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Well it's Vulcan time again! This time I'll be cutting one up to build a Vulcan B1a, a variant which has never been represented in a plastic, resin, vacuform or any other type of kit. If you want a B1a, you have to convert one and generally the starting point will have to be a Vulcan B2. The B1, which would be a much better starting point, is only slightly better represented by the incredibly rare Frog kit from 1958, the Lindberg prototype from a year later has straight wings so won't build a standard B1, much less a B1a. No resin, vacuform or other form of kit of any Mk1 vulcan has been made since, only a 1/72 conversion set. If you know your Vulcans, you'll know the last B1 was scrapped at Cosford in 1986 having been left outside to corrode for years (already in a bad way by the time the museum got hold of it), the only one which had a chance of surviving to today would probably have been XA903 which was flying until 1979 as a testbed, but no one was interested in preserving the full aircraft with the retirement in the B2 not far off. This makes researching the B1 enough to make an accurate model a bit of a pain, there are plenty of photographs around but weren't really taken with modellers in mind. I've had a Vulcan marked up for conversion for months, but just not gotten around to cutting the plastic. Even in this fairly small scale it's not an easy task and there's definitely a non-zero chance of this failing and ending up in the bin. This isn't my first B1a conversion, in fact it's the third one, and I've converted one in this scale to a very early B1 with the straight wing (most B1s had Phase 2 kinked wings, introduced from XA894, the sixth production, aircraft onwards and refitted to most early ones). I've made a set of wing templates to speed up the process of measuring out and marking the lines to cut. Chop! Goodbye B2 wings. It's a crude, but effective process. My three Mk.1s, notably absent is the standard B1, but I have two Frog kits which will fill that gap.

Anyone who has built a Vulcan B1 in 1/72 from the Airfix kit, or in 1/144 from the GWH kit.... How??? How do I go about converting one? I know of the Flightpath conversion set, but it looks like a lot more work is needed. Has anyone got, or knows of, a guide to converting one, or a thread comprehensively detailing the build? What other modifications would be needed in a Vulcan B1 that aren't covered in the conversion set? Same for the straight early wing production aircraft? I'm just desperate to build a Vulcan B1...

Recently I finished this model, it's an extensive conversion of en early Vulcan B1 based on the 1/200 Dragon/Cyberhobby kit. There is currently no kit available of the Vulcan B1 or B1a, either the early straight wing or more standard Phase 2 kinked wing, so the only option is a conversion. This is my third Mk1 vulcan, the other two being B1as based on the GWH kit. Anyway, this model represents XA891, my favourite Vulcan out of all of them. '891 was the third production Vulcan, on of the five (7 including prototypes) with the straight wing. Later the aircraft was refitted with the standard Phase 2 wing seen on most Vulcan B1s, and became a testbed for the Olympus 200 engines in development for the upcoming Vulcan B2. Unfortunately this one crashed in 1959, but all the crew survived - the first time that happened on a Vulcan. The real thing: Back to back with a Vulcan B2, XM595, in the same scale. Didn't mod the intakes, they look too narrow for a B2 anyway and without putting them next to my B2s they look fine My three Mk1 Vulcans, all conversions. Left to right: XA891 early B11 1/200, XH500 B1a 1/144, XA906 B1a 1/144. I'm just missing a standard B1 and a prototype now... And a few photos of the major modifications in the build: Original wing with 40° sweep marked out on the kit New tailcone from milliput Extended rudder using a donor part from another kit and some plastic card

So... I made a very small Vulcan B1 Flying away in its natural habitat, the skies of my modelling desk It's a cast of a small vulcan pin badge made with some reusable moulding stuff I have. I was just playing around with it trying to figure out how best to use it and this is my test subject, I'm going to mould another tonight hopefully I'll get a better cast. I used too much material on this one and well, it ended up a little chunky. The wingspan is about 2.6 cm so I think that's about 1/1100 scale. Crazy small. ^^ and that's after cleaning up most of the excess material Here's the remains of my previous attempts at this, different moulds (the one I painted up came out of my third mould).

The Avro Vulcan is my favourite aircraft without a doubt. Although the only one I ever had the chance to see in flight was the Vulcan B.2 XH558 from 2007-15, my favourite Vulcans are the B.2's less famous predecessors, the Vulcan B.1 and Vulcan B.1a. The first B.1s retained the pure delta of the prototypes, although after the fifth aircraft they were fitted with the first iteration of the Vulcan's distinctive kinked delta. The Vulcan B.1a was a stop-gap measure while the B.2s were coming into service, they were given the full set of ECM gear of the early B.2s with a few other less notable modifications. They were retired in the late 60s to early 70s, and although one B.1 lingered on at Cosford for many years, they were all gone by 1986. Today the only surviving physical evidence of their existence are a handful of cockpit sections that to most would look no different from that of a Vulcan B.2, however the aircraft in reality were as different as two derivatives of the same basic airframe could possibly be. I never got the chance to see a Vulcan B.1 in person unfortunately, as I have said the last one was scrapped in 1986, and I was born 17 years later in 2003. So here is my model of my favourite aircraft, the Vulcan B1.a, this one is XH500. The model is based on the 1/144 GWH Vulcan K.2 kit, and heavily modded to build the earlier variant. This is probably my favourite angle to view a B.1/1a from. Here you capture the look of the 'sporty Vulcan' as it was often called. The Vulcan B.1/1a's pitot tubes are on the wingtips, whereas the B.2's are on the sides of the nose. As can be seen here, the Vulcan B1's intakes are narrower than those of the B.2. They were powered by the Olympus 100 series of engines which were less powerful than the B.2's 201s or 301s. The GWH kit's intakes are already too small for a B.2, so very little modification was needed, although I would go even thinner when I do another B.1/1a (it's inevitable) And here you can see the smaller jetpipes of the Olympus 100 engines. Another one of my favourtite angles, seeing the whole aircraft from below the nose shows off just how much smaller the B.1/1a was than the later B.2s. I trawled through photographs of the underside of the aircraft to get a good approximation of the weathering on the B.1, which was significantly different to how dirt accumulated on the B.2 And here's the WIP thread for anyone who wants to read that. Huge thanks to @robvulcan for the conversions he's done that inspired this, without his builds and advice I could not have done this

This is my latest completed model, an unusual Vulcan B1. This is based on an Airfix kit that I got second hand, and intended to restore and convert to the earlier variant. This project failed, so- much like the a number of the real things- this is what I salvaged from it. I misplaced the stand I had for it... I'll add more photos when I find it or get another The model represents a fictional survivor, not a real one. Amongst other things I wanted free reign on the weathering and colour scheme. I'm rather pleased with how the wood came out. It is actual wood, but it's painted Credit to @robvulcan as it was his similar build of a much better kept cockpit that inspired this one. The WIP thread can be viewed here ^^ And Rob's build here ^^

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!

Welcome. Here is a project I started good few years ago. Its the old Lindberg Vulcan. I have always loved these old kits. Its not terribly accurate but its got tons of charm and really captures the esscence of the time this vintage kit was made. An exciting new time for technology and a futuristic comic type vibe. Its as described by a friend of mine a Charachature of the vulcan. Untitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr The art work is inspiring this is one of many boxings of this it was even released by Revell at one point which is how I first built it as a kid in the 90s. I have made many of these over the years just for fun and not really put the time or efford in to make it really well so this time I want to put my all into this one and make it a little different. It will be something a little unusual for our Bomber Command SIG Table at shows I hope. The 1/96th scale I feel is great for shows its bigger than 1/144 and smaller than 72nd , Ideal for dios and with the balance of space and size. I am building from the latest issue of this kit from a few years ago which has nice forgiving plastic not the brittle type of the originals. I plan to make a few mods to this to make it look more vulcan like. First off I am Improving the look of the intakes which are awfully over scale especially for a B1. I have widened them width wise and I shall narrow them and scratch build the intakes to look more like a Vulcan B1. I fitted the supplied intake parts but removed the spliter centre section to allow to use them as a foundation to build into the wing the new intakes. here seen with an old and not particularly well built one I did a few years ago. Untitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr Untitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr Untitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr Untitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr I have added the smaller windows and will maybe remove and scratchbuild the over size canopy and bomb aimers blister both of which are very squat. I will also be stratching the leading edge of the top wing halves to add the original shallow kinked wing edges. which should help give the curved under wing shape where you can see on a B1 how the kink was added to the orginal straight wing. Its not blended in like the B2 which had a totally different wing. After those mods are done it should look a lot more like a Vulcan B1. In an unusual move I think I might model it at the last one at Cosford which was controversially scrapped just so it could be replaced by a B2. the Vulcan was said to be in a bad state and it sure was inside but you can clearly see from these photos it was very much solid and in one piece externaly. Solid enough to be dragged around the back of the Hanger with the Victor B1 and scrapped. Somthing that has agrivated me since I was a child going to see the white Vulcan and finding out they had destroyed the only original Avro 698. So I might do it as this plain partially painted Vulcan. Here it is just before scrapping partially repainted. Untitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr The final moments for the only original Vulcan B1. one that had been painted Silver, White and Anti Flash White. Untitled by Rob Hayes, on Flickr Cheers Rob

Hi all I recently got lucky and picked up the extremely rare FROG Avro Vulcan B.MK.1. It is the only Vulcan B1 ever Kitted. The lindberg is not very accurate and more reflects the 1st Prototype. The FROG however for its time is pretty darn accurate. It has a few issues. The tail fin cap needs rescribing a little lower. The radome although right in style its a little miss shapen. But a better attempt than airfix's proposed radome line. For its time an amazing kit. It is from the early 60s I believe and was made from the original plans (say's so on the box) It even has quite finely recessed panel lines. It is an interesting item as it is totally different to the B2 the stance of the wheels gives it a taller nose up look. Makes it look very imposing and looks like shes flying stood still. The wing is also much smaller more flat at the back and has a cute subtle kink still being very pyramid like and It is this breed of Vulcan that earned them the nick name "Tin Triangle" Initial B1s were silver before the pre anti flash standard white scheme. I am chuffed to bits with this as you can imagine and whoever build it did a darn good job. I notice they started to mod the intakes more on that later lets look at what we have to play with. This is gonna be a challenge I need to scratch the intakes ...... YIKES ! Cheers Rob

Its been a very long time since I posted here in RFI. Here is my 1st Resin Model and its one I molded myself. This is the test shot from a trial mold and trial model for some resin conversion parts for the Pit Road GWH Vulcan B2. Its taken a while and the project still has a long way to go with further changes to make. So far this is 2 to 3 years work and still lots to do. The mods in the end where so extensive that my Dad suggested why not mold the whole plane and that I thought sounded fun and went ahead. This is a solid Resin Vulcan with a separate solid resin tail piece. Temporally on modded Corgi wheels. I hope this will be the first of many and my second master model for molding is on the way but I may remold the original from which this was cloned soon. List of mods include: 1.Totally new wing shape with entirely different control surfaces and many other detail differences. 2. New nose shape and cock pit shape both detail differences and corrections. 3. Narrow intakes but a bit too narrow on this one partly due to the kit being too fat partly difficulty in the small scale. 4. Original tail shape with rudder extention 5. Original Tail cone with the second style extended tip 6. Cheek piece intake added. 7. Removal of all the many detail differences on the belly top fuselage and jet pipes. 8. bomb aimers window corrected and blister re-profiled 9. Wing pitos added 10.Re-scribe of the radome area tail and other details. Painted with Humbrol Rattle can paints and Revell Aqua paints. Decals from Mark1 decals who make the right size for V bombers. Hope you like her. Apologies for the photos these are from mid summer 2014 when this was completed. Lots of photos but wanted you to be able to compare them to the B2s one of which featuring my Resin Tail and tail cone. Cheers Rob

Here's the first of the series of aircraft I associate with Filton Airfield, and the one that brings back the fondest memories of standing on the cycle track on the A38 at the eastern end of the runway with the roar of the engines and the smell of the jet fuel. XA903's history has been recounted in detail elsewhere, and is well worth tracking down, sadly only the nose remains at 2AV8 near Stranraer. This build is based on the Pit Road/GWH B2 kit and converted to a B1 (thanks to robvulcan of this manor for inspiration to attack the wings). I have not altered the intakes (intentional) or included the wing pitot tubes (forgot). The Olympus 593 was scratchbuilt, decals were a combination of kit, spares box and home made. Not a perfect build, but great fun and, overall, I'm happy with the result. XA903 Vulcan test bed for Rolls Royce Snecma 593 engine by jonbru0903, on Flickr XA903 Vulcan test bed for Rolls Royce Snecma 593 engine by jonbru0903, on Flickr More XA903 by jonbru0903, on Flickr More XA903 by jonbru0903, on Flickr More XA903 by jonbru0903, on Flickr

On the wall of a small BAE Systems office on Riyadh Airbase, Is an 8 x 6 inch picture of a White Vulcan B1 coming in to land. It could be Scampton's newly extended runway as the fence looks new. The only markings that can be seen on the aircraft is a small black 92, 93 or 94? on the fin. The shot is from the front left. No one now knows why the picture is there, Or how long it has been there. I'm just curious to know if anyone can speculate on what I've given and maybe help with a squadron and maybe an approximate date.

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