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Wot - no vortex generators? - Buccaneer S.2B


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Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B

237 OCU, RAF Honington, 1972

 

Buccaneer%20S2B%20XW538%206.jpg~original

 

Matchbox kit with all panel lines filled and rescribed.

Bomb bay fuel tank removed. Scratch built cockpit interior.

Reshaped radome.

Freightdog resin tailplane.

Pylons from CMR resin Buccaneer kit.

Aeroclub metal undercarriage, refuelling probe, arrestor hook and tail bumper.

 

 

Buccaneer%20S2B%20XW538%207.jpg~original

 

 

 

Buccaneer%20S2B%20XW538%208.jpg~original

 

Buccaneer%20S2B%20XW538%205.jpg~original

 

Unlike most other Buccaneers, there are no vortex generators on the wings.

Back in the late 60s / early 70s I was on an aeronautical engineering apprenticeship with Hawker Siddeley Aviation. It was the time when ‘new build’ Buccaneers in the XW serial range were being built for the RAF, along with some ex-RN aircraft being modified to S.2A standard. I still have some of the notes and sketches I made in the final assembly shed, and one of the recurring notes is that XW aircraft were not fitted with wing vortex generators. It has been difficult to confirm this with photographic evidence, but recently I came across a list of Buccaneer mods and in particular, these two mods apply :

 

1553 ‘Deletion of Fixed Vortex Generators to S2, S2A, S2B, S2D (Sept 1972)’

1396 ‘Re-introduction of Fixed Vortex Generators to S2, S2A, S2B, S2D (Mar. 1976)’

 

Nearly all photos of XW Buccaneers show VGs so I think there must of been only a year or two before they were fitted. The dates on the modification numbers are when they were formally issued, and I’m sure VGs were removed before Sept 72, and re fitted before Mar 76.

These new build aircraft also had ‘provision for’ ILS, though the equipment was not fitted. Hence there are blanking plates on the fin where the ILS localiser antennas were to be fitted later, and on the underside for the ILS glideslope antenna.

It was quite a challenging task to get the old Matchbox kit sorted but it’s good to have a gloss finished Bucc with Type D roundels in the collection at last. Could be a while before I do another one though.

 

 

Buccaneer%20S2B%20XW538%203.jpg~original

 

 

 

Buccaneer%20S2B%20XW538%204.jpg~original

 

 

 

 

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What a beauty,......gosh the Matchbox kit too,.....who`d a thought it!! Lovely Bucc and interesting back story too,....cheers for sharing it with us,

All the best

                 Tony

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Your Buccaneer S1 from a couple of years ago first got my interest and this S2 is a very nicely done Buccaneer too - thanks for that information on the vortex generators - not  something I had heard of before.

CJP

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I've wanted to model XT287 in those colours since seeing her depicted in a colour photograph with the underside of the starboard aileron in Dark Sea Grey: which decals did you use?

 

Interestingly the mods appear to be in reverse order: 1553 for deletion and 1396 for re-instatement of the VGs.  Do you have any additional documentation on these?

 

Very smart looking Buccaneer there.

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Hello CT,

Very nice job , given the kit you choosed to build !

There can be Something good out of these old kits !

Congratulations, will start mine as a Navy bird as soon as I finished the Lightning !

Navy bird say there will be VG !!

Thanks for sharing.

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

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you learn somthing new every day!

never even seen a picture of an a/c without them.

the build itself is pretty awesome too,lots of little things that the average guy would miss,like the gap down the fuselage to guide the canopy ,and the vents on top of the intakes.

the matchbox kit looks to be a much better starting point than the airfix kit,either way ,you've knocked it out the park!

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Just now, stever219 said:

I've wanted to model XT287 in those colours since seeing her depicted in a colour photograph with the underside of the starboard aileron in Dark Sea Grey: which decals did you use?

 

Interestingly the mods appear to be in reverse order: 1553 for deletion and 1396 for re-instatement of the VGs.  Do you have any additional documentation on these?

 

Very smart looking Buccaneer there.

 

The info on the mods came from the great Buccaneer website here : http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/Pages1_files/0_Tech3.html?

I think the mods were formally 'issued' when the Brough drawing office got around to it, so they wouldn't necessarily be in order, and probably wouldn't reflect the dates when the mods appeared on the aircraft.

Decals were from all over the place. Roundels came from the Xtradecal Seahawk sheet. Serials were good old Modeldecal. Walkways were from an Airfix Buccaneer sheet - if you can find one in register they show the correct yellow lines with adjacent red hatching. Stencils were partly from the old Xtradecal Buccaneer sheet and parly from the CMR Buccaneer S2A sheet.

There are a full set of decals for XT287 in the markings you mentioned in the CMR resin kit.

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4 hours ago, buccymad said:

you learn somthing new every day!

never even seen a picture of an a/c without them.

the build itself is pretty awesome too,lots of little things that the average guy would miss,like the gap down the fuselage to guide the canopy ,and the vents on top of the intakes.

the matchbox kit looks to be a much better starting point than the airfix kit,either way ,you've knocked it out the park!

 

These are some photos I was able to find in which the aircraft appear to have no VGs, but it's hard to be certain! The black & white shot of 15 Squadron's XW541 is the clearest. Note also that it is finished in matt camo with D-type roundels. The overall finish was changed from gloss to matt on new build aircraft at roundabout XW540, before Red/Blue roundels were introduced.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Lovely. You can't beat a shiny Buccaneer! I have some very poor slides of a shiny Bucc at an RAF Valley display in the early seventies. Great times before the multi-role concept came into being. A different aircraft for every job.

Cheers

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Well done! And Matchbox at that...that makes it extra special. We Bucc fans really need an accurate new tool kit in 1:72. This seems like such a natural fit for Airfix, I'm surprised they haven't done it yet as they fix up their back catalogue.

 

Cheers,

Bill

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I have to say, I am staggered with what you have achieved with this old Matchbox kit.  Absolutely brilliant.

3 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Well done! And Matchbox at that...that makes it extra special. We Bucc fans really need an accurate new tool kit in 1:72. This seems like such a natural fit for Airfix, I'm surprised they haven't done it yet as they fix up their back catalogue.

 

Cheers,

Bill

 

I'll drink to that. 

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