Cessna T-50 - Pavla 1/72nd scale kit

 

Modelers know that dated kits may be turned into fair representations of the plane with some effort, patience and additions. In this case we have a typical early “short-run” kit with all the somewhat nagging issues that come with them: lack of locating devices, indifferent molding, thick edges, thick walls, poor engineering, lack of fine detail, vague instructions, flimsy vac transparencies and so on and so forth. Looking at these kits there is also the ever-lingering question: “-Why did they do part X in resin/P.E. and not part Y, which needed it more”. Still: you will finally be able to build the subject you love, which was neglected by the big names in the industry. I have built dozens of these poor cousins of the industry, many of them to great satisfaction. In this case, besides a few improvements, I decided to keep things relatively simple, and against my building instincts opted for not to opening anything, and just try to render a credible replica. I adapted the kit to represent a specific plane that differed in some regards from the version in the box. For that I worked a bit on the interior, added some exterior details, and refined the parts to attenuate the overall sense of thickness. 

Props were replaced; nav lights, wing landing lights and LE light added; dorsal beacon and belly antennas added, engine baffles added, exhausts replaced, landing gear and interior further detailed. 

The step-by-step building article shows some of the kit hiccups and a couple of needed corrections:

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2026/04/cessna-t-50-pavla-multimedia-172nd-kit.html

My intention was at the beginning to use an Arctic Decals set (Wisconsin Central Airlines) but midway I realized that this Pavla rendition was different enough from the KP one that the masks and decals would have trouble adapting to some of the discrepancies. Thus, I looked around for civil alternates and found this scheme which I liked, plus it needed a bare minimum of decals.

As I was finishing it, I used a brand new tintlet of Humbrol yellow enamel, that took more than a week to dry enough to apply the decals and be able to add the final bits. In the -paraphrased- words of Tom Hanks as Forrest Gump: “Humbrol enamels are like a box of chocolates…you never know what you are gonna get”. And is as such that you get some that have the consistency of thick milk caramel, some are thin as water, the same color from another tin will be different enough from the first to be easily noticed, some won’t dry in a month, and so on and so forth. The formula seems to have changed so often that from one year to the next your usual thinner won’t work well, their thinner won’t really work, the opacity of some colors will be a joke… et cetera. When they work, they are great…when and if they work. “Virtually unreliable” would be an understatement. Way to ruin a traditional brand, guys. By the way, and just in case some “advice” wants to come my way: I have used them for decades, and on hundreds of models.

But back to the kit…, if you have one of these oldish short-run boxes, you may give them a chance. If you don’t have them, you may buy them in the second-hand market -if the price is right. Or just buy the newer kit of that plane if it does exist (in this case the KP kit), which will give you a much smoother ride. 

Here is the Arctic Decals set I planned to use, but, as explained, given the Pavla kit idiosyncrasies, could not be used. Fortunately I also have the KP kit to bestow them upon:

But if you are looking for some modeling exercise to work out the rust off those fingers (and vastly extend your expletives’ vocabulary) look for these oldies, they won’t disappoint... but have the aspirin bottle at hand.

 

Lockheed Vega 1 Antarctic Expedition - modified Special Hobby 1/72nd scale injected kit

 

Antarctic Vegas

A short while ago modeler extraordinaire Tim Nelson presented his beautiful and very well researched model of the Detroit News-Wilkins Arctic Expedition (1928). As he relates, the model partially stemmed from a conversation that took place long ago on the Wings of Peace forum about the Lockheed Vega planes used by Wilkins for his Arctic and Antarctic expeditions. Participating in the discussion then was another modeler extraordinaire, gentleman and Pugetian: the late Jim Schubert, who shared his vast wisdom. Tim continued to work gathering and refining references for years and finally produced his superb model:

https://hyperscale.com/2026/features/vega72tn_1.htm 

Inspired by his creation, I thought of venturing into modeling the other Vega (X7439) that went together with the one he recreated (X3903) on the expeditions to the other Pole.

This is what I have found so far on that Antarctic endeavor:

After the Arctic expedition Wilkins tackled Antarctica, in his Wikins-Hearst Antarctic Expeditions (1928/29) and (1929/30). The first of those two used the same Lockheed Vega that flew on the Arctic (X3903) plus a second Vega (X7439), both transported aboard the Hektoria

 

 

a whaler that doubled as the expedition base. The second expedition to Antarctica used only one Vega (again the veteran from the Arctic) aboard the William Scoresby 

(the Vegas were left on Antarctica between expeditions, as far I understand, to be later retrieved and send  to Argentina at the end of the expeditions). Both planes on these Antarctic Expeditions alternatively used floats (the first to be used on a Vega)...

... wheels (both balloon “tundra” tires and regular ones are seen in photos)...

 

... and skis:

 The two Antarctic Vegas had a very different float setup, though:

Curiously, the most significant and longer flight (Dec 1928)...

...was made with X7439, the more “normal looking” Vega on “normal” wheels (i.e. not the tundra ones that were also available) from a prepared tuff and lava field, as the snow had unusually melted earlier that year (remember the Southern Hemisphere has the seasons reversed, so December is Summer). The Lockheed Vega was therefore the first whole plane to be downloaded on Antarctic sole (a fuselage had been before disembarked there some years before), and the first to fly in the continent.

The two Vegas used in Antarctica differed greatly from one another. The first one, heavily modified, remained more or less unchanged from the Arctic Expedition with its particular features: no cabin door, circular opening behind the wing on the fuselage, deletion of some windows and addition of two ventral windows, the window frames, painted in a dark color, look black. Many other details apply. The second Vega used in the Antarctic was more like a stock Vega, with all the windows (in this plane frames were of a light color, not black) and the upward-opening door of the early Vegas. Both had modified interiors with long-range tanks and other equipment. These Vegas had Wright J-5s, the later Vega 5 had Pratt & Whitney Wasps. They didn’t have the aileron balances seen in later ones (which had many other changes as the type evolved). These two Vegas had different canopies, the veteran one had a continuous side canopy panel and reinforced frames painted black:

whilst the second one had the more common two-pane side canopy panel and the metal was left unpainted:

 

Whilst the first Vega had “Vega” on the fin star logo...

... the second one had the generic Lockheed star logo, with the lettering “Vega” on top of the star, Lockheed Aircraft inside the star, “Los Angeles” below the star, and the iconic schematic plane, plus again “Lockheed Aircraft Co/ Los Angeles U.S.A.” spanning the vertical tail

Photos captioned at the time as being previous to the most important flight done in Antarctica show the more conventional Vega, on wheels, being loaded and the explorers ready with their backpacks 

This footage shows exactly the same, the more conventional Vega before its momentous Antarctic flight:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYyk-NrznCk&t=2s

Curiously, photos of the Arctic Vega on early trials in Los Angeles show a heavily-louvered nose, later changed to a much smoother one for the Arctic flights (the likely reason being that the engine didn’t need as much refrigeration). 

Some of Wilkins’ observations understandably did not pass the test of time, not to mention the sovereignty claims. Still his exploration enterprises have an epic character, and much knowledge was gleaned from them. His expeditions are one more example of how the use of airplanes helped discovery at the time (and still does).

Both Vegas ended up in Argentina, apparently bought for a low price (Uruguay, to whom they were first offered gave them a pass), although some sources speak of a donation. In any case One was deemed not to be in flying condition (reputedly X7439, the less modified one) and again according to sources some elements of it were transferred to X3903. Restored more or less to factory standards it saw some useful service, but ended up crashing and being deleted from the register. Nobody apparently realized the significance and importance of these two machines, the first to fly on Antarctica. Shame on the Argentinian authorities of the time. The plane, re-registered as R48 is seen in two schemes. One more modeling possibility!

A myriad of details have to be considered in modeling any of these two polar fliers. Very careful study of photos and a clear idea of the chronology are indispensable. Still, beware of the miscaptioned photos, the confusion of some reporters and publications, and so on.

Several models of the Arctic Vega can be seen online (the one presented here I think would be the first Antarctic Vega), all have great merit and surely deserved hats off, but modelers looking to build these planes should bear in mind that the “Lockheed” legend was only under the right wing, not on top, and in the case of (X3903) the two top windows were higher than in the kit and should be relocated. The planes did not have wingtip nav lights, but little holes presumably for tying down. Other many details apply.

I have previously built two models of the Vega:

The first Vega, Golden Eagle (built using a vacuformed Rareplane vintage kit as a base):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2020/11/lockheed-vega-golden-eagle-dole-racer.html

The second model was Mattern’s Vega (built from an MPM kit):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2012/10/matterns-vega-finished.html

As more information becomes available (mainly photos and newsreels) and our observation powers increase -hopefully in parallel with our modeling skills- better, more accurate models can be produced.

The build will reproduce Vega X7439 -the one that didn’t have the more drastic modifications- on wheels, to represent as explained above the most significant flight of that campaign. 

Perhaps later on X3903 (the highly modified plane) may be represented on floats, again the first Vega to ever use them, but that’s another story.

Many long hours were spent by many modelers trying to establish the colors of the marks used by these planes. As it is the case with B&W photos, at the end it’s a matter of interpretation when written references don’t exist (and those have sometimes found to be inaccurate too). It’s my personal belief that these planes had blue registrations like the first Vega, Golden Eagle, that the Vega logo star was red, and that other lettering may be blue, gold or another color. All of them compared to other known black details look lighter in many photos (not all, though). And much changes depending on light angle, type of film, quality of the photo, etc. So, nothing is written in stone so far and other modelers’ choices should be respected as equally possible.

As you can see, this second Vega is not nearly as challenging as the first one to modify representing the original plane, still, an amount of work is involved as deletions, mods and additions are needed, being the most important the particular nose (no cowl) that is only included -but not really suitable for the J-5 with its magnetos- in the Vega Model 5 Floatplane kit 72528 (thanks Tim and Lars for the heads up). This is no doubt the most challenging of parts to be fabricated, and Tim Nelson (see beginning of the post) made a very nice one to fit his model, if still needing some tweaking.

One of the many boxings of the Vega (as explained, needs many mods -not to mention special decals- to represent either of the planes described here):

This is a well-known kit, so I won't elaborate on it:

 Whilst I slowly work on the model I will be completing other projects that have priority. Progress will eventually be reported here as usual.

 Starting to separate what I think won't be used from this boxing, but some parts may still make it in:

 The drums from the kit could be recycled as part of a scene setting. The engine of course has to be replaced by the correct one. A section of the bulkhead that divides cockpit from cabin has to be removed as you could see through to the cockpit from the cabin. The floor needs the "platforms" removed. The part to the right of the drums has to be modified. The prop needs improvement or replacing as it is a little bland. The scalloped nose part may need replacement or modifying:

Many of the surface details need to be deleted and/or replaced. No nav lights or landing lights to start with, no blisters covering the hoisting lugs:

One aftermarket alternative right engine, there are others. The Engine & Things rendition needs cleaning up and further detailing. Valom's Fokker F.VII has great resin renditions (thanks to Tim Nelson for this tip). Somewhere I have an Aeroclub white metal engine too:

The last window needs to be deleted and the door moved forward one station and modified to open upwards. The LG blisters have to go. The window frames are overdone and need sanding down a little:

The two Vegas in Antarctica show no visible sponsor graphics on them (no Richfield, Pennzoil, etc.). Here is one photo showing a few details. As mentioned, the different arrangement of fuel caps on the wing and un-faired hoisting lugs, a completely bent Pitot on the wing product of (miss)handling, the missing little prop for the WDG on the right wing, the holes instead of the nav lights on the wingtips:

 Notice the little black rectangular area present immediately after the round spine hole (with the lid in place here with what seems like a handle in the middle). This detail only appears on the Arctic flight:

I am 90% sure those regs were not black, but perhaps blue as in Golden Eagle.

The blisters for the Landing gear legs are deleted. The ejector pin towers inside fuselage and wing are removed. The new door location is opened. The window frames are toned down. The nav lights are deleted. Arrows on the wing indicate approximately where the hoisting lugs and fuel caps will be located. The deleted rails for the sliding cockpit hatch will be replaced. Still to do: fill the aft windows and previous door engraving, fill and sand the landing lights under the wing:

Landing lights deleted and starting to drill the bellcrank inspection little windows. Floor being modified:

A less-loaded inst. pan. is fabricated (as per earlier Vegas). The last two windows on each side are filled with styrene, pushed out just a bit to be later rounded to follow the fuselage contour:

The blocked window and a silhouette of a door molded on the opposite side of the normal door are sanded flush with the fuselage wall:

NOTE: You may have noticed that I used the "Lady Lindy" (Amelia Earhart) boxing of this kit as it was the one I had at hand. As explained, you are better off with the floatplane release that has alternate nose parts perhaps more suitable for the necessary conversion. In any case, DO NOT use the fuel drums provided in the kit as Amelia's long distance tanks. References point out to a quite different arrangement. Besides, having the extra weight disposed cheerfully along the fuselage and not concentrated as close as possible near or at the CG is a no-no. 
 

Preparing the fuselage interior for primer and paint:

And priming elements of a diorama depicting members of the current government:

The wood effect is replicated with oils. The cockpit is assembled:

 As the visual inspection panels were opened and will be filled with window maker, the skin thickness is reduced for a more realistic effect. They still need to filed sharp:

 

 

 

To be continued...