fine and may disappear with too much paint. This version of the Ventura version has a glass nose with those small rectangular viewing windows like its predecessor the Hudson. Thankfully, there are not individual windows like the Airfix Hudson, but on two separate clear nose sections that has both the nose and large bottom viewing panel as separate attachments. A large bulbous Boulton-Paul turret is supplied as is the rear-view blister for the pilot side of the cockpit glazing.

An adequate cockpit has; two seats, two control columns (incorrect configuration and these also have Harpoon handles), floor, aft bulkhead (incorrect as a ‘full’ bulkhead) and instrument panel. There is no detail on the cockpit walls or instrument panel, though a decal is supplied for the latter. Both the glazed nose and aft lower gunner positions lack any detail. But given the model scale and their small clear openings, this really should not be a concern. Minicraft did put a little more effort in the upper gun turret as there is some minor detail but it could use some more.

Minicraft supplies well molded engines that have separate gear housing/ front cylinder row that attaches to the second partial cylinder bank that is molded to the engine bulkhead. This will look adequate given the small cowling opening that is partially covered by the paddle-blade propellers. Other things of note are the fully framed in main gear wells and separate engine exhausts. The only concerns on looking at the parts on the sprues are; the thickness of the main gear doors and a hatch that is molded on the starboard fuselage aft of the wing that does not exist and the very noticeable ejector pin marks on the tail

Both the 13 part assembly notes and the three views for the sole marking option are well drawn with a separate scrap head-on view showing the wing dihedral and landing gear door positions. Detail colours notes are included in most assembly steps. Perhaps the only apparent disappointment is the kits national markings that are out of register. The sole option is a RAF Ventura of 21 Squadron RAF that is finish in the American equivalents of Dark Earth, Dark Green over Sky (referred to as Light Gray) with dull red fuselage codes.

As other versions of the Ventura were molded, spare parts for the spares bin are different cockpit glazing, Martin gun turret bubble and lower frame, nose ventral gun pack and wing tanks that apparently were not used on the Ventura I & II.

All in all a nicely molded and adequately detailed 1/72 scale bomber in the box. The few obvious deficiencies appear to be either easily corrected (thin the gear doors, fill in the starboard hatch and ejector pin marks) or replaced (national insignia).

Cockpit

One of the first decisions you are going to have to make is, are you going to add more detail to the cockpit? Being 1/72 scale and having a multi-framed glazing certainly relieves the builder of the necessity of getting carried away. For this build, the kit cockpit was made to more accurately reflect the general configuration of the Ventura I & II.

If one is going to correct the basic cockpit as offered, then the solid cockpit bulkhead needs to be cut almost in half. The Ventura aircraft (Like the Hudson before it and the Harpoon after it) only has this behind the pilot. The floor then extends aft to the wing spar where another partial bulkhead is located. Sandwiched between these bulkheads is the wireless station bench and swivel seat and numerous radios etc.

The kit instrument panel can be used as offered. Totally missing in the kit is a large thin console located between the pilot and copilot positions. Incorrect for all Ventura’s is the control column and wheels. The kit items are vertical posts which feature the later Harpoon X shaped handles. All Ventura’s had a control column with a right angle inboard at the top and the C shaped control handles were attached to this ‘arm’.

Further items that need to be replaced or changed are the seats. The kit seats appear to be the later square-backed types (Harpoon again?), as opposed to the rounded-back pilot seat. This seat features a canvas cover for the back and for the large arm rests. Almost on the other end of comfort was the copilot’s canvas seat that had a removable or foldable vertical back. The radio operators seat is a metal seat with separate back rest and arm rests (see drawings)

While this perhaps sounds like a lot of work to correct or upgrade, by using card, some foil (seat harnesses), stiff wire (control column) and raiding the spares bin and just settling on the basic shapes, the cockpit interior can be done without too much effort.

First step was extended the floor forward on the pilot side and aft to the second bulkhead. Some card strut was glued to the bottom of the kit floor, and then .030 card was added as the new floor and trimmed to fit. This did require that the vertical placement guides molded on the kit fuselage to be removed. Next, the kit bulkhead was cut, glued into the receiving slot and then a new card face was added. This was then used as a height guide for the added aft bulkhead that was attached to the large section of strut that was used to simulate the wing spar. This added spar is a little oversized but something I sometimes do with a basic cockpit upgrade. By making your details somewhat over scale; they may actually be seen through the multi-framed glazing! I found out after visiting the museum’s Ventura, that there is a small partial bulkhead on the starboard side also (see photo).

Card and strut was then used to add the remainder of the basic details and note the modified seats (I did not have the drawings until after this was built) and scratch built copilots seat in the photographs.

With the added detail completed, the interior was sprayed black (Model Master Enamels), followed by Interior Green. When the green had cured, a dry brushing of this green lightened by adding white was done. Detailed painting followed with a fine liner brush and acrylic paint (Tamiya, Games Workshop, and Vallejo). The kit instrument decal was cut off and glued to the panel and then a coat of matt sealed it onto location. For these quick builds or barely visible sealed cockpits, in lieu of the normal gloss/oil wash/ matt format I just take a dry black pastel and brush the highlights. While perhaps this is not the most detailed cockpit, one can see in the photograph of this completed assembly that it does look adequate.

Assembly

During dry fitting of the fuselage, I was concerned about how robust the join would be in spots. To give the entire join the required strength, some card ‘tabs’ were glued along the join ala vacuum form practice (see photo). The prepainted cockpit was glued to one side after the joining surfaces had the paint removed to help ensure a solid bond. Using Tamiya Extra Thin liquid cement starting at the nose (important to have the glazing openings lined up) and worked my way aft. Next, the one-piece bomb bay door assembly was filed for a tight fit and glued into place. This resulted with a poor join on the aft section as the fuselage did not reach the height of the door.

As this particular Ventura was sans guns including the upper turret, the large receiving hole in the upper fuselage was filled a card. The clear nose sections were glued together and then glued to the fuselage; very nice fit with even the panel lines joining up. At this stage, the openings that glazing normally covers were masked, as was the open front and lower surface of the clear nose. Super glue was then used to; fill the gaps around the card turret cover, fill in the nonexistent door on the starboard side, around the clear nose and along the fuselage seams. The round plate cover for the turret location was nicely replicated with Plumbers Tape (Aluminum tape with adhesive on one side) that burnished into location and sanded to a matt finish to better grip the paint.

The final fuselage tweak at this stage was gluing a strip along the upper wing fillet that the upper part of the wing could be attached to. Dry fitting the wing to the fuselage showed that the wing was thicker then the fillet on the fuselage. However, if one ‘pressed’ down on the middle of the wing, then the join was somewhat better. The help keep the wing ‘pressed’, this attachment shelf was glued the fuselage fillet (see photo). All of the major assemblies completed to this stage were primed with Tamiya’s excellent rattle can FINE primer.

This paint application showed the usual trouble spots that were corrected with super glue, wet sanding and a spot application of the canned primer. During the ‘correction’ process the engraved panel lines were lost along some joins (mainly the upper fuselage and engine nacelles). These were added back by using Testors tape as an edge guide and then the panel was engraved with either an OLPHA P-Cutter Blade or a stout sewing needle in a pin vice (see photo). To add to the presence of both the control surface hinge lines and the engine cowling flaps, these were more deeply engraved.

Last month in Part 2, the fuselage was completely assembled and primed, awaiting the flying surfaces and gear. A dry fit of the wings showed a poor join along the engine nacelles/cowling. In addition, the lower cowling intakes are not framed in and one could look directly to the main gear bay wall. First step was framing in this intake. A section of card was gently rolled until its curvature matched the lower nacelle and this was glued into location. To finish this improvement off, a bulkhead was added to the interior. The intake and cowling interiors were sprayed Interior Green.

Minicraft has the back row of cylinders molded in partial relief on a plate, while the front engine section is a separate attachment. These parts are then trapped in the cowling before the parts are joined and the cowling ring attached. As this assembly would be added shortly, they were sprayed matt black and then the cylinder heads received a dry brushing of antique paste, followed by the crankcase being painted grey. These two pieces were then glued together.

While improving the intakes, more thought was given to the poor fit of the nacelles. The upper and lower sections were filed until a better fit was achieved. Then the engine bulkhead was glued into location adding some needed rigidly to these protrusions. Assembly started with the trailing edges that were glued using Testors cooler liquid cement and taped tight and left to cure. The leading edges were then glued together using the Tamiya hot liquid cement. I found that by pressing down on aft section of the cowling that is part of the wing, a some what better fit was achieved. The front section was glued with Tamiya cement, taped and left to cure. When this was accomplished the aft section was pressed tight, then a drop of superglue, followed by liquid accelerator, produced the best that could be achieved. Super glue was then used all along the join and sanded smooth. At this stage re remainder of the engine was added, and it was a pleasant surprise when the cowling ring was offered up and fitted quite well.

The large engine opening was protected with Blu Tack and then these assemblies were sprayed with Tamiya rattle can primer. This application showed some trouble spots that were fixed and then reshot with primer. Both the cowling flaps and the control hinge lines were engraved with an OLPHA P-Cutter to either add back removed panel lines or to make them more prominent. The main wings were then ready to be added to the fuselage.

A dry fit showed the wings were too deep and did not meet the fillet outline but extended well above it. However, by pressing down the middle of the wing, they could be squeezed to closer match the fillet. To have the upper wing butt join something to attach to, a strip was glued just below the join line so that the upper wing could be glued to this. Another dry fit showed this would help. But it was still a poor join with even the leading edge being too thick to match the fillet. A generous amount of Tamiya Extra Thin liquid glue was applied and the upper wing join was secured. Leaving the bottom to hang proud of the fillet and this was left over night. The next day the wing center section was squeezed, and when they match the lower surface as good as they were going to do, it was held in place with applications of super glue and accelerator. Side scraping with a No 10 blade did eventually get the leading edge to match the fillet but the lower join was not great.

A dry fit of the horizontal tail surfaces also showed it was not a perfect match. After tweaking the upper join until a better fit was achieved, it was glued into location and the lower join filled with super glue. The vertical control surfaces were a great fit and these were glued into location.

This left only the landing gear and doors to be dealt with. As the kit doors are too thick, these were sanded thinner and the main gear received the double hydraulic lines replicated with brass wire. With the clear parts masked, it was time to the finish this Ventura off and that will all be covered in part 4.

Painting and Final Assembly

As was related in the Part 3, the model was primed with Tamiya rattle can primer and the clear parts had been masked and attached. First colour applied was Model Master (MM) Interior Green to all the clear areas.

The Ventura that had caught my eye was on page 133 of Canada’s Air Force at War and Peace by Larry Milberry. Initial perception was that the locations were the codes were added had been sprayed fresh as these were clearly darker then the remainder of the upper frame. However, while talking to Tony Jarvis of the Ventura Memorial Flight Association, he thought that distemper had been applied to the frame and these dark squares and part of the lower aft fuselage were actually the only spots of the original colour left exposed on the upper surfaces of the aircraft. Looking much closer at the photograph with a magnifier did leave me to be believe that Tony was onto something. The fuselage clearly shows a new patchy colour addition and it also appeared that one of the original darker colours were left exposed on the starboard wing. To add a further twist to the colour plot, the fins appeared to featured a disruptive pattern but with lighter colours or was it the new colour just lightly sprayed over the dark base? To make a long story somewhat shorter, I chose to paint my Ventura in the normal colours applied in the factory pattern to play it safe. Then there were those large codes on the fuselage and cowling…

As this Ventura was an aircraft from No 34 Operational Training Unit, another question was the colour of these codes. Though I never came up with any proof, with this being a training unit and the fact that the code was repeated on the cowling and the tone value in some pictures (of other 34 OUT Ventura’s) matched the yellow ring on the fuselage roundel, I went with yellow. The other colour option was the normal Medium Grey.

All four spots were the codes would be added were sprayed yellow. As soon as this was cured, some vinyl characters from an old Instasign sheets were used. For the cowling the 3/8 inch (9mm) was used while the fuselage received the ½ inch (12mm). Though not entirely correct in either size or shape (the cowling characters do differ somewhat to the fuselage A1 configuration), it was a case of accepting what was close as good enough.

Before the actual camouflage was applied, all the panel lines received a pre-shading of MM Aircraft Interior Black. As these were painted in the states and not in the UK, the American equivalents of the British colours were used. While the Dark Earth and Dark Green are very similar, the Sky can differ. Depending on the manufacturer this latter colour can be grey in lieu of the clearly green of proper Sky. To get around this conundrum, I take a bottle of MM Gull Gray had a dollop of MM Sky added to it. It just changes the hue to that hint of Sky that looks correct to me. In short order all the lower surfaces were painted in the mixed Sky, including the wheel well, interior of the gear doors and the landing gear assembly.

To reproduce the sharp division line between the upper and lower colours, some Blu Tack was used as a mask and with some of the lower surfaces masked with Tamiya Tape, MM ANA Dark Earth and RAF Dark Green was applied free hand. This was left to cure over night and the next day the vinyl characters were carefully removed and the surface was given a gentle buffing with a fine mesh pad. Next step was glossing the matt finish and for this project Testors rattle can 1261 Glosscote was used. This was gently warmed and thoroughly agitated and initial just applied in light mist coats. After this was done three times, a slightly heavier final coat was applied and this did produce a nice gloss finish.

As the codes were already applied, the only decal additions were the national insignia. Both the fuselage C1 and the wing B roundels came from the newer Xtradecal sheets X044-72 and X043-72. For the early style fin flashes, those from the newer boxing of the Airfix Hudson were great after trimming the edges. Normal applications of Micro Set/Sol had the decals settle nicely into the engraved panel lines. The model was left for a few days for the gloss coat to fully cure; or so I thought.

Having not used the Testors rattle can gloss in literally years, I used a cool paint thinner to thin the Raw Umber oil used in the wash. This was applied in the normal way and left to set up for five minutes. Again, as per normal a lint free cloth was dampened with this cool thinner to remove the excess oil off. Well it did a fine job of removing the rattle can gloss and in a couple of areas even the paint! Taken back somewhat by the results, the model was put away for another three days thinking the gloss had not fully cured. Even waiting this extra time did not improve the results so the normal oil wash application that normally produces an improved finish just caused more work and did not look that great. The surface was then matted using Testors Flat Clear Lacquer Finish thinned with lacquer thinner.

Some post shading and streaking was done using diluted Tamiya NATO Black acrylic added to the matt clear mixture. This some what quick build was on the home stretch so the masking was removed and the pilot side blister was added using Future for the adhesive. This worked quite well so future was applied to all the clear parts and they did look better. The gear doors and propellers were added and after freshing up some of the paint chipping with a Prisma Silver pencil this puppy was done like dinner!

I must say this kit did have a couple of unforeseen issues. I will be making a more detailed second Ventura to go with Tony’s article in a future of Scale Aircraft Modelling and I am still wondering how to approach the main wing join next time…

Cheers, Vic

[Trevor]

Great looking Ventura Vic. I can't wait to see it in person. Between your model and Mike's Lancaster, it looks like Derwin is going to have a hard time awarding his best bomber award in Calgary.

I thought about rushing to finish my Fondrie Miniatures Ventura, but that is one model that can't be rushed. Every step forward results in a side step to fix something else. Straightening the horizontal stabilizer meant I had to fix a thumb sized indent on one of the undersides.

[sabre6]

Great looking Ventura Vic. I can't wait to see it in person. Between your model and Mike's Lancaster, it looks like Derwin is going to have a hard time awarding his best bomber award in Calgary.

I thought about rushing to finish my Fondrie Miniatures Ventura, but that is one model that can't be rushed. Every step forward results in a side step to fix something else. Straightening the horizontal stabilizer meant I had to fix a thumb sized indent on one of the undersides.

Thanks Trevor.

Actually, this Ventura is in the display case below the real Ventura in the museum. I am currently working on a bit-more serious build of Ventura GR.V 'Red R' that is the actual Ventura at the museum. It should be ready for Calgary (don't think Mike has any think to worry about!) and then it too will be in the case. Counting the days to the RMMC Show in Calgary!

Cheers, Vic

[Trevor]

For some time, I've been looking for more information on a Ventura called "Ken's Kan." It was part of the Polar Bear Expedition over the winter of 1944/45, which my grandfather participated in. Thanks to the Ventura Memorial Flight Association website (www.rcafventura.ca), I discovered a whole collection of Polar Bear photos.

I think I'm going to switch my plans and build my little Academy kit as "Ken's Kan", and use another photo from the website to build my FM kit into CF-FAV, as it was with Spartan Air Service. This will match my other 1/48th scale survery birds (2x Mosquito, Hornet, Lightning, Hudson, and B-17) better.

Adding a model of the museum's Ventura as it appeared in civil service would be a nice, and colourful touch.

[sabre6]

The previous build was dealing with the Minicraft Ventura I/II kit. I am currently building a GR.V from the Academy kit. Even though they are suppose to be from the same molds they are somewhat differemt. The Academy mold has more flash and sink marks, but the plastic is a more uniform thickness that makes both the fuselage and nacelle assembly more rigid. On the Minicraft build I had to reinforce both of these areas. Another plus for the Academy kit is that the wing matches the fuselage fillet much better as does the nacelles join.

The first correction done to the kit was filling in the starboard hatch (black wash applied) with super glue and adding some panel lines.

A minor point is the configuration of the wing landing lights. They have an 'arm' attached to the light when in fact there is no external arm extention and it should just show a round landing light. Again the wash shows the engraved panel lines that were filled with super glue, sanded smooth and then the light was drilled open. A card backing was added inside the wing and eventually a clear lens will be added after painting the light well with Humbrol #11 Silver.

The oil intake is wide open so it was framed in with card and a disc representing the oil cooler intake was added to the aft bulkhead.

Trevor, I think Tony will really appreciate your Ventura in the display case.

Cheers, Vic

Edited April 15, 2008 by sabre6

[sabre6]

More progress on the Academy Ventura

While the tail wheel main doors close while the arm is extended, there are two small doors that open to accommodate the gear leg. On the kit, these are represented by a rather thick square near the top of the tail wheel leg. In reality, these very small rectangular doors are attached to the larger doors with a piano hinge. First step was cutting two small rectangles in each tail door and at the same time the panel lines were engraved deeper.

The kit exhaust outlet has the exhaust port as a solid round detail. These were cut off and then the shroud was drilled out. Final step was adding a piece of plastic tubing to represent the exhaust port.

Another assembly that needs some correction are the large carburetor intakes on top of the engine cowlings. The kit items are far too deep and should match the curvature of the cowlings more closely. These were filed down to the proper depth and then card was used to replace the kit surfaces that were sanded away. In addition, the sides were scraped to a gentile curve as the sharp angle in the kit molding is not correct.

Edited April 15, 2008 by sabre6

[IS_]

On the page 65 of "PV Ventura & Harpoon Units of WWII" [Osprey, Combat Aircraft #34] there is a photo of an octopus-adorned PV-1.

The same photo can also be found in "Vega Ventura - The History of the Lockheed's Lucky Star" by Schiffer. I have these photos only as digital copies and the scans I've got are unfortunately of rather poor quality, so that the black tactical number on the fuselage (behind the national insignia) can't be exactly recognized. Maybe in the original paper version it can be better revealed? Any clue would be really appreciated.

[sabre6]

On the page 65 of "PV Ventura & Harpoon Units of WWII" [Osprey, Combat Aircraft #34] there is a photo of an octopus-adorned PV-1.

The same photo can also be found in "Vega Ventura - The History of the Lockheed's Lucky Star" by Schiffer. I have these photos only as digital copies and the scans I've got are unfortunately of rather poor quality, so that the black tactical number on the fuselage (behind the national insignia) can't be exactly recognized. Maybe in the original paper version it can be better revealed? Any clue would be really appreciated.

Contact Tony Jarvis of the Ventura Memorial Flight Association at his email; vmfa@telusplanet.net. These fine folks have the worlds largest data base on the Ventura (I think). If he cannot help you, then I am sure he can point you in the right direction.

Cheers, Vic

Northern Wings

[sabre6]

Construction is moving along. Another detail that is not captured on this kit is the curve aft of the cowling flaps as the transitions to the nacelle starts. There should be a pronounced curved here and to help simulate that, a No 12 blade was used to scrape at least a hint of that curve.

Cheers, Vic

Northern Wings

Edited April 23, 2008 by sabre6