MikroMir Victor B1 / B1a

[JamesP]

On 07/07/2019 at 14:10, robvulcan said:

Here it is with the old Kader in which they didn’t do a bad job of at all. Just odd they made the Valiant and Victor but no vulcan. Let’s hope Mikro Mir and Airfix don’t follow their lead. 

 

 

cheers Rob  

 

 

I suspect Lincoln Int. never did the Vulcan because it would not have fitting into their long thing pencil case boxes as all their kits were box scale to that size. The Vulcan would have ended up 1/300 scale to get the wings in there in one piece. BTW I've received just the B1 myself and put into the stash only to pull my Kader one  with the intention of doing a minimum effort (ha-ha) prototype.

[ajmm]

This is great to see - enjoying this build very much. I really must finish my mikromir Valiant first but I’m not even close to overcoming its shape issues. Good to see this is better. Good on them. 

[mustang1989]

This is a pretty large model even in 1/144 scale. Good progress so far.

[stevehnz]

On 6/11/2019 at 7:39 AM, robvulcan said:

Pit road right and mikromir left 

Hi Rob, those intakes look really nice & smooth. Looking at the above photo, I can't help getting the impression the GWH/Pit Road fuselage looks shorter than the Micro Mir one, is this an optical illusion or is it 'sposed to be like that? I've recently decided I'd like to do a Victor tanker in Hemp (K.2 ? ) but the Pit Road B.2/K.2 kit seems to be hard to find or blooming spendy, to my mind anyway. Have Micro Mir given any indication a B.2/K.2 might be on the way?

Steve.

Edited July 10, 2019 by stevehnz

[Adam Poultney]

Well, I'm not an expert but I'm fairly sure the B.1 and B.2/K.2 fuselage lengths were the same, perhaps minus the probe on the nose.

4 minutes ago, stevehnz said:

 I've recently decided I'd like to do a Valiant tanker in Hemp (K.2 ? ) but the Pit Road B.2/K.2 kit seems to be hard to find or blooming spendy, to my mind anyway. Have Micro Mir given any indication a B.2/K.2 might be on the way?

Do you mean a Victor?

[stevehnz]

9 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

Well, I'm not an expert but I'm fairly sure the B.1 and B.2/K.2 fuselage lengths were the same, perhaps minus the probe on the nose.

Do you mean a Victor?

Yes, I do mean a Victor, I was busy thinking of the Micro Mir Valiant & GWH Vulcan I already have, too many V words batting around my brain.

Steve.

[robvulcan]

On 08/07/2019 at 16:15, JamesP said:

 

I suspect Lincoln Int. never did the Vulcan because it would not have fitting into their long thing pencil case boxes as all their kits were box scale to that size. The Vulcan would have ended up 1/300 scale to get the wings in there in one piece. BTW I've received just the B1 myself and put into the stash only to pull my Kader one  with the intention of doing a minimum effort (ha-ha) prototype.

I’d love to see that mate. Would take a few mods to the tail and shortening the nose. I used to think Kader had made the short nose but actually it seems they have made a B1 nose with the prototype canopy. Either way it will look ace. I’ll proably do this one as a camo one now im

doing the Mikro Mir in white.  

On 09/07/2019 at 22:37, ajmm said:

This is great to see - enjoying this build very much. I really must finish my mikromir Valiant first but I’m not even close to overcoming its shape issues. Good to see this is better. Good on them. 

Glad to hear your enjoying it and so am I this kit is very welcome. The early victors where so clean and beautiful looking. It’s a bit improvement on the Valiant.  

On 09/07/2019 at 22:42, mustang1989 said:

This is a pretty large model even in 1/144 scale. Good progress so far.

It’s a good size for sure and lends itself nicely to dioramas. Cheers Rob  

On 10/07/2019 at 02:12, stevehnz said:

Hi Rob, those intakes look really nice & smooth. Looking at the above photo, I can't help getting the impression the GWH/Pit Road fuselage looks shorter than the Micro Mir one, is this an optical illusion or is it 'sposed to be like that? I've recently decided I'd like to do a Victor tanker in Hemp (K.2 ? ) but the Pit Road B.2/K.2 kit seems to be hard to find or blooming spendy, to my mind anyway. Have Micro Mir given any indication a B.2/K.2 might be on the way?

Steve.

It does look a bit longer yes. However I feel it looks smack on. I know officially people say the Victor B2 has the same length nose as the B1 but I have always felt despite the wings joining further back on the B1 in a totally different way as they are totally different wings that the shape of he forward fuselage is different. 

I have somewhere lucky shot a of a B1 and B2 side view from the same angle and you can see the B1 has a flatter bottom profile that the B2 which is more of a soft c shape. The same seems true of the upper section behind the canopy flatter on a B1. It seems that the fuse was slightly longer that the B2 to me. I could be wrong like I say but it jsut looks different to me and both these models look correct for their variant and stack up well together. 

I will be making up the B2 also so we will be able to compare them side by side at the end .

As Mikro Mir and Pit Road gave us some Sqn markings I may do a flash white Victor B2 with pale markings. 

Oh and yes prices are getting higher as the value of currency keeps changing lately sadly. What can you do. Well I try and buy em in bulk from abroad then it makes the postage cost worth it and a better price. Helps if you love the subject as much as me. Otherwise it’s had to justify the price now when the 1/72 offering is only 15 ish pound more.  

On 10/07/2019 at 02:17, Adam Poultney said:

Well, I'm not an expert but I'm fairly sure the B.1 and B.2/K.2 fuselage lengths were the same, perhaps minus the probe on the nose.

Do you mean a Victor?

Officially that may be the case but when I look at them the nose shape or forward fuse looks different as I mention above. So could be a kit issue. If I can find my Victor drawings I’ll offer both kits parts up as I have unbuilt of both still.  

 

 

 

[robvulcan]

Some progress using Mr. Surfacer 500 and micromesh pass to remove sink marks created by a small amount of glue on very thin very soft plastic. But once dry very solid oddly. .

 

 

 

 

 

 

I’ll neef to sort the tail out as the small part from the centre rear was broken on mine. A blob of milliput should suffice here.

 

 

cheers Rob

[CedB]

Nice work Rob, looking good  

[Adam Poultney]

Hi Rob, just a heads up that I believe the airbrakes' lower fins are inaccurate. The photoetch parts are a mirror of the upper parts, they should be smaller and a different shape.

On mine I'm just going to roll with it because this photoetch stuff is new to me as it is...

And my hands are covered in superglue

[robvulcan]

7 hours ago, CedB said:

Nice work Rob, looking good  

Cheers mate  

1 hour ago, Adam Poultney said:

Hi Rob, just a heads up that I believe the airbrakes' lower fins are inaccurate. The photoetch parts are a mirror of the upper parts, they should be smaller and a different shape.

On mine I'm just going to roll with it because this photoetch stuff is new to me as it is...

And my hands are covered in superglue

Thanks for that Adam I’ll check that out. 

Super glue is a pain to use not my fave glue in the world. But good for some things. 

Most swear by gator glue for etch. I mysef like deluxe materials glue and glaze as it drys very strong and has a flexible quality too it. I know it’s for Windows but it gives small parts a little give if they are knocked.  

 

Update on this while we are here. 

Milliput on the tail this will be filled later.

 

 

 

 

I’ve trimmed up and blunted some sewing needles and made pito tubes and an old drill bit end for the nose.

Araldite is my fave glue for this as it’s very strong dries quickly but give you time to reposition and it self levels. 

Any mess can be cleaned with a cloth and lighter fuel (if your quick) 

 

 

 

 

 

While I was at it I decided to add them to my 3d printed Vulcan B1 in 1/144 scale and paint it black. I need to build up the layers to get it smoothish but it has a Terribly rough surface so I’m going to try and make it smoother but it’s so hard to sand it’s never gonna be a more than a nice representation. I think I might paint it as XA900 as it was at Cosford before scrapping. 

But as if they had kept it and put a B1 rudder back on it.

 

 

except for Pito Tubes this is one piece printed off a computer in tiny beads of nylon. In one piece ! .. 

Incredible technology these days eh.

 

cheers Rob  

Edited July 12, 2019 by robvulcan

[robvulcan]

 

I think I’m going to paint this as in this pic below to display with the Victor. 

It still really gets me miffed Cosford scrapped these two and the comet survives. They clearly where not as rotten as said seeing as they dragged them around tbe back of the hangar.

I think it’s actually more likely the museum didn’t know what they had or didn’t care as they had new B2 vulcan and victors. I’d always hoped they where stashed away in one of the hangers because I’d never seen photos of the scrapping but found the confirming photos recently sadly. 

 

 

 

 

Wheels next !  

[CedB]

Both very nice Rob - those flying shots are great!  

[robvulcan]

3 hours ago, CedB said:

Both very nice Rob - those flying shots are great!  

Yep I freely admit to the little fly around to help visualise the build and see if it looks right at different angles (child inside wins all everytime) haha. 

 

Cheers Rob

[Fritag]

Nice work Rob.  

On 6/29/2019 at 2:31 PM, robvulcan said:

It’s certainly one of my all time favourites I just wish I could have seen one fly. They look and sound terryfying in motion. But beautiful at the same time. 

I didn’t know you’d not seen one in its element.

 

Agreed, they looked beautiful and like nothing else in the sky.   Curving in behind a K2 before ‘tanking’ afforded a fabulous  view - and sometimes enough time for reflection on what a beauty she was.

[Adam Poultney]

59 minutes ago, robvulcan said:

Yep I freely admit to the little fly around to help visualise the build and see if it looks right at different angles (child inside wins all everytime) haha. 

 

Cheers Rob

Who doesn't do that though 

[robvulcan]

50 minutes ago, Fritag said:

Nice work Rob.  

I didn’t know you’d not seen one in its element.

 

Agreed, they looked beautiful and like nothing else in the sky.   Curving in behind a K2 before ‘tanking’ afforded a fabulous  view - and sometimes enough time for reflection on what a beauty she was.

I may have seen them and not realised when I was very young I have a vaugue recollection but  as far as knowing what I have seen it’s only taxi runs.

But I’ve long been fascinated by the Victor like the vulcan and Valiant and only now with the modes we have on offer can I start indulging my love for them. The matchbox kit was a pig to build if you want a Bomber version.

cant wait to start my Airfix one.

 

I would love to have experienced what you have mate must have been beyond words seeing that. Thankfully I have a good imagination and can see it in my mind.

must have been epic !  

20 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

Who doesn't do that though 

Only the miserable. Life’s to short we are all kids inside. I have noticed that less so now but more in he past there has been a justification of distinguishing Model from toy. That comes from shame in the past where people who did this where told to grow up.

Fact is it’s fun it’s art and it does stem from a toy brand but who cares as long as your having fun. 

 

[Adam Poultney]

6 minutes ago, robvulcan said:

as far as knowing what I have seen it’s only taxi runs.

I've never even seen one move under its own power... I have seen XH648, XH672, and recently flew over Bruntingthorpe, seeing XM715, but she was parked up next to some 747s.

9 minutes ago, robvulcan said:

Only the miserable. Life’s to short we are all kids inside. I have noticed that less so now but more in he past there has been a justification of distinguishing Model from toy. That comes from shame in the past where people who did this where told to grow up.

Fact is it’s fun it’s art and it does stem from a toy brand but who cares as long as your having fun. 

 

Absolutely! Why else do we do this other to enjoy building and being kids inside again?

[robvulcan]

I have started takling the etch which I won’t be using .. well not as intended.

for me these are templates and I’ve attached them to plasticard with photo mount and then cut out filed to shape. 

Then cleaned up and removed the etch with lighter fluid then glued to the mode in the usual way. 

I also made up the bottom ones with plastic strip in a bid to correct them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also the whole in the wing tip and the rear tail was reuilt with bits of sprue glued and filed into shape which was easier than using milliput which didn’t want to stick to this plastic for some reason. Must have been a bit of mold release as it stuck inside. Either way better off being plastic that matches.

 

 

 

 

 

at the moment it’s sitting in corgi gear as I fight the kits undercarriage which is extremely complicated for this scale to a ridiculous extreme in my opinion.

I think this scale has its limitations and there is no rules in shying away from leaving certain elements off which I will likely be doing as

1. It’s not needed or will effect the overall look. 

2. Sometimes I find smaller scales look less realistic if they look like they are trying too hard. 

For example as regards certain aerials you can hardly see in real life are going to be extemely over size in this scale. I find modelling is a compromise and interpretation anyways. 

(God I babble on.. COFFEE TIME ! ) 

 

 

cheers Rob 

 

 

Edited July 13, 2019 by robvulcan

[Space Ranger]

7 hours ago, robvulcan said:

Yep I freely admit to the little fly around to help visualise the build and see if it looks right at different angles (child inside wins all everytime) haha. 

 

Cheers Rob

Jet noises optional.

[robvulcan]

1 hour ago, Space Ranger said:

Jet noises optional.

I find it improves the final finish if you make the noises haha 

[robvulcan]

Update time again. 

 

The masks are wonderful but take a lot of focus to see if your on target. 

With all the curves and reflections and tiny size I hope I got it right and I hope they work. 

If they don’t in future I’ll just paint the windows as they nearly always appear black anyways. 

But if they do work could look very nice.

 

 

 

If they had survived a little longer this ain’t far off what they would look like.

 

 

 

 

Cheers Rob  

 

[Adam Poultney]

4 hours ago, robvulcan said:

I have started takling the etch which I won’t be using .. well not as intended.

for me these are templates and I’ve attached them to plasticard with photo mount and then cut out filed to shape. 

Then cleaned up and removed the etch with lighter fluid then glued to the mode in the usual way. 

I also made up the bottom ones with plastic strip in a bid to correct them. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also the whole in the wing tip and the rear tail was reuilt with bits of sprue glued and filed into shape which was easier than using milliput which didn’t want to stick to this plastic for some reason. Must have been a bit of mold release as it stuck inside. Either way better off being plastic that matches.

 

 

 

 

 

at the moment it’s sitting in corgi gear as I fight the kits undercarriage which is extremely complicated for this scale to a ridiculous extreme in my opinion.

I think this scale has its limitations and there is no rules in shying away from leaving certain elements off which I will likely be doing as

1. It’s not needed or will effect the overall look. 

2. Sometimes I find smaller scales look less realistic if they look like they are trying too hard. 

For example as regards certain aerials you can hardly see in real life are going to be extemely over size in this scale. I find modelling is a compromise and interpretation anyways. 

(God I babble on.. COFFEE TIME ! ) 

 

 

cheers Rob 

 

 

I built the nose gear and was like yeah screw this time to build a display stand..... The inclusion of photoetch in this kit as something required to complete it actually, in my opinion, takes away from the kit and makes it worse. 

[robvulcan]

21 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

I built the nose gear and was like yeah screw this time to build a display stand..... The inclusion of photoetch in this kit as something required to complete it actually, in my opinion, takes away from the kit and makes it worse. 

They are short run kits so you expect a bit more building but I’m happy with that and it goes together well better than many kits I’ve built. 

The etch parts can be overcome quite easily with some tools.

Then my idea of a good kit the old school one where you have parts and your challenge is to fit them. 

But sometimes it’s nice to build a fall together kit.

the Landing gear however is waaaaaay to complicated for the scale in the parts breakdown. A white metal version on offer from someone would be very welcome indeed ! 

 

Cheers Rob  

[Adam Poultney]

1 hour ago, robvulcan said:

They are short run kits so you expect a bit more building but I’m happy with that and it goes together well better than many kits I’ve built. 

The etch parts can be overcome quite easily with some tools.

Then my idea of a good kit the old school one where you have parts and your challenge is to fit them. 

But sometimes it’s nice to build a fall together kit.

the Landing gear however is waaaaaay to complicated for the scale in the parts breakdown. A white metal version on offer from someone would be very welcome indeed ! 

 

Cheers Rob  

Yes yes, white metal gear would be brilliant for this kit. I really think the inclusion of photoetch was a mistake in this scale, after all GWH managed just fine with plastic gear. The fins would be ok if they were accurate, but as you say, a bit of building is required.

 

Having started this hobby only in 2014 (I'm fairly sure it was that year), with well fitting, detailed kits and great tools to build them with, I don't necessarily have the scratch building skills of more experienced modellers and find older kits very difficult, but just as if not more rewarding. I love the Airfix Vulcan (although I would like a new kit) and have a few other older kits in the stash (really looking forward to my Airfix Do17E/F), but I think there really is something nice about kits like that.

It seems that back then before the super accurate, well fitting kits around today, that there were a lot more kits being released of many more subjects, and of more obscure subjects. I think that it would be good if a smaller manufacturer began producing kits like those again to cover more obscure subjects, preferably accurate in shape. 

Just imagine how many obscure types could be covered......