Revell 1/48 Ventura Mk. II RAF -Review and Build-

I am looking forward to this.

I'm looking forward to this too.  I just finished a MK I  Hudson in 1/72 scale ,which is esentially the same plane without the belly gun configuration.  during the build I was wishing it was a 1/48 scale.  These pre-WWII  aircraft are my favorite subjects.  by pre war I mean just prior to the US getting involved or planes built in the late 30's  early 40's

I've always thought this was a pretty cool looking airplane. Probably not as popular a subject because of it's dismal record...and it's not all that sexy...but heck is a B-25 really any sexier? It was just a heck of a plane which fuels it's popularity.

decided to remove the larger main assembly pieces from the sprues, clean them up, and see how well they would mock up with nothing but tape. Everything fits together well. The wings snap into a recess in the sides of the fuselage. They are so secure you could easily finish them separately and attach at the end of the build. Tail surfaces also click firmly into place with ease. I also wanted to get a sense of how well the clear pieces would fit, so I tacked on the nose and windscreen; no issues. With this in mind, I really look forward to a painless build.

Just finished reading "The Last Flight of Bomber 31" which documents the WWII Arctic air campaign, which primarily employed the PV-1 in long range unescorted missions against Japanese targets in the North Pacific. Great book and a real eye opener for me; I had never paid any attention to that theater. It's also got a lot of info on the Ventura in operation, and some reference photos. There's a Nova (PBS) program available that focuses more on the on the forensics of the crash site than the campaign, but it's interesting as well.

Mike

A "painless build " is what I need right now after grinding through 3 troublesome aircraft  builds lately. I think this Ventura is going to be my next build .  thanks so much for posting yours.

I thrive on unpopular builds...bring em on .

I've got a big update coming sometime tonight but I'll tell you I've pretty much cleared the sprues doing sub assembly work. This kit is about as painless as you can get it seems. Try one out Jay. You'll like it.

The first thing I decided to do was to go through the instructions and gather up everything I could that needed to be shot with interior green. Doing so - assembling as many subassemblies as possible – left me with a couple of empty sprues, and a few with not much left on them. This won’t be a complicated build at all.

The other preliminary step I took was to deal with the clear parts. I removed each part from the sprue (excluding the smaller ones which were left with one attachment point) and cleaned them up. I also used some Novus polish and buffed out the larger pieces with a soft cotton cloth.

 After this was done I soaked the clear pieces overnight in Windex. The next day these were rinsed well and each piece was dipped in a bath of Future. Dipping the pieces in Future really goes a long way to making your clear parts look more like glass. 

Process:

1. Grip the piece with tweezers and dip into a cup of Future.
2. It helps to gently agitate the piece while submerged. This will help reduce bubbles forming on the part.
3. Slowly remove the piece taking care to ensure the Future coats the entire part.
4. Allow excess to drip then gently touch a leading edge of the piece to a paper towel. This will wick off excess.
5. Place the part on a paper towel lined box or plastic container and cover with a lid (Obviously situate the part in a manner that it doesn’t rest on a part that will be clear).
6. Set the parts aside and allow them to dry. Future is self-leveling so don’t worry about pooling…though you don’t want large buildups. I would recommend at least two days drying time; however, I do this early in the build and allow at least a week.
7. After a few hours check the pieces. Sometimes the Future won’t level out just right, or there may be a part that was missed. You can clean the part off with Windex and give it another go.

You can see the difference Future makes in the clarity below:

From this point on in the build I will outline the WIP in the order of the instructions. If there is some time between updates it’s because I am jumping around doing work in a more logical manner, but I will post step-by-step insights for each significant step in the instructions. The next update will be Step 1 and so forth.

Stage One: Cockpit and Fuselage

So let’s start at the most logical place…the cockpit. The point of a build review, in my mind, isn’t to highlight painting and weathering tips. By my estimation, the build review should focus on kit build-ability. With that in mind we will break the build up into logical steps and address the following key factors: engineering, fit, and detail. I also cover any issues I think the builder should watch for, but I suspect there won’t be much need for this.

By engineering I mean the design decision in how pieces go together. Fit and detail are self-explanatory.

Detail: 2.5/5

Cockpit and fuselage interior detail is going to leave a bit to be desired for the more detail-obsessed modeler. That being said, the nature of the aircraft design means that you aren’t going to have the best of views into the cockpit and fuselage interior.

Airplane cockpits are very busy affairs, but there isn’t much going on in this one. The sidewall detail is nothing more than a few raised panels. Some decals from the spares, and some added wiring could spice these up a bit.

The cockpit “tub” is ok. The seats have molded on belts that don’t compare to aftermarket fabric belts, but in 1/48 I think that’s overkill on a bomber cockpit that will barely be visible. Surprisingly, (as is often not the case on kits I’ve built in the past) the IP decals are not oversized compared to the recess provided for them. The decals also perform well. They settled into the detail with one coat of setting solution.

The bomb bay detail is rather nice with molded in plumbing. Detail painting and a wash makes this area pop, but it will be hard to see on the completed model. I’m still glad it’s there.

The positives here are that structural ribbing detail is present at the rear where it may be possible to see through the gunner’s position. However, I’m a little surprised by the lack of even some basic interior detail. Revell’s much older bomber kits attempt to provide some interior bits even if a bit simplified. Again, it’s likely going to be very hard to see into the body of the model.

Engineering: 4/5

I feel like rating engineering could go either way. Do you give a high rating in a case like with this kit where the design is simplistic and easy enough for a builder at any skill level? Or, do you mark the kit down for not being more imaginative? I go with the former. As I’ve seen with kits from makers like Trumpeter, complicated engineering doesn’t always equate to more and better detail. It sure doesn’t always equate to easier builds either.

One little piece of advice I’d give is to watch for the instruction callout to install the nose landing light piece. You can see in the picture below where this piece should go. The instructions would have you install before joining the fuselage halves. I’d advise to hold off on this. Otherwise addressing the join seam here on the underside is going to be a bit of a headache. Getting to this location to install the piece will be easy enough after seam clean up.

Fit: 5/5

With the interior bits straightened away we moved to closing the fuselage. The fit all around is as good as it gets; both the cockpit tub and bomb bay click into place. Joining the fuselage together is a snap. No filler needed here.

The fuselage is joined; so, next up we will address wing detail assembly and installing them to the fuselage body. Stay tuned.

Nice review so far.  I agree with your assessment of the engineering...a smart, clever, and well fitted build doesn't have to mean novice.  =]

Thanks Dflu.  I'm enjoying your thread.  Very informative.  Its nice to see someone actually have success with Future.  That new incarnation of it is elcrapola and it will not cure.  You must have an old bottle.  Thank you for posting

Joe

Did they change the stuff again? The bottle I have is a couple of years old. I will not use it for anything but canopies anymore. Had too many problems with it reacting to mineral spirits and/or oils. I've had a couple of instances where it didn't cure on clear parts but I chalked it up to there being too much excess on the paper towel in the box with it. Coupled with the heat and humidity where I'm at it I figured it caused humidity in the box which stopped it from drying completely.

I'm staying tuned, and enjoying very much, ty

Stage Two: Wing and Main Body Assembly

With the fuselage closed up and seams addressed it’s time to move to the wing and main body assembly.
The wing assembly is pretty straightforward. Be sure to install the clear wing lights in each lower wing half. I painted the backs of these with silver paint instead of leaving them clear.



The detail inside the gear bays is pretty good on it’s own. I do question the decision to mold the entire thing in one piece. I feel that the better option would have been to supply the oil tanks as separate pieces, but painting them with a brush was not at all difficult. The ribbing detail provides a great opportunity to enhance the depth of the parts with a wash.

The engine nacelles are provided as two pieces that come together to be joined onto the wing assembly. These fit perfectly, just note that the line made where they join the wing parts do not fall on natural panel lines, so those will need to be dealt with.



One criticism I have of the kit is that the builder is only supplied with parts for depicting the engine cowl flaps in the closed position. Not a deal breaker really, but a lot of modelers like to display these open. The piece with the cowl serves as a mounting point for the engines. Modifying to open cowls would be a good bit of work; probably not worth the effort to most, but some options here from Revell would have been welcome.



With the wings assembled they were then attached to the fuselage. I must say this kit makes this task as simple as you could ask. The wings snugly snap into recesses molded into the fuselage. You could easily paint the wings separate from the fuselage before installing if you so wished.



Also at this time the tail assembly was finished off and installed. This is another completely painless assembly that snaps into place so well that glue isn’t necessary.



With the wings and tail complete all that was really left to do with main assembly was to address the clear parts.

First I dealt with the nose assembly. This part of the build comprises five clear parts. Clearly these pieces need to be strong, and we need to eliminate the join seams, so solvent was used to join these. However, first I needed to mask off and paint the inside. I knew I was going to end up using filler. Painting the interior color from the outside to show through is all fine and good until you start using a red filler on the seam, so these pieces were masked where appropriate from the inside and hit with the airbrush. Note that the supplied masking set does not include pieces for this, so if you choose to do so you will need to use some Tamiya like tape to cut your own pieces.

The forward nosepiece has been entirely assembled and painted, but I’ve only attached it to the airframe with white glue. This will allow me to pop it off post painting and place the machine guns. This makes masking much easier and I won’t risk breaking barrels.

The same approach was taken with the belly gun glazing. I masked it and attached with some white glue. It will be painted on the model and pulled off to allow gun placement at the end of the build.



Again, same with the ball turret; two halves masked and temporarily assembled with white glue.



The cockpit windscreen and the fuselage windows were permanently attached with Tamiya Extra Thin to ensure a solid join and were masked along with the other clear pieces.

Masks:

As this part of the build found me utilizing the supplied masking set I’d like to address it here. Clearly looking at the materials used and the instructions provided for them…


…one can conclude these were made and supplied by Eduard. If you’ve used enough Eduard mask sets you’ve probably run across some with pieces that are not correctly sized. I’m happy to say in this case every piece fit perfectly.

However, Eduard missed a bit because no pieces are supplied for the three nose lights. Fortunately, these are probably the easiest to self-mask.



I would really just like to say kudos to Revell for providing this masking set. I’d love to see this as a standard feature on all of their kits.

Detail: 4/5

Exterior detail on the main body of the aircraft is overall good. Most of the panel lines are crisp, but there do appear to be some soft spots. These spots are particularly prevalent where the fuselage curves toward the tops approaching the join line. Detail is both raised and recessed, but the raised bits are limited. There are but a few spots of rivet detail.

I also knock off some for closed cowlings being the only option.

Engineering: 3.5/5

I take off a bit here for two reasons. First, I feel like the molded in oil tanks in the wheel wells adds a bit of work that could be saved were these pieces molded separately.

The biggest head scratcher here for me is why the decision was made to supply the nose assembly as entirely clear parts. Granted, the nose section ends up having 10 windows (4 on each side and one each on the top and bottom) and one clear nose section. I can see why the decision was made to cut the parts count down by giving two clear pieces housing 4 windows each. However, I would much prefer to work with traditional styrene and 10 inserts like the ones for the fuselage windows. Painting and assembling would be much easier without the added worry of dealing with clear plastic that is more brittle to work with.

In the end, I understand the decision making at Revell. The nose section as is makes general assembly a bit less painful for the casual or beginning builder.

Fit: 5/5

Nothing much to say here really; everything fits superbly. As mentioned, the wings snap into place. Once some solvent is run down the join lines they require no attention whatsoever. The other area that a builder may approach with apprehension, the tail, presents even less of a problem since it holds firmly sans glue. Though, I would add some just to be safe.

Clear pieces can sometimes be the killer for a kit when they don’t align like they are supposed to. The fact that I could mock assemble these with white glue for painting without having to worry about join clean up later is a testament to the quality of the kit.

With main assembly complete the build will be moving into the painting stage, so the nature of the WIP will change a bit. We will return to this format once it’s time to add all the final bits.

I'm looking forward to building this kit.  Your postings are much appreciated.

I wonder where I can buy this kit.

I think you just convinced me to add this one!   =]  Nice review.

Glad you like it gentleman. If you are looking for one and don't mind ordering online Scale Hobbyist has them in stock. I love this site. They usually have the best prices on kits in the US.

Link to the RAF version : www.scalehobbyist.com/.../product.php

The US Navy Version (original release): www.scalehobbyist.com/.../product.php

Sweet! Thanks for the link.  =D  This is the link I found first before becoming familiar with Sprue Bros.  They have a nice way of organizing the plethora of planes both old and new.

Very nice work so far, I'll be following this one.

dflu78

Glad you like it gentleman. If you are looking for one and don't mind ordering online Scale Hobbyist has them in stock. I love this site. They usually have the best prices on kits in the US.

Link to the RAF version : www.scalehobbyist.com/.../product.php

The US Navy Version (original release): www.scalehobbyist.com/.../product.php

Is this a re-tooling of the original USN kit? Or just altering a few parts to make the RAF version?

No no. It's not a re-tooling. The USN kit originates from 2009 or so and was a new tool. This is the same plastic overall with the addition of the glass nose and proper dorsal turret.

I heard you guys and gals like updates? Well...

I hit this baby with some Tamiya surface primer. Man...love that stuff...accidentally deleted that pic without uploading  :oops:

What's the definition of insanity? Yeah...that's right...doing the same thing more than once expecting different results....enter Alclad black base...

Actually this is after the Alclad LOUSY P.O.$. WORST PAINT PRODUCT EVER MADE black base....yeah after letting it dry 48 hours when I began laying down the Earth color it melted and ate the paint.

So I stripped it down with sandpaper and alcohol.

If this was for myself I'd be a little tense at this point and concerned about having wasted money and time on a build that I may have to trash. However, this one isn't just for me and I don't want to blow my first build review, so I lost some sleep. I got it straightened out though and decided to not be lazy and decant some black Krylon for my usual base coat.



Then is was back to the Earth color. Purposefully patchy mind you. (Oh...and I MAY have spilled some paint out of the cup on a nacelle  :crazy: ...I'll let you be the judge.)





Ticky tacky poster tack.



Overspary? No way!



Dark green and she's looking mean.





And there she sits. Touch-ups needed as per, but nothing too major it seems.

Thanks everyone for peepin' in and be easy on me. I never had to tell you I goofed up :D

Good lord!  It seems I keep hearing about the Alclad black base.  Is this the Gloss Black or another priming agent? I know the Gloss Black can be a bit particular about how you apply it.  It is a lacquer based paint same as the rest of the Alclad line save for the acrylic Klear Kote.  What were you using for the earth color?  

On Swanny's page it outlines a really great rule of thumb for painting with lacquers, enamels and acrylics. (for anyone else who may be curious)

The only thing that springs to mind for me is that the carrier for the pigment is too large in volume meaning it wasn't shaken enough or was allowed to settle some before using...or of the remaining pigment, there's less of it versus the carrier medium.  I would think normally one would expect the opposite to occur and end up with too much pigment and not enough liquid as it may evaporate or get sprayed out.  In any event, so long as you weren't putting down a lacquer over something else...it may stay a mystery!  Better get Scooby and the Gang on it. =]

Still.  Nice save. She's looking goooooood.

The Earth is Mr. Color. The black base is lacquer as is the paint. Shouldn't be a problem at all. EXCEPT that the Alclad black base is notorious for not drying. When I first decided to try Alclad I did a lot of research about how to use it etc. I kept seeing (all over all the forums) mentions of people having problems with it; that it would never fully dry...so applying more lacquer paint over it will damage it.

The consensus seemed to be that there were bad batches for whatever reason. Others reported never having any problems. I'm generally a skeptic, so I bought a bottle thinking I'd have better luck. It sprays beautifully. I wouldn't say it's at all finicky to spray of get good coverage and nice finish...it just won't dry.

So I tried my first bottle on my Tamiya Mustang...ruined $120 model and hours of work. Mind you, when I applied the base coat to the Mustang it "dried" for over a week before the Alclad went over it. (We went on vacation). Lacquer should be safe to overcoat...even with more lacquer...after 24 hours. I generally wait 48 for safety...but...

Decided to try again and bought a second bottle...and this. It's unfortunate because it sprays wonderfully and finishes out beautifully. I actually like the way decanted Krylon sprays even better...but decanting is a messy hassle...so I was lazy...and I paid for it.

That's so ODD!  I have read where it says to give the Gloss Black about 8-10 hours of drying which basically amounts to you coming back the next day (so 24 hrs). You don't even want to know the things I get away with... =P  For the GBlack, I do let it set up overnight, but honestly I've find it's basically dry about 20 minutes later.  No sh!t.  When I return to put whatever Aluminum shade of Alclad I'm going to use, I don't have any trouble whatsoever when I'm masking whatever it is I intend to paint....and I LIVE IN THE SOUTH!! lol.  It's so humid down here!!  I can let the Alclad shade set up for ten or so minutes (sometimes less) and I just move right along painting.  I hear of people going through extraordinary ends sometimes with they're drying times and letting things cure, and I realize that sometimes that is a necessary function, but me...I paint with either Tamiya or Alclad.  I zoom through painting. =]  It works.  I get away with it.  Everything turns out precisely how I want it and I just mosey right along.

The lacquer on lacquer violence doesn't make sense to me either.  They ought to play nice.  I can't understand how it won't dry and set.  I mean...it's A LACQUER! Extremely volatile...evaporating...lol.  This is probably the tenth time I've heard this happening on here.  I just can't understand why.

Oh...I get away with all sorts of things that would blow most people's minds :D I'm just so embarrased by them I never tell anyone...I usually say something like "I let that dry three days" when I really mean "yeah...I let that dry about 5 minutes before moving on.." Lol

Update:

Tuesday I did some significant touch-ups to the green.





I then masked off with thin strips of Tamiya tape and painted the under-surface with Tamiya Sky (being acrylic that's why I did it after the the lacquer top).

I had mentioned that the wing join was so good that one could paint them separately. I'd recommend to anyone building this kit that they in fact do that. Masking in the tight fit between the elongated nacelle and nose wasn't hard exactly, it was just a bit more time consuming than it needed to be.

With the the painting done decaling becomes a reality. Not always my favorite step of any build, but it has to be done.

I must sadly admit that the decals have been the biggest let-down of this kit. There are two reasons for this.

First, there just aren’t many. Looking at the sheet below you can see that the bare minimum roundels are there along with the unit markings and tail numbers. Throw in some stencils for the fuel filler caps and props and we are done.



Now this in itself isn’t entirely bad if you’re new to building or just don’t like this step. However, as much as I hate decaling I equally love the look of stencils. To me, stencil detail is one of the biggest things to help make a kit pop…and they just aren’t here.

While this is forgivable, the second issue is a much bigger one. Silvering.

In the pictures above you will notice two things. First, the decals have silvered despite having sunk down nicely with just two applications of setting solution. However, this wasn’t enough to remove the silvering problem. The second thing you should notice is the fidelity of the red in the unit markings. Along the borders some discoloration of an orange-ish color has appeared. This was not present until the decals were placed on the surface. This is not something I’ve ever seen happen in my modeling years, so I can’t really explain it.

I’m not terribly worried about the silvering. I will thin down some of the base color and knock it out before beginning to weather. Nevertheless, it’s frustrating. Note that this could be largely avoided if you take the time and care to cut away all the unnecessary carrier film from the large inner swatches of the unit marking decals.

The issue with the discoloration is something I hope will be less noticeable after the upcoming weathering steps.

I will conclude by saying that the decals were actually very workable in that they began to sink into the recess of panel lines fairly easily even before setting solution.



Conclusions?

Decals: 2/5