With the inspiration of @j-healy's work on his Vengeance model, I started work on mine.

I differed from what John did and what the instructions call for in assembling the wings first and then attaching them and the horizontal stabilizers to the fuselage halves before proceeding further. this allowed me to work the joints from both sides, and avoid any gaps. I also had no problem with the "butt-joined" wing/fuselage, because I could work it that way.

I also then proceeded to assemble the cockpit into the right fuselage half, and will now proceed to paint it.

I'm thinking of closing the bomb bay, but having found better bombs in a Tamiya P-47 kit, I'm not certain I won't finish the bomb bay open.

I also highly recommend this book, which gives a very detailed history of the Vengeance in RAF service in the CBI Theatre. The author takes strong exception to the Official Story of the Vengeance As Failure, and presents a lot of evidence to the contrary.

2 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Looking good, Tom. I’m going to start painting mine today.

Good start, Tom (@tcinla). Looking forward to see what you do with this one.

Here it is assembled.

The Red Roo vac canopy, designed for the AZ kit, is Wrong Wrong Wrong. Incorrect size and dimensions, poor molding and little visibility through it due to the distortion. Forget it.

It turns out that the aerodynamics of this airplane were so poor (the wing is shaped the way it is because they got the CG wrong in the initial design) that the airplane flew better with the canopies closed, and the rear canopy was only open if they had sighted enemy aircraft. Fortunately, the kit clear parts are very clear (as can be seen in these photos) and having the canopy closed makes what's there in the cockpit look better. I will attach the rear glass after all is painted, so I can mount the guns.

The kit's rear guns are the wrong size. They're .50 calibers. I will use the rear guns from an old Dauntless kit in the spares box, which are right for the airplane.

I closed up the bomb bay because as ugly as this thing is, it is less ugly with the bomb nay closed.

The ferschlugginah p-e cowling flaps defeated me. I used 10-mil sheet styrene and made my own. Which stay when glued.

Thanks to @j-healy for the serial number decals, that arrived yesterday.

Oh yeay - I also used Eduard seat belts. Much better.

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

@j-healy - You are Wellllcome. 🙂

Great progress indeed, my friend @tcinla!

Here it is painted. The Vengeance was painted in Vultee's version of "Lend Lease colors," which were DuPont "Dark Earth" (which differs from the RAF color in being a little lighter and a bit more yellow), which I did with my Tamiya mixture of XF-52 Flat Earth, XF-51 Khaki Drab, and XF-3 Flat Yellow, then lightened with a bit more yellow for one pass then a bit of white for a second to simulate fading.. The Green is US Medium Green, for which I used Tamiya XF-26 "Deep Green", lightened first with some XF-19 Sky Grey then XF-2 Flat White for fading. The underside color is XF-19 sky Grey, lightened with a bit of Flat White.

This is going to end up as an airplane from 110 Squadron in 1943, in "standard" RAF markings (i.e., red centers) before the SEAC markings.

the Yellow Zinc Chromate is XF-3 Flat Yellow with a bit of XF-4 Yellow-Green.

5 attached images. Click to enlarge.

Exellent paintwork, Tom @tcinla