1/48 Revell PV-1 Ventura Tribute Build, NAS Deland, VPB-145, July 29th, 1943 *** FINISHED ***

Started by Louis Gardner · 43 · 1 year ago
  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    This is a build I have been working on for a few years now. I would work a little on it, then box it back up.

    Ironically it is also the last thing I was talking about with Jim Sullivan. He asked me what I was working on, and I told him about this model, sending him some pictures of it.

    This Ventura was originally going to be a tribute to one of the many PV-1 crews that were killed while training here at NAS Deland during World War 2. I have plans to eventually build up another one, and possibly make it as a plane from NAS Sanford, or possibly another one from Deland, but painted in a different paint scheme.

    Our local airport was a very active training base for the US Navy during the War. They trained most of the Navy and Marine Corps pilots in their final advanced stages of flight training, just before they were shipped out overseas. They trained SBD Dauntless, PV-1 Ventura, SB2C Helldiver, and PB4Y Liberator crews here in Deland.

    In the early part of the War, shortly after the base opened up to the Navy in 1942, they were also training F4F Wildcat pilots in the advanced phases of aerial combat.

    Curtis SNC-1 Falcons, and SNJ trainers were also flying out of Deland on a regular basis too.

    F4F Wildcat pilots were also trained here. However they were soon moved nearby to NAS Daytona Beach, and NAS Sanford where "advanced" fighter tactics and training was done. Our local airport was just too busy to accommodate everything going on here at the time.

    There was also a lot of training done at NAS Jacksonville, and it's surrounding outlying fields.

    This will be covered in the main article that I have planned for the headline section on July 29th, which is the 80th anniversary of this tragic but all too common event that happened right here at our airport.


    I'm starting with this kit, which has been an absolute JOY to build so far. The box art for the plane with the octopus is from VPB-133, which was established and trained here in Deland too, just prior to shipping out to the Pacific Theater. Most of the units that trained here went on to serve in the Atlantic against the U-Boats. Some of the units trained here were sent to the Pacific and also to Alaska.

    This is what I had originally planned to build. This is a plane from VPB-132, as they would have looked when stationed here in Deland. I have found a lot of PV-1 flight training accidents that happened in our area, with numerous fatalities.

    VPB-132 lost a crew here in Deland on July 5th, 1943 on a flight as the unit was deploying to NAS Boca Chica near Key West, Florida. There were 8 fatalities on board. It crashed 2 miles away from the airport. The accident scene was listed as "2 miles west" of the airport.

    The unit was leaving Naval Air Station Deland headed for the Florida Keys before going further south to patrol the Caribbean Sea and Atlantic Ocean for German U Boats. They had just finished their training.

    There were other lost nearby from other PV-1 units as they trained. Originally I wanted to do a plane from this unit since I had this photo. By the time I had realized the July 5th date had already passed, it was too late.

    So I chose to do a plane from VPB-145 instead. I'm building this kit up as a plane from VPB-145 that crashed here with 3 fatalities on July 29th, 1943. It's Bureau Number 34623, and it was destroyed by fire. I'll be using the picture shown here as a reference, changing the numbers accordingly.

    This will hopefully give me enough time to get it done and posted in time as a tribute to those lost.



    Here is the work I had already done. I can say this kit goes together just as nicely as anything Tamiya or Hasegawa has done. The fit has been spot on and no flash is present. Granted there are some things wrong with it as far as being completely accurate. The engine cowlings, exhaust, have been mentioned, but the main thing is the propellers.

    But I had planned to build it straight from the box. That is until our new little kitten decided to chew on one of the propellers ! So I ordered a replacement set from Sprue brothers, and hopefully it will arrive in time.

    We shall see.

    I have made a lot more progress on this build. I am now at the painting stage... and waiting on the props to arrive.

    So please stay tuned for updates.

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Great to see a Ventura build Louis!

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Thanks David ! David Mills (@davem)

    This is one that we normally don’t see too many of. I’m really surprised by this because the 1/48 Revell kit is a sweetheart.







    Here’s a few more pictures showing some of the details of what has been done so far.

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    The cockpit was built...



    I used some masking tape for the seat belts.

    Then it was carefully glued into the fuselage half.

    The clear fuselage "astro" dome was added next.

    The fuselage halves were joined together, and the fit was really nice.


    This is what can be seen once it's all buttoned up.

    The landing gear was detailed. Now these parts are ready to install.

    I borrowed a set of depth charges from an Accurate Minature's TBF Avenger. I'm seriously thinking about adding them to the bomb bay load. Some of these units were known by what was called an OTU, or Operational Training Unit. This means they were actually training, but in the event they stumbled across a German submarine, they were expected to attack it.

    There were some recorded cases of where whales were attacked by accident...

    As always, comments are encouraged. Thanks !

  • Profile Photo
    Pedro L. Rocha said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    @lgardner
    Hey Louis, I’ve never seen that kit upclose but those finished builds I see posted here and there gave me the same idea you describe about it, a good one from Revell.
    I’ll be following along and see those navy colours painted soon 😉

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Pedro L. Rocha (@holzhamer)
    Hey buddy ! It's good to hear from you. Yes this kit is every bit as good as what you have been thinking about it. It took just a tiny amount of filler just ahead of the windshield. This could have been due to how I attached the nose sections though. I deviated from the instructions and glued each nose section half to the corresponding fuselage half first. This is not how the instructions call for it to be done. They would have you add the completed nose to the fuselage after everything was glued together.

    The other place it needed just a tiny amount was under the nose, near the signaling lamps, just forward of the bomb bay.

    I already have painted the Flat White color on the undersides. I'm ready to spray the Intermediate Blue next.

    Right now I'm playing catch up to get this journal caught up to where I am.

    Thanks for the comments.

  • Profile Photo
    Eric Berg said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    You’re really moving along with this Ventura. Having built the RAF version, I can validate this is one of Revell’s best in modern times and I enjoyed it immensely. I note that Academy is now releasing their version of Revell’s V-1 tooling with new markings.

    Looking great Louis@lgardner

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Here’s another update.

    Now that I am in the painting stage, and especially after I know how everything fits together, I will definitely do things differently on my next one.

    There’s no reason to permanently glue the wings on at this point, but I did. Mistake number one.

    The tail section is such a nice fit that I still have not glued it in place yet. It’s held in merely by friction. This will allow you to paint your kit a lot easier if you leave the wings off until they are completely done.


    You can see how nice the wing to fuselage joint is in this photo. No filler is required here. None. Nada. Zip. Bill. Nope. Nothing at all. Easy Peasy lemon squeezee !

    Yeah I’m getting another one soon. You can count on that ! It will definitely be assembled a bit differently though.



    The engine cowlings were added. The fit was perfect here too.

    The engine details are good enough for me too right out of the box. This is simply paint and a light wash. I could have added some ignition harness wires. I’m on a time crunch so not happening on this one. Maybe I’ll do it on the next one. Time will tell.

    The clear parts are added on now. They fit perfectly too.

    The turret was installed now as well. The turret frame was nothing more than clear seams that were held together with MEK solvent. So there are no metal frames here.

    I masked off the entire clear part of the turret. I’m fairly certain that it was manufactured by Martin.


    On the earlier version of the Ventura there was a clear plexiglass window under the nose. On the later versions there was a gun pack added that held 3 machine guns in .050 caliber. Combine that with the other two weapons that are fixed in the forward section of the nose, and then they often locked the turret in the straight ahead position and centered, adding two more .050’s.

    The Ventura was a very good weapon when used as a strafing platform. It was almost as good as a B-25, and probably better than the A-20 as far as weight of combined fire is concerned.

    Ma deuce will get it done. Actually I think it was called the M-3 when used in aircraft.

    This is a picture that one of my crew members took of me firing a “Ma Deuce”. You can see the links falling out of the weapon and they’re blurry.

    I have personally fired them on numerous occasions. It’s a VERY impressive weapon and if I ever hit the lottery. 😂

    One can always hope.


    The stinger was assembled and installed next. Here again the fit was perfect. Most of this part gets masked up.



    This is what the Ventura looks like at this point. It didn’t take long to get here either. It’s been almost a perfect build so far.

    As always comments are encouraged. Thanks for stopping by.

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    What a great update, my friend @lgsrdner! Your Ventura looks superb so far!

  • Profile Photo
    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Some really great progress done, Louis @lgardner

  • Profile Photo
    Pedro L. Rocha said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    @lgardner
    Louis, those engines are very neatly painted, very impressive detail!
    And also your photos are self explanatory, almost no filler needed. I always though this was an older mould but scalemates pointed me 2011

  • Profile Photo
    David Mills said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Great progress Louis - really looking forward to the paint on this !

  • Profile Photo
    Louis Gardner said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Spiros Pendedekas (@fiveten)
    John vd Biggelaar (@johnb)
    Thanks my friends !

    Pedro L. Rocha (@holzhamer)
    Yes these engines are very nice as is straight from the box. I have seen where they make a replacement set of exhaust for this one. That might be a good idea, and something I will consider for the next one. but before I order a set of them for the next build, I want to see how these look once painted and "dirtied up" a bit first. I picked this kit up at our somewhat local Hobbytowne when it first came out. Wow ! It's hard to believe I have had it in the stash for this long, but I don't doubt it.

    David Mills (@davem)
    Your wait is over my friend. I have posted up a little progress, showing the Flat White after it was sprayed on. Please stay tuned, for tomorrow I will try to post up more painting photos.

    Thanks everyone for your kind comments.

    Here’s tonight’s update. The Non Specular White was sprayed on.


    The bomb bay and landing gear doors were painted.

    As were the Lockheed style drop tanks. I’m pretty sure they used these on the P-38 as well.



    Here’s what the underside looks like at this point. I had to come back and repaint the Interior Green color later. The White over spray was on everything, but tonight I fixed that. Pictures of this will be posted tomorrow.


    Remember earlier when I said that our little kitten had been chewing on one of the propellers ? Well here’s what the damage looks like.

    I originally wanted to do this as an out of the box build but this changed after the encounter with the kitten's teeth.

    This setback was really a blessing in disguise because from what I’ve heard the kit propellers are not really good to begin with. There's some stuff written about the size of the blades being incorrect. I believe these planes were equipped with the wider blades, that looked more like the "combat" prop on the Corsair. Keep in mind these PV-1's also used the R-2800 engine too, so that very well could be a possibility.

    I ordered a new replacement set of props from Sprue Brothers and they are supposed to arrive in a few days.

    I have made more progress with painting the Ventura since I took these pictures.

    The bomb and landing gear bays were repainted with a color that is very similar to Interior Green.

    As always comments are encouraged.

    Thanks for stopping by.

  • Profile Photo
    Spiros Pendedekas said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Awesome progress, my friend @lgardner! I think this cat knew what to chew! 😄

  • Profile Photo
    John vd Biggelaar said 1 year, 3 months ago:

    Great progress, Louis @lgardner
    Seems like your cat tried to make you clear that those propellors should not be used.