Adam Poultney

Ahhh right getting my wires crossed a bit then haha. Right, well what shade of blue do I need for the "Boiler Plate" rounds? I'd like to paint a spare 1/72 Blue Steel I have lying around as one of the blue ones to fit to my Airfix Victor B.Mk.2R (XL512) sometimes instead of the normal white one.

Then what's the blue ones?

Quick question, what shade of blue do I need for a Blue Steel training round?

In 1/144 on such an old kit, close enough is good enough. But either way, here's the real aircraft at two different points (both WB771) if you want to attempt to make it somewhat accurate. I forgot there aren't the top sideways panels on the prototypes...

I've been working well into the night on this Intakes are done, not the best thing I've ever done but they're going to have to do. If you're building this kit, do not glue the intakes to the wing until they're painted! I forgot I did that on my first build, so much easier..... They look quite bare missing two of the inserts. Adding them was a definite aesthetic (and I would hope functional) improvement. And the wings are almost ready to go on, last dry fit before they can he glued in place Kinda like a Victor B1 in this state, short wingspan as well because I haven't put on the wingtips yet Jetpipes now. Painted in citadel leadbelcher and then gloss coated And I scratched the paint! Arrgghh And finally, the Victor is airplane shaped! She's got wings now. Pegs definitely needed to keep them in place Coming up to 2am and I'm adding the undersides of the wings. I would say to definitely add the wingtips before the underside of the outer wing section, it will be a bit awkward to do otherwise. Half three nearly and I'm getting there with the wings... And I forgot to mention earlier in this thread that the bomb bay is open, Airfix have moulded this quite nicely as the closed doors fit right over the open ones with no issues. Just got to not glue on a piece at the front which should build itself in nicely once there's a layer of paint on there. At this ima call it a night. Last wing section for this model on, at least until I start work on the flaps which I will be building in the deployed position (even though the aircraft were rarely if ever parked like that). I added the tail on for the picture, that'll get properly glued on tomorrow hopefully.

Very good so far, I'm absolutely falling in love with the Victor and am on my third one, with plans for a fourth, fifth and sixth. Looking at the canopy on WB771 reminded me of this thread (because looking at the window arrangement of Victor prototypes is what I find fun apparently). How are you going to approach getting the windows right on this?

Same for the He111 I think. That seems to have vanished too... What I want is either Eastern front schemes with white camouflage or more desert schemes on both.

Next up, landing gear and filling sink marks

Exactly. At the very least we can hope for the cockpit and other parts to be saved. If the worst happens and it is scrapped I would love to own an airbrake (or the whole mechanism!) from one. Bit expensive though probably, not to mention one airbrake door is over two meters long!

Fairs but yknow, worth a try ain't it? As much as I love the Vulcan there are 19 of them left and I'd much rather see one of them go than a Victor of which there are only five... Just thinking about it, isn't the closest aviation museum to Marham the one at Norwich which also has a Vulcan? Perhaps that is more feasible. Duxford isn't that far away either really. They already have a Victor but they do have space and the resources to preserve it.

The canopy is now glued in place, along with some surrounding parts. Then I had to go get some new trousers for work when really all I wanted to do was work on this model.... That distraction aside, here's some other pictures of the progress The nicely blended in tail piece and some other intakes (drilling a hole for one of them didn't go too well so filler was needed to repair but that was before I sealed up the fuselage halves). More filler used on the model in various places The tail isn't glued, just in place to stop the airbrake assembly from being even more broken if the fuselage tips over... Yeah I broke it.... Twice..... Following on from that, more work on the wing assembly. The best bit of any V Bomber kit, the intakes!.... Which of course I went and modified. Just needed to remove a couple of injector pin marks

This is the email I sent to the museum minus the formal to so and so bits

I literally just suggested that to one guy who volunteers at the museum! The Victor is such a rare and beautiful aircraft, I'm sure some museum somewhere could take it, a fundraiser would help if it became a serious effort to do that. XH648 was taken apart and moved, although only between hangers, before her ongoing restoration. The last Valiant, XD818, was moved from Hendon to Cosford by road. A Vulcan, XL318, has been moved my road in the past. The Victor's airframe is apparently very strong, so despite the corrosion I think the aircraft could take it. If it goes wrong and it's damaged, it only has to be restored to look good from the outside. Aren't half of the internals of XH648's wings going to be replaced with wooden substitutes or other non-flyable materials?

In 1/144 you gotta be kidding me lol Maybe for 1/72

Well with regards to confidence I'd say just go for it. My first model which I cut up was my recent Vulcan B.1a (now my favourite model I've ever done) and I delayed for months until I just decided screw it in cutting it up. Having 0 experience with that and learning as I went there, I think it went well enough Just remember, measure twice, measure again and once more just to be sure. Then cut once, better to undercut and correct it later than overcut and be a little stuck with repairs.

First post of the year on the Victor, and a bit of a late happy arrival at an arbitrary point in our orbit around the nearest star. Fuselage halves are glued together, the instrument panel fell out so I had to put it in afterwards. It's a lot easier if you hold the rest of the model upside down. The resin is glued in and filler is obviously going to be required. Sanding followed and the need for a dust mask is obvious so I will pick one up asap. For now breathing through a t shirt while sanding will have to do. Don't do that, not a great idea, get a mask.

A tad disappointing to see a bit of a lack of research on colour schemes. 558 didn't have blue steel, the intake on the tailcone, or a TFR radar blister. The aircraft also didn't have to ECM plates. 361 seems more correct, but is still shown with two ECM plates. I can't tell which engines are depicted, hopefully Olympus 201s given that both the aircraft the decals are for had them. So my conclusion from this so far? Buy aftermarket decals or be ready to make a few modifications.

Well I've still not found an Airfix Ju87 in 1/72 anywhere.... So it's now down to a zvezda 1/72 or Airfix 1/48 I think...

So the intake was definitely there then

Good good so I can use a metal landing gear set for the GWH Victor on a Mikromir Victor if I can get it to fit. The mikromir one has overly complicated gear and I just can't be done with building that

Just another quick Victor question, was the landing gear on the Victor mk1 the same as the Victor mk2? And if they were different would it be noticeable in 1/144?

No way that's 1/72!

I always intend to buy more airliners bit I never end up finishing them... I have a ~95% done Tu144, abandoned old tool A320, stalled Concorde and stalled ERJ195 build

Postman delivered some nice goodies today! Now to see what I can get done before I have to go to work at 5... Airbrake painted and in, fuselage dry fitting nicely around it And now to rear fit the parts, not bad. The tail will go together properly if I apply pressure to each side. Control panel done, I'll probably glue this in place before the fuselage is sealed up this time....

If you're feeling very very brave you could try to scratch build a correct nose section