Valiant P.R.3

[Gondor]

As the subject of this Group Build is one of my favourite time frames I could not resist trying to get this build done so as today is a snow day I thought I could start this build.

The Valiant P.R.3 is based on a real project. The Vickers Long Range P R U on page 30 of "Vickers Valiant, The First of the V-Bombers" by Eric B Morgan, published by Aerofax.

For those of you without access to the above publication, the Long Range PRU Valiant was in effect a B. Mk2 with a camera pack, a tail gun and extended wings.

Here is a picture of the main contributions



The tail gun was provided by a certain modeller with a fascination for all things TSR2 and was in the box when the picture was taken 

Progress will be made later, when I find where I put the instructions for the conversion set 

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

I can't see the pic Alastair, but it sounds a great project. 

[Old Wombat]

I can't see the pic Alastair, but it sounds a great project. 

Ditto re: the pic.

[Gondor]

Think that sorted it out. At least it showed in preview mode which I didn't check previously 

And....... I found all the instructions !! 

Gondor

[NARSES2]

Pics o.k. to me 

[PR19_Kit]

Yes, that's working fine now Alastair. 

Not exactly the cheapest conversion around with all those extra bits. 

[Gondor]

Yes, that's working fine now Alastair. 

Not exactly the cheapest conversion around with all those extra bits. 

Not so bad if you pick the parts up over time as I have.

Butchary has commenced

Gondor

[Gondor]

The results of the butchary



Yeah I know, poor quality photograph but I was in a rush to get some pictures taken and posted before I head off to bed tonight.

Anyway, here is the nose dry fitted to the fuselage extension



And the tail gun roughly in place



Finishing with a rough assembly of the whole fuselage



That's all for tonight...

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

That's looking pretty sharp there. 

[Gondor]

Not much work done today, been doing things related to the snow outside which was a foot deep outside my door 

Anyway, here are some pictures to add to what is going on.

First the book I referred to earlier from where I got the idea



An earlier version of the Long Range PRU Valiant



And finally the version that I am thinking of, with the extended wings



I still have to decide on such things like camouflage and markings which I am leaning towards PRU Blue with Red/Blue roundels. The squadron that operates the aircraft is not decided on yet either, maybe I should go for one of the ELINT/SIGINT type squadrons?

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

And finally the version that I am thinking of, with the extended wings

Yeeeeeeeeesssssssssssss! 

One of the 54x series of PR Squadrons perhaps? 541 was around at that time, flying Canberra PR7s I think.

[TheChronicOne]

OOOooooooOOOooh!   

[Captain Canada]

Excellent ! Love the B.2 version can't wait to see more.

[Gondor]

One of the 54x series of PR Squadrons perhaps? 541 was around at that time, flying Canberra PR7s I think.

That sounds like a great idea. I will do some reserch, Michael J F Bowyer's books on Camouflage and Markings probably, and use the PR.7 as a basis for this build.

Gondor

[Gondor]

I am finding that so far this build is going quite well, and this is probably the kiss of death for it 

I have glued the fuselage extensions to the rear parts of the fuselage but not to each other as I realize that resin has a tendency to contract which is easier to fix by putting a fillet between the fuselage halves rather than trying to add to the circumference of the fuselage.

I found out that I was right 



and in this view of the underside



Gaps between the left and right fuselage halves are only part of the problem, the instructions while good showed that I needed to take off way too much plastic so I have a slight gap on one side 



and slightly less of a gap on the other side 



I will sort the gaps tomorrow when I put the fuselage halves together.

I just thought that perhaps I should do a quick check with the nose/cockpit section to see how that fits onto the extension parts. Sure enough there is a good 40 thou or bigger gap between the resin parts, I will post a picture of that tomorrow.

Gondor