1/72 Special Hobby

RAAF Vultee Vengeance

by David Fredericks

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From 1942 to 1946, the RAAF flew 342 Vultee Vengeances in RAAF colours with the Australian type identification serial A27-xxx. This total number of aircraft was comprised of 99 Mk Is, 122 Mk IIs, and 121 Mk IVs, with the type used by five operational squadrons (12, 21, 23, 24 and 25 Sqns). Despite the numbers flown, the aircraft was considered to be unsuitable for its primary operational role and is recorded as having an undistinguished RAAF career. Once removed from front-line service, a number of aircraft were flown by communications and target-towing units.

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Keeping to my theme of lesser-known aircraft types used by the RAAF, I had hoped to add a Vultee Vengeance to my collection for some time. I initially tried to build up the Revell Vengeance kit. After much effort, this kit just became too much of a chore to fix all its inaccuracies to make it resemble the real aircraft type! It now resides in my spare parts kit, with the wings and fuselage finding a niche role as my paint scheme and colour test sample. One can almost find a parallel between this kit and its final use and the career of the actual aircraft type in RAAF use!

I eventually purchased a Special Hobby (SH) limited run injection moulded kit of the Vengeance MkI/II. What a good decision – this kit was a joy to make. With some resin pieces, nicely moulded plastic and a very good decal sheet, I happily tinkered away and definitely added to my overall modeling skills, experimenting with a few tips and tricks for resin use, airbrushing and decal application.

The SH kit comes with three options for colour schemes, with two being RAAF aircraft as flown in Australia and New Guinea during the war, and the other being for an RAF aircraft flown in India. While one of the RAAF choices was for an attractive aircraft with a white tail and a naked lady on the side under the slogan ‘Lest we forget’ , I opted for the other choice with the ‘fat man’ caricature and the slogan ‘YGOTTABKWIK’ (‘or in English ‘You gotta be quick’!). This slogan just appealed to me as being quite Australian!

In the end of the day, undaunted by the Revell kit experience, I have managed to add a Vengeance to my shelf. Now to make another one, this time as a target tug!

David

Photos and text © by David Fredericks