MARTINS PV-1 VENTURA

[martin57]

Right hi all ,this is what i will be having a go at for this G B had a look at my stash and was not sure what to build , but this kept catching my eye,
so it had to be done .its a big box and its 1/48 scale .



























so, looking forward to this,i think it will look nice when its done .

a bit of history .

PV-1 Ventura[edit]

A PV-1 Ventura
The PV-1 Ventura, built by the Vega Aircraft Company division of Lockheed (hence the "V" Navy manufacturer's letter that later replaced the "O" for Lockheed), was a version of the Ventura built for the U.S. Navy (see Venturas in U.S. Navy service below). The main differences between the PV-1 and the B-34 were the inclusion of special equipment in the PV-1, adapting it to its patrol bombing role. The maximum fuel capacity of the PV-1 was increased from 1,345 gal (5,081 l) to 1,607 gal (6,082 l), to increase its range; the forward defensive armament was also reduced for this reason. The most important addition was of an ASD-1 search radar.

Early production PV-1s still carried a bombardier's station behind the nose radome, with four side windows and a flat bomb-aiming panel underneath the nose. Late production PV-1s dispensed with this bombardier position and replaced it with a pack with three 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine guns underneath the nose. These aircraft could also carry eight 5 in (127 mm) HVAR rockets on launchers underneath the wings.

The PV-1 began to be delivered in December 1942, and entered service in February 1943. The first squadron in combat was VP-135, deployed in the Aleutian Islands in April 1943. They were operated by three other squadrons in this theatre. From the Aleutians, they flew strikes against bases in Paramushiro and Shimushu, Japanese islands in the Kurile chain. Often, PV-1s would lead B-24 bomber formations, since they were equipped with radar. In late 1943, some PV-1s were deployed to the Solomon Islands as night fighters with VMF(N)-531, a Marine Corps fighter squadron.

United States Navy[edit]

PV-1s of VPB-147 in the Caribbean in 1944.

PV-2s of VPB-136 at NAS Whidbey Island, 1945-46.

Long range aircraft at Hawkins Field on Betio (Tarawa Atoll) March 1944.
During the early months of 1942, the primary responsibility for anti-submarine warfare in the United States was shouldered by the Army Air Forces. This irked the Navy, as it considered this region of battle its burden. To carry out such a task, the Navy was pursuing a long-range, land-based patrol and reconnaissance aircraft with a substantial bombload. This goal was always resisted by the Army Air Forces, which carefully protected its monopoly on land-based bombing. This forced the navy to use long-range floatplanes for these roles. The Navy was unable to upgrade to more capable aircraft until the Army Air Forces needed the Navy plant in Renton, Washington to manufacture its Boeing B-29 Superfortress. In exchange for use of the Renton plant, the Army Air Forces would discontinue its objections to Naval land-based bombers, and provide aircraft to the Navy. One of the clauses of this agreement stated that production of the B-34 and B-37 by Lockheed would cease, and instead these resources would be directed at building a navalized version, the PV-1 Ventura.

The PV-1 began to be delivered in December 1942, and entered service in February 1943. The first squadron in combat was VP-135, deployed in the Aleutian Islands in April 1943. They were operated by three other squadrons in this theatre. From the Aleutians, they flew strikes against Paramushiro, a Japanese island. Often, PV-1s would lead B-24 bomber formations, since they were equipped with radar. In late 1943, PV-1s were deployed to the Solomon Islands and to the newly captured field at Tarawa in the Gilbert Islands.

After the war, the U.S. Navy deemed many PV-1s as obsolete and the aircraft were sent to Naval Air Station Clinton, Oklahoma to be demilitarized and reduced to scrap.

well that is all for the start of this build thread see you soon

[rwsmith14]

Great choice ! !

[Always48]

This is great, plus i always wanted a peak inside that revell box.

looking forward to seeing it build

[Richp1969]

Nice looking kit mate. That octopus decal looks interesting to do. I look forward to see it come together. Have fun and good luck.

Sincerely,

Richard

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Nice! Looking forward to this build

[chief5437]

Great choice, don't see many of theses around

[martin57]

Thank you all for your input .

first of on this build , was the pit.
i was thinking about buying the big eduard set for this,but if i"am honest it was a bit out of my price range.
So the first thing i noticed was the control panel had some nice detail, but the decals were done in small sections with some large carrier film,so thay would not conform.
so what i did was drill out the holes and sand down the back of the panel , cut a piece of scrap plastic card to shape , and painted it black.
then placed the panel on the top and scribed round the holes with a needle then seperated them then put the decals on to the card , when this was set
i glued the two together and put a bit of gloss in the holes.
It did not turn out that great , in hinsight it could have done with more sand of at the back of the control panel because it is still a bit deep.
never mind its all about learning.

















As you can see not that great .
moving on then,
up next was the seats and bulkhead and the controls.
painted them and put them all together and made some belts out of masking tape, then gave it all a wash.
i also painted and washed the other parts of the fuserlarge witch could be seen , rear wheel and bomb bay.
Added the side windows and top dome ,and wing spare , and glued it all together.
















well thats it for now thanks for coming see you soon

[Lysus]

Really liking this.

[martin57]

Back again , hope ever one is ok.
so on with the build, the next stage was to put all the airframe together, this went well , wing roots fitted nice with the help of the small sparr.
gave it the right angle.
i put the under cart legs in as well because it looked like it would be a bit of a pain to do after when the other parts were fitted.








next i primed the engines and there covers and the under cart bays , these were then painted.
the engines were painted and washed , thay look good .













thats as far as we go on this part .
i will say this , the kit is a joy to build ,its simple and straight forward , and the parts fit nice .
i will be buying another one of these to build , it will have all the extras and i will make the bomber version , i think this kit deserves it.
thanks for coming

[OliveDrab]

Looking very good Martin! Great idea for improving the instrument panel

[martin57]

WELL back again for a quick update.
i fitted the engines and masked up the glass, then p v ad them in place , apart from a small rub over on the canopy part thay all fitted really well.
fitted the fuel tanks.
i closed up the bomb bay because i chose the version with the cannons up front instead of the bomberders glass.
so far so good.





Then moved on to plugging up the holes ready for the primer coat.




primer coat done useing up my A K grey primer nearly gone now .



i got these paints to try , we will see how thay go hopefully thay will be ok.



well thats it for this part .
hope to see you soon thanks for coming

[Always48]

That PV-1 is a sleek looking bird

your doing a awesome job mate and im looking forward to seeing her dressed up in colour now.

[HIghAltitudeScale]

so far very nice work, keep it up!

[MichaelHoffman]

Wow, this is turning out nice. I think you are being to critical, I see nothing wrong with this build at all. And as for the control panel, that was some great thinking, and it turned fantastic. Don't fuss over it, you won't see much anyway, but know that you tried a new technique, and it worked nicely. It will come in handy for those builds where you will see everything. Keep calm and model on.

[martin57]

HI ALL just a quick update.
got the base coats down, tried for the first time a bit of panel fading.
using the hataka paint set, i was not all that keen on the paints, may be its me,but you got to try new things.
see what you think.







next up will be abit of touching up and a good gloss coat.
i used blue tack worms for the camo lines.






well thats it for now thanks for coming

[Gav0909]

Ha its a funny looking bird on the ground, looks like a fat waddling duck. Nice work on the paint job though, those colours turned out really nicely. Looking forward to seeing more of this.

[Avgas]

Nice camo work, interesting subject.

[demarcation]

Great work so far!

[martin57]

HI all hope every body is good .
i have not done much for a while with this old girl.
so as time is getting on i had to finish her .
so after the main painting was completed , i moved on to giving her a couple of coats of satin varnish
i used this artist varnish to give it a try, and it went down ok ,no thinning needed at about 20 p s i useing 04 needle.



so now to see how the decals go down , it being a nice day i did this outside in the garden.
the first one went down great.



then on with the rest.



oh that octopuss was a flipping pain just like the real thing tenticales every were had to keep lifting the things up and moving them a bit here and there
trying to keep temper , but got there in the end .



so now that mission was done gave her 2 more coats of satin , and fitted the props and wheels.





left it all to settle for a night , then removed the masking and added the external wires.and some touching up.





so i am calling this one done .
thanks for looking
if you pop over to the reveil part you can see her in all her glory

[chief5437]

Really like this one, you've done a great job. Looks awesome!

[Willem]

Looking very tastey.

[martin57]

Looking very tastey.

thanks will

[martin57]

Really like this one, you've done a great job. Looks awesome!

thanks chief

[Hackovsky]

Great looking build! I need to try the artistic varnish. How do you find the paints? No problems with airbrushing?

[Nev]

I really like this mate! The octo decal is very cool