general melchett Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 (edited) Hi BM'ers , this is another build I have been working on for a short while, ready for the Bomber Command table at Telford. It is of course the Victor B2 ( R) kitted out for the carriage of Blue Steel nuclear stand off missile. The model started life as the Matchbox K2 kit with a raft of additions, including the Flightpath intake and detail set , Airfix Vulcan tailcone , custom ECM fit rebuilt undercarriage , new vortex generators , cockpit glazing custom made from clear vac , Blue Steel coolers and various vents , added APU and ECM cooler ducts , and a few extra aerials and vents that the B2R (standing for retrofit) carried in it's earlier days. The Victor is just about my favorite aircraft and I had great fun building this one, even though it took a lot longer than I had anticipated !! The Matchbox kit is really very basic and has quite a few glaring mistakes, mainly around the intakes ( which are just awful and totally inaccurate ) , and the outer wings which droop downwards alarmingly !.These two probs can be fixed with a fair bit of work , firstly by using the great Flightpath ( formerly DB resins ) set which involves a lot of surgery and lining up and secondly the judicious use of fine Milliput!!! . Once fitted , and moulded in the intakes look tremendous. The only fiddly bit is cutting very thin card ito make the airflow straighteners and carefully sliding them into place within the intake, ( you must spray the insides of them first , airbrush a great help here ). The next problem is the angle of the trailing edges of the wings, which if you fit them as per instructions will have the pods ( Whitcomb bodies or Kuschmann carrots take your pick !) pointing at the ground !!, in reality they should be level with the ground line.This is a much more difficult problem and I resorted to twisting the whole wing and gluing it level , then using Milliput (our dear friend ) to blend the wing tops and bottoms into the inner wing sections. A lot easier said than done !! Another error is the canopy which have the windows embossed and they are mostly the wrong shape and size , so I made one up using the PE part from the FP brass set as a guide and tried to get the windows the correct shape.This also has the benefit of being flush as opposed to the kits raised effort.The Victor was an extremely slick design and so this and the horrible mass of raised lines were done away with and the whole thing built without rescribing. I don't generally rescribe 1/72nd scale aircraft as I feel it looks overdone ( if you scale it up you will have a gutter about 3 inches wide running down the panel lines , not my cup of tea really .). Handley Page went to great lengths to make the Victors skin as smooth as possible for trans sonic flight and so I don't want to ruin all that hard work with trenches !! the only ones I left on were the nose area and bomb bays as these are quite prominent on the real thing. The nose probe, artificial feel and the refueling probe are also too thick in the kit and so I built my own out of plastic rod. The kit was painted with Halfords white primer followed by airbrushed Tamiya white , finished of with three coats of Mr hobby clear. Decals come from the excellent but flippin' expensive Eurodecals Victor set. XL162 was a Blue Steel trials aircraft before it went on to serve with the Wittering wing from 1963 on. Eventually it was converted to become a K2 tanker in 1974. So there you have it , a labour of love (yet) again , but one I rather like!!, Cheers chaps (and chapess's), hope you like her, Andy Edited November 12, 2008 by general melchett Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AnonymousDFB1 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Great work General Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PHREAK Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Beautiful model of a beauitiful aircraft Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ptmvarsityfan Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Magnificent! Beautifully finished. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skii Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Lovely work Melchy, building a victor in 1/72 is no mean feat, especially to your usual high standard. superb ! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Notdoneyet Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 That's a lovely Victor, General. Well done Sir!! Ian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 Thanks everyone, gee . It is a bit of a pig to build , I think that's generally accepted but that's how I like em , however with a bit of thought , planning ,(not to mention cash cos the bits ain't cheap !!) , it's not too hard to turn out a half decent effort. The Flightpath set is an absolute necessity !!! Next Victor will be a camo B(SR)2 of 543 squadron with the camera bay exposed. It's a bit of a 'golden oldie' but still worth the effort. Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nwanda Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Glorious Victor! I have allways thought that it was as much a work of art as of engineering, beautifully caught by your rendition Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muller Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 She's a beauty alright! Lovely work General! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alan P Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Ooh, she's a BEAUTY You must be proud of that one. Alan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Obi-Jiff Kenobi Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Fantastic work as usual, General sah! Lovely looking Victor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigReg Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 It makes building the Welsh models 144 scale a walk in the park - great job Andy! Regards David Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keith in the uk Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Very nice Andy , now all you need is the Valiant and Vulcan for the set , great build Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 She's fantastic! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
avro683 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 It'll be all white on the night. That's gorgeous. Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham T Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Beautiful. Time well spent I'd say. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Seamus Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 That Sir, is an absolute gem. Stunning Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 stunning! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radar Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 MMMM. Very nice, an awful lot of hard work, can't wait to see her in the flesh on Saturday Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 Thanks once again for the kind comments guys , seems most people like the old Victor, she really was a case of form and function in perfect harmony. Looking at the number of PM's I've had already there are quite a few of you out there who want a crack at the old bird , well all I can say is ...go for it !!! cheers everyone, Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nev Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Now thats a fine model Now, just as soon as you finish up that other one, I'm sure someone will anounce a nice new-tool range of Victors Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Ah our Infamous General Loonytoon strikes again Yet again you have done battle with a Beast and walked away the Victor Andy, couldnt resist the temptation Seriously, yet another wonderful masterpiece for you to be proud of Thanks for sharing my friend Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tizzy Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 That is stunning.The Victor always looked like it belonged in an old sci-fi film. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
general melchett Posted November 12, 2008 Author Share Posted November 12, 2008 Thanks Nev , I'm sure you're right fella , mind you I would welcome it to be honest !!! Bex, you're puns just get worse... , Is this appropriate ?? Tizzy , Dan Dares rocket ship..... Andy Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bexwh773 Posted November 12, 2008 Share Posted November 12, 2008 Bex, you're puns just get worse... ,Is this appropriate ?? Andy Ive learnt from a good teacher Bex Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now