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Avro Vulcan B.2


Spad

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Howdy all

This is a build that I finished before Christmas but it was quite late on and didn't get to post until now.

You all probably recognise it as the Airfix 1/72 Vulcan of 1983 vintage.

A chap in the club was approached by the local Legion with a request to build Valiant and Vulcan kits that they had (sadly it seems thay already had a Victor - oh well!) As I have a Vulcan of my own to do and, knowing it's a challenge to build and that the Valiant builds quite well, crazily I chose the Vulcan as a try-out for my own. Wow!! All I can say is that Airfix's rating of Skill Level 3 is a bit keen!

This is a late release of the kit (XH558 commemorative with paints etc) and the amount of flash and mould damage was remarkable. With the amount of sanding that I guessed would be needed I decided to re-scribe the kit and I am pleased I did. Good practice for me, yes, but I believe it really transforms the model - and it didn't really take that long, honest! A large scotch and sat in front of the telly saw it done in just over one sitting! The brief from the Legion was for a clean airframe and wrap-around camo, Tip - if you're planning to do this then put some sort of support behind the nose gear doors to keep them in the right alignment and spend some time packing and shimming the bomb bay opening to get the bomb doors flush and the same size as the hole the panel fits into.

Once cleaned up the parts fitted reasonably well and I reckon the general shape is pretty good though the jet-pipes are terrible and most certainly don't match those of '558. 

As it was likely to be handled frequently by the Legion I replaced the FR probe with a length of brass rod suitable filed and shaped to create a representation of the probe.

Remarkably little filler was used on the general airframe, the worst area being the intakes (natch!) and the forward fuselage horizontal join line.

I used Xtracolor the hard edged camo pattern allowed me to practice with the Tamiya bendy masking tape. Nifty stuff but not as easy to create the pattern as I had expected. Another first for me was Mr Masking Sol R for the windscreen and canopy glazing - absolute doddle to use!

 

Anyhoo, enough of this - on with the pics.

Hope you like - Comments and criticism welcome! Thanks for looking!

 

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Happy New Year and here's to a more productive 2019!

ATB

Rick

Edited by Spad
pic hosting corrected
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Superb work. It's the one kit I always find myself drawn to in the hobby shop but for now it would take up too much space wherever I would display it. 

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Very nicely done. Some aircraft just look 200% better when modelled “clean” with the gear up and I have to say both the Vulcan and Victor fall into that category - at least that’s my fancy. Also I prefer the all white schemes but, hey what’s not to like in any paint scheme about the two most awesome aircraft designs that ever flew !

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That is an absolutely stunning rendition of the old Airfix kit.  A beautiful paint finish, superb re-scribing and nice to see one 'flying' for a change. 

 

Until recently I have always thought V Bombers look their best in white but having just read Vulcan 607 I have completely come round to the later schemes as well.  A truly epic saga and, although I reckon tons of BMers have already read it, I seriously recommend it to any who haven't.  I was somewhat piqued by the Wikipedia entry on the raid though which, in my view, totally dismisses the raid as a waste of time.  Apparently making the runway at Stanley unusable for Mirages and Skyhawks had no bearing on the rest of the campaign.  Anyway, sorry, a bit off topic.  A beautiful Vulcan.  Let's hope for a new tooling in the not too distant future.

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