Here's something I don't often build: a military plane, but this one is a special request for a friend. The plane is a Vultee Vengeance in Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) livery. This was a dive bomber which did sterling work in the Pacific during the Second World War. My friend's 95-year-old father was a Vultee pilot, and so when he bought the kit and asked me to build it for his dad, naturally enough I said "yes, of course'.
The kit is 1/72, made by the Czech outfit Special Hobby. It included resin parts for the cockpit, engine and a few other bits. Its one mistake was providing a single .30 cal machine gun, where all the Aussie Vultees had twin .30 cals (and later on, they even had .50 cals). So I have attempted to add an extra barrel to make it a twin .30.
The great find was an after-market decal maker who even had the correct markings for my friend's dad's 24th squadron. Unfortunately, the markings for his dad's plane (E GR) weren't available, but A GR was, and so he has a 24th squadron plane to look at.
The plane has been built with the wheels up (which is why it is sitting on paint pots), as my friend's dad lives at an ex-servicemen's retirement village, and they have a display cabinet of models there, and the Vultee is going to be suspended from wires/lines in "flight" in the display.
I don't have much experience with camouflage or military models in general, so it was nerve-wracking to build this thing. I know the sharp lines on the camouflage isn't authentic, but I decided the best I could do with my beginner's skills was a relatively clean build. I hope the old flyer enjoys it.