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57 Sqn Victor K Mk2 XL163 circa 1983. 1/72 Revell (matchbox)


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1/72 scale Victor K Mk2 XL163 RAF Marham

History,

Construction number HP80/66

Awaiting collection 15/05/1961, delivery date 07/02/1962, to Handley-Page Ltd 14/01/1969 then Hawker Siddeley 20/05/1970 for conversion to K2 standard,

l/f? 01/07/1986 to St Athan store, to St Athan 29/09/1986 for Battle Damage Repair Training as 8916M, scrapped during 12/1991 by Hanningfield Metals, Stock, Essex

"An order was also sent out to the remaining Vulcan Squadron to go on to a War Footing and in a show of force 4 Vulcans were deployed to Wide-awake Airfield at Ascension Island and from there the then longest bombing missions took place. Code named Black Buck, their mission was to deny the Argentinians the use of Port Stanley Airport to their Mirage Fighter jets with 21.000LB's of bombs. One sole Vulcan XM607 Piloted by Sqn Leader Martin withers which was the standby aircraft for the first mission after its sister aircraft XM598 piloted by John Reeve suffered a ruptured windscreen seal in flight and couldn't pressurize. The first raid was successful and placed a bomb right in the centre of the runway. The missions themselves would not have happened if it wasn't for the Victors of 55 and 57 sqn refueling the Vulcan on its route as well as refueling the Victors its self, one specific Victor XL189 piloted by Bob Tuxford gave most of his fuel to XM607 and left with the bare minimum fuel to get back with."

The Vulcan was over its normal maximum take-off weighteach carried, as well as extra equipment like the DASH 10 and a chemical toilet, a highly experienced Air to Air Refuelling Instructor (AARI) from the Victor tanker force who would fly the Vulcan during refuellingand fuel usage was higher than expected. As a result of the fuel demand and problems in flight with refuelling, two of the Victors had to fly further south than planned, eating into their own reserves, and one of these, the last Victor to refuel the Vulcan, was past the last refuelling bracket before turning home. Tankers had to be sent south to refuel these Victors so they could reach Ascension. A total of 11 Victors were used to support Black Buck One: XH669, XH672, XL162, XL163, XL188, XL189, XL192, XL232, XL511, XL513 and XM717

XL163, 57 Sqdn, with two wing roundels (copyright prevents posting)

( http://www.57-630sqnassoc.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=8353 )

On ascension (copyright prevents posting)

( http://www.abpic.co.uk/photo/1402175/ )

This kit was a "pig" all bent and distorted, raised panel lines etc. etc. I can't scribe but I can sand and boy did this kit need sanding AND filling, the wing needed steaming, it needed heavy duty clamps (carpenters type clamp, that's what I used them for originally! ) to pull the fuselage halves together, everything went up a few notches for tooling to build this thing. I learnt loads while building this, I am used to 1/72 fighters this thing would dwarf most 1/48th kits and even some in 1/32, the wing span is close to a 1/24 spitfire. All techniques I know for assembly went out of the window on this! I used tamiya green/grey and humbrol acrylic white as the tamiya pot looked a bit empty for this job! First go with humbrol acrylic, I must say this, I painted the white before I steamed the wing, the paint held up.

The only things I added were a couple of vanes/fins on the fuselage, the centreline one just aft of the cockpit was replaced as it was severely damaged during sanding, otherwise it's out of the box.

It's a simple finish but it wasn't without a great deal of effort.

Decals, standard format onto gloss with 50:50 Matt/Satin humbrol topcoat, revell decal soft. Box option.

This is the first of my V bomber fleet, hopefully I will be able to achieve the remaining aircraft to complete the line up. This type truly has a remarkable history.

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That's out of the box!

They turned out well but later (post build) I discovered the spinner is all metal colour, I think it primes or powers the pump? Not sure.

Also it should retract more on the tail end, the cup part of the line.

I guessed it, and I guessed it wrong!

It's funny how after the build you discover all the elusive reference material!

This kit is classified BBB (boxed bin bomb) one look=no way.

I managed to complete it though, really I'm happy with it, it's one of my favourite builds of all time.

(Edited, a little late but thank you)

Edited by It's a disease
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Cheers rob, I'm not sure if it flies but I think maid Marian is at RAF cosford. Surely one of the last airworthy examples (that's IF it flies)

Crobinsonh, yes the tail plane has something thunderbird about it!

Cheers tom.

Cheers bjorn, check this, http://www.ipmsstockholm.se/home/big-bold-beautiful/

That's what can really be done with this kit! Really a much better example!!!

Cheers miggers, I'm sure whole campaign would've fallen on its backside without these things. They were responsible for many tasks like getting us in the area before ops even began. That's the biggest job, turning up! I know they went on to help put the wind up 'em on those black buck missions.

And they don't like it up them do they mr mannarin sir! (Couldn't resist that one, sorry)

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Great build, well worth the effort needed to knock it into shape when the result is as good as that.

Always preferred the victor to the Vulcan myself after visiting Woodford on a school trip in the seventies and seeing these being converted to tankers. Wish I'd taken a camera...

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A very nice build. Just by looking at it there's no clue of any problems, the aircraft looks right. Cheers Lindan.

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Cheers graham, in this scale you can have enough! One of these is two lancasters or maybe 10-15 spitfire sized aircraft.

Wallyinoz, thanks mate, try and find one, not sure if these are on the shelves anymore but it's a really enjoyable build, it will test all of your skills, it's the first time I painted anything this size! Really that needs a new approach, and the construction is just slightly different to regular (for me) 1/72 fighter kits.

Sofusthecat, if it's not too late I think I have most of the remaining sheet, covers maid Marian. (Desert conflict modern era) I'll post it to you if you are interested, in any case you have some fun coming up. Use the link to ipms (post 12) that's the matchbox edition, handy guide. Same thing different colour plastic.

Cheers batcode, this thing catches the eye (it catches everything 'cos it's HUGE)

POMPEO, thank you sir.

Riff raf, cheers, yes it's a lovely shape, even today it looks futuristic!

Linden, thank mate, if I ever built a kit that didn't fit, this is it! Definitely my most troublesome actual build, once it's together painting is painting (even that is not quite the same on such a large thing though, miles and miles of masking!)

Wolwe82

RNoAF Aerobatic Team Yesterday

Snitok1983

The Wooksta!

tc2324

GrahamS

Calum

sean

lasermonkey

Val_Ukraine

Thank all of you too! This has made my morning!

Edit- thanks jer, sorry I've just bolted you on the bottom! (Im a cheapskate poster!) I still appreciate your comment though!

Edited by It's a disease
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Stunning model! Hope a new tooled victor appears soon!

Cheers (I don't! (Only because I've no space for another one!))

Good luck with your wish though!

You can get a 1/144 scale resin one from anigrand craft works. (Maybe not your thing)

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