AnonymousAA72

I agree, I think that it's the best Buccaneer scheme...if I hadn't already modelled it, I'd be doing it on this one.....but don't forget that it's Light Stone and Dark Earth, not Mid-stone !

Well, I suppose I could do XX894, as she is now......though I do have another kit in the stash, which could be 'Navalised'....

Yeah! It is warped all right and no mistake! I've aligned the nose and tried to twist the rear into shape. No luck. This will need to be glued section by section..nose, rear fuselage and then the wings and centre. Superglue will help! (For the uninitiated the 'Banana Jet' tag was I believe, a reference to it being the 'Blackburn Advanced Naval Aircraft' ..)

Hi Gary, well, I can't really do an RAFG machine as I want to use the IFR probe. I've also added the small wing tips, so that restricts me to 1989-1994, unless of course I re-attach the larger wing-tips...I anticipate building an S2B with Martel fit, so I will need to move the weapons pylons.....I might yet opt for a 12Sqn "Op Pulsator" machine with Paveway if I change the wing-tips...decisions, decisions....

Right...on to the cockpit. Starting from the navigator's office, you may recall that I had, unnecessarily, actually, removed the navigators left hand consul ....and here it is, removed in all of its glory As I had decided that the whole of the navigator's station could do with being raised, I separated the pilot's office and the rear bulkhead.. so this all had to be re-built...with the floor and consuls raised by approx 4mm, more-or-less the height of the plinth. the seat is being used to check clearances I've added plastic card overlay floor and rear bulkhead... ..and have test fitted the rear pit into the upper fuselage shell. Also added are side walls. These hide the gaping chasm where the intakes are...i'll add detail later And the seat added for clearance/heights etc.,

I see, yes, I was looking at the photo overlay wrong! A lot is scraping of the fuselage with a scalpel maybe? Yes, Mr Airfix! Get yer finger out.......

Interesting Jonners. The hood and windscreen are a great improvement, as for the spine, it certainly looks like it could do with beefing up. I'd maybe consider removing it, adding a wedge of plastic card to the whole length, then re-apply the spine. In fact I may do that on my Shelf of Doom/KUTA Hunter, when I get around to it......

My only criticism is regarding the fin flashes. You have them back to front. Pale Red/Pink should lead.... Other than that...a superb build, very nicely done!

I'm still not decided as to the scheme yet. I have used the smaller wing-tips, a result of mod 1736, undertaken on some chosen airframes from Aug 89 onwards, apparently, so I'm restricted by that, unless I replace the tips of course, which I could do.....so, as it stands I may do it In overall pink, or medium sea grey/camo grey...we shall see.

I built this one a few years ago.....probably ten years or more actually............I should have used Light Stone rather than Mid-stone...oops! By all accounts the temporary paint baked onto the planes under the hot Nevada sun, and was quite difficult to remove...

Thanks for the feedback and advice. Regarding the cockpit, I have removed the navigator's circular plinth and now the seat's position in relationship to the remaining right side consul is okay. So the plan is now to remove the rear bulkhead, separate the front from the rear cockpit. Re-connect the rear cockpit to the rear bulkhead higher up, and then add the central bulkhead to the front of the rear 'pit, at the same height. I can then build up the navigator's cockpit and then the pilot's, from there. What can possibly go wrong? Incidentally, I have another Buccaneers in the wings and am planning on converting that to an S1. The Maintrack set was 1/72nd scale Martin, and predates the 1/48th kit by some years. The Heritage Aviation set consist of the intakes only, I think they used to sell the non-bulged bomb bay, but not now. I hope I have said non- bulged bomb bay somewhere in one of my spares boxes.........

Thanks to all for the encouragement...it's appreciated and helpful!! Some more musings...... I think I dropped one with the cockpit tub. The consuls are about the right height from the floor. The seats have circular plinths to sit on - this raises them too high - from the floor. Without the plinths the seats would be too low. I just wonder if Airfix dropped one of their own when designing the kit, and whether the addition of the plinths was to correct the too low floor? So, instead of drilling through the side consul - which I have now removed btw- I should have just removed the plinths, and then raise the tub higher into the upper fuselage shell. The bulkheads and instrument panels will therefore need to be amended too. It may be easier to separate the pilots and navigator stations...we shall see

...Hunter? Did I miss something Trevor??

I totally removed all of one side's intake trunking on one of mine, so the wings would fit...I added FOD covers to hide it!!

Ha! I think this is the only kit I know that doesn't even fit where it touches!

Indeed, I was rather hoping that a shiny new Buccaneer would be Kinetic's SWM announcement, and failing that on Airfix's 2016 list.....bu to alas no. So I thought I'd bites the bullet and get stuck in to this beastie..I have another in the stash, but could do with a Naval S1 in my collection....Heritage Aviation do resin intakes....hmmmm Not sure yet, it might be pink, or it might be Medium Sea Grey and Camo.Grey, I fancy the latter scheme, but we'll see.... Yes I think you are right, I can move them forward, but I suspect I may be adding FOD covers anyway....

Thanks Martin, I will need it..... I have to say here that a lot of the inspiration for this build is the massive 1/24th scale beasty being modelled by General Melchett himself.. In fact I've been copying some of the detail from his behemoth on mine....particularly in the wheel wells... The cockpit tub.... The consuls, particularly in the rear, seem very low in conjunction with the seat! So much so, that I think the poor Navigator would have to unbuckle himself , climb out of his seat just to reach them! Not advisable bombing along at 0' approaching the speed of sound...even in something as stable as a Bucc!!! So, I decided that I'd remove the side consuls and raise them. Here I've started to drill through the side wall on the Navigators left hand side. This will be removed and raised with plastic card. I've also added the fin, not sure if this was such a great idea, as the fuselage is so warped, it was difficult to get a good 90 degree angle!!!

Disappointed in the fact that no-one has announced a brand spanking new 1/48th Buccaneer as of late, I decided to take it upon myself to encourage the modelling gods into new-tooling action, by biting the proverbial bullet...and start Airfix's monster of a kit. This lump of plastic, and that is a sort of term of endearance, has been around for a good couple of decades. To say its a "challenging build" is a bit of an understatement! But..with perseverance, a good single malt and a lot of cussing, it CAN be knocked into shape. My Bucc., had been sitting patiently in its box, for a long time. On opening the box I remembered why that was so! The plastic on the fuselage shells is warped. So much so that its nigh on impossible to line the two shells up. The nose had at some stage snapped off - probably when I was trying to bend the thing into shape previously - so that needed mending. On my last Buccaneer I used NeoMega's resin cockpit, but I opted to use what was in the kit on this one and to add photoetch and plastic card and rod to bring it to life. The kit's seats are really good, so they will be used. One of the other problems with this kit is the surface detail. Its not that the panel lines and 'rivets' on the kit are too deep - its just that they are badly engineered. Some of the panel lines aren't very straight, and as for some of the rivets! Well, the riveter must have been on that single malt I was talking about earlier! So what to do? Well rather than fill them all, I opted to sand the plastic down. This also helped to get rid of the somewhat grainy texture of the plastic. Here are the outer wing panels, built up. I have filled the rivets on the upper wing and scribed in a couple of panel lines. The wheel wells are a bit void of detail, so I've added a bit of detail in one of them, needs a bit more adding and a good clean up.. I'm not looking forward to adding the intakes. from memory these are a 'mare to fit! Here I've painted the interior trunking white (that MAY need to change to desert pink - not sure yet) and primed the intake rims. I'll paint those with Vallejo's new Acrylic Metal Color . As I said earlier, the upper nose section had detached itself from the rest of the fuselage whilst stored in its box! The two sections didn't want to be re-joined! Plastic cement was useless - which doesn't really auger well for the rest of the build! So I removed a bit of the mating surfaces, added some thin plastic card, and tried again...

"Given the job?" "Given the job?!!"....it's a tough old life sometimes Melchie!! I am certainly looking forward to this kit. I butchered the old Matchbox/ Revell effort into shape with the addition of Flightpath's Mk 1 conversion ( as a K1 ) some years ago. This was "reduced to spares" recently, but I did retain the resin "sapphire" engines, and other conversion parts..they will come in handy!! In fact I suspect it will be relatively straightforward to convert the B2 back......we shall see!And thanks to one and all for your input here....

The Avon engined machines also had a small circular vent just aft of the transportation (?) joint. This bled all sorts of crud spreading aft, and it was why the squadrons latterly moved their coloured bars higher up the roundel. The Sapphire engined machines didn't have this vent, so that on the kit should be filled.

We can dream!

Scroll down the page a bit Trevor..........

Thanks Mark, that's tied it all up nicely...I've certainly learned a lot on the earlier Hunters, and a re-realisation of their aesthetic appeal. I'd tended to concentrate on the later marks as a rule.....and as for your drawings, well, I remember from previous threads the amount of research that went into them..so the praise is well deserved!

My secondary school predates the early 1980's by a decade or so...good to know you younger sprogs were still using it!!

....and this all goes to prove what a good looking aircraft the Hunter was/is, particularly the earlier marks. All we need now is for Mr Airfix to acknowledge this in the form of a 1/48th scale plastic kit.....