Building the Airfix Valiant - Part 3

Part 3 deals with the painting and final assembly of the Valiant kit.

Drill out the vent on the small intake on the port side below the engine intake before attaching it to the fuselage side. Photo 21.

The main wheel centres are separate from the tyres which is a nice touch. The wheel centres were painted silver and the tyres in Revell RLM 66, my tyre colour of choice.

The under wing fuel tanks have to be assembled as part of the under wing pylon. They cannot be attached to the pylon at a later stage. If the under wing tank is used on the model, the under carriage door needs fixing at a slight angle to avoid the said tank, just like on the real aircraft. If the tank is omitted then the door hangs parallel to the ground. Photo 22.

The model was undercoated in Halfords Grey Primer and the grey part of the H2S scanner was then masked out. The black antidazzle panel, the dielectric panels and the black part of the H2S scanner were painted in Chaos Black, once dry they were masked out. The model was then given a light coat of Halfords Primer White before two top coats of Halfords Toyota White were applied. Once dry the model was given a coat of Vallejo Gloss Acrylic Varnish. Photo 23 shows the model in the intermediate stage where the main painting was complete and I had started to apply the decals.

Decals were from the Air Dec sheet and I finished the Valiant as XD875 138 Sqn in the hi-vis anti flash white scheme. XD875 was the last Valiant built. The sheet is well printed but a word of warning, the decals are that fine they curl up straight away if you don’t slide them off the backing paper onto the model. Another slight drawback is even on a gloss finish they instantly stick to the first spot they touch on the model.

Once the decals had bedded down I glued the vortex generators back onto the fin and when dry painted them the appropriate colours to match the fin flash. Undercarriage doors were painted silver/aluminium on the inner surfaces and gloss white on the outer surfaces. The main undercarriage doors need to be angled in slightly if the wing tanks are added as per the real aircraft. I made the walkway lines on the top of the fuselage from thin black decal strip. The bomb winch markings were made from red decal strip. The markings were placed from the stencil guide in the Aerofax Valiant book by Eric B Morgan. Photo 28.

The undercarriage parts were painted silver/aluminium and attached. These fit really well and give the Valiant a strong undercarriage to stand on. I added the wing pitots, the aerials on the cockpit roof and under the bomb aimer’s blister. I also painted the wing tip lights in. If I had more time I would have replaced these with clear plastic. Photo 26. I scratch built a beam approach aerial from plastic card and fine wire, as the kit appears to have missed this out. This was superglued to the front undercarriage door. Photo 27.

The model was given another coat of Vallejo Gloss Varnish, when dry the masking was removed and the two side windows were glazed using. The wheels were now added and the model was complete,

As I said earlier, unreservedly recommended, now for a B(K)1 and a B(PR)1.

Photos 24 & 29. The finished Airfix Vickers Valiant in all her glory.