French Vultee Vengeance FINISHED

[The Rat]

Here she is, in all her ignominy. Another paint disaster, a signature of nearly all my work  , happened after decaling, so it wasn't easy to fix. For some reason, probably of my own doing, a clear coat reacted with the paint, principally the brown, and gave the dreaded orange peel texture. Delicate sanding, especially around the decals, cleared up that, and more paint was applied, of a slightly different shade. But only on the wings, because I just couldn't be bothered messing around with the fuselage. So, maybe the chaps doing the work ran out of the official paint and had to nip down to the local shop to pick up an approximation? Meh, write your own backstory for that one. The French aircraft of that time often had no standard scheme anyway, it was just freehand and freestyle, so there's that. The cowling was originally done, in my innocence and ignorance, in Vichy colours, but after being rightfully upbraided by Wooksta it was stripped, and repainted in red white and blue. I share Lee's abject hatred of fascism, so perhaps that's why I wasn't familiar with the scheme, such things hold no interest for me.

Many thanks to Chris/Narses 2 for the decals, I have plenty of French markings but none correct for the period, and also for the torpedo. The torpedo mounts were leftover bits from a Matchbox Beaufighter, and give the rear end a dangerously low clearance. Well, it was wartime. Aerial wire is EZ-line attached with CA glue. Photos were taken with my new(ish) phone, a Samsung S10e, cropped to size with Irfanview.

by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/190327384@N02/]Dave Bailey, on Flickr

by [url=https://www.flickr.com/photos/190327384@N02/]Dave Bailey, on Flickr

by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

by Dave Bailey, on Flickr

[PR19_Kit]

That's VERY smart, you'd never figure it for the ancient FROG kit. 

And I can't see any orange peel anywhere........... 

[Captain Canada]

Glad it turned out in the end. Looks good from my vantage point ! Nice to see this rare bird.

[Rick Lowe]

 

[Old Wombat]

  

[zenrat]

Paint looks good from where I am.
Whole build looks good.
 

[NARSES2]

That's come out really well Ratty, glad the transfers went to a good home 

I'm particularly impressed with the canopy framing 

You can probably put any US built aircraft of the period in French camouflage and get away with it. They had so many different types on order its incredible, they even had more types on order than us Brits  . If you want to home an "odd" aircraft then go with either the French AF or Navy or perhaps the RNEIAF for a year or so latter.

For some reason, probably of my own doing, a clear coat reacted with the paint, principally the brown, and gave the dreaded orange peel texture.

I was getting that with Tamiya a fair bit, especially when brush painting, for some reason. No idea why it started, but I've basically stopped using them now. 

[comrade harps]

Looks sharp on the photos. 

[kitbasher]

Very smart - great use of a FROG/NOVO/FROGspawn kit.

[The Rat]

That's come out really well Ratty, glad the transfers went to a good home 

I'm particularly impressed with the canopy framing 

You can probably put any US built aircraft of the period in French camouflage and get away with it. They had so many different types on order its incredible, they even had more types on order than us Brits  . If you want to home an "odd" aircraft then go with either the French AF or Navy or perhaps the RNEIAF for a year or so latter.

For some reason, probably of my own doing, a clear coat reacted with the paint, principally the brown, and gave the dreaded orange peel texture.

I was getting that with Tamiya a fair bit, especially when brush painting, for some reason. No idea why it started, but I've basically stopped using them now. 

The paints were Tamiya, and so was the clear coat. Oh well, live and learn.