The Arsenal VG40 - an Anglo-French mix that almost happened - FIN

[PR19_Kit]

I recently bought a Pegasus Arsenal VG 33 from Colin Freightdog's emporium, as he holds all the remaining Pegasus stuff, some good, some not so good, but the VG 33 is one of the good ones, even if you've never heard of it before, like me.

It came in a ziploc plastic bag and with its box as a flat pack, a bit like an Ikea model kit, most amusing. 

The VG 33 was one of the pre-WWII French lightweight fighter proposals, like the Caudron racer/fighters, but this one was a wholly Government backed proposal as they owned the Arsenal company. It was mostly built of wood, like a DH Mosquito, and powered by a Hispano Suiza 12Y-31 engine giving some 860 bhp, but various upgrades were proposed, one being the VG 40 which would have been Merlin powered, like many other fighters of the period. That proposal never got off the drawing boards, although they did build appox. 50 VG 33s, mostly only partially complete before France was over-run in 1940.

It's the VG 40 that attracted my attention, and I've got half the backstory written in my head already. 

Here's the mandatory kit box pic to kick the build thread off.



I've already freed some of the major parts from the industrial sized sprues that Chris Gannon used for Pegasus kits, and done some clean up, and I'll be looking for a suitable Merlin donor over the next few days, either a Hurricane or a Spitfire I suspect. 

Hmmm, it occurs to me that I could use the Merlin from the Brigade Models Spitfire Tr.9 that I've just vandalised for my PRXI(T), but that's a 2 stage Merlin 60 from a Spitfire Mk IX.........

Maybe a change in the backstory is called for? 

[George the Cat]

Would the engine from a Defiant do?

[kitbasher]

How different are the nose contours compared to a Hurricane/Spitfire/Defiant, Kit?

The nose looks Hurricane-ish to me (unlike the Dewotind D.520, which always looks Spitfirey).

So if the contours are close enough for government work  then why not cut yourself a bit of modelling slack and just add some suitable, appropriately-positioned 1940-style Merlin exhausts?

And then let the backstory do the heavy lifting.

[PR19_Kit]

The Defiant Merlin is a tad narrow gutted for the VG 33, but it turns out that the one from the Brigade Models TR.9 conversion would fit a treat. 

It's being glued together even  as I type.

[jcf]

The VG 32 with C series V-1710 has long been intriguing. The C has the long nose case reduction gear, the Hawk 81/P-40/P-40A,B,C had the C series V-1710.

[PR19_Kit]

Found a vintage Airfix Spitfire Mk V kit lurking in my 'Spitfire Box' in The Loft, (amongst the 70+ other Spitfire kits there!) and the Merlin in that looks a lot neater than the Brigade Models Merlin 60.

I'll do a 'saw and check' process on it over the next few hours I expect.

[PR19_Kit]

Here's the Spitfire Mk 1 box, note the price, £1.50!!!!



And the pertinent parts inside the box.



Compared to the bits inside the VG33's box.



I didn't get the scaling right in the pics, but the fuselages are about the same length in reality, Spitfire 29'11", VG 33 28' 1"

Note the difference in the wing area! The Spitfire's about 1.5 times that of the VG 33, no wonder it turned so well.

[Gondor]

That Spitfire brings back memories. I think I used one of the decal options to make a Revell Hurricane into a different aircraft by adapting the decals. I didn't know about aftermarket items at the time or model clubs, as I was still at school.

Gondor

[Freightdog862]

Just found this thread, will watch with interest! Chris Gannon told me he achieved the thinnest wall thickness of his Pegasus kits in the VG.33, made at the time using a sprayed metal mould (later kits used resin moulds which wore very quickly). The canopy is also pretty thin and clear compared to most Pegasus kits.

Don't forget that French types from that time period had a dark blue interior, very fetching.

Colin

[PR19_Kit]

Just found this thread, will watch with interest! Chris Gannon told me he achieved the thinnest wall thickness of his Pegasus kits in the VG.33, made at the time using a sprayed metal mould (later kits used resin moulds which wore very quickly). The canopy is also pretty thin and clear compared to most Pegasus kits.

Don't forget that French types from that time period had a dark blue interior, very fetching.

I've not been writing it all that long Colin. 

The thickness of the VG 33 parts is comparable with the Airfix Spitfire, and some parts even fit. 

Handy that you mentioned the interior colour, I had NO idea and was about to post a question about exactly that, thanks very much. The model's progressing nicely, but will need a fair amount of 'cutting and shutting' to get the underside of the Merlin to match the VG33 fuselage. It may even get longer wings............. 

[NARSES2]

Yup French interiors of the period were a dark blue, and it was semi gloss. Although the shine would have soon faded.

Only people I know who did it were White Ensign and the ref is WEMCC ACF12 (Bleu Fonce) if that helps ?

[The Rat]

That's a handsome aircraft, with or without a Merlin. 

I've already freed some of the major parts from the industrial sized sprues that Chris Gannon used for Pegasus kits,

I know what you mean, I have the Spiteful on the bench right now. Fortunately the plastic is rather soft, so leaving a bit of sprue gate on the part and then carving/sanding it down seems a reasonable way to work.

[PR19_Kit]

Yup French interiors of the period were a dark blue, and it was semi gloss. Although the shine would have soon faded.

Only people I know who did it were White Ensign and the ref is WEMCC ACF12 (Bleu Fonce) if that helps

Thanks for that Chris, converted to RGB values it's 51, 65, 133 and I've saved that to try and mix it with my Hataka stuff.

Not that anyone will be able to see much of it through that tiny canopy, butywhat the hell..................

[PR19_Kit]

Very handy having the RGB codes as that means my printer will print the  exact colour (hopefully....) SO I did.



And I agree with Colin and Chris, it's a great colour, but of course almost no-one has it their range. So I set to with my many Hataka bottles and came up with a mix of RAF Azure Blue, RAF Oxford Blue and a touch of black, and it matches the sample quite well.

Even now it's drying on the interior of the VG 40.

[Gondor]

That is a nice shade of Blue 

Gondor