For some
time, I have wanted to do a model of this aircraft, since I first saw it at
Lowery Park, in Tampa Florida USA in 1970. I later had a chance to take some
very poor walk-around photos when the plane had been moved to Clearwater,
Florida, sometime in the 90's. I always intended to go back and take better
photos, but for us modelers, tomorrow never came.
They
elected to make the last surviving P2V-3 variant into an artificial reef!
Years later, I am sill outraged.
That being said, I waited for years for someone better than I do do at least a
conversion kit or something. Well, they didn't, so I finally did.
Click on
images below to see larger images
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I began with the
old, trusty 1/72 scale Hasegawa P2V-7 Neptune kit, the Pavla P2V cockpit set and
the Falcon P2V-5 conversion set (although the latter was only used as a basis
for some quick bases to create new resin masts for some parts. I did not
actually use ANY of the Falcon parts in the final build). To see how the parts
were made and used, you'll have to refer to the build article over on
Britmodeler.com, as there are more than 100 photos involved, and they can be a
little larger than would fit well here.
http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234994346-lockheed-p2v-3-neptune-a-forgotten-warrior/
There are also
detailed instructions at every step, plainly showing how you can also create
this forgotten warrior. Would you believe this twin-engine plane was BIGGER than
a B-24? I'm pretty certain it was also the largest plane ever to fly night-time
road interdiction missions (at least until the C-130s came along). These
missions may actually still BE classified, but I am not sure.
This build took
about seven months, and was aided by information supplied by a lot of people.
The only original parts still on the model are the horizontal tail surface, the
two large fuel dumps, and the main landing gear wheels and tires. EVERYTHING
else has been modified or replaced by a new part I hope that you enjoy seeing
this seldom-mentioned Korean War veteran. As far as a pretty exhaustive search
has turned up, I believe that this might be the only plastic or resin P2V-3
model ever made; I'm pretty sure that Lockheed made some models of it, probably
from wood or metal, however.
I hope that you all
enjoy seeing this warrior, as much as I enjoyed crating her, and by all means,
try one yourselves!