Davec_24

Looking great, that! Looking forward to seeing her "in the flesh" over Christmas.

Just a quick verbal update (not much worth taking pictures of yet): I've spent the last few days getting the nose weight in and getting the fuselage halves together, starting with the nose and letting that all dry before tackling the tail. The lower half is very warped, which meant that I've had to assemble the fuselage in steps like this, tacking with superglue before poly cementing some plastic card plates in behind the joins (particularly in the tail, where the plastic is quite thin and provides relatively little bonding surface), hence the lack of progress over the last few days. I was toying with building a bomb-bay to display open, but having just got myself all fired up, I came across a stumbling block. The warping of the lower fuselage pretty much requires the bomb bay piece to be firmly cemented in position to even begin to get it back straight again. I tried hot water, bracing with some sections of sprue to hold the shape, etc. but to no avail, such that the bomb bay piece itself is very much structural on this one at least. Unfortunately, this means no opportunity to display the weapons bay open, but on the plus side this will mean a cleaner overall look, making the most of the S.1's sleeker lines.

Looking really nice there! I love the added detail, particularly on the landing gear, which really do look the part. How did you dind the fit of the intakes into the wing halves? Last time I built one of these, I ended up needing a fair bit of filler as there was a gap between the lip of the intake and the trunking itself (I forget whether this was at the top or the bottom, now).

Cheers Martin! I'll see how I get on with the Milliput - the kit itself has enough fit issues even without modifying the intakes, but I'll be interested to see how well the Heritage parts fit. I may indeed be back for more... R.E. The Sunderland, I owned up to it - it's a decent amount of plastic for the money, so the wife's OK with it - plus she likes the look of the Sunderland, so with any luck that will help my case when she sees how big it is built up!

Good pic Scratcher, thanks! I'll have a think and see whether I want the fairing on or off. I suppose I could lower the holdback and have the fairing lowered as well (it's a nice piece of detail), though I was originally going to do it retracted so as not to break up the shape of the aircraft too much.

Cheers Skippy! The pictures I've seen of the FAA Museum's S.1 have got the spring on the hook, I think. As for the holdback, I thought it looked a bit open on the picture from OzH's thread - I presume the fairing of which you speak should be over the "triangular" frame of the holdback gear itself?

Right! Another update at last, this time with quite a bit of progress in terms of time taken, even if I still don't have anything which resembles a Buccaneer yet. I've finished the cockpit (ejection seats will be done later), with a few of the decals from the kit which were mostly used for the instruments. On the kit, there is no attempt at representing the holdback bay, where the equipment was housed to which the holdback was attached during carrier launches, even though the kit is for the naval S.2 - presumably the Buccaneers built specifically for the RAF differed in this area and this is what Airfix based theirs upon. There are some good pictures in post #19 from OzH's build, which is serving as reference and inspiration for this one, at http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=72730. Anyway, I decided the easiest way to do this was to replace the kit part where this detail would be with a new, scratch-built item which had the holdback and its bay built in: I have also re-worked the arrestor hook recess to give it the correct, tapered profile with a teardrop sort of shape near the hinge. I've scratch-built a corresponding hook, using the head from the kit part with a new arm of the correct shape, with spring and link detail: And finally, a picture to compare my modded version to the kit's original (the other one is an un-built kit from the stash, destined to be completed as an RAF S.2, so hopefully I won't have to do all of this again!). Note I have also built a new tail bumper for the sake of added detail, just using some plastic card to get the double-layer look of the original. That's all for now - I've started work on some basic detailing to the main gear bays. The real deal is so busy that there is no way I'd ever summon the motivation to make a properly accurate version, but I'd like to put a few of the more obvious bits and pieces in there to give an impression of the real thing, as the kit's bays just look too empty!

Looking good! With regards to your primer issue, it might be worth sanding it back to bare plastic if it doesn't take too much effort; this will give a better surface for your paintjob and will help prevent mishaps when you unmask etc.. R.E. the navigation lights, I'd have thought solid (non-blinking) navigation lights with flashing anti-sollision beacons (circa once every second or two) is about right since the general arrangement is similar to an aircraft's navigation and strobe lights, which are as I just described.

Some nice models there with a few unusual subjects! I must say though that I do like your 1/48 Me262, especially the mottling - nice job there. Maybe you could try another 1/48 kit for us?

This is looking better and better! I think the lighting is really going to make this model - it stops it looking like so many grey panels stuck together and in this case is a major part of the craftsmanship (and experimentation if technique) that will go into the build. Keep it up!

Brilliant job - always liked the odd look of these machines, and you've done this one justice.

I like it! These SHARs remind me of when I did some work experience as RNAS Yeovilton; four of them did a four-ship takeoff over our heads as we waited in a Land Rover at the runway end lights - very very loud and a sight and sond I'll not be forgetting in a hurry!

Nicely done - I love all the staining and the way you've got discolouration around the engine panels and some chipping to expose darker paint on the wing leading edges, particularly around the intakes. I'd say perhaps the panel lines on the underside seem a little heavy for me, but that is a matter of personal taste and I'd not wish to put down what is an excellent model. You really are rather good at the heavily-weathered look, as this model shows!

Will you be building in some location guides, or are you just going to be extra-careful when you do join the two? I presume you're using CA glue to join them (never built a complete resin kit myself)?

Looks like a nice, clean cast on those parts, with good detailing too. It'll be interesting to see how easily this one goes together.