Lord Riot Posted February 6, 2018 Posted February 6, 2018 Now I have a couple more Vulcans to make, it's time to do one in the iconic, sinister, glorious and beautiful white. Only one Vulcan survives today in this anti-flash white, XM603 at Woodford. Because of the jetpipes in the Airfix kit, I'll need to make this as one of the later XM-serialled Vulcans with 301 engines. (I'm saving my Freightdog jetpipes for another one in glossy grey/green with red, white & blue roundels at some point). The ECM box on the fin will need to go, and the TFR thimble. I think beyond that the kit should be ok, just sprayed with satin white all over. 8
Lord Riot Posted February 6, 2018 Author Posted February 6, 2018 Looking at the 'Different Angle' book and a few specific Vulcan images online, it seems a few XL-series aircraft did receive the larger 301 engines. These appear to have been retro-fitted whilst they were Blue Steel carriers, but I've only found photos so far of those aircraft in grey/green with 301s. Does anyone know if any of the XL serialled Vulcans would have had 301 engines and the all white colour scheme at the same time? Or were they repainted in camouflage when they were re-engined? Looking at reference material, it looks like all Vulcans up to XM612 were delivered white, then 645-657 were camouflaged from birth.
Lord Riot Posted February 6, 2018 Author Posted February 6, 2018 I haven't glued these yet, not sure how best to approach it. The huge gap is so obvious, what's the best way to cover it up? I thought of filler, but then how do you sand away the excess if they're glued together? I need to spray them white inside too, but there's no point before filling and sanding. Perhaps liquid glue and excess sprue 'gloop' painted along the joins, then spray through the intakes after? Any better ideas? ... 1
chrisrope Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 Gloopy sprue dissolved in liquid poly. Clamp and tape tight and leave them for like a week to go rock hard. You then need long files/sanding implements to smooth it all out. Get plenty on the central pillar round the front, always the worst bit to do. You can then spot fill any small imperfections. I would paint down the intakes but don’t worry about where they meet the leading edge as you need to blend them into the airframe Its a drawn out tedious affair but worth it. I’ve got some pictures of the ones I’ve done, I’ll try and put some on. 1
Rob G Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 For sanding inside long, thin tunnels, try a bit of wet and dry paper in your choice of grit stuck to various shapes of stick with foam double sided tape. A few minutes of creative tool design can save hours of frustration. Or better yet, a diamond bit in a Dremel tool, but you need the hardware for that. Personally, I'd be examining the possibilities of using thin plastic card as a cover panel. 1
chrisrope Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 Done with the method described. Put plenty of gloop on so when you stick them it oozes out. Once properly hardened, it sands back like normal plastic These are the first set I did These are the current ones done to same method. Currently fairing and smoothing them to the fuselage You can see where the parts join but they are smooth and seam free 11
Biggles87 Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 I like a white Vulcan, it's the only colour for me. I would definitely go with the liquid gloop for the intake tunnels. Looking forward to this, good luck. John 1
Buzby061 Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 Will be following this - have all the cheap seats gone? I need to bookmark this for when I pluck up the courage to get one. Pete 1
Darth Vader Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 I used car body filler p38 and a sheet of 80 grit wet n dry rolled into a tube. Worked for me.
mcdonnell Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 20 hours ago, Lord Riot said: I haven't glued these yet, not sure how best to approach it. The huge gap is so obvious, what's the best way to cover it up? I thought of filler, but then how do you sand away the excess if they're glued together? I need to spray them white inside too, but there's no point before filling and sanding. Perhaps liquid glue and excess sprue 'gloop' painted along the joins, then spray through the intakes after? Any better ideas? ... Hello,Lord Riot - I cheated a little with this issue when I built mine by adding homemade Intake Covers (plasticard).When fitted and painted I thought they also added a little extra detail and another splash of colour.😉👍 8
Lord Riot Posted February 7, 2018 Author Posted February 7, 2018 That's great guys, thanks for the advice. Looks like I need to mix up some more gloop then, and get a thinner file!
Lord Riot Posted February 8, 2018 Author Posted February 8, 2018 Waiting for the first coat of gloop to dry.
Lord Riot Posted February 8, 2018 Author Posted February 8, 2018 Gloop sanded and sprayed, there's a slight improvement but it needs more sanding.
Biglad82 Posted February 8, 2018 Posted February 8, 2018 Intakes always put me off doing another Vulcan... I'd often thought of spending the time to get them right and then cast them for future builds.. 😉😉 1
Lord Riot Posted February 9, 2018 Author Posted February 9, 2018 More cutting and filing ahead. I may be some time ... 1
goggsy Posted February 9, 2018 Posted February 9, 2018 Looking good so far. Having just completed one of these I appreciate just how much work has to go into making something decent out of this kit. I did mine because I can smell an Airfix new tooling in the not too distant future and I didn’t want to get stuck with this in my stash. The intakes are looking promising; I found a round needle file useful for those central dividers and long thin sanding sticks for the fuselage side seam. Are you going to bother with a rescribe or not? If I ever build another of these I doubt I’ll do that. 1
Lord Riot Posted February 9, 2018 Author Posted February 9, 2018 Thanks! No, I won't be rescribing, just if I file away anything, but it's mostly raised lines so I'll leave it as much as I can. And we're in business with the decals and these superb jet pipes. Thanks @chrisrope for the pipes!! 3
Lord Riot Posted February 9, 2018 Author Posted February 9, 2018 Bit of a fit issue with the jetpipes, but I'll beat everything into shape somehow! I think the filler will be coming out again. 1
Lord Riot Posted February 10, 2018 Author Posted February 10, 2018 (edited) Progress! Fuselage halves fitted together and intakes finally beaten into submission, just needed a bit of gloop where the front parts joined the side of the fuselage, which I'll file once it's all dried. I pushed the intake bodies right up to the lips using blu-tack pushed up behind them inside, it'll probably stay there as it'll never be seen. I also added 32g weight inside the nose and painted the interior all black. Vulcan windows are so small hardly any interior is visible, though I'll display it with the crew door open. She's got all day to set now while I watch the rugby! Hole for the probe filled and sanded. Still need to cut off the TFR thimble and file it all smooth. Edited February 10, 2018 by Lord Riot 3
Lord Riot Posted February 10, 2018 Author Posted February 10, 2018 (edited) Can't believe the amount of filing and cutting needed to get the tail fin to sit without any gaps! And it still needed gloop! Happy with the intakes and TFR removal though. Edited February 10, 2018 by Lord Riot 3
Lord Riot Posted February 11, 2018 Author Posted February 11, 2018 Fuselage coming together, though again quite a bit of filler needed for the rear section. Rear wing roots hollowed out and filed enough now to accept the resin jetpipes, though I'll add those after spraying as it appears from photos that the whole structure is silver, not just the actual pipe bit. Looks like the rear radome will need some attention too. It's quite a struggle to get a smooth fit on this particular kit, I'm sure my last Vulcan fitted better, yet it was exactly the same Airfix kit. I think because I'll be doing this one all over white any imperfections will show up, so I need to get it as smooth as possible before spraying! 3
Lord Riot Posted February 12, 2018 Author Posted February 12, 2018 As this will be a single and rather large expanse of satin white, I'm worried that the sanding marks might show through, along with other imperfections. Any ideas how I smooth out things like this?: What's the best way to tackle the painting, a coat of white, let it dry then spray again?
kev67 Posted February 12, 2018 Posted February 12, 2018 Looking good, wait until you put the wings on then you'll need plenty of filler lol 1
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