CT Modeller Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S.2B 237 OCU, RAF Honington, 1972 Matchbox kit with all panel lines filled and rescribed. Bomb bay fuel tank removed. Scratch built cockpit interior. Reshaped radome. Freightdog resin tailplane. Pylons from CMR resin Buccaneer kit. Aeroclub metal undercarriage, refuelling probe, arrestor hook and tail bumper. Unlike most other Buccaneers, there are no vortex generators on the wings. Back in the late 60s / early 70s I was on an aeronautical engineering apprenticeship with Hawker Siddeley Aviation. It was the time when ‘new build’ Buccaneers in the XW serial range were being built for the RAF, along with some ex-RN aircraft being modified to S.2A standard. I still have some of the notes and sketches I made in the final assembly shed, and one of the recurring notes is that XW aircraft were not fitted with wing vortex generators. It has been difficult to confirm this with photographic evidence, but recently I came across a list of Buccaneer mods and in particular, these two mods apply : 1553 ‘Deletion of Fixed Vortex Generators to S2, S2A, S2B, S2D (Sept 1972)’ 1396 ‘Re-introduction of Fixed Vortex Generators to S2, S2A, S2B, S2D (Mar. 1976)’ Nearly all photos of XW Buccaneers show VGs so I think there must of been only a year or two before they were fitted. The dates on the modification numbers are when they were formally issued, and I’m sure VGs were removed before Sept 72, and re fitted before Mar 76. These new build aircraft also had ‘provision for’ ILS, though the equipment was not fitted. Hence there are blanking plates on the fin where the ILS localiser antennas were to be fitted later, and on the underside for the ILS glideslope antenna. It was quite a challenging task to get the old Matchbox kit sorted but it’s good to have a gloss finished Bucc with Type D roundels in the collection at last. Could be a while before I do another one though. 66 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alpha Delta 210 Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 That is sensational, especially considering all the modifications required! Well done! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyot Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 What a beauty,......gosh the Matchbox kit too,.....who`d a thought it!! Lovely Bucc and interesting back story too,....cheers for sharing it with us, All the best Tony Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
qn30jEkPz7 Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Looks great - I hope my Buccaneer build is even half as good Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invidia Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 really lovely build. hard to believe it started as the matchbox kit. fantastic. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJP Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Your Buccaneer S1 from a couple of years ago first got my interest and this S2 is a very nicely done Buccaneer too - thanks for that information on the vortex generators - not something I had heard of before. CJP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Cracking build of such an old kit, really shows what can be achieved. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 I've wanted to model XT287 in those colours since seeing her depicted in a colour photograph with the underside of the starboard aileron in Dark Sea Grey: which decals did you use? Interestingly the mods appear to be in reverse order: 1553 for deletion and 1396 for re-instatement of the VGs. Do you have any additional documentation on these? Very smart looking Buccaneer there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DaveyGair Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Looks the business, shows what a bit of 'modelling' can do! Davey. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DAG058 Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Superb work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
corsaircorp Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Hello CT, Very nice job , given the kit you choosed to build ! There can be Something good out of these old kits ! Congratulations, will start mine as a Navy bird as soon as I finished the Lightning ! Navy bird say there will be VG !! Thanks for sharing. Sincerely. Corsaircorp Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
buccymad Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 you learn somthing new every day! never even seen a picture of an a/c without them. the build itself is pretty awesome too,lots of little things that the average guy would miss,like the gap down the fuselage to guide the canopy ,and the vents on top of the intakes. the matchbox kit looks to be a much better starting point than the airfix kit,either way ,you've knocked it out the park! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
russ c Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Great job on that old kit Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Just now, stever219 said: I've wanted to model XT287 in those colours since seeing her depicted in a colour photograph with the underside of the starboard aileron in Dark Sea Grey: which decals did you use? Interestingly the mods appear to be in reverse order: 1553 for deletion and 1396 for re-instatement of the VGs. Do you have any additional documentation on these? Very smart looking Buccaneer there. The info on the mods came from the great Buccaneer website here : http://www.blackburn-buccaneer.co.uk/Pages1_files/0_Tech3.html? I think the mods were formally 'issued' when the Brough drawing office got around to it, so they wouldn't necessarily be in order, and probably wouldn't reflect the dates when the mods appeared on the aircraft. Decals were from all over the place. Roundels came from the Xtradecal Seahawk sheet. Serials were good old Modeldecal. Walkways were from an Airfix Buccaneer sheet - if you can find one in register they show the correct yellow lines with adjacent red hatching. Stencils were partly from the old Xtradecal Buccaneer sheet and parly from the CMR Buccaneer S2A sheet. There are a full set of decals for XT287 in the markings you mentioned in the CMR resin kit. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 4 hours ago, buccymad said: you learn somthing new every day! never even seen a picture of an a/c without them. the build itself is pretty awesome too,lots of little things that the average guy would miss,like the gap down the fuselage to guide the canopy ,and the vents on top of the intakes. the matchbox kit looks to be a much better starting point than the airfix kit,either way ,you've knocked it out the park! These are some photos I was able to find in which the aircraft appear to have no VGs, but it's hard to be certain! The black & white shot of 15 Squadron's XW541 is the clearest. Note also that it is finished in matt camo with D-type roundels. The overall finish was changed from gloss to matt on new build aircraft at roundabout XW540, before Red/Blue roundels were introduced. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Sorry folks but I've just tried twice to post images from Photobucket and it's not playing ball today. Will try again sometime Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted April 11, 2017 Author Share Posted April 11, 2017 Just now, CT Modeller said: Sorry folks but I've just tried twice to post images from Photobucket and it's not playing ball today. Will try again sometime 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Knight_Flyer Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Very nicely done. Certainly brings back the memories of building the MB kit. Was quite amazed by how big the model was and hence the 1:1 aircraft. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bangor Lad Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Lovely. You can't beat a shiny Buccaneer! I have some very poor slides of a shiny Bucc at an RAF Valley display in the early seventies. Great times before the multi-role concept came into being. A different aircraft for every job. Cheers Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Navy Bird Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Well done! And Matchbox at that...that makes it extra special. We Bucc fans really need an accurate new tool kit in 1:72. This seems like such a natural fit for Airfix, I'm surprised they haven't done it yet as they fix up their back catalogue. Cheers, Bill 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcdonnell Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Hello,CT - Simply,this fabulous 'Buccaneer' is modelling magic.I love her. 😉👍 All the best,Paul. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hovis Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Pure sex, that shape...... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Nice job on wrestling that Matchbox kit to the floor! I can only imagine how much filler and sanding that took... And the resulting model looks impeccable. Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Meatbox8 Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 I have to say, I am staggered with what you have achieved with this old Matchbox kit. Absolutely brilliant. 3 hours ago, Navy Bird said: Well done! And Matchbox at that...that makes it extra special. We Bucc fans really need an accurate new tool kit in 1:72. This seems like such a natural fit for Airfix, I'm surprised they haven't done it yet as they fix up their back catalogue. Cheers, Bill I'll drink to that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gerrardandrews Posted April 11, 2017 Share Posted April 11, 2017 Brilliant model and great historical facts 😊 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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