Here's another airplane I never thought would get the treatment of an accurate, high-quality injection-molded kit, but whenever you think that, Eugen Evtushenko of Dora Wings says "Hold my Pilsener!"

The kit was designed on a laptop at night in a bunker on the Donetsk Front where Eugen's day job was plinking invading Russkies. I find it totally amazing that the bleeding edge of scale modeling is still Ukraine, regardless of Putin's failed daydream.

The Vultee "Vanguard" is one of World War II's lesser-known aircraft. Research pulls up the fact that it shares 75% of its airframe with the Vultee BT-13 Valiant, aka the "Vibrator" (for its "shaky Jake" powerplant) trainer. Vultee's idea was a basic trainer, an advanced trainer and then an operational aircraft, all using essentially the same airframe.

The P-66 was as shaky as the BT-13, so it might not have been the powerplant that was the culprit. Originally designed in 1938 with the company designation V-48, it was quickly overtaken by the revolution in aircraft design that happened immediately before the war; things were not helped by problems associated with engine cooling and it wasn't till the third prototype when they went with a conventional cowling that things improved. The airplane came into existence when Sweden ordered 144 V-48Cs, which were sequestered by the USAAC in the summer of 1941. After Perl Harbor, 50 were retained by the USAAFnd designated P-66; they were utilized by the freshly-created 14th Fighter Group for defense of the West Coast. Pilots liked its handling, but it had a tendency to group loop, leading to the loss of 15 in service with the 14th FG.

The British took 100 V-48s, naming them "Vanguard" and planning to use them as advanced fighter trainers in Canada. That didn't work out and they were relinquished in the summer of 1942. 104 P-66s were sent to China under Lend-Lease. None apparently ever got into first-line ROCAF service, but there are photos of them on Chinese airfields with US markings. In late 1942, afte4r some 50 got to China, 14 of them were assigned to the 74th Fighter Squadron of the 23rd Fighter Group, USAAF, though they saw little service and there is no combat record. Two ROCAF sqaudrons in 3rd and 5th Fighter Groups saw operational service in 1943; many were destroyed on the ground in JAAF strafing attacks and several were shot down when they were mistakenly identified as Ki. 43s. They were replaced by P-40s at the end of the summer of 1943.

The kit is as nice as we have come to expect from Dora Wings. The surface detail is very nice, with petite riveting. Successful assembly requires that you rememer that while it will look like a Tamiya or Eduard model when finished, it is a "high end limited-run" kit. Test fit three times before gluing once.

If you like kits of airplanes that aren't SpitfireHurricaneBf109P51Fw190Zeros, this is one to pick up. I'm liking it a lot.

1 attached image. Click to enlarge.

Your description makes clear this is a great kit, Tom @tcinla
Thanks indeed for the historical background of this aircraft.

I've assembled and finished it now. Full review at Modeling Madness tomorrow. Attaching the engine mounts to the engine sub asembly instead of the firewall makes the more-difficult connection to the engine backplate much easier, then just slide it in.

Take care in assembly, test fit four times before gluing once, remember that a "high end limited-run" kit is a limited run kit.

8 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Good progress, Tom @tcinla
Looking forward to the post.

I'm one of those modelers who have wanted one of these since forever and as soon as it became available, I ordered one. I like it more for the way it looks and not as concerned that it didn't fare so well in actual use. Its the same with the Curtiss CW-21 and Republic P-35 (both also order from Dora Wings at the same time). Something about underdog aircraft appeals to me. Long before the Dora Wings P-43 Lancer came out, I tackled the Classic Airframes version. That kit was limited run, let me tell you. But another underdog.