Airfix 1/72nd Handley-Page Victor B Mk.2 (Blue Steel)

[general melchett]

Hi all, just before Christmas I thought I'd post my last build of 2016, the brand new Airfix HP Victor Mk 2 and as it's just about my favourite aircraft I just had to have at it. I built this kit back in August in time for the latest issue of AMW (December) and as it was the first test shot it came with no box, instructions or decals, (kindly Simon Owen of Airfix managed to send me a PDF copy of the instructions before I started). The kit is very well designed though as I point out in the article there are a few issues with fit and some omissions specific to the Blue Steel equipped Victors such as the VCCP intake in the port wing root stub and small blister intakes either side of the fuselage above the wing roots but nothing that can't easily be dealt with.The engineering of the intakes is very cleverly done and makes painting them a breeze. Thanks also to that font of Victor knowledge Dennis Robinson (sloegin) whose detailed info particularly in regard to the proper B2 cockpit colours really helped out.The interior has a bit of scratch-building added but not too much, (seats, missing pilots side wall panels, rear side wall panels, etc).

 

This model was finished as an early camouflaged B2 of the Wittering Wing during the centralized servicing period circa 1965. The camouflage demarcation lines were feathered and didn't wrap under the wings and tailplanes at this time, there were minimal warning markings with everything toned down, and the finish was more a high semi-gloss sheen than the later high gloss polyurethane. They didn't appear in this particular scheme for long and as such kept remarkably clean (even underneath), later on, of course, it was a different story. Some aircraft had the Wittering station badge applied to the port nose under the canopy but XH673 was one that didn't, right at the end of that period the Wittering lion appeared on the fin and wing tanks were fitted. I chose this particular aircraft because it was the first operational B2 to drop a Blue Steel, (100 squadron at Aberporth in 1967)  plus I like the early scheme without the ugly wing tanks to mar the beautiful lines.

 

Already got another well underway for our Bomber Command SIG and this will almost certainly be an early white B2 with the small fin root intake, lack of wing 'carrots' and refuelling probe, then a B(SR)2, a later Wittering B2, the Red Neck trials aircraft and.......you get the idea....

 

Thanks for looking hope you like it.

 

Cheers and Happy festivities 

 

Melchie 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited April 1, 2018 by general melchett

[dhtmo]

Beautiful, General!

[Richard E]

Excellent model and supported by a very well written build article in Airfix Magazine General Sahhh.

 

I fear you may have tipped my decision whether I should add one of these to the collection.

[Rabbit Leader]

General (Andy) what a wonderful way to end the modelling year. I have really enjoyed all your beautiful builds and look forward to seeing more great stuff in 2017. 

 

When you get the chance, can you please post some photos and any additional information regarding the early B.2 fin root fairing. I'm toying with the idea of building mine in similar guise and would be very greatful for any guidance with this hopefully fairly straight forward conversion. 

 

Cheers and Merry Christmas.. Dave 

[MikeR]

Nicely done!

 

Mike.

[general melchett]

Thanks chaps, glad you like it, it was an absolute pleasure to bang together, it's total build time being less than five weeks....

 

Richard, I can't recommend the model highly enough, just a few things needed to bring the kit to full Blue Steel configuration which I covered in the article. Glad you liked the article hopefully it made some sense !

 

Dave, cheers and Happy Christmas...I'll certainly be doing a WIP on the early B2, a good pal of mine cast a resin replacement for the smaller fin root intake on the Matchbox kit a few years back and I'm hoping it'll fit directly onto this one, the only issue being that the fin is part of the fuselage which is great for alignment but not so good for conversion to earlier aircraft due to the big hole that'll result, or for that matter BMk.1/A conversion, (which is something else I'll be doing later down the line as we at the BC SIG also need a few K1/1A's).

 

Cheers all

 

Melchie 

 

 

 

 

[JohnT]

General Sir

A beautiful rendition of what is in my unworthy opinion the most beautiful large aircraft ever to fly off the designers drawing board.  Kind of a Sophia Loren/ Audrey Hepburn of the aviation world that makes one weak at the knees.

 

Must grab a copy of your article too Sah!

[Learstang]

Splendiferous job on the Victor, old wombat! This is a kit that is definitely registering on my extremely powerful modelling radar. Re the 'Red Neck' trials, did the aircraft sport some rust stains and some unpainted car primer, perchance (a bit of Texas/Southern humour there). I suppose the bomb bay doors were screen doors.

 

Bestest for the Holidays,

 

Jason

[general melchett]

John, I totally agree, a beautiful design, even more so before they added lumps and bumps all over it. I've mentioned it many times but as a young nipper growing up in the sixties a few short miles from the threshold at Radlett, and with my house and primary school directly under the flight path I grew up seeing these aircraft daily, (sometimes even at the weekend when on test) which left a powerful impression on my young mind. These things looked like they'd come straight out of the pages of a Dan Dare comic or from the latest episode of Thunderbirds. A simply fantastic time to live through as an aviation nut, (we had DeHavilland/HS on the other side so got our daily fill of Comets, Tridents and 125's as well) the sky was full of wonderful shapes and sounds back then...a far cry from today..

 

Please grab away...

 

Ah Jason old fruitcake, as far as I can ascertain the Red Neck (or 'Yee-Ha' trials as they were known) didn't have much by way of red primer/rust involved however the modified Conways fed by swamp gas did have a slight Southern drawl and I believe the acoustic testing involved some five stringed banjos and a jaw harp....

 

Yes Happy hols...

 

 

[tonyot]

Beautiful,.......simply beautiful,......well done Andy,

 

Cheers

            Tony

[PhantomBigStu]

Stunning build, Christmas present indeed to see such quality shared

Edited December 24, 2016 by PhantomBigStu

[woody37]

Gorgeous mate, I've held off ordering one incase I can get a better deal in the New Year! What a great inspiration to give in and order one now!!!!

 

Cheers

Neil

[stevej60]

That's a stunning build and paint job Melchie not that they'll need it but I bet it it adds to the sales figures too!

[kev67]

Lovely build Andy, one of my favourite V bombers, even bought the Rareplanes vac form model back in the early eighties before the matchbox kit arrived, alas my modelling skills back then were not that good and I only built one wing.

[phildagreek]

 

Looks the biz, nicely done.

[Habu12]

I echo the thoughts about the form of the aircraft. I defnitely got a better appreciation for the shape during my build. I'm not a SME on this aircraft, and it's the first time I've ever built one. So I can see why some you call this jet a fave.

 

However, comma...

this is the second Airfix kit in a row that is subpar from the standard it has set in the past few years. They are not trending upward anymore. I know Hornby and Airfix have had a tough year. And this release, as well as the P-40 are indicative of that.

[general melchett]

Well thanks chaps, plenty of Christmas spirit around here, cheers one and all....

 

Cheers Tony and Neil, you must get at least one, the BC table needs to be covered in lovely Victors....and the odd Lanc of course 

 

Steve, well I hope the kit does well, a decent Victor was well overdue...all we need now is a Vulcan !

 

Kev, cheers for that,  wow I remember the Rareplanes and NOVA vac's...a lot of hard work...at least you got one wing done better than nothing. One would look great parked next to your Viccy10...

 

Habu, sorry to hear this, what was wrong with your moulding ? I agree that some sub assemblies don't fit as well as they should especially at the price point, the bomb bay doors are a couple of mm too short, the open airbrake assembly bulkheads need shaving back to fit and top wing to fuselage assembly needs a bit of work, (I mentioned this in the article). I guess as a scratch-builder I'm used to sorting these thing out on the fly but you have a point when it comes to expecting it to fit together reasonably well out of the box...

 

 

Edited December 24, 2016 by general melchett

[stever219]

6 minutes ago, Habu12 said:

I echo the thoughts about the form of the aircraft. I defnitely got a better appreciation for the shape during my build. I'm not a SME on this aircraft, and it's the first time I've ever built one. So I can see why some you call this jet a fave.

 

However, comma...

this is the second Airfix kit in a row that is subpar from the standard it has set in the past few years. They are not trending upward anymore. I know Hornby and Airfix have had a tough year. And this release, as well as the P-40 are indicative of that.

 

Pleas can you substantiate "subpar"?  No kit is perfect (not even, for example, the allegedly perfect Tamiya Mosquito) so please elucidate on what makes this kit less than perfect.  I've found a few minor niggles, but nothing that can't be lived with or dealt with by a reasonably competent modeller (or even someone with my limited abilities) and nothing as awkward as having to take a scale foot off the height of the fin of a Mosquito.

[Pete in Lincs]

Spiffing job your Lordship.

(I had a peek at the new year honours list)

I suppose you'll have to get

the builders in again to extend

Melchett towers for all the other

Victors you're planning to build?

Or are you planning to burrow

into Waddingtons hillside?

[general melchett]

Pete, ah good news the New Years Honours Melchett Foundation cheque must have gone through.....being a fellow Lincolnite you well understand the problem with the substrata surrounding the land beyond the Edge and the load bearing limitations of  the underlying granite bedrock.......once the chaps have finally finished far**ing around  at Waddington they will be coming over here en mass with the heavy lift gear in preparation of the task ahead.

[Overpin]

Oh, wow wow wow!  Beautiful aircraft, and a wonderful execution on the kit! The kit looks absolutely lovely and I do like the super clean look.

I just recently finished the old Revell Victor in desert storm scheme, and I have to say that wasn't a pleasure to build. Now that I see what you've done with Airfix's Victor, I'm tempted to do another one!

Glad to see this one features the boundary layer fences next to the intakes.

Oh, and did you happen to snap any pictures of the cockpit? I'd love to see the detail on that!

[general melchett]

Thanks Overpin, appreciated. Yes the old Matchbox/Revell victor can be a bit of a challenge, I know I built three of them ! The fences are nicely rendered and actually angle in slightly as per the real thing.

I do have an image of the cockpit, bear in mind that the seat belts, ejection seat pull handles and harnesses are all from the spares box though I'm sure Eduard will be along soon with a pre painted set....

 

One thing I will say regarding the build though is put the instrument panel coaming in BEFORE closing the fuselage up....Airfix would have you slide it in afterwards but this is asking for trouble as it will almost certainly mean damage to the seat detail and coaming, the fit is real tight and awkward to get at !

 

Cheers..

 

[Overpin]

I have to say that's quite the improvement over the old kit! I was actually happy to hide the cockpit, but on this one you'd wish it was more visible. 

[Habu12]

3 hours ago, general melchett said:

3 hours ago, stever219 said:

 

Pleas can you substantiate "subpar"?  No kit is perfect (not even, for example, the allegedly perfect Tamiya Mosquito) so please elucidate on what makes this kit less than perfect.  I've found a few minor niggles, but nothing that can't be lived with or dealt with by a reasonably competent modeller (or even someone with my limited abilities) and nothing as awkward as having to take a scale foot off the height of the fin of a Mosquito.

Habu, sorry to hear this, what was wrong with your moulding ? I agree that some sub assemblies don't fit as well as they should especially at the price point, the bomb bay doors are a couple of mm too short, the open airbrake assembly bulkheads need shaving back to fit and top wing to fuselage assembly needs a bit of work, (I mentioned this in the article). I guess as a scratch-builder I'm used to sorting these thing out on the fly but you have a point when it comes to expecting it to fit together reasonably well out of the box...

 

 

 

Ok, so let me start by saying that it's not a bad kit. Not at all, it's certainly an order of magnitude better than the Revell kit. (I know I mentioned I never built a Victor before, but I did start that kit and gave up)

I'd give this kit a 3.5 out of 5. As I'm not a Victor SME, I can't comment on accuracy, but the shapes look right to me. So  imagine it's the best kit of it in 1/72 so far. Concur? 

 

What I can confidently comment on, is the overall state of quality of Airfix kits. This marks my 43rd project of the new Airfix tooling era. And this and the P-40 are the first real steps back I've experienced. Starting with the fit, the engine nacelles left large gaps. The seams down the intake trunks are also hugely prominent. The flare with the fence near the wing root is also nastily gapped. Wing root fit to the fuse also requires shimming. The top overlap on the fuse also left a nasty step. 

The panel lines are highly inconsistent. One half of the fuse had deep and wide lines, the other half had thin shallow ones that didn't seem to want to take a wash, as they were too shallow. The top of the wings also had the same problem. 

Also his new plastic, I'm not sold on. I far prefer the older, lighter softer. I know I may be in a minority there, but I abhor filling and sanding. And the old plastic made that but easy. I don't like to have to modify, scratchbuild, or enhance a lot during a build. I build almost completely OOB, and the last three years of Airfix toolings have made that more and more enjoyable. I didn't need to do a lot of that abhorrent filling and sanding. But more importantly, I've had little fit issues, until now. I experienced them in just about every area on this build. 

These same comments can be applied to the P-40B. That's two in a row from Airfix. Something that hasn't happened yet in the Hornby era. So I reiterate that the tough year they've had has definitely manifested itself, and while I hope to the force that changes, the writing on the wall isn't encouraging. 

Edited December 25, 2016 by Habu12

[Ian]

 

 

Yep, that covers it !!

 

Ian.