Wings of Intent: Percival Vega Gull

(The completed model is here):

https://wingsofintent.blogspot.com/2024/03/percival-vega-gull-beryl-markham.html

Yet another welcome civil kit from Dora Wings, this time the iconic Percival Vega Gull from the 30s.

How can you not support Dora Wings, they are Ukrainian and they have a nice line of civil subjects that other manufacturers won’t touch. They are very good in many regards, but still need to improve in some others.

The kit is the usual production trick of “one-size-fits-all” performed by several manufacturers to extend the commercial possibilities of a mold, meaning there are parts for many versions, although sometimes the wrong parts. Trying to squeeze as many releases as possible, Dora again has somehow mixed up some of them… as it’s their wont (I have built many of their kits, so by now I know). Other details present in the instructions do not belong even to the versions for which the decals cater, typical Dora. The way to go is to check against photos of the real planes, usually available online. The molding is clean, the detail extensive, almost no flash, mostly sensible sprue gates. Some parts (joystick for example) are too big for the scale and would benefit from refining or replacement. There are a few –although not too bad- sink marks.

Summarizing: starting from a kit of the military version, Dora tried to derive other variants, civil in this case, with some issues that will have to be addressed by the modeler, not always helped by the instructions (another of Dora’s trademarks: instructions sprinkled with mistakes). I am glad, nonetheless, that this kit exists, but I learned that Dora Wings kits should be approached with just a bit of skepticism if you want your model to be more accurate. So check photos of your intended subject, and you may see how many details differ from the parts in the instructions. Just sayin’.

The sprues. You get alternate grey and clear parts, check the plane you are actually modeling:

Nicely molded, as mentioned many alternate parts for different versions. I you go for Meryl Markham's plane, you will need a spinner not provided in the kit, not to mention the long-distance tanks that occupied the back and right seats areas.

Instructions typical Dora, with inaccuracies and bits that belong to other boxings:

You get nice decals, P.E. parts for tiny details, and the dreaded vinyl masks that tend to detach as you try to prime and paint when not on a perfectly flat surface:

As soon as you start to clean the parts and do some dry-fitting, you notice that you will have to enlarge every single notch or divot where a little tab, tongue, or locating pin goes. I repeat: every-single-one-of-them. This is due to the designer relying too much on the “digital fit” on a computer screen, whilst things are different in reality. At this point is when the sigh-o-meter starts to show high readings. No matter, we continue, as the kit is nice indeed. But do not blindly follow the instructions without -I will say it once more- looking at photos of you intended plane, because if you don’t, chances are that you will mess up, as many details belong to other versions, and that, of course, is not disclosed in the instructions. Much of the grief is inherited from the military incarnations of the kit. Pay attention, and you will avoid inaccuracies on your civil model.

Parts cleaned-up, have to rework now those locating devices enlarging the divots, slots, etc.:

The joystick is better replaced with a home-made item, and so are the Venturi:

Some examples of Vega Gulls from the photostream of the SDASM:

As mentioned, almost every single locating device will need some enlargement, in this case the holes for the pips and the cavities for the root pins. See that flange at the trailing edge? if left it will impede the wing to close properly:

Locating holes for the cabin floor pins, spaced 12mm apart. Pins themselves, located 10mm apart:

Notice something off? Yes! the typical Dora Wings screwed instructions (here corrected to right positions in red)! The seats and control columns on the first diagram have the wrong positions indicated. They are correct in the second diagram. You will also notice a number of drawings that depict the Proctor, not sure why with this boxing, but hey, that's Dora Wings approach to instructions: put all the versions in a blender, mix for a few minutes and print!:

And so it begins...

Depending on your choice, compare with photos. No LE lights, no wing tip nav lights, missing wind-driven generator (not provided). And a caveat: this plane was not red and silver, but blue and silver, a modeler has found (sorry, don't remember who) an actual document from the 1952 King's Cup Air Race clearly stating registration and color:

No nav lights, long pointy spinner not provided in the kit. No long-range fuel tanks provided with the kit either:

In case I go for VP-KCC, a new spinner is fabricated:

As explained, to improve the fit, you have to rework whatever locating device is molded on the parts. After some fiddling, the ailerons are in place:

A base color is applied:

The assembly requires that you add the wheel before joining the halves of the spats. This of course makes for a very impractical painting job (although allows the wheels to rotate freely). The pins are removed, and the painted wheels will be inserted at the end of the build (in any case the wheels can not go all the way in and out of position):

Again the elevator/ stab locating devices have to be reworked for a good fit. The elevators are installed slightly deflected. The wheels are drilled to facilitate holding while painting. The spat halves are glued:

Once more holes need re-drilling for a good fit of those intermediary parts (product again of that "multi-version" approach):

In case I end up building a plane with exhaust stacks, the kit's pips are removed and replaced with tubing. Once the cyanoacrylate glue is set, the tubes will be sanded equal:

I was surprised that the kit did not include a little resemblance of the engine, visible through the air intake. I made a cylinder to glue from inside:

The Vega Gull was made of wood, I am not sure if the wood was painted over, civil machines show something in photos that could hint at a wood and leather finish. I went for it:

In case I go for Markham's Gull, one of the long-range tanks is fabricated:

But looking at photos, this is perhaps a more accurate shape (it was the shape also on the Gull Six of Batten). In any case, the upper portion would be the one visible:

The clear parts are prepared. The sections that will support the posable doors have a little flange at the top that will need removal if you want to pose the door/s open:

Some cushioning for the seat (as this was a civil plane):

A little update. The instrument panel on these Vega Gulls was simpler than the one in the kit (which was possibly intended for their other related releases) thus it is cropped, both film and P.E. part. The little console with the three levers that goes underneath and at the front of the inst. pan is a very fiddly thing. I somehow managed to glue all three minuscule levers, ditto for the two levers on the floor. The firewall needs a precise angle, of course not given in the instructions, so use the fuselage side as a guide to properly position it. The wings on these civil subjects had in most cases (if not all) a different configuration of the fuel caps and level indicators; as usual, check photos. Markham's plane, which is where I seem to be aiming at the moment, had two devices on each wing that look like small clear "buttons" with perhaps a red indicator for the level? Plus some small hinged panels closer to the LE (that in a resting position on the ground will be at the highest point of the chord, thus optimal for refueling):

So many little details...

There are two different set of photos of Beryl Markham with the Vega Gull. The first and earlier set seems to show an unmodified airframe, or at the beginnings of the mods, with a “normal” spinner with the original prop, beacons, the original wing tankage and in some only a main long-distance tank in the fuselage. The later photos show the new pointy and bigger spinner with the Ratier prop, no beacons, different wing tankage arrangement, and what looks like two more tanks inside the cockpit, one on the right seat position, and a smaller one on top of it and against the main fuselage tank (the latter could also be a storage of some sort, as the plane reputedly had no radio).

Unlike Batten's Gull Six, which had the fuselage long range tank fuel cap to the left and accessible once the pilot door was open:

Markham's Vega Gull had the fuel cap for the fuselage main tank accessed though a small hatch cut into the window to the right:

The reworked inst. pan. to make it more alike photos of the Vega Gull (opposite to Proctor):

Assessing where to add the fuel filling truck, should be more or less where the red circle is to coincide with the lid that has to be added to the door as per photos or the original plane:

Fuselage assembled. Again every locating hole had to be re-drilled bigger, or the fuselage sides won't close. The firewall is way too big, and will also prevent the closing. I had to remove it, sand it down and re-glue it. Then the nose bottom part wouldn't fit, once again because the four small molded tabs on the fus sides wouldn't fit inside the recesses in the bottom part. I ended up removing the tabs. This is the ongoing theme with this otherwise very nice kit: nothing will fit properly unless you enlarge the receiving ends of the locating devices. Pity. It slows down the build, and it's so unnecessary, the designer missed big time here regarding tolerances:

The other two volumes (more fuel tanks? storage?) in the cockpit have been added to the right of the pilot seat:

All the nose parts are glued in place. More tabs needed removal to get a good fit:

Modification of the wings to match photos. New round caps (white styrene), drilling of the positions of what I think are four fuel level indicators (that stretched sprue clear red rod is to represent them later after painting), blanking of the LE light (not present on this plane), and sanding down of the two strips that run chordwise between root and outer panels:

Flying surfaces glued. The wing will need, as we all well know by now, the locating holes enlarged. The fit of the horizontal tail halves is quite indifferent, even if there are slots molded in the fuselage:

Many little gaps and seams to fill. The really nice and subtle surface detail is unavoidably affected by the necessary intervention:

The fit problems (not grave, but a bit annoying) caused by those not well-matched locating devices is what ended up leading to this fixing work. Once more reality defeats the designer's computer screen, whose creation has yet to pass trough the master and molding processes, taking a toll:

Just to be clear: the fit is not bad as in a bad kit, but requires extra work, as many other kits do, the issue is the contrast between a kit that has nice detail and good surfaces -an area where it excels- and those pesky not cooperating locating devices (plus some inaccuracies derived from the one-mold-fits-all approach). I will continue to buy and support civil Dora releases, but hoping these bugs will be eventually addressed, as their kits have far more merits than demerits and cover appealing subjects.

I started to glue the transparencies, but realized that they protrude about half a millimeter at the top. So I cleaned the glue (fortunately just acrylic "clear parts cement") and now will either sand the base of the side transparencies or their seat on the fuselage sides:

The front part, the windshield, seems to be a good fit.

Second attempt at gluing the transparencies also failed. Once in place, the two back parts that connect with the windshield were 1mm too long. I shaved the back of the windshield a bit and glued it in place. Now I will have to shave another bit from the front of the back transparencies. As this assembly comprises 5 parts, it's fiddly and difficult to asses its fit and alignment. A solution that doesn't involve messing with the delicate transparencies is to shave the fuselage back and where the clear back parts seat. But good luck assessing how much. The windshield fit as mentioned is good. At least that:

When will manufacturers realize that vinyl masks are ONLY good for FLAT surfaces? I am so tired of these crap useless masks. All good (relatively) on flat surfaces, but INVARIABLY lifting an edge on curved ones after some 20 minutes, or worse, during priming or painting, no matter how clean the part is. Guys, don't be so frigging stingy, spend one more dollar on good paper masks, you know, like the ones GOOD manufacturers use:

I will say it again: this is a nice kit of a nice subjects, but Dora apparently is going after the "Kit With More Mistakes" prize. These two masks are reversed in the sheet:

Getting ready to prime the model:

As the crap vinyl masks keep lifting from the curved clear sections, once again paper masks are created to replace them:

Gloss black followed by Alclad aluminum. The flying surfaces then will be masked to paint the fuselage and LG that turquoise color:

Masking and airbrushing of the turquoise paint:

Now for a little satin varnish before unmasking the transparencies before applying the decals, as the fuselage paint was kind of dull:

The home-made more accurate prop (the two kit options are not good for these particular plane, even if decals for it are provided):

Decals being applied. I trimmed the big wing regs individually to remove most of the carrier, as there was quite a bit of it. They take a while to release from the backing paper, and they don't slide easily on the model, even wetting the surface. One (Castrol) broke in two, and another (one of the reg letters) cracked, but all went well in the end: