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Converted Revell Victor kit


lancfan

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Hi everyone, I will be building the Ex. MB Revell kit of the Victor K. mk 2 converted into an all-white B. mk 2, XL231 of 139 Squadron at RAF Wittering in 1962.

I will scratch build the modifications and use the markings from the Air Decal Anti-flash Victor sheet.

David.

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Hi everyone, I will be building the Ex. MB Revell kit of the Victor K. mk 2 converted into an all-white B. mk 2, XL512 of 139 Squadron at RAF Wittering in 1962.

I will scratch build the modifications and use the markings from the Air Decal Anti-flash Victor sheet.

David.

excellent news and i look forward to seeing it finished and welcome aboard. rob

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Less than an hour to go so here we go with the box and contents shots - at the stroke of midnight I will open the bag and wash the parts ready to start tomorrow morning.

vbomber1-M.jpg

vbomber2-M.jpg

David.

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Hi David,

Just looking at the contents of that box brings back the pain !!!

I must say I found the Matchbox version had slightly crisper mouldings.

When done though they look great as in fact did every one of the 3

recognised 'V' bombers .......... I will watch and also feel the growing pains !!

'V'

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I would like that but the decal sheet doesn't seem to include the Blue Steel variant so this load will be represented with my Vulcan build later.

I do like the Blue Steel and eventually wish to also model a Blue Steel on a bomb trolley and as a load on a scratch-build AEC Mandator Transporter, but of course that will be far beyond the GB end date.

David.

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which decal sheet have you got. rob

HI Rob,

The sheet I ordered is - Airdecal ADTS7212

1:72 Anti Flash Handley-Page Victors.

The side views only show normal bombers with not a Blue Steel in sight, I don't know whether they could also carry them but the bomb bay of the Blue Steel equiped Vulcan was very different so I assume that similar modifications were also neccessary for the Victor.

This is at the modern edge of my historical interest and I have very little info. on these aircraft.

David.

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So, let battle commence. The biggie with this kit is the glaring gap in the middle of the air intakes where the two wing halves join up and after giving this some thought there really was only one way to build this and that was to cut the intake fences away from the top wing halves and attach them to the lower wing to form solid intake vanes. The shot below shows the first stage with the starboard vane halves glued onto their opposite halves on the lower wing half and the end plates glued to the upper wing half.

vbomber3-L.jpg

When these had dried and the joints were hidden by filler the wing halves were glued together and the end plate seams covered over with filler applied by the handle of a paint brush.

After spraying white the intakes now look like this with the end seam hidden in a corner and the gaps on the vane guides moved to the top of the intake out of the way.

vbomber4-M.jpg

David.

Edited by lancfan
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HI Rob,

The sheet I ordered is - Airdecal ADTS7212

1:72 Anti Flash Handley-Page Victors.

The side views only show normal bombers with not a Blue Steel in sight, I don't know whether they could also carry them but the bomb bay of the Blue Steel equiped Vulcan was very different so I assume that similar modifications were also neccessary for the Victor.

This is at the modern edge of my historical interest and I have very little info. on these aircraft.

David.

ah now that be a problem. im sure there must be a decal sheet out there, then again from that sheet i am guessing you might be able to make up the decals for a version thats not on there cutting numbers out and placing as needed once you found photos to work from, thats what i do anyhow,

regarding details i would contact general melchet on here he loves victors and knows alot about them and should be able to advise.

cheers rob

great start those intakes look great and you seem to have made fast work on that. wow.

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Hi lancfan,

I'm not certain if they were ever taken into service Blue Steel equiped. One problem was the lack of clearence between the bomb bay and ground.

Having said that I have no doubt they were trialed, seem to think they had a trench/pit to help I recall that's how the initial trials were done with Valiants and the undersize test vehicles.

'V'

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Hi lancfan,

I'm not certain if they were ever taken into service Blue Steel equiped. One problem was the lack of clearence between the bomb bay and ground.

Having said that I have no doubt they were trialed, seem to think they had a trench/pit to help I recall that's how the initial trials were done with Valiants and the undersize test vehicles.

'V'

Hi 'V'

I googled "victor Blue Steel" and found a newsreel of a victor being bombed up with a Blue Steel, it seemed to be on an incredibly low bomb trolley that carried the missile nose down almost touching the ground, there seemed to always be a mandator parked nearby in all of the stills I found so perhaps they did not actually move the missile on these trollies they just used them to transfer missiles from transporter to aircraft. Maybe because of ground clearance problems they decided to only use the Vulcan for this weapon?

And Rob, thanks for the tip, I will PM General Melchett and see if he knows anything of this.

David.

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Hi lancfan,

My memory is failing fast, yes they did go into service a few in white, but the Gary Powers incident brought about low attack profiles and I have several pictures of camouflaged aricraft with Blue Steel attached.

I don't believe it was for long as they were urgently needed for the Tanker role. I have a record of the first two live firings at aberporth range: 1st was XH673 of 100 sqn on 27.5.1967; 2nd drop by XH675 of 139 Sqn on 26.8.67. It could only have been a short life as both these aircraft were taken to Radlett at the very beginning of October1968.

Now I look into it I'm fascinated that not all aircraft had the 6 protrusions on the tail cone - this I though was part of the operational system.

XL158 white; XL164 white; XL511 white; XL512 white; XL160 Camo; XL190 Camo; XL233 Camo; XL511 Camo; All have the extra blisters

XL162 Camo; XL189 Camo; XL512 Camo; XM717 Camo; Don't have the extra blisters

Confused I am - How can a white XL512 have blisters and yet they are not there on a later picture of her in Camo ????

Point of note NONE of the white aircraft in my pictures have the underwing tanks.

So many changes - best to find a picture and work to that .......

'V'

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Hi lancfan,

My memory is failing fast, yes they did go into service a few in white, but the Gary Powers incident brought about low attack profiles and I have several pictures of camouflaged aricraft with Blue Steel attached.

I don't believe it was for long as they were urgently needed for the Tanker role. I have a record of the first two live firings at aberporth range: 1st was XH673 of 100 sqn on 27.5.1967; 2nd drop by XH675 of 139 Sqn on 26.8.67. It could only have been a short life as both these aircraft were taken to Radlett at the very beginning of October1968.

Now I look into it I'm fascinated that not all aircraft had the 6 protrusions on the tail cone - this I though was part of the operational system.

XL158 white; XL164 white; XL511 white; XL512 white; XL160 Camo; XL190 Camo; XL233 Camo; XL511 Camo; All have the extra blisters

XL162 Camo; XL189 Camo; XL512 Camo; XM717 Camo; Don't have the extra blisters

Confused I am - How can a white XL512 have blisters and yet they are not there on a later picture of her in Camo ????

Point of note NONE of the white aircraft in my pictures have the underwing tanks.

So many changes - best to find a picture and work to that .......

'V'

Hi 'V' it may be safer to leave the Blue Steel to the vulcan and have the Victor as a normal bomber considering the short life of Victor / Blue Steel operations, although XH675 that you mention was a B.2 (so my serials book says) and I have chosen to build mine as a standard 139 sqdn aircraft from the markings on the sheet it sounds to me like the Blue Steel Victors may have been all converted to tankers quite early on rather than retrofitting them as normal bombers?

David.

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Forgot to post an image of the wheel well details yesterday, this picture shows the main undercarriage bay of the wing I have already buttoned up with the parts of the wheelbay details for the wing currently being worked on.

vbomber5-M.jpg

David.

Edited by lancfan
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This is something I have been itching to try, with the interior painted as it should be anything aft of the cockpit windows will vanish into the dark. My idea would be to fit a crude cabin interior and then, leaving the rear in primer grey paint different parts of the interior in different shades of grey according to how the light would hit the different parts of the real cockpit. If it works it could be a good technique for models such as this and if it does not - well, I didn't expect to see the interior of this one anyway!

vbomber6-M.jpg

David.

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Something has just happened that I always hate - I have had a serious change of mind halfway through a build. After looking at various pictures and drawings of these things I now find that I like the earlier aircraft better than the later, more cluttered version. So my model will now be a B.2 XL231 of the same squadron and year, it was later converted into a K.2 and actually survives at YAM Elvington. Before I can change my mind again I have now removed the external fuel tanks on the wing outer panels that I assembled earlier today.

David.

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this block of pictures shows what I did to the kit seats - they looked close enough to the real ones for it to be worth having a go at improving them and even though I type it myself they have turned out quite well.

vbomber10-M.jpg

I then got a little carried away and realised that the panel decals with the kit are totally wrong for a V-force Victor so I re-worked that area as well and the resultant finished cockpit is shown below.

vbomber7-M.jpg

vbomber8-M.jpg

vbomber9-M.jpg

David.

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The fuselage halves have now been joined together.

vbomber11-M.jpg

When the glue has completely dried I can then clean up the seams and fill in the fuselage refueling position with Miliput.

With that done I have a decision to make - I want my victor to be a B.2 without the wing tanks and Whitcomb Bodies as I much prefer the Victor with a clean wing before all this clutter was fitted. The decal sheet I bought has markings for two such aircraft, one being an early production machine, they are both bombers and not Blue Steel launch platforms. I have found a very clear picture online of the late production aircraft XL231 carrying a Blue Steel - and adorned with Whitcomb Bodies, so if I build that one it will be as a normal bomber. However, I have found a picture of another clean B.2 with a Blue Steel, this is XH675 now sadly scrapped.

so then, I must ask myself - will this be XL231 as a bomber and now displayed at Elvington as a K.2 or will it be XH675 with a Blue Steel then but later converted into a tanker and now unhappily no longer with us.

David.

Edited by lancfan
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