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Good day fellow Britmodeller's and welcome to my first build thread in a very long time. In this thread i will convert a 1/200th scale Dragon Avro Vulcan to from a B2 variant to a B1a. As some of you may know i have built a few of these and really love the kit. I have an idea to cover most the vulcan's variants in this scale in various schemes also and mount them on a stand of some sort perhaps all in flight in formation in order of age. I have long been fascinated by how different b1 vulcan's and b2 vulcan's were and i just really love the early kinked wing shape. there is just something about it that appeals to me and i don't know why but i love it. So the difficulty is in creating that shape and i'm not good at maths at all being dyslexic but i found a rather quick and crude way. I downloaded a b1 silhouette image of the net and used the flat screen of my lap top to size it against the kit part (i couldnt have done this in 1/72 so there are some advantages to 1/200 when you like doing stupid things like cutting its wings off!) Then i used a piece of plain a4 paper and drew out with a ruler the shape of the silhouette. this became my plan. then i had a 1/200th b1 shape to use joy! Next i put another piece of paper over that traced out the shape with the ruler again then cut this out and then masking taped it to the vulcan along the wing join line and then carefully used a fine tip marker to outline the wing edge. Then took a dremel to it and then a file to tidy up. then i took the bottom half of the kit and drew on the next parts to be removed and this is what i have a lovely b1a vulcan in 1/200th (well getting there anyway's) here are some photos of the real thing the photos are not mine but im very gratefull of there existance and it is very sad no b1s remain. and a line up of b2s so for those who are not aware of the huge difference in wings you can have a look. time for a coffee!

Hi all. Well its been a very very long time since I updated this on going project. Last year was very busy for me and this one will likely be the same but I have been making progress on these since and I have failed to update. I did get the final gloss finish on Sir Nigel Gresley, Bittern and Mallard. I am yet to replace the motion with the finer variety on the first 2. I had come across some very Cheap Ultrascale wheels on ebay I picked them up for 20 quid including postage !. Lucky me. I was almost frightend to use them and that was a year ago. These wheel sets usually take 6 months to wait for to be made for you and cost over a £100 quid !... But it will make your A4 Look like a real A4 so ... The things we do for detail eh ! I have done much reading on wheels, motion, etc etc. I have also been asking many questions much to the annoyance of some on rmweb I bet ! , But the advice on here has been brilliant and This past few weeks I have thrown myself in at the deep end. As there are still bits that seem to be a dark art. I have always found info on Kit Built locos hard to come by. It almost feels as If you have to be invited to a small clandestine religion to learn the tricks.. Well I hope to expose it as I learn in the hope others will have ago. As the kit industry for railway models seems to be on the decline and that’s sad. Much as RTR is nice making models or customising them is where the fun lies. This is a custom job but I hope to make a model soon. I have done something that might be considered a sin to many. But I have found it is indeed possible with care to resuse the Hornby fittings from the motion on Ultrascale, Scalelink and Alan Gibson wheels. At least on my ones. I tried this first on a Scalelink, Then an Alan Gibson, Then an Ultrascale. I have been successful and managed to make a working chassis using the Hornby A4 chassis, Hornby 80s Nickel plated motion, and the Ultrascales. This has given me a chassis that will look right for Mallard and now all I have to do is paint the wheels red and add the balance weights. I want to share with people on here how I have done this as I have found the information on how to do this hard to come by. I want to do my bit to try to share my first attempts with you all in the hope others have ago. I know many already know how to do this but there are likely many more like myself that wish to try. So hope this helps. here goes... I had started with the easy part, Fitting the Tender, Pony wheels etc,. These gripped well enough to not need any loctite and were a breese to assemble by hand and the back to backs checked with and Alan Gibson back to back gauge. Before you put together your drivers you need to shim them and replace the Hornby washers with these, They are from Alan Gibson and come in a pack with various thicknesses, The Hornby ones do not seem to want to fit onto the axle so I replaced them as you can see in the photos. As you can see I had fitted the Ultrascale pins but then soon after this I ditched them, I had only fixed one side of the wheels with loctite 603 (thankfully) So I could remove the wheels. The plastic Ultrascale uses is surprisingly tough and I had no problems with wear or loose wheels or any issues with them going out of true when refitting but I don't recommend messing unless absolutley nessercery. The loctite 603 is nasty stuff if certainly grips VERY strong. If you get it wrong forget it so be careful. I will also note the Hornby Gear that I refitted to the Ultrascale axle needed to be very slightly drilled wider to fit the axle. like the Hornby washers it would not refit. When I say slightly drilled out I mean very slightly using only my fingers to twist the drill bit. Here are the Ultrascales as you can see I have Drilled them out by hand using a pin vice and taking my time,. The plastic as I mention is very very strong and it took ages to drill out these holes using the molded ones as a guide. But as you can see the 80s Hornby part fits and so will the modern versions. I had to file off the rivets holding the cross frame attachment from the modern railroad motion off a spare chassis I have and then drill the old motion parts out to fit to the cross frame. This again was done by hand with a file in a pin vice. I just put a comedy show on and sweated it out for a few hours and got through threre eventually. The old metal rods were made of much better quality material than these new ones and are very robust unlike the kitchen foil ones of today. Moving on you can see I am now using my modified Railroad Peregrine to help with the build of the chassis for Mallard. Here you can see the 80s Hornby Nickel matches the Ultrascale wheels a treat,. These motion sets might be basic but they are not that bad and they are strong. also the solid conection rod is one piece making the wheels move more realistically that the modern type. I like the robustness here and like with all modelling compromises are always to be made. I am having to delete the little lubricator arm thing (I am not sure what it is ) From the right wheel. But I can live with that. This is my first attempt at a loco chassis conversion and re-wheel. I was going to use these Rivets from Alan Gibson but Instead used Alan Gibson crank pins and bolts. You can see the holes that are drilled out ready to attach to the cross frame. Here you can see the Hornby boss which Needs little mods to it to fit, with the shim washer in place on the axles as seen previously the boss at the back will not collide with the chassis or pickups. The only mod is the file down the oval ear on one side to allow you to set the lead correctly. There will be many times you will have to assemble and de assemble the chassis and motion to make sure this works freely with friction fit only before loctite 603 goes anywhere near... But its worth doing to get it right even if it does take you days. The other advantage to this old motion being used is the return crank arm moves elaborately and realistically where as the later finer type hardly moves at all. I prefer this old type for that reason. Here you can see the Gibson Crank pins holding the motion together these were tigtened and Loctite 603 applied when in situ on the loco to make sure they set in the right place. And here is my 1st atempt at a chassis mod complete and running sweetly. I quartered it by eye and now I just need to add the red paint and the balance weights but right now I put the body on for a few photos and enjoy finally having an LNER A4 with nice shiney thick rimmed wheels. What a lovely site. I do like the blackend ones but I adore the highly polished look. If only Hornby made the wheels like this in the first place it would have been perfect. Here is a comparison with the standard wheels which I must admit look fine for most locos. If they had red to the edge which a few did. Thanks for reading. I hope its not been boring and might be of help to others out there. I will be doing more conversions now and love ultrascale wheels. I also hope to do my first chassis soon. Happy New Year everyone. This is my first modelling post on here this year. For anyone curious about Ultrascale they are a great company and the website is well worth your time reading through http://www.ultrascale.com/ Cheers Rob

Well I did not think I would get anything in ready for inspection this year, I am not sure but I think this is my first of 2014. I have been doing plenty modelling off site but had to complete something and was particularly drawn to photos of XL444 in her Wraparound scheme. The Kit was a Joy to build she is temporarily on Corgi undercarriage which I repainted as these are more accurate in height, stance and shape than the kit parts though a bit simple, Till I have finished my part scratched ones for her. I decided to tint the windows but have since noticed that its only the front 3 however it seems to add something to it I like. The paint is Revell Gelboliv (yellowish olive) for the green which was brush painted and the Grey is Hu164 From a spray can. Decals : Wolfpack for the roundels which are the right size unlike the kit ones. all the stencils are also wolfpack , Fundekals for the circular panels. So Here are the photos hope you like her. Cheers Rob Sorry for all the photos I was enjoying my new camera Comments both good and bad welcome as always. Cheers Rob and thanks for looking

Well I have really let myself in for it this time. I am building this as a Christmas present... I think I might have underestimated the build time... The last 1/32 Spit I build was the old and lovely Revell Mk1 with my Dad when I was Lad but it was a lot simpler than this... I was not sure what to expect I got this thinking WOW only £39.99 ! DEAL.. I hear it has issues and some bemoan the kit but it looks good to me. much as I LOVE Spitfires I am not an expert I know quite a bit about them but not the really hardcore details of them all. All I can say is I have just got it opened it and can't believe how much you get its even got some PE which is new for me and for £39.99 compared to the £19.99 for the little 1/200 vulcan thats sat on top of the sprue pile for comparison I can't see whats not to like Bargain! I am looking forward to this challenge.... Cheers Rob

Hi all This is on of my 3 entries for the fantastic Obsolete Kit GB. It has been really good fun and the hosts Enzo and Col were fantastic as was Mish and everyone who took part. I was invited with my Old hasegawa Foxbot build. Which I will post later. However after that I got the itch to make more and after coming back from Telford I have not stopped modelling since (I think I picked up some bug I am modelling more than ever...) So with that I entered with this delightful Old Kit and a Matchbox Jaguar that did not get finished in time. This kit is old and basic but the fit is great and it looks like a Harrier. Excellent for when it was made but not the most accurate perhaps but I love it. I sprayed it with Humbrols excellent new spray cans HU163 and HU164. Blue tak masked, Other paints for the engines and interior were Revel Aqua and Citadel paints. I did drop her and smash the tail wing off the day before the end.... But I rectified that thankfully... Here she is Many I had to take the photos of her on my knee in the car as I was so close to the deadline but I love how she looks in the blueish light of night. Cheers Rob WIP is here : http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234950210-matchbox-harrier-gr3/

Hi all good britmodeller folk welcome to this the first of my multibuild on th WIP section. It has been fun and long and its no were near finished yet so if you want to follow the rest here is the link: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234936632-1st-one-finished-dragon-vulcan-b1a-2-b1-big-surgery-for-3-small-kits/ This model is a holy grail for me with special significance and a funny ironic link that makes me smile. For when I was a kid I had bought for me a video called the vulcan story in the middle was full colour footage of very pretty white vulcans that looked somewhat different to the vulcans I'd seen. My dad told me "there're b1s",,,, I said "b1s?" He replied "yes b1s they were before the b2s and a totally different aeroplane much smaller" he then said "get your grandad to take you to raf cosford they have a white vulcan and victor there from what I remember" From there the fascination started and me and grandad went vulcan hunting at cosford. We walked around and found no white vulcan or victor but we did find camo ones outside along with a trident argosy vc10 and Belfast oh and a javelin and blue steel missile all rotting away. Me and my grandad were best mates went to cosford alot and other places he loved aircraft and my models he give me tools and taught me much. It was only about 10 years later through the Internet I learned there was indeed once a vulcan b1 and victor b1 at cosford as late as 1986 and they scraped them (great british preservation in action) the vulcan was xa900 the last of its type and a totally different to the b2. I see the comet that was displayed with them survived. Later on last year I made a model of xh533 I modded the back end to the b1 tail my grandad said I should do a b1 so I did and decided to do a WIP and ended up ironically getting invited to bring it any others to cosford show by britmodeller friends general melchet, cliffb, Canberrakid and others Ironic cosford will be my first model show were I will bring a b1 vulcan and were my fascination for the type started and were me and my grandad used to go. Were the last vulcan b1 was and my grandad would have been proud I was doing this. So I decided to finish ths one as b1 XA900 and I guess I finally hunted her down in the end lol. It's funny how these little links happen in life Ironic indeed and I'm really looking forward to going along to the show. Special thanks go to fellow britmodeller's pigsty for donating the cross of Lincoln badges from his airfix nimrod and to Doug rogers for his vc10 landing gear to make the exhausts Thanks for looking comments welcome good and bad. Hope you like this Cheers Rob And here is the last raf b2 xh558 with the last intact b1 Xa900 Thanks Rob

Hi this is my first post in a few months the model was completed earlier in the year but this is its first real showing off since the build. the lovely smaller Vulcan B1a XH498 Performing a display in the 60s..... hmm Here she is the day before cosford show and before the satin varnish was applied. This is were she started. For anyone wanting to see the build which is still on going and about to resume work for the two silver b1s and a further white b1 but with pale roundes go here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234936632-1st-one-finished-dragon-vulcan-b1a-2-b1-big-surgery-for-3-small-kits/ I hope you enjoyed this post comments welcome good and bad. Cheers Rob My Fave shot of her

Hi all way back in Dec 2011 I bought my first of the now numerous Dragon 1/200 Vulcans I have now built. Back then the only boxing was the first blue steel one. this come with 2 options but i opted to do one that was not in the box options. I did XH558 but i did not have the right bomb bay as the original kit comes with only blue steel options. nor did it come with the later tail as a choice so i did an approximate XH558 as best i could and made do with decals that i had found to suit it. This is what she looked like back then. Now thanks to the spares and options of the later Falklands boxing I've filled off the tail top and replaced with the new moulding repainted the tail and updated the decals and added the small stencils. then sealed over with satin varnish. she now looks much better I reckon. She was initially brush painted with xtracrylix raf dark green and medium sea grey. here she is today Thanks for stopping by to look at her.

Hi folks this is one I am very happy with its the Pit road boxing of the new Avro Vulcan B2 and a wonderful kit the only fault i can pick is the air intakes would be easier to paint if they had made the turbine fans a separate fitting. I managed to do the white inside but the engine faces are white too as i cant think how to paint them but as they are buried deep it does not matter that much. The fit was fantastic and this is the second one if have done and will be making more definatly. The model was painted with Humbrols already excellent but now significantly improved since coming back to the UK. spray cans. I cant believe how good these are at levelling out and giving a gorgeous almost indestructible finish. I used hu 163,165 for the top camo green first then grey with the help of blue tak, hu64 for the undersides, and hu 34 for the white patches and intakes, The radome and fin were hand painted with hu33 with a dash of flow improver from W&N AMAZING STUFF! Its nice to see a model of a vulcan that finally gets the vulcans sinister looking radome outline right the only company that nailed it before was frog. The exhausts were brush painted with the excellent citadel paints chain mail. Any way on to the model all comments and questions welcome. Here XM599 is seen with XL427 Thanks for looking I hope you enjoy this photo loaded post.

Here is yet another Vulcan this is a 1/200th Dragon Vulcan finished with humbrol rattle can matt white with brush painted black areas and metalic areas. Sealed in Klear and then weathered with a mix of pencil, dark grey chalk powder, and citadel nuln oil. Finished as XJ783 in later style anti flash white. The only mods to this one is the tail cone this one features the early b2 tail cone with smaller more rounded tip than later ECM with a bigger tip. Hope you like her Cheers for looking guys

This is my 1/200th Dragon Vulcan B2 photos taken edited and uploaded with my iphone. Painted with humbrol rattle cans and weathered with citadel nuln oil, a pencil, and some dark grey chalk. Now the weather is getting better i will be giving each of these little 'ns its own place on here rather than the old group shot which didnt really have that good photos. hope you like her. Cheers Rob