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1/72 Buccaneer


neilw

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Thanks guys, wonder why I couldn't find one then, there are loads!

Many thanks,

You're welcome!

I recently did the Frog Bucc, added a fair amount of detail to it and its looks pretty good to my eyes!

I have both the Airfix renditions and will do the NA.39 as the first prototpye, complete with blue paint!

I also have two Matchbox and one of those will be converted to an S.1

I almost had a CMR kit for review, but was gazumped. :rant:

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If money is no object, get one of the CMR kits, they are simply stunning. If you build it you will still have spares and decals left over to use on other Bucc models. Otherwise I would go for the most recent Airfix offering with an Airwaves PE set to dress up the cockpit. Aeroclub have a white metal U/C set and Hannant's have Xtradecals and some old Modeldecal sheets covering Buccs.

peebeep

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And,just to give you a taster of the CMR, there's a feature on the Brick in the current edition of MAI...........

There is... and it's very nice for a 1:72... but a hell of a price! How much would an IM Bucc & ALL the AM items cost? Still nowhere near £60+ quid :hypnotised:

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There is... and it's very nice for a 1:72... but a hell of a price!

It is costly for sure, but if you actually see one in the flesh you will see that the quality is simply astonishing. Obviously only you and your bank manager can decide whether or not to make a purchase and there is another downside - having bought one do you have enough balls to actually attempt a build? I have one in my possession and so far I can only manage to open up the box every now and then and gaze dreamily at the parts and read through the instruction manual. A veritable Bugatti Veyron of the modelling world.

peebeep

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It is costly for sure, but if you actually see one in the flesh you will see that the quality is simply astonishing. Obviously only you and your bank manager can decide whether or not to make a purchase and there is another downside - having bought one do you have enough balls to actually attempt a build? I have one in my possession and so far I can only manage to open up the box every now and then and gaze dreamily at the parts and read through the instruction manual. A veritable Bugatti Veyron of the modelling world.

peebeep

Paul, send it to me, I'll build it for you! :winkgrin:

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I about crapped my pants when the new Squadron catalogue came in the mail and the price has gone up to $163.00 :yikes: , maybe it's got summat to do with the value of the dollar 'cos there was some other smallish injection molded 1/72nd stuff for over $100 too.

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You're welcome!

I recently did the Frog Bucc, added a fair amount of detail to it and its looks pretty good to my eyes!

I have both the Airfix renditions and will do the NA.39 as the first prototpye, complete with blue paint!

I also have two Matchbox and one of those will be converted to an S.1

I almost had a CMR kit for review, but was gazumped. :rant:

heritage make the s1 intakes in 1:72, 1:48's to follow

ian

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Cheers for the info.

I don't think I could spend £60 on a 1/72 kit my modelling skills wouldn't do it justice, it would end up looking like a £10 Airfix kit.

I'll buy on of the cheaper ones and add to to my pile of unbuilt kits.

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Thanks guys, wonder why I couldn't find one then, there are loads!

Many thanks,

There WERE loads you mean! Frog went out of business in the mid-70's and were followed by Matchbox in the Eighties. Airfix went "pear-shaped" last year, hence the lack of availability and why you can't find any.

Good news is that some of these kits appear on E-Bay occassionally, some Frog kits re-surfaced under the NOVO label or some other eastern blioc name - I don't recall seeing the Buccaneer in these ranges though. Some Matchbox kits re-surfaced under the Revell brand - and again I can't recall seeing the Bucc re-surfacing under that brand either.- though I do seem to recall a Gulf War Bucc in a Matchbox kit - released bt Revell maybe?

As for Airfix, they have of course been taken over by Hornby, BUT the Bucc is NOT in this years Hornby released catalogue.

As for the CMK kit - I actually have a couple and I've started to build one - unfortunately this one was warped to buggery!! The nose wheel bay was mis formed as were the airbrakes - the "petals" were all over the place or just missing. Luckily I didn't pay full whack for this kit!

I honestly beleive that our best bet for a decent Bucc is from China. Rumours of a 1/32nd kit abounded earlier this year (to follow the 1/32 Jaguar - moulds/tools of which HAVE been seen at the Trumpeter factory - by a fellow - not that Jen is a fellow!!! - Brit Modeller.). The hope would be that IF they do a 1/32nd scale brick then smaller scale kits would follow....

Wishful thinking? Ah well - you never know!!!

Edited by Bill Clark
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Here in the States at least, its not at all difficult to pick up Frog, Matchbox and Airfix stuff very easily and inexpensively. I should think most model shows in Britain have second hand kit vendors?

Matchbox did the Gulf War Bucc not long before they stopped production.

A Trumpeter Bucc would be nice, though please hold the rivets....... :rolleyes:

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£60 is the Hannants price but I paid £39 for one from the Mushroom Monthly stand at Telford last year and it's worth the money considering all the extra stores and decal options. I think there's a retailer in one of the French magazines offering the CMK kit at similar prices to that which I paid.

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I've got the Airfix one here that I'm partway through, but the FR probe is a joke - it's literally a plastic rod with a ball on the end.

apart from that, it's quite a nice shape afaik.

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nobody has mentioned it but SAM magazine do two nice resin upgrade sets for the 1/72 airfix buccanneer comprising iirc over

the two sets.....

new radome and tailplane.

IFR probe and weapons pylons.

gulf war 1 weapons which apart from the LGB and the pave spike designator pod i forget what in it.

and as someone has mentioned there are the various white metal and etched brass by aerolcub and airwaves.

the SAM resin sets are worth having as they make the 1/72 bucc' much better.

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Ok - I have a question. I know the Czech Resins one is best by far. I know the SAM upgrade kit is available to improve the Airfix but my question is what bits of the 3 injecton moulded kits (Mbox, Frog, Airfix) would combine to make the most accurate Buccaneer S2? I have multiples of all three and really don't want to buy more stuff.

I like the Mbox shape best I think and can easily fill the trenches but would replace its wings with those from Frog or Airfix (Mbox has no vortex generators). But I would value other opinions - what's best kit to use as a basic starting point, which nose to use, which fin, which fin bullet, which tailplanes, which wings, etc.

Thanks

David W

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Personally, I'd go with the Airfix one and get the upgrade bits for the u/c and the nose. I like the build of the Airfix kit as it's not as involved as the Matchbox one plus you get more things to hang under the wings (even if the shapes are dubious).

But that's IF you can find an Airfix Buccaneer to put all the bits on! And start totting up the prices. A tenner for the base kit, another £6 for a new decal sheet. A fiver for the Airwaves brass set (that's if Hannants have rereleased it or they still have it in stock). A quid for a new canopy, £2 for the bang seats and then another fiver for the undercarriage. Then there's however much the SAM resin bits cost. For that lot, you may as well add a few extra quid and get the CMK kit.

But not at the Hannants price. That would be inviting divorce proceedings or at the very least a slanging match.

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.....

that's IF you can find an Airfix Buccaneer to put all the bits on! And start totting up the prices. A tenner for the base kit, another £6 for a new decal sheet. A fiver for the Airwaves brass set (that's if Hannants have rereleased it or they still have it in stock). A quid for a new canopy, £2 for the bang seats and then another fiver for the undercarriage. Then there's however much the SAM resin bits cost. For that lot, you may as well add a few extra quid and get the CMK kit. ....

Thanks but I already own several Airfix S2 and NA39 kits, already have the Aeroclub seats and all the decals I need and I wouldn't bother with the etch set - so that's £23 I wouldn't need to spend going that route. That, coupled with the need to actually build stuff in the stash is why I will manfully resist buying the CMK kit and try building a hybrid. So, you vote for Airfix kit as basis - Mbox nose?

David W.

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