WV908

Hi all, the reason this stalled is that I revised just how bad the front end of the Heller kit is. Therefore I need drawings which I cannot find, and doing it all from photo references isn’t good enough. I’ll try to pick up on it whilst working on the 1/48 Vulcan bits though. Edit: oh and for anyone interested, I did actually get the Mk.1 nose cone built. I do have a few changes to make which will result in the Mk.2, but it’s changes to the mechanism, not shape. Cheers, WV908

There are only actually four - the three you mention at the FAA, IWM and RAF museums respectively (ZD433, ZD461 and ZG477) plus ZD465 at Cosford which is the ex-Gosport / Wittering bird. The numbers don't look as bad when you throw GR.7's into the mix - ZD318 and ZD469 reside at Wittering, not forgetting ZD462 at Malmesbury and ZG509 on a long term stay with Everett Aero. There's also ZG478, or what's left of it's burnt out fuselage at Sproughton - but I guess it is still a GR.9 Cheers, WV908

The Victor is a bit more complex in that you can’t just change the intakes between B1 and B2 - about the inner 12 feet of each wing is different. Message inbound Cheers, WV908

The only progress report out there on the Sanger kit is from a few years ago quoting it as nearly finished, along with a chunk of work being done on the masters of the Victor (something else I may be thick enough to try and do in 1/48). Beyond that there’s no other info out there. The prototype conversion set would consist of; A plug for the bomb aimer’s blister Intakes Leading edges Tail cone Tail fillet gap filler Exhausts With regards to size, I can comfortably fit a 1/72 Vulcan cockpit with canopy fitted inside the 1/48 nose Cheers, Joe / WV908

It looks like the resin effort is a bit easier than printing one from scratch, as the shape of everything on the nose changes constantly - very much still looking for details, but doing these bits won't stop me buying the Sanger kit, mainly because it'll be a lot finer. My main effort is to create prototype and B.1 bits to convert this or the old aeroclub. It just has the quirky bonus of having to design the whole thing to make sure the bits are right. I'll start a WIP so there's no thread drift anywhere else. It'll be interesting to hear from the people who've read this, just how many have contacted sanger. As a quick aside, with now having the bare bones cockpit structure printed i'm realizing just how big a 1/48 Vulcan is! Cheers, WV908

Evening all, A question about Vulcan intakes. I’m in the process of designing some 1/48 Vulcan bits for a long term project, some simple no thrills home printed 3D parts, in other words they’ll want a bit of filler primer or a long session with sanding sticks to make useful. Now this is for one of two reasons / options; To be used as detail / conversion parts for the Aeroclub kit and, if it gets passed to production, Sanger kit. To be used as the basis for a home brew series of 1/48 Vulcans with the nose, tail, leading edges and landing gear etc printed and all the large flat bits scratch built. The first question is a quick one - did the prototypes have kitted out / detachable radomes akin to the production models? Second question is complex and regards the intakes. Can anyone detail out how many types of intakes there were for the Vulcans? As I understand it, the prototypes were both the same, the B1’s used a slightly larger opening and then the B2’s had two different even larger openings, with earlier aircraft like XH558 having the smaller of the two. I’m really struggling with drawings / photos that distinguish the differences in the B.2 intakes and if there were any changes with the B.1’s To answer a few questions that a few may have after reading this, yes if the parts do print well, I’ll put a list up somewhere of the bits designed and make them available. But i don’t want anyone to expect some crisp resin part to arrive - you’ll get a comparatively rough lump as an aid to scratch building. Yes i’m looking at doing the basic cockpit structure, payload bay and separate radome and bay with interior for anyone who wants base parts to spruce up the Aeroclub B.2 - including K.2 bits and tank ends, so any drawings or photos of these bits are very much appreciated! Cheers, WV908

Frankie has beaten me to it, but yeah that’s the current website. Regarding the 1/48 resin jobbie, there’s only a handful of photos of the kit and absolutely no proof anywhere on the internet that anyone has bought one. The shape does look a bit off too. Cheers, WV908

£600? Wowza! Going on the Sanger B-52 at £125 I’m hoping this will be around the same / just less / just South of £100. If it comes in around £80 then i’ll definitely have two! Cheers, WV908

Hi Uncle Uncool, Cheers for clearing that up, I keep threatening to invest in one of those tools or similar. Depending on the price I may end up putting my name down for two Vulcans, but it’s one for now. Depends if SWMBO will let me mount one vertically on the Nursery wall as I don’t have display room for two either haha EDIT: If it’s a lad I’ve been given the go ahead Cheers, WV908

Whoops just realised I forgot to post the comparison photos (shuffles away) - but it looks like they are not needed! I too fitted the new exhausts with the fuselage already closed up so know your pain, although I resorted to attacking the resin with a multitude of sharp and abrasive things to get it to fit. You’re already about as far with yours as I am with mine haha Cheers, WV908

Cheers for the clarification - I probably should have checked my own copy of that book that I forgot I had. Not like i’d forget something that was signed by Craig in front of the bleedin’ thing at Waddington years back....

Hi Uncle Uncool, I must apologise for i’m a bit confused by your comment as this is a new request on the new-ish Sanger site and is being run in parallel as a request for interest with the RB-45 and B-66 projects. From what I gather from older posts, this kit has been in the running since 2007/8 but is at the point of nearly being finished and Gerald is now looking for expressions of interest to see if it is worth finishing and putting into production. The events you mention from 2010 are sad and unfortunate and I hope your Aeroclub kit built well. I just couldn’t bring myself to pay the amount asked for that one I saw at Telford a few years ago, thus I eagerly await the Sanger kit, which going by the price of the B-52 will not be overly expensive. Cheers, WV908

Nice pic Scimitar - it goes some way to confirming my theory that XH558 never had a TFR bullet, and that the tail intake was removed during the K.2 conversion. Ced, the engine exhausts supplied with the kit are poor representations of the fat and short 300 series nozzles - the 200 series nozzles are very different; longer, slimmer and with a deflection in the outboard pipes. I’ll post a photo tonight of my WIP ‘558 with the WIP XM655, both long term rebuilds. I know you want to build it OOB, but it’s about the single biggest improvement you can make to the kit, ignoring of course the stupidly expensive seamless intakes. Cheers, WV908

Aye the Sea Hawk is a very nice little Naval bird indeed. I’ve seen Newark’s multiple times and bagged at the ones at Yeovilton, but I’ve only seen WV908 once and was lucky enough to see it fly at Waddington. Instantly became my favourite aircraft and I have the Classic Airframes kit waiting in the stash with a mish mash of decals to make her. Anyway back to the Vulcan - when I modded mine I chopped the TFR bullet off at the top of the collar and used sanding sticks. There’s plenty of plastic to work with, so you shouldn’t go through. Now I can be a plank and tell you about the most crucial bit of the build that has been in the back of my mind but just couldn’t quite place. You’ll need some Olympus 202 exhausts from freightdog for this particular bird. Cheers, WV908

Hi Ced, the TFR bullet is the lump right on the tip of the nose - the photo of XH558 you’ve provided from the walk around section shows the blank in it’s place clear as day The intake on the ECM tail is a rectangular lump that Airfix would have you attach to the top of the starboard side of the bulged ECM tail cone, just aft of the rudder. As far as I can figure from available photos, XH558 never had a TFR pod, and lost the intake during the K2 conversion as all the ECM equipment was binned off to fit the HDU. If someone can correct me on this, please do Cheers, WV908