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A weathered Airfix Victor B.2 -Finished! *at last*


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Hi guys,

 

As a few of you might know, I did a 1:72 Airfix Vulcan with a full interior a while ago. It was an "interesting" build filled with research and frustration as I delved into my first experience with photo-etch, rescribing and resin; but it produced a half-decent model of a Vulcan B.2:

 

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So, with a new-tooled Victor B.2 in my stash (as of yesterday ;)) I embarked upon this build in the hope that it will be a less stressful build than the Vulcan and with the hope that I can utilise everything I have learned since that build.

 

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The Kit

As stated previously this a new-tool kit from Airfix in the £50-60 range- there has been much discussion of the cost of this kit but I would state (in my opinion) that for the amount of plastic you're getting and the level of detail, it is entirely worth it.

 

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My plans for the build:

-Construct the kit in either a conventional bombing or Blue Steel role (I haven't decided yet, what do you guys think?)

-The camo paint scheme will be used (I can never get a clear dust-free white paint job on any large kit)

-EDIT: This will be a flaps down, crew door open, gear down, airbrake open model :D

-Weather the model moderately with some new AK interactive washes that I would like to test:

 

DSC_0004.jpg

 

The Build

 

And so it begins! I started work on the cockpit first and despite the high possibility that barely any of this would be seen, I would like to detail every part of this kit as much as possible

 

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That's it for now, thanks for having a look!

 

Kind regards,

Sam

 

Edited by cathasatail
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Good start, look forward to seeing this develop. I'm also intrigued by the first picture in your post, specifically what is in the top right hand corner of the photo on the shelf with the works in progress. Looks like a Shackleton maybe, but with a different tail cone?

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I agree that this kit is entirely worth the asking price and good deals can already be found.  If you've got an Airfix Valiant sculling around somewhere you could rob the Blue Danube weapon from that and use the open bomb bay door parts (in the kit but not, unsurprisingly, mentioned in the instructions).  

 

Go easy on the weathering when you get to that stage, unless you're depicting a jet that was parked outside at Radlett awaiting tanker conversion.  When the V-Force adopted camouflage in the mid-sixties gloss polyurethene paints were used and the jets didn't get covered in too much crud.

 

Enjoy building this kit, but watch out for the wing to fuselage joint; you'll need to do a bit of fettling to get a good joint across the top of the fuselage.

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4 minutes ago, goggsy said:

 I'm also intrigued by the first picture in your post, specifically what is in the top right hand corner of the photo on the shelf with the works in progress. Looks like a Shackleton maybe, but with a different tail cone?

 

That's a Shackleton AEW. 2 without its transparent tail cone (you can just see the 8 Squadron bars further forward).  She's also got Union Flags on the front n instead of the usual fin flashes AFAICT.

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51 minutes ago, stever219 said:

 

That's a Shackleton AEW. 2 without its transparent tail cone (you can just see the 8 Squadron bars further forward).  She's also got Union Flags on the front n instead of the usual fin flashes AFAICT.

Correct, it's the Revell kit and has languished on the corner of despair for a while (I say corner because the rest of the shelf is for active projects that are up to the decaling stage mainly.

I can't comment on the union jack or the fin flashes as I haven't added any of either yet! :P You might also note the Airfix Meteor and Revell A400m on the shelf too- they're in need of some Alclad (the thinners for which tend to flare up some kind of skin condition (possibly eczema) so I need to get some disposable gloves before I continue with those.

 

As for the weapons, I have kept the Blue Danube from the Valiant kit (which is a kit that was great- until I tried spraying it with a rattle can of white.... big mistake... let's just say that I salvaged the nose and my intention is to model it as a preserved cockpit section). (I still hate myself for having messed that one up so catastrophically)

 

Anyway, I'll put my violin back in its case....

I recall now that I actually did a fair bit of research into the Blue Steel missile (so much so that I remember going to the Coventry archives to have a look at some photographs of test articles and operational missiles both on the aircraft and in their storage "hangars"- not what you might expect from the average 16 year old, perhaps).

Here are a few reference pictures taken during that period of research, but not from Coventry (Edit: it was from 2 years ago at Cosford on the Armed Forces Day when XH558 did a series of flypasts)

 

IMG_8511.jpg

 

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Edit: And one of '558 for everyone else who wants to join me in a collective round of violin playing :D

 

IMG_8558.jpg

(Co-incidence or what, this file is "IMG_8558_JPG" !)

 

Kind regards,

Sam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by cathasatail
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If you are looking to go mad on the detail front, I would go for conventional bombing role with bomb bay doors open, tons of potential there!

 

Martian

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Following along Sam.

All the 'V's are beautiful aircraft.

 

Very nice work on the cockpit and especially the I/P :).

 

Best regards

TonyT

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Oops: I've seen a few images of Shacks recently with Union Flags on the fin and, spotting something that obviously wasn't a normal fn flash assumed it to be the flag (and I've been to 8l00dy SpecSavers!).  I've got a pair of Airfix MR. 2s on the go and don't want to do the kit subjects and, thanks to John Adams and Aeroclub Models' excellent decal sheets I don't have to.  One of my "possibles" has Union Flags on the nose and another has them, with "Royal Air Force" titles, on the fins.

 

I did spot the Meteor though: which colour scheme are you planning to finish it in?  I've got one that's nearly ready for decals as the 257 Squadron boss's aeroplane with yellow tail unit and another to be done as the 245 Squadron boss's jet with a yellow fin with blue lightning flashes.

 

How did you get on with the A400M?  I've got one lurking waiting for enough room on my "bench" to swing a very small cat so I can put it together without destroying everything in its path.

 

I like your Blue Steel photos: I bagged a few of my own at Cosford's National Cold War Exhibition 10th anniversary do earlier this year: I'm going to have to find someone to give me an uploading and posting tutorial in this post-photobucket era.

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1 hour ago, stever219 said:

Oops: I've seen a few images of Shacks recently with Union Flags on the fin and, spotting something that obviously wasn't a normal fn flash assumed it to be the flag (and I've been to 8l00dy SpecSavers!).  I've got a pair of Airfix MR. 2s on the go and don't want to do the kit subjects and, thanks to John Adams and Aeroclub Models' excellent decal sheets I don't have to.  One of my "possibles" has Union Flags on the nose and another has them, with "Royal Air Force" titles, on the fins.

 

I did spot the Meteor though: which colour scheme are you planning to finish it in?  I've got one that's nearly ready for decals as the 257 Squadron boss's aeroplane with yellow tail unit and another to be done as the 245 Squadron boss's jet with a yellow fin with blue lightning flashes.

 

How did you get on with the A400M?  I've got one lurking waiting for enough room on my "bench" to swing a very small cat so I can put it together without destroying everything in its path.

 

I like your Blue Steel photos: I bagged a few of my own at Cosford's National Cold War Exhibition 10th anniversary do earlier this year: I'm going to have to find someone to give me an uploading and posting tutorial in this post-photobucket era.

 

The meteor will be finished with the kit decals for WH364 :)

A400-wise, it was a nightmare! I had a substantial sink mark in one of the wings- I attempted to mould it using hot water (nope), I attempted to mould it by heating it with a candle (nope!), so I went through a handful of sessions with milliput and then Revell Plasto and that sorted it out. The A400 will be done in RAF markings.

I went to the 10th anniversary too, but I didn't go into the Victor or Valiant as the staff started putting up the "beyond this point, you'll be waiting an hour" signs.

 

1 hour ago, Martian Hale said:

If you are looking to go mad on the detail front, I would go for conventional bombing role with bomb bay doors open, tons of potential there!

 

Martian

 

It's a tempting suggestion and one which would be a great canvas for some moderate weathering.

I'm faced with three choices then:

-1. Blue steel version with detailed missile and aircraft mounting plate

-2. Conventional bombing version with detailed bomb bay and a larger canvas for weathering. With the missile being modeled on a stand

-or the third and possibly most controversial option: use the two wing pods I have from the Revell kit and a piece in the spares box that looks remarkably similar to a stowed HDU to convert it to a K.2. In all fairness, I do have an entire set of decals for the Revell K.2 variant in the stash.

 

Mmmm decisions.....

 

 

 

 

Edited by cathasatail
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I strongly suspect that Airfix will re-issue this kit as a tanker anyway so, were I in your shoes, I would spare myself unnecessary effort and go for one of the bomber options.

 

Martian

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Martian's almost certainly right, provided the Hornby Empire doesn't implode financially.  There are flashed over locating holes in the lower outer wing panels to pick up the AAR pod pylons and two on the upper left fuselage for a K. 2-specific blade aerial.

 

I was considering butchering a pair of engine stands from the 1/48th Meatbox to do a Blue Steel handling trolley but it looks like it will need far too many splices, so that idea's had it.

 

Thanks for the warning about the Fat Lass: I'll check for sink holes.  Mine's planned for RAF markings too.

 

Good choice on the Meatbox markings; let's hope someone thinks that there's enough of a market for some 1/48th night fighters that we can slap 85 Squadron's markings on too.

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6 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

If you are looking to go mad on the detail front, I would go for conventional bombing role with bomb bay doors open, tons of potential there!

 

Martian

 

Seventeen and a half short tons of potential in fact!  That'd ruin the dinner party!

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Right, I've been looking through a few references and I have yet to find a single image of the bomb bay (the only photos of said bomb bay being pictures of the HDU unit fitted inside the bomb bay on K.2 Victors.

I'm swinging more to the Blue Steel variant still, especially after looking at photos in reference material such as "Handley Page Victor" by Andrew Brookes (-just remembered, isn't that the same Andrew Brookes who when interviewed on a documentary about V-bombers recalled advice given to him if hostilities did break out, something like, "the best advice I was ever given was- keep flying East young man and hope to settle down with a large Mongolian woman. Absolutely no point in doing a 180 and returning home." ?) No idea how I remembered that, last time I saw that was also 2 years ago! Gosh.

 

Regardless, as shown in his book and other references most of the photographs of B.2's depict Blue Steel equipped aircraft, I've only found three images of camo B.2 Victors without Blue Steel and those were being used in the Maritime Radar Reconnaissance role.

 

To whet the appetite, here's a bit of newsreel of camo Blue Steel Victors practicing QRA's in the mid 60's:

 

 

Kind regards,

Sam

 

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Time for an update I think!

I've been focusing on assembling the wing structure (the spar which Airfix use to hold the two separate wing parts together is a brilliant piece of plastic engineering and provides an incredibly strong construction:

 

DSC_0004.jpg

I have assembled the intake trunking (the intake "vanes"- i guess you could call them- slot in through the gaps seen just behind the intake opening, a very unique idea!) and I intend to use a smidgen of filler and sand the join flush, this will be followed my a few coats of white and a light amount of weathering.

 

I've also been looking at the nose gear bay and the airbrake structure: a coat of black, followed by Vallejo silver and then a coat of Alclad gloss, all ready for the detail to be painted and a moderate amount of weathering as-per reference photos (some of which can be seen on BM's own walkaround page):

DSC_0001.jpg

 

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Talking of references, here are two of the books I'm using, both from the previously mentioned Andrew Brookes:

DSC_0006.jpg

 

That's it for now!

 

Kind regards,

Sam

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Cool video Sam, thanks for sharing it with us. That V Force book looks pretty interesting as well!

 

Martian

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Time to test out the washes: (I don't think they look too bad)

 

DSC_0004.jpg

 

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(the weathering on the upper surface of the airbrake and at the rear will be toned down a tad. However it doesn't look nearly as orange in real life as it does on the photos- probably because I turned the exposure compensation up by quite a bit to show the interior)

 

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*Note the small white "bottle"-of some sort- that is moulded into the plastic

 

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As with the airbrake it will be toned down a tad and some wiring will be added to the main gear leg as per references such as: http://www.net-maquettes.com/pictures/handley-page-victor-walkaround/?afg886_page_id=4#afg-886

 

DSC_0005.jpg

Spares from old airbrushes are used to provide the specified 25g weight, these are then sandwiched against the fuselage wall with a few drops of superglue and some Blue Tack.

 

Kind regards,

Sam

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Hello Sam,

Congrats, very nice start on the V beast.

I really like these James Bondish Aircraft, yours look good.

Sincerely.

Corsaircorp

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Huzzah, I return!

Recently my mojo has been lacking slightly*- hence the brief pause in the build- but I'm feeling a bit better now.

*Could be explained by a combination of hayfever and a painful encounter between my head and a door frame.

 

DSC_0007.jpg

The famous Victor intakes takingshape.

 

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The construction of the intakes is an interesting one, with the intake vanes and vertical sections being slotted in through a series of notches in the upper intake part.

 

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Although none of these pictures clearly show it, the fit of the intake vanes is slightly hampered by the presence of ejector pin markings on the underside wing part. This then subsequently prevents the vanes and vertical parts from passing through their corresponding notches in the lower intake half.

 

Regardless, in the end it has all turned out quite well despite the presence of a slight seam running along the inboard side of the intakes and ejector pins markings also being present just behind those! (Grrr, I wish I had spotted those at the time but I'll see what I can do now that it's all been assembled)

 

That's all for tonight.

 

Kind regards,

Sam

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On 23/07/2017 at 6:50 AM, cathasatail said:

Right, I've been looking through a few references and I have yet to find a single image of the bomb bay (the only photos of said bomb bay being pictures of the HDU unit fitted inside the bomb bay on K.2 Victors.

I'm swinging more to the Blue Steel variant still, especially after looking at photos in reference material such as "Handley Page Victor" by Andrew Brookes (-just remembered, isn't that the same Andrew Brookes who when interviewed on a documentary about V-bombers recalled advice given to him if hostilities did break out, something like, "the best advice I was ever given was- keep flying East young man and hope to settle down with a large Mongolian woman. Absolutely no point in doing a 180 and returning home." ?) No idea how I remembered that, last time I saw that was also 2 years ago! Gosh.

 

Regardless, as shown in his book and other references most of the photographs of B.2's depict Blue Steel equipped aircraft, I've only found three images of camo B.2 Victors without Blue Steel and those were being used in the Maritime Radar Reconnaissance role.

 

To whet the appetite, here's a bit of newsreel of camo Blue Steel Victors practicing QRA's in the mid 60's:

 

 

Kind regards,

Sam

 

Ah yes, the sixties.

 

Why did we ever leave them?

 

Michael

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