1/72 Airfix Vulcan - FINISHED

[CurrantBunbury]

Nice job! Very neatly done.

[Martian]

You are making a really good job of this.

Martin

[Victor K2]

Looking good.

[Mark4700]

Thanks for your comments. I feel progress is slow but am strangely not frustrated like I have been on previous builds.

I keep toying with the idea of partially filling some of the scribe lines to lessen them slightly. I think I'll see what it looks like when it's all put together. I've looked at some other builds and there's a mixture of opinions on the subject.

[Mark4700]

After a bit of a break over the last week I've managed to put another coups of hours in on the Vulcan.

 

 

 

I decided before the the build started that I wanted this one as a wheels up in flying state, were I think a Vulcan looks best, in the air. So I decided it was time to fit the bomb bay, crew access hatch and front undercarriage doors.

 

 

 

 

This is a picture of the inside, where as you can see I've bolstered things with some plasticard. The black pen marks the area to be ground back to allow flush fitting of the resin tail pipes.

 

 

 

 

 

To fit the front undercarriage doors I found the easiest method was to remover the undercarriage bay altogether, this provided more room to make sure that the doors a fitted flush with another plasticard strip to give support.

 

 

 

 

 

This is what it looks like from the outside. Still some minor adjustments to be made and some filling and yet more scribing. but coming along nicely I think.

 

 

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Mark4700

[Mark4700]

I've been kept away from my modelling desk this week, but I have managed to spend a bit of time on the intakes. I've glued them together as seamlessly as I could, which wasn't particularly successful as in all the other Vulcan builds I've seen. I then set about sanding, a covering of filler and sanding again. This is the position I'm at after that.

 

It actually looks better to the naked eye. I'll keep repeating this process until I'm happy with the results.

I've also been working on the tail. Again filling and sanding to make the tail look like that of XH558.

 

Edited August 14, 2017 by Mark4700

[CurrantBunbury]

Looking good. You've made quite a difference to those intakes already. Patience is the thing with this kit, I think - the more you have, the better your results will be.

[Maverick231]

nice work mate.

This reminds me that I need to get on with finishing mine!

[Mark4700]

I can't believe that I've put all the hours in so far and not painted anything. I think the big thing with this kit as you've said is 'patience' and 'preparation', lots and lots of preparation.

[PhantomBigStu]

Reminded me to get back to mine as well,

[Mark4700]

I've not had much chance to continue with the Vulcan recently, but have managed a couple of hours today.

One thing I have kept going back to is the intakes, every time I've had a spare 15 minutes or so, I've been sanding them and this is the result.

 

I've also corrected the porthole windows by moving them back and up slightly.

Then tonight I've taken the big step of glueing the wings onto the upper and lower fuselage sections, this will remove any gap issues in following he instructions method of glueing the wing halves together, then glueing the wings onto the complete fuselage. Hope it all goes well. I'll post pictures of the upper and lower Vulcan later. Here's the upper section waiting for the glue to set.

It makes you realise just how big this kit is. In a way I'm pleased it has to be reworked in areas, and pushed, shoved and persuaded to go together. I'm expecting a huge sense of achievement when it is eventually finished.

Edited August 14, 2017 by Mark4700

[chrisrope]

I did mine slightly different and built the fuselage and then attached the wing tops to eliminate the gaps. Once dry I added the lower wings.

This looks good, looking forward to seeing it come together

[AnonymousAA72]

I did mine slightly different and built the fuselage and then attached the wing tops to eliminate the gaps. Once dry I added the lower wings.

This looks good, looking forward to seeing it come together

I agree Chris...with the fuselage built, add the upper wings, when dry add the intakes. The lower wings can then be adjusted to fit over the lower intakes. Any filler is then on the lower wing out of sight. With your build Mark, I'd suggest adding the lower half of the fuselage now, before adding the lower wing.

[robvulcan]

Very nice work

[Mark4700]

I agree Chris...with the fuselage built, add the upper wings, when dry add the intakes. The lower wings can then be adjusted to fit over the lower intakes. Any filler is then on the lower wing out of sight. With your build Mark, I'd suggest adding the lower half of the fuselage now, before adding the lower wing.

The only issue is that I'm displaying it wheels up in a climb to show its shape to best effect. I'll be doing the same with the bottom half as I want a smooth underside. I have seen it done this way, and it seemed the best method for what I want, I hope.

[AnonymousAA72]

The only issue is that I'm displaying it wheels up in a climb to show its shape to best effect. I'll be doing the same with the bottom half as I want a smooth underside. I have seen it done this way, and it seemed the best method for what I want, I hope.

I'm sure you'll be fine Mark, the only problem you may have is matching the wings upper and lower.....

In fact, on my last Vulcan build... once the upper wings had been added to the built up fuselage, I removed some of the tabs I think to get a perfect fit, I had to remove some of the mating surface of the lower wing to get it to fit. Result was no filler above, and very little below, probably due to meet removing the plastic irregularly...

Edited April 5, 2016 by Bill Clark

[Mark4700]

once the upper wings had been added to the built up fuselage, I removed some of the tabs I think to get a perfect fit, I had to remove some of the mating surface of the lower wing to get it to fit. Result was no filler above, and very little below, probably due to meet removing the plastic irregularly...

That sounds like a good idea. Looking at the dry fit it makes sense to remove the tabs etc

[Mark4700]

Mmmmm dilemma. Went on a VIP visit to see the XH558 on Saturday. Absolutely brilliant trip and highly recommended to all Vulcan fans. However, while walking underneath the huge wings I noticed that all the panel lines I've worked so hard to scribe are barely visible, even from 4 feet. In fact you'd struggle to push a piece of thin card into them. The only things that stand out are a few access panels. As for the panel lines on the leading edge of the wings, they are even less obvious, esp I ally as this example is kept ultra clean.

So do I fill in the panel lines or not???

[CedB]

Your model, your choice as usual - I'm personally pleased to hear that as it will save any feelings of guilt when I don't re-scribe mine...

You did a good job on the re-scribing Mark and you will always have the pictures

[StephenCJ]

I have seen the F-111 at the Evans Head Museum, NSW, Australia. There are very few panel lines visible on this aircraft and those that are are only a tiny line possibly not even visible in 1/72 scale. I think we put too much emphasis on panel lines and our models would be more to scale without them.. My thoughts.

You are doing a great job Mark

[Devilfish]

I'm sure you'll be fine Mark, the only problem you may have is matching the wings upper and lower.....

I had absolutely no problems whatsoever matching the upper and fuselage/wing combos. In fact, they went together better than any of my previous versions.

[Victor K2]

Just as a chef adds seasoning to a dish, it is down to taste. If you are standing 60 feet away from the aircraft and hold your model 12 inches from your eyes, then the detail you can see on the real aircraft is what you can see on your model (as a rule of thumb). On most full size aircraft there are gap tolerances between panels so as to allow the elimination of fretting due to aerodynamic stress. usually these are kept as small as possible. Hope this helps. (I like subtle panels lines as it gives the model extra depth).

[AnonymousAA72]

Mmmmm dilemma. Went on a VIP visit to see the XH558 on Saturday. Absolutely brilliant trip and highly recommended to all Vulcan fans. However, while walking underneath the huge wings I noticed that all the panel lines I've worked so hard to scribe are barely visible, even from 4 feet. In fact you'd struggle to push a piece of thin card into them. The only things that stand out are a few access panels. As for the panel lines on the leading edge of the wings, they are even less obvious, esp I ally as this example is kept ultra clean.

So do I fill in the panel lines or not???

In reality you could probably say the same for the vast majority of 1/72nd scale kits. It's your choice, but on a model with large areas of wing for example, then I think some rendition of them would break up these area and add some interest.

[RICHW]

make sure you take off the terrain following radar pod off XH558 as it does not have it ( the Small pod on the front of the nose under the refueling probe) ,

[Mark4700]

make sure you take off the terrain following radar pod off XH558 as it does not have it ( the Small pod on the front of the nose under the refueling probe) ,

Thanks Rich, already done. There are other differences which I shall highlight later in the build.