RAF Blackburn Buccaneer S2B - 1/48 Airfix

[Caledonia]

Think this one qualifies for a 'then' Aircraft Ian. Will base it as the Box which is No.12 Squadron RAF Lossiemouth 1988. Have got a few goodies as you can see including the Neomega Cockpit Resin Kit photo K11; plan to do the folded wings. Will be making a start next week. Cheers Derek

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[Bunkerbarge]

Not a trick question or anything, as I know very little about these things but why would a folded wing version be land based? I thought they were for carrier use.

 

[Ian M]

Welcome aboard Derek with an excellent choice. This could go either way for you, The bucc was the last bird the true 12sq flew before they disbanded in '93

The 27 sq was disbanded and reformed as 12sq! They had tonka's GR1's at the start then on to GR4's. Or you could go the other way and take one of the squadrons earlier rides. Plenty of interesting stuff there: Fairey Battle and Avro Lancasters!!! You know those funny things with propellers up front! lol They also had Canberra B2 and B6's if you want to keep the same scale and do an Airfix double. ( If you really want to mix it up and try some thing different they had R.E 8 early in their life....)

The little I know about the Brick Richard, I do believe that all services parked them folded. This would include RN and RAF. I could be wrong though and it would not be the first time.

Ian M

edit; The cockpit looks rather nice! Might have to get me one of them for my one.

 

[andygh]

The little I know about the Brick Richard, I do believe that all services parked them folded. This would include RN and RAF. I could be wrong though and it would not be the first time.

You are quite correct Ian, I often saw them parked up that way

 

[Dave W]

Richard .The Buccaneer has (had?)folding wings because they were all built for the navy.They were transfered to the RAF fron the Navy along with the F4K Phantoms when the big carriers were taken out of service.

 

[Caledonia]

Not a trick question or anything, as I know very little about these things but why would a folded wing version be land based? I thought they were for carrier use.

Hi Richard, Dave (AKA Dave W's) answer is spot on. When I worked on Loch Linnhe (Fort William) in 1975/76 three of the RN Buccaneers in their Dark Blue colours most mornings would come on from the sea at mast top height and buzz us then take a sharp left at Corpach and disappear up Glen Finnan before you could blink. Cheers Derek

 

[colin m]

Another one, already Derek, where do you put them all ??

But anyway, a real question. Is this a new kit ? The box art looks old, but the detail looks quite modern.

Colin M........

 

[Caledonia]

Another one, already Derek, where do you put them all ??But anyway, a real question. Is this a new kit ? The box art looks old, but the detail looks quite modern.

Colin M........

Hi Colin, it's an old kit which I got on ebay, the copyright on the box says 1994. It came with the photo etch stuff, wheels and flaps so someone must have bought the bits then decided to sell the kit. Airfix have managed some panel lines and rivets, but the finish is far cruder than the EE Lightning F6 which I finished recently. I will demonstrate this when I get started. Cheers Derek

p.s. yes I am running out of space.

 

[Caledonia]

A shot of the cockpit components. Tried my hand at an Oil wash of the components for the first time, I used Winton Oil Colour 'Raw Umber' diluted 1 part oil paint to roughly 10 parts Sansodor both from Winsor & Newton. It certainly brought out the ribbing details etc. Cheers Derek

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[Ian M]

That Neogama cock pit looks fantastic, I might have to get me one of those!

Nice work by the way.

Ian M

 

[Caledonia]

A shot of the cockpit during assembly of the side walls and trial fit of the seats.

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In order to fit the Neomega Cockpit, the area under the windscreen had to be removed also the moulded ribs in way of the cockpit tub.

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In order to fit the resin flaps will have to remove the moulded ones on the wing.

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Final shot shows the flaps cut out, also the intake and exhaust components ready fit fitting, and the two fuselage halves cemented together. The rear and wing area were a reasonable fit, but from the intake to the nose is very bad, it is banana shaped, and the lower half is narrower than the top half - so plenty of shaving, filling and rescribing on the agenda next week Cheers Derek

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[Caledonia]

A rather tempting colour scheme for the Buc???

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[Caledonia]

Much of this week was taken up with filling/filing/sanding the fuselage longitudinal joints and re-scribing and re-drilling rivet details..

The engine exhaust trunking has two location points which I removed, the inner most one fouled the PE Turbine Blades and the outer one was visible.

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I cut away the wing area and fuselage for the Resin Flaps, filled in with 10 thou thick plasticard and blended in before cementing the flaps on.

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Assembled the Fin, Outer Wing sections and Underwing Refuelling Tanks, still to clean up the joints.

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A trial fit of the Refuelling Tanks using the location points on the kit suggested to me that they were too far outboard, so I plan to move them inboard so that the attachment point does not overlap the wing joint.

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Cheers Derek

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[Caledonia]

Fitted the Tail, Wings and Intake. The Tail was a good fit, the others not so. As you will see from the photos below, I have had a change of plan, have decided not to fold the Wings as having seen the actual model I like the Wing profile very much, also the Airfix Wing Fold detail is extremely crude and the P.E. alternative in my view is too delicate to survive my monthly dusting and also would need a lot of scratch building to compliment the P.E.

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The photos below shows the first pass at filling the bad joints after much filing. (Squadron White Putty). Photos taken before cleaning up the joints.

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A tip for the newer Forum members is when trying to smooth off filler in areas adjacent to fine moulded details such as panels/rivet etc use a cotton bud dipped in nail varnish remover which must contain Acetone, an alternative is use Mr Hobby - Mr Color Thinner.

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Cheers Derek

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[Ian M]

Looks like a Brick to me!

Yes the intakes are not a good fit at all are they. I can recall on my last one that I used a lot of filler and time and sanding on those.

I agree about the wing folds too. I scratched mine with some plastic card and the kit parts. Worked OK and are quite strong too.

The Bucc is very much a kit you need to build and not just put together but well worth it in the end.

I see paint in you near future Derek.

The pylon placement; I think you will find that its correct as I believe the foot of the Pylon did go out beyond the fold. I will check up on it.

Ian M

 

[Ian M]

Back again, The only photo I have does not show it clearly but the foot of the pylon did go beyond the wing fold. The mounting points are very clear in some of the photos and are very near the end of the inner wing section.

Also a bit irrelevance but on the Navy Buccs, the had the pylon fixing point for the wing tips moved in board, toward the fold, to enable a heavier payload to be carried.

Ian M

 

[Caledonia]

Hi Ian, thanks for the input, as I am not going to fold the wings, I will leave the tanks where Airfix had them as they allow a better view of the rather nicely detailed main undercarriage doors. As you say this point is difficult to identify on photos, but if you blow up the winter camo photo on my posting #12 it looks to me as if the do not overlap at least on this aircraft.

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The Airfix box the model came in identifies the country of manufacture as France, when you look at the model overall you wonder if three companies did the moulding. The fuselage and tail fin has recessed lines and rivets, all be it that they are a little too deep and large for the scale, the rotating bombay door has raised panel lines and no rivets, and finally the outer wing section and tailerons is moulded with both recessed and raised rivets - strange. Cheers derek

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[Caledonia]

Not had much time recently been converting the end of our garden from what looks like a Burmese Jungle back to an Urban Garden. A few photos of the current progress, beginning to prep for painting, still have some filling and re-scribing to do. Cheers Derek

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[Caledonia]

Started painting; primed the model with my usual Tamiya aerosol 'Surface Primer - Gray', then painted the model 'Ocean Gray Tamiya XF-82' thinned with approx 40% Tamiya thinner, see photos below. Was going to mask it off for the green camo but am finding this tedious so plan B is to pencil in the pattern and airbrush it free hand, not looking forward to that as I have never freehanded a 1/48 model before. Cheers Derek

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[Ian M]

Looking good Derek. I might just point out that the foot of the tank no the port wing looks like you might of missed a bit when doing the filler. You have probably seen it but I thought I would point it out before you start painting.

I'm sure that you will do a good job of the free hand camo. Just take a few practices to get the feel of thin paint and low pressure and you will be fine.

Ian M