Get well soon, Joel! I also had to fight a cold just the week when I was at the expo in Basel/Switzerland. And I was successful. Just the day before the expo started, the cold was gone.
Your Ventura proceeds well. Nice detailing on the wheel wells. But where are the engines now? Or will it become a heavy glider ....?

Torsten,
Thanks. I hate head colds if for no other reason then it's next to impossible to look down without nasal issues getting worse. Glad to hear that you beat your cold just in the nick of time. Mine isn't getting any better, but other then a slight fever today, it's not any worse.

I've primed and bases coated both Quickboost resin cowls separately, but I'll have to temp glue them to the engine base plates to do the camo paint scheme.

As for the engines, I've opted for the resin upgrade set from Quickboost, but other then cutting and preparing the bases, I haven't touched them as yet. I don't plan on installing them till after the build is just about done as one of the last steps.

Joel

I've gotten through the basic coats of Dark Slate Gray for the top, and dirty old faded White for the bottom. I've yet to figure out how to replicate clear dope over the taped plexi nose cone. I'm leaning towards a very light Kaki at this point.

Depending on the lighting I used for the pictures, the blotchiness for the Dark Slate Gray looks like what you see in the 2nd photo rather then a much more dramatic difference between the two colors as seen in the previous post. In real life, it's much closer to the later picture.

previous post


current post




And one of the bottom of the PV-1


I want to do an overall light coat of white over the entire bottom to lighten and blend it a little bit. The top side color really needs a little more fading to both blend the blotchiness, and also to show the effects of the salt water and sun.

Not sure if I should even out the demarcation lines on the engine cowls, or just leave them this way.

The original pattern for the top was a camo scheme with Extra Dark Sea Gray, which is a very darkish Green/Gray. The problem I have with doing that is the research that Aviaeology,the decal maker did, which was very extensive with pictures to back up what they have produced, is that the WAC (Western Air Command) Venturas towards the end of the war, when repainted just went with the Dark Slate Gray. The aircraft I'm modeling: either Ventura GR.V 2185 M or the 8(BR) Sqn. late 1944-45 or Ventura GR.V 2192 A 8(BR) Sqn. summer 1945, so both should only have a single very faded upper surface.

Joel

Well done JW!
Your approach to the paintwork is proper,very impressive.

Steve,
Thanks for stopping by. I appreciate your most positive comments.

Joel

Reminds me of a shark, Joel. Very eye appealing!

Looking forwards to more,

Gary

Finally something that looks like an aircraft now :-) !



Magnus

Joel, love the paint scheme. I agree with Gary.....looks like a shark!!!!!


Best wishes,


Ian

Gary,
Thanks for the thumbs up.
Joel

Hey Magnus,
I sure was hoping that eventually the PV-1 would look exactly like that

Joel

Ian,
Glad you like how the paint scheme is turning out. I'm still going to give the White a blotchy over coat as some of the areas are a might to Gray. Also want to lighten the top for a more weathered effect.

Joel

Nice paintjob so far. Will your Ventura have a yellow tail band?



Jelger

Jelger,
Thanks for stopping by, and appreciating the start of the paint process to date.

Honestly, I'm still thinking if I want to do one of the two versions that had yellow rudders. They're for the summer of 1945 Polar Bear missions. I'm leaning towards the operational units from the WAC during the 1944 period, but the yellow rudders do add just a touch of color.

Joel

Time for what is becoming my weekly update.

I finally attached the vertical stabilizers to the horizontal stabilizer after just a little filing and sanding to remove paint from the mounting surfaces.

Next up was glossing the entire PV-1 to get ready for decaling. For glossing I've been using Winsor & Newton's Artists' Acrylic Gloss UV Varnish cut with Tamiya's X20-A thinner. The tack coat was thinned 1:1. The 1st wet coat was thinned 2:3. I gave that a day to dry, then a final wet coat thinned 2:4. After a few days to cure, I polished the gloss out with a 12,000 mesh pad followed by a old soft piece of T shirt. A tack rag removed whatever lint was left.

The Canadian PV-1 Ventura GR.V 2185 M 149 Sqn. circa March 1944 is from the Aviaeology decal sheet " Venturas in Canada 3", that Jessica was so kind to send to me. As her decal review stated, there is a wealth of resource material and pictures printed on the instruction sheet. Something that I've never seen before.

As for their decals, the colors and registration is absolutely perfect. Each decal is individually printed which a bare min of flash around it. Even the letters are trimmed rather then printed on a square. That makes the silvering issues that much less of an issue. It also makes handling them, and working them into position a rather delicate operation. I did manage to tear one "M", but the leg lined up perfectly, and you can't see the repair.

Each decal was soaked in warm water for 30 sec, then placed on a piece of paper towel till the decal moved freely.

As with my last few builds, I've adopted a modified decaling procedure that Paul Budzik uses. Basically it's the Microscale system with Solvaset as the 3rd and last step. Works perfectly every time.

The Aviaeology decals aren't the thinnest, but certainly by no means are they too thick. Just seams to me to be the perfect thickness so that they don't stretch or tear easily. But you can tear them as I did, if you're not careful enough.

There aren't many markings on the PV-1. Roundels on the top of both wings, each fuselage side and with the Sqn. letter and plane number. There are no markings at all on the bottom of the wings. Something that I found as rather strange considering it was war time, and every other aircraft I can recall has marking on at least one lower wing.







I'll give the decals a few days to really dry, then a coat of gloss varnish again. And then start the weathering process.

Joel

Beautiful! The wing roundels really fit the color of the wings.



Jelger

Jelger,
Thanks so much for stopping and appreciating the decaling, although it's as basic as it can get numbers wise.

The roundels do match the upper surfaces nicely, but don't forget that the Matt varnish will lighten it back up. I'm assuming it will do the same for the intensity of the decal colors.

Joel

That looks really nice, Joel. And the RCAF markings make it even look nicer. But don't do too much weathering on it. Don't spoil it! Well, you know my opinion about that stuff, don't you ...
When I will get my hand on my 2nd Ventura, I also plan a camo like that but with USN markings. But until then a lot of water will run down the river ....

Torsten,

Thanks for stopping by. I always appreciate your feedback.

I'm not planning on going overboard with the weathering. Panel lines, engine exhausts, and a little wear and tear. Nothing like what I attempted on my F2A-3 Buffalo. That would be over kill on PV-1. The Canadians kept their aircraft in pretty good condition towards the end of the war from the pictures I have.

I'll do my best not to spoil it. Looking forward to your 2nd PV-1 build.

Joel

Joel, it really looks good. I love the Grey over White scheme. Great job getting a uniform curve with the de-icing boots on the vertical stabs too. Looking forward to another update.

Best wishes,


Ian

Looks quite exceptional, Joel. I really enjoy your paintwork complimented by the decals.

Gary

Gary,
Thanks so much for stopping by. I'm thrilled that you like my decaling efforts, but the real hero is Aviaeolgy for creating those perfect decals.
Joel

Ian,
Thanks you for your most kind words.

As for the de-icing boots on the vertical stabilizers, they were the main reason why I left them off from the Horizontal Stabilizers as I figured that it would have been near impossible to do the masking.

The masking was more trial and error then anything else. 1st I tried laying the vertical stabilizer on a piece of Tamiya 18 mil tape and tracing the outline. The mask was close but I never got the radius curves consistent enough, so the boots always looked to wavy. I ended up using some 1/8 inch artist masking tape I bought a few years ago. It took me several attempts to get the curve to flow nicely but not perfectly. But it's good enough to fool ones eye, especially in pictures.
Joel

Your build is looking excellent Joel. The decals really draw the eye in and are a good foil to the grey and white colour of the airframe. I know you have been experimenting with the weathered look from previous builds Joel. Your progression through experience is very impressive.
Keep up the excellent work.
tim

Tim,
Thanks for stopping by. I really do appreciate your most positive comments.

I'm getting closer to a repeatable weathering procedure, varying it according to the when and where of the aircraft I'm building.

Joel

It seems, i missed a lot of fine modelling here, Joel. Your Ventura looks great and will be a very nice addition to your 1/48 collection.