Dora Wings Vultee P-66 Vanguard
Hi All!
First, let me say that the people at Dora Wings are getting kits out under the conditions that they are ( the War) impresses me greatly, so any grievances are really superficial and are to warn you of any pitfalls. I have ordered several kits directly from them, it is safe.
This is about their new kit, DW48050 Vultee P-66 Vanguard. The Vanguard did not play any real factor in the war. It was ordered by the Swedes but was caught up in the chaos at the start of the war in the US and Sweden was embargoed from deliveries of weapons. They were offered to the RAF, which rejected them. Many were then sent to India fro Chinese use. Though some were rarely used by the Chinese the majority were abandoned in India and allowed to rot. The US Army did use the P-66 for coastal defense in California with the 14th Pursuit Group, and as advanced trainers.
The kit is nicely molded with trace amounts of flash here and there. The surface detail is absolutely wonderful. And parts, with excess plastic and paint removed from the mating surfaces, fit very well. Only trace amounts of filler were used. he kit comes with RAF and Royal Swedish Air Force decals, a fret of etched brass and canopy masks.
First of all the instructions are incomplete, parts are missing numbers, and are missing a step or two. So you need to follow what they have on the sheet, but be able to interpret what is missing. Also, work in an area where you do not have a carpet monster. There are a lot of small parts which like to leap off of the sprue and commit suicide in that carpet monster.
Some small details: I used the plastic parts for the instrument panel as they had better detailing than the etched parts. I needed to rebuild a cockpit side due to it being a short shot. I used stretched sprue and a photocopy of the other side as a guide. Fit 5 times and glue once as the instructions can be nebulous as to the position of parts. TAKE YOUR TIME and try to allow steps to cure before moving on. Most of the kit went together well, but there are a LOT of very small parts.
The engine needs careful fitting of the parts and careful fitting of the engine on the mount. Some of the instructions are a bit nebulous here. When assembling the cowl, the instructions do not mention etched part 11, which is the grill for the intake at the top of the cowl opening. Now the cowl flaps. The kit supplies etched flaps and they are a huge pain in the butt. They bend at the individual flap indentations and there is nothing for the crazy glue to grab onto. So I tried ten thousandth plastic card. It was too thin and would not glue down. So I cut individual flaps out and then glued them on using 20 thou card. It is not perfect, but it is my kit. The cowl fits very well, and there was sufficient area to cement it.
The landing gear is in scale, and this presents its own issues. The mount for the gear on the upper wing is just a depression. I used liquid cement to fix it, then I used crazy glue to strengthen the joint. Now another ugly problem raised its head. The wheel cover, the torque link lower joint, and the small gear door are all glued to the same place. Although I used liquid glue, the plastic softened and became very flexible. So I was forced to let the kit set for several days. If I ever do another P-66 I will use crazy glue here.
As I was doing a USAAF P-66 the model was painted Olive Drab (ANA613) and Neutral Grey using Vallejo paints. When cured, Future applied for a gloss coat for the decals, which came from the spares box. The Microscale system was used to apply the decals. When the decals were dry, a second coat of Future was applied and a final coat of flat clear was sprayed on.
Time for the final bits. The prop had blades that were shaped well, but the hub did not look like a Hamilton Standard hub. Out came the parts box and a suitable prop was found ( though I have no idea where it came from), the landing light was attached, the canopy was painted Olive Drab (ANA613), and the backlight ( rearmost part) of the canopy part number H4 was used. Finally, the navigation lights were missing from the sprue. So I used blobs of Testors White Canopy cement for them. And the Dora Wings P-66 was FINALLY finished.
The kit represents a Vultee P-66 Vanguard serial number 42-6902 of the 14th Pursuit Group for Western Coastal Defense. This aircraft subsequently was transferred to an advanced training base.
I know this kit is a "limited run" kit, with all the issues that come with these kits. Such as fit 5 times glue once, and parts cleanup, you will need to work with etched and resin parts, which often do not fit, and scratch building parts that were omitted. This kit had all of that except the resin parts. But the worst failing of this kit was the instructions. Steps were missing and necessary parts were not even mentioned. When you endeavor to persevere when finished the kit is a good-looking model of an obscure type. I can only recommend this kit, the Dora Wings P-66 to those who have several limited-run kits under their belt.
Bruce
Well done, Bruce!
A very nice result, Bruce @rbrucearcher
Very inspirational Bruce, for when I get the current manuscript finished and can do some modeling - my P-66 awaits.
Now hopefully Dora Wings will do a P-64
I´m going to quote myself from DoraWing´s facebook page regarding the markings for the Swedish marking variants. This is according to the marking standards of the time as no aircraft were delivered, so any Vultees would be purely What if. If you have any questions regarding RSwAF markings, let me know.
"Hi, fantastic you release this model! However, I´d like to point out some unfortunate problems with the Swedish markings.
To follow the official marking documents the green/grey machine´s m/40 markings should have the wing number (black 13) to the left on BOTH sides and NO crown markings on upper wings.
Have no issues with NMF scheme as this is in same look as the J9s delivered to Sweden before they got camouflage paint. If omitting the "5" on the rudder it will look like they did at the factory in California before being embargoed.
For those with an interest in Swedish markings one can also do a later m/44 scheme consisting of crown markings on both sides of wings and fuselage, yellow wing number between fin and fuselage crown markings, a coloured (red, blue or yellow) letter on the fin."
Bruce it appears you conquered all of the hiccups on this rare aircraft kit. Enjoyed your detailed post which I'm sure will be helpful for those of us wanting to build this limited run model. Nicely done, she looks good.
"Endeavor to persevere" A Josie fan, eh? Just have to forgive Dora for persevering with those etched cowl flaps. Nice looking job on a challenging kit.
Yes I am a Josie Wales fan. But that is what you need to do to build this kit.
Bruce
Great result on that build. I'm a Dora Wings fan simply because they release interesting subjects no one else does. True, if you start a Dora Wings kit, you need to be prepared to be patient, do some scratch building, extra research, and learn to read between the lines with the instructions. I've struggled with some of their kits more than others, but the raw materials are there to get a nicely detailed model. Their decals are superb. My hat's off to those brave Ukranians for pressing ahead with life in the middle of a nasty war. Looking forward to getting my own Vanguard!
The CW-21B was a great kit, and easy to do. This one...now perhaps I'll start the Vengeance.
Nicely done Bruce.
I'm a big fan of unusual subjects, and this is one of those! It looks good - well done!
Great looking model and review, Bruce. Great subject! Have always liked the look of the P-66, with it's wide track landing gear and the Vought Kingfisher-esque look of the rudder & stabilizer. Although it didn't do much in the history books, it certainly looked the part.
Hat's off to Dora Wings for coming out with their subject lineup of kits. Have been collecting their kits for the stash ever since they came out with an injection molded P-63 in 1/48. Looking forward to the P-47B and MS 406.
Great result on what doesn’t appear to be an easy kit, salute to Dora Wings.