The Lockheed PV-1 Vega Ventura

**Milton Shupe** · March 12th, 2014, 15:26

Well, I thought this would not be such a stretch from the L-18 based Lodestar. Boy, was I wrong. been cranking seriously on this for about 60 hours to get to this point. Only the bomb bay left to do, another 6 hours or so and the exterior should be ready. Not much left of the Lodestar and Harpoon parts to build this one. Hoping I can share extensively the VC parts to reduce build time.

Now you military guys who thought maybe the C-60A would not be enough, now you can haul some "kick-a$$" of a different kind.

**Hurricane91** · March 12th, 2014, 17:26

Love of Lockheeds. Looks like a hot ship Milton. You did some serious lifting on this bird and it's fabulous.

**fliger747** · March 12th, 2014, 18:37

Looks great Milton! I think in the long run this might even be more popular than the Harpoon.

Regards: Tom

**Bill Kestell** · March 12th, 2014, 18:39

Milton ... apparently we can't leave you unsupervised for more than a few hours! WONDERFUL!

**SPman** · March 12th, 2014, 19:13

Well, that's a pleasant surprise - lots of potential schemes in this one as well.

Thanks Milton.

**t.creed** · March 12th, 2014, 19:52

..oh wow..!! was I thinking out loud with the microphone connected..??

thanks for continuing with the PV-1 !!
and Tom has sure done a FINE job with the PV-2 fde,, really sweet..!!
rgds
t creed

**Milton Shupe** · March 12th, 2014, 19:58

Originally Posted by Hurricane91

Love of Lockheeds. Looks like a hot ship Milton. You did some serious lifting on this bird and it's fabulous.

It required a lot more than I expected but cranking on it 12-14 hours a day it has come along quickly. Just got the bomb bay doors in; borrowed from the Harpoon and pushed and shoved to make them fit the Lodestar/PV-1 belly.

Originally Posted by fliger747

Looks great Milton! I think in the long run this might even be more popular than the Harpoon.

Regards: Tom

Tom, I am certain it will be; so many possibilities with this one.

Originally Posted by Bill Kestell

Milton ... apparently we can't leave you unsupervised for more than a few hours! WONDERFUL!

My wife is moaning wondering when I will come up for air. She is most understanding. :-)

Originally Posted by SPman

Well, that's a pleasant surprise - lots of potential schemes in this one as well.

Thanks Milton.

You bet; I am happy to squeeze this one out in my spare time using parts of the Harpoon and Lodestar with a lot of adjustments and tweaks.

**AussieMan** · March 13th, 2014, 00:11

I think it was the C-60 that the RAAF used during WWII but this one looks very close. So I have ordered in more paint so it looks like I may have some work to do.

**SADT** · March 13th, 2014, 00:13

Hi Milton,

The Ventura has a particular interest to me as my Dad still remembers seeing Ventura's in SAAF livery in the 60's buzzing around, and at the airports! So it's nice to see one being made!

Will you be modelling one with windows in the front - like with a plexiglass bubble nose, as opposed to the solid nose?

Regards,
Craig.

**expat** · March 13th, 2014, 03:52

This is outstanding Milton. Am having a ball flying your Harpoon around the Solomons. Hugely excited about adding to the Lockheed Twin fleet a Lodestar and Ventura!

***Willy*** · March 13th, 2014, 06:17

Lockheed Twins are like tater chips. You can't have just one. Looking forward to this one as well.

**Blackbird686** · March 13th, 2014, 06:49

That little "fireplug" of an airplane is bristling with all kinds of firepower... tubby little troublemaker! And it looks as if to say, "Bring it!". Looks great so far, Milton, the Vega Ventura will be a nice compliment to the Harpoon, and its not so aggressive brother... the Lodestar.

BB686

**Milton Shupe** · March 13th, 2014, 08:53

Originally Posted by Blackbird686

That little "fireplug" of an airplane is bristling with all kinds of firepower... tubby little troublemaker! And it looks as if to say, "Bring it!". Looks great so far, Milton, the Vega Ventura will be a nice compliment to the Harpoon, and its not so aggressive brother... the Lodestar.

BB686

Indeed; finished up the exterior model this morning and that is ready for mapping. Will have to decide to map now or after the interior is done.

I am now ready to build the VC for the Lodestar now but I think we can do these concurrently.

**Matt Wynn** · March 13th, 2014, 09:04

oooooh she's really looking a Beauty Milton! top drawer work as always!

**nigel richards** · March 13th, 2014, 09:06

Originally Posted by Milton Shupe

Indeed; finished up the exterior model this morning and that is ready for mapping. Will have to decide to map now or after the interior is done.

I am now ready to build the VC for the Lodestar now but I think we can do these concurrently.

Breathless trying to keep pace with the forum, let alone the work, Sir!
(distract him someone for 5 minutes, for Pete' sake. Please!).

Seriously - amazing progress; Bravo Milton!

For my tuppence worth; plow straight ahead with VC first, then study mapping approach for completed model.
I have a few thoughts on how we can map for extra awesomosity - just need to catch up on your warp speed first.

**Maarten -** · March 13th, 2014, 09:25

Another beauty on the production line!

Somebody help!!! Milton's at risk of burning himself out!

**Milton Shupe** · March 13th, 2014, 11:08

Originally Posted by nigel richards

Breathless trying to keep pace with the forum, let alone the work, Sir!
(distract him someone for 5 minutes, for Pete' sake. Please!).

Seriously - amazing progress; Bravo Milton!

For my tuppence worth; plow straight ahead with VC first, then study mapping approach for completed model.
I have a few thoughts on how we can map for extra awesomosity - just need to catch up on your warp speed first.

I tend to agree on the doing the VC first (on the Lodestar) before mapping. I can use a lot of the Lodestar and Harpoon VC parts on the Ventura. Thanks

Originally Posted by Maarten

Another beauty on the production line!

Somebody help!!! Milton's at risk of burning himself out!

The Lodestar and Ventura exterior model efforts were intense for sure but that exterior heavy lifting is now done. The harder part for me is the VC as there is little guidance for interior things. Takes longer, more frustrating. :-) So, I will focus now in the cockpit VC's for both aircraft now, then map both afterwards. Patience now. :-)

Edit: Got the basic interior infrastructure in place

**p3aewguy** · March 13th, 2014, 15:44

I put in a 1 TB hard drive last year. Don't know if it's going to be big enough if you keep this up! LOL! Looks great Milton! Dave P3aewguy

**Milton Shupe** · March 13th, 2014, 16:30

Originally Posted by p3aewguy

I put in a 1 TB hard drive last year. Don't know if it's going to be big enough if you keep this up! LOL! Looks great Milton! Dave P3aewguy

LOL Dave; I usually accumulate 5-6 GB of stuff per project and my drive is holding up just fine. It is interesting when I recall that back in my early days as a computer programmer, we ran the whole company on 300 MBs :-)

**mrogers** · March 13th, 2014, 23:04

Wow! I look forward to the Ventura when it's ready! The Ventura was a hot ship compared to the heavier and slower PV-2 Harpoon...

Great work Milton
Just wanted to point out something on the model- I know it's a WIP, and you probably know, but the oil cooler intakes were flush with the gear doors along the bottom.

**Milton Shupe** · March 14th, 2014, 06:09

Originally Posted by mrogers

Wow! I look forward to the Ventura when it's ready! The Ventura was a hot ship compared to the heavier and slower PV-2 Harpoon...

Great work Milton
Just wanted to point out something on the model- I know it's a WIP, and you probably know, but the oil cooler intakes were flush with the gear doors along the bottom.

Ah yes, it took some searching to find that detail as my on-the-ground pics have the doors open, and the 3-views hide the doors with the nacelles, and the in-flight pics are dark or bad angles. But I see now you are correct. I'll fix that; thanks for the heads-up. :-)

EDIT: the 12 parts involved in this change have been adjusted; now for the other engine/cowling/oil cooler/cooler flaps/exhaust skirt. :-)

**p3aewguy** · March 14th, 2014, 16:03

Originally Posted by Milton Shupe

LOL Dave; I usually accumulate 5-6 GB of stuff per project and my drive is holding up just fine. It is interesting when I recall that back in my early days as a computer programmer, we ran the whole company on 300 MBs :-)

Yeah, remember when 512k floppies were standard? LOL!!! I had a TRS(Tandy) 80 with dual 20 meg hard disk cards. Woo Hoo! Hot stuff!

When I had the 1 TB drive installed the techs were amazed at the size of my Microsoft Games folder. I also have my paint kits folder in there also. Yeah, I hoard Flt sim stuff!

Dave

**nigel richards** · March 15th, 2014, 03:27

Originally Posted by Milton Shupe

LOL Dave; I usually accumulate 5-6 GB of stuff per project and my drive is holding up just fine. It is interesting when I recall that back in my early days as a computer programmer, we ran the whole company on 300 MBs :-)

Deja vous of those times, LOL - not long ago, a 10MB graphics archive would get flabbergasted printing and production houses promptly buzzing.

Xp-47J comes in at circa 4.5 GBs for sounds and 3.85 for artwork.

I shudder to check the Poon - 'there are 12 separate sound dev. folders on my machine.

Graphics ? - not tellin' ya...

YET!

**AndyG43** · March 15th, 2014, 03:58

Originally Posted by p3aewguy

Yeah, remember when 512k floppies were standard? LOL!!! I had a TRS(Tandy) 80 with dual 20 meg hard disk cards. Woo Hoo! Hot stuff!

512K Dave? My first PC (an Amstrad 1512) used 5¼in floppies, which had a capacity of 340k; mind you, I had the luxury version with the 10MB hard drive. Incredible to think that the RAM on that machine was just 512k, when I now run a machine with 12GB of RAM!!