1/32 Buccaneer anyone?

[Mike]

1 minute ago, Icelandic Fine Art said:

No model representation is perfect

Quoted for truth.

[bentwaters81tfw]

Alan, you will never please them all. If they want to moan, lets see them build a Unicraft kit, or deal with the pinholes in a Magna, or a short shot Mach 2, or an FM abomination. These people are quick to criticise, but you never see their completed work.

[colin ritchie]

 

Ok th model arrived safe and well about an hour or so ago, and if I can persuade the cat to leave th box, I'll give you my fist impressions, Bloody Cat!beautifully cat , 

 

The main fuselage pieces are beautifully cast , th Aluminium reinforced resin makes for a superbly smooth finish , th engraving is good, obviously not Tamiya standards, but a damn sight better than I normally manage

 

The single piece wings are awesome , excellent surface detailing including exquisite Vitex generators , thank god there ae no tiny PE bits to stick on, and speaking of PE, there isn't any , and to be honest there's no real need fo it ,

 

Except for the cockpit . Perhaps the weakest part of the kit , all the bits are there Panels, Seats ets, and side walls, but its all a little crude and unformed, BUT  it's a job that any modeller who's worked in 32 should be able to manage to enhance it , and certainly its better that the cockpit pieced in the Whirlibird Lightning T5 conversion I bought this year.

 

My kit has the bulged RAF bomb bay , so I can put the Balsa and Dope away , thank goodness 

 

Slipper tanks/Tailpieces all look to be beautifully finished, 

 

Overall , a beautiful take on an iconic aircraft , there are some areas where I'm scratching my head, and joining the two fuselage halves  permanently is going to be interesting 

 

Alan - thanks , you've made me a VERY happy modeller 

 

PS there are RAF decals, ALPS printed , but to be honest they're not brilliant , but better than nothing , and yes pics to follow!

 

 

 

[viper-30]

Looking forward to mine 

[simmo.b]

Alan,

I have followed the topic on LSP and far from being put off immediately sent you an email requesting a kit!!!

I have a stack of Hph kits which are FAR from easy builds (downright #%#$ in some aspects) yet Hph regularly receive glowing reviews. I applaud your efforts and determination to improve!

I look forward to receiving my kit in the new year, now to compile those references.

Cheers

Brent

[Icelandic Fine Art]

ColinR,

Its great that you finally have your Buccaneer. I know I don't have the resources or skills of modern manufacturing techniques as everything I make is made by unsteady hands, poor eyesight and a slow brain. The points you have made are valid and I was always working against the clock, resources and money. This was originally designed for scratch builders. after I finished it as part of my design project, so it was pretty basic, with no cockpit, no landing gear and no transparency; in fact the shape wasn't even right but it didn't seem to bother some people. It was only when I put it on display at the Halifax Model Show, last winter, did it attract enormous attention, as did the Vulcan. By that time, there was very little to it and Yorkshire modellers wanted to know if there would be a cockpit to go with it. Eventually I realised I would have to make a cockpit, not one of my strong points (which I will correct when I do the 32nd F4K) and reluctantly, I set about the internals and I guess one could say, I made the best of a bad job, or vice versa. However, I feel in the hands of some very good modellers, vast improvements can be made, which is what I am looking forward to. I have made no money out of this project, I used up all my savings to get it on the road; we all make decisions in our lives that have profound and far reaching consequences and I don't have any regrets making the Buccaneer. 

I think we have the Yorkshire modellers to thank for this project, for without them, it would never have seen the light of day and as the saying goes, they know a good thing or two. 

If there is one lesson I have learned from this, this has served as a steep learning curve where I can apply the lessons learned during design and manufacture and to serve as a blue-print for future improvements. The F4K has been designed with much more precision and careful planning, so it will look even better.

As an aside, the aluminium resin matrix is easy to work with; its sands easily, is very even, use a two-part epoxy slow setting glue and align the parts during the curing process. If you have to cut bits off, use a saw, you will find when using a craft saw blade, it cuts through the structure much better than normal resin.

 

Alan

[Icelandic Fine Art]

I have a quick question for you seasoned modellers, the clear transparencies used on the 32nd Buccaneers, can they be polished up to give a better appearance if they are dull and cloudy in appearance?

 

Alan

[bentwaters81tfw]

As long as the core is blemish free, Various grades of Micromesh will polish a canopy. I have done this with both injected and vacform canopies. They will even cope with a Mach 2 canopy. I use 2400, 4000, 8000 and 12000 grades.

[JohnT]

On 22/11/2019 at 18:50, colin ritchie said:

 

Ok th model arrived safe and well about an hour or so ago, and if I can persuade the cat to leave th box, I'll give you my fist impressions, Bloody Cat!beautifully cat , 

 

The main fuselage pieces are beautifully cast , th Aluminium reinforced resin makes for a superbly smooth finish , th engraving is good, obviously not Tamiya standards, but a damn sight better than I normally manage

 

The single piece wings are awesome , excellent surface detailing including exquisite Vitex generators , thank god there ae no tiny PE bits to stick on, and speaking of PE, there isn't any , and to be honest there's no real need fo it ,

 

Except for the cockpit . Perhaps the weakest part of the kit , all the bits are there Panels, Seats ets, and side walls, but its all a little crude and unformed, BUT  it's a job that any modeller who's worked in 32 should be able to manage to enhance it , and certainly its better that the cockpit pieced in the Whirlibird Lightning T5 conversion I bought this year.

 

My kit has the bulged RAF bomb bay , so I can put the Balsa and Dope away , thank goodness 

 

Slipper tanks/Tailpieces all look to be beautifully finished, 

 

Overall , a beautiful take on an iconic aircraft , there are some areas where I'm scratching my head, and joining the two fuselage halves  permanently is going to be interesting 

 

Alan - thanks , you've made me a VERY happy modeller 

 

PS there are RAF decals, ALPS printed , but to be honest they're not brilliant , but better than nothing , and yes pics to follow!

 

 

 

Alan

I would like to say I have now had the chance to look at mine and I agree with what Colin says above.  In my opinion given the circumstances you have produced the Bucc under it’s a damn fine effort
For those who are not happy I would very happily take their 1/32 Tamiya Bucc off their hands in exchange for my Aerodynamix vac which I am pleased to say is now surplus to my requirements which will no doubt save my sanity too as a side benefit. 

[Icelandic Fine Art]

13 minutes ago, JohnT said:

Alan

I would like to say I have now had the chance to look at mine and I agree with what Colin says above.  In my opinion given the circumstances you have produced the Bucc under it’s a damn fine effort
For those who are not happy I would very happily take their 1/32 Tamiya Bucc off their hands in exchange for my Aerodynamix vac which I am pleased to say is now surplus to my requirements which will no doubt save my sanity too as a side benefit. 

John,

I thought Aerodynamix is/was the de facto kit of the Buccaneer, considering how everybody goes on about it; noticeably, I have rarely seen any built up and those who do own them, I have asked and none have been built to date, may be the odd one. I think you are sitting on top of a gold investment, I saw one sold a little while back go for over£500! It definitely has investment potential. Its time for you to turn your ploughshares into profit!

 

Alan

[JohnT]

46 minutes ago, Icelandic Fine Art said:

John,

I thought Aerodynamix is/was the de facto kit of the Buccaneer, considering how everybody goes on about it; noticeably, I have rarely seen any built up and those who do own them, I have asked and none have been built to date, may be the odd one. I think you are sitting on top of a gold investment, I saw one sold a little while back go for over£500! It definitely has investment potential. Its time for you to turn your ploughshares into profit!

 

Alan

Really!!!!  As it happens I have 2 though one was missing a canopy (the other has 2 so have split them one each) and also short an exhaust part which could possibly be cloned of the same part in the second kit.  To be candid I think your product is superior by far. 

edit. The cash would come in handy for the odd 1/32 F-4K 

[colin ritchie]

Aerodynamix , I could tell some stories ... 

 

I got to know the man behind Aerodynamix fairly well in the run up to the release of the kit , and I think I was one of the first to receive a kit, and I shudder to think how little I offloaded it for a year of so later when it became obvious that it was as close to unbuildable as you could get , there were bits missing , and generally  was not worth persevering with. It didn't help that the on-line model shop he was selling it through ripped everyone off , taking deposits for the kit , knowing full well it was at least a year from being ready .. I did spend quite a lot of time online , as it was in those days, defending Aerodynamix  (Rec.Models.Scale- remember that), but we live and learn

 

Those were the bad old days , no Online presence, no social media, no paypal, etc,  I could go on and on , but I won't!

 

So onto alan's masterpiece and with a weekend to fondle the kit kit I retain the same warm glow as I had on Friday , and yes the dammed cat finally left the box alone,

 

Its a strange mix of Really simple, and extremely challenging , simple , well there are 9 major pieces making up the fuselage and wings , and complex in the sense that putting them together in a form that makes the most of them will take old fashioned modelling skills, Filling , sanding and probably scratch building , none of which worries me in the least. 

 

I sat down with the cockpit parts last night ,and compared them to the pics I have , the various boxes , lumps and bumps are all there , they just need a little re-defining , Airscale generic cockpit parts I think , along with stretched sprue buttons and so on . I might shoot a coat of primer over the whole lot , to make things a little easier to see , the Milky Bar coloured resin makes things a little hard to make out!. Other than that I can see there being much of a problem with building the kit , and making it a show stopper.

 

Alan as I said you really are to be commended for having the courage to put something like this together and making it available, you've done the old Buc proud , and once I've finished my 2 Seafires , its full steam ahead!

[Icelandic Fine Art]

I spoke to Nigel at Kitsworld, he doesn't have any problem in doing the artwork for the both decals and stencils; its just that its not going to cheap, so what I suggest, is that all you Buccaneers get together and nominate a representative and approach Kitsworld and ask them to do all the artwork and decals for x amount of you, its the easiest option. I am afraid I am very much broke, taking on these big projects and living off one's overdraft is not really a cost-effective way of living; I will probably only last until next year some time, at any rate, before I finally close down (after 15 years) but in the meanwhile, I will get out all those essential projects, that no other manufacturer is ever likely to release. 

As ColinR mentioned, there are not that many pieces to the kit and there is a simple reason for this; its this, everything has to be made simple and effective, in design, sometimes the simple structures are the most effective. The other reason, of course, is both cost and time, especially when one considers how much time it actually takes to make these kits and send them out. It takes 16 hours, just to make all the parts and the fuselage takes about 1 week and then post curing, so you see, its a big part of one's life.

I know people have described my kits as 'agricultural', I am after all, a garage kit maker and in Iceland, that's how things was done in the old days (even though I am no longer there).

And as ColinR mentions, old fashion modelling skills, that's exactly what I am about and from my experience, a good modeller can work in all mediums and one never really becomes good until one works on the very worst.

 

Alan 

 

 

[Icelandic Fine Art]

One bit of information that I forgot to mention and only just occurred to me is regards the Spey engine inlet turbine blade. Now let me explain, I lost the original data but when I set about design on the Bucc, over 20 years ago, it was to demonstrate to a classroom of other students, so in order to make the model look good, I had to fit some turbine blades in the inlets and the only way at the time to make them fit was to make the turbine blades smaller than the inlet so that they would easily fit, it was to make it easy for me, more than anything else. Now I do still have some of the original measurements from an actual Spey, from many years back, that was fitted to a Bucc and the actual external diameter of the inlet turbine blade with the outer casing is 28.5 mm, so yes, the inlet turbine blades in the kit are under scale, for reasons stated above. 

The other point to note, is turbofan aero engines tend to have multiple inlet stages of blades, so quite often there is usually 3 sets of blades at the inlet stage and are known as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd stages. It is common practice only to show the first stage and not really practical to show the other stages as it requires some very fancy casting, which is not always possible. Anyway the point to note, is what the human eye sees at a certain distance and will usually see the first stage, if the engine is not particularly large or under poor light conditions. 

 

Alan

[colin ritchie]

Just posted an update over on LSP , overall its going well, Cockpit tub has been worked on and tweaked, along with the sidewalls  which have been fitted along  with New sills - but I have a question Alan , The Bulged RAF Bombay , is the intention for the original bombay doors to be removed to fit it , or as I've been thinking , just Dremel the RAF casting to fit over the existing ones, 

 

To be honest I'm a little wary about chopping up such a large casting!

 

Oh I think I've finally settled on an airframe to build, XN891, 12 & 208 Sqs

 

 

 

 

[Phartycr0c]

By way of a short update, My initial comms with Nigel at Kitsworld went off radar, he has apparently been away for a few days. 

 

He has stated he will contact me this week to update me on how to go about producing some markings for this great kit. Watch this and other spaces (LSP) 

[Nocoolname]

On 11/22/2019 at 12:13 PM, Icelandic Fine Art said:

"...No model representation is perfect..."

 

Not only is this is the truth I think it should be included on the front page of every model forum and magazine in existence and in very large, bold letters. I think it would help make for a much happier and calmer hobby! 😐

[Icelandic Fine Art]

On 05/12/2019 at 08:43, colin ritchie said:

Just posted an update over on LSP , overall its going well, Cockpit tub has been worked on and tweaked, along with the sidewalls  which have been fitted along  with New sills - but I have a question Alan , The Bulged RAF Bombay , is the intention for the original bombay doors to be removed to fit it , or as I've been thinking , just Dremel the RAF casting to fit over the existing ones, 

 

To be honest I'm a little wary about chopping up such a large casting!

 

Oh I think I've finally settled on an airframe to build, XN891, 12 & 208 Sqs

 

 

 

 

Colin,

 

You can work it two ways; Dremel out the correct profile shape for the bulged doors and leave the doors on the airframe intact or cut out the doors on the airframe and adjust and fit the bulged door. One thing to note, is that the bulged bay doors are a little wide in the centre as the mould walls for the casting was thin so the resin forced pressure on the side walls and caused a slight bulging outwards. This can be corrected by placing the bulged doors in some hot water and pushing in the centre. 

The aluminium matrix composite, is fairly robust and cuts nice and easy. Of course if you get it wrong and everything goes pear shape and you end up with bits, you can frame everything in a glass case, nailed to the wall and you can stand back and look at, what might have been. Then you'll have to dig out the old Aerodynamix kit and start off where you left it. 

 

Alan

[colin ritchie]

Ok we've got a comedian...!

 

Still giggling! actually I'm going to grind out a recess in the bomb bay , a decent compromise I think that does not endanger the fuselage halves too much , so my chances of having a new ornament in the house are significantly reduced!

 

I was amazed when I sanded the fuselage halves and they shone with a beautiful metallic sheen .. never expected that,

 

I got the wings and U/c bays cleaned up and once the fuselage is together , the model  should come together rather quickly, The next big job will be the creation of the RAF pylons, and thanks to the Buccaneer thread elsewhere on the site , I have a location for the outer omes, 5th Vortex out from the wing joint , , goodness I'm becoming a Buc nerd!

 

Thanks again Alan, great to hear from you and building the model is becoming the best project I've taken on in many a year

 

colinR

[Simon Cornes]

On 12/5/2019 at 10:49 AM, Phartycr0c said:

By way of a short update, My initial comms with Nigel at Kitsworld went off radar, he has apparently been away for a few days. 

 

He has stated he will contact me this week to update me on how to go about producing some markings for this great kit. Watch this and other spaces (LSP) 

I look forward to receiving your update in due course. I see a lot are keen on building an RAF Bucc but I like the look of the RN Bucc - as it was intended to be - so I hope that a few others will want a scaled up version of the 'other' decal sheet as it strikes me as the only 'easy' way of getting stencils that will work on an EDSG airframe!

[Icelandic Fine Art]

8 minutes ago, Simon Cornes said:

I look forward to receiving your update in due course. I see a lot are keen on building an RAF Bucc but I like the look of the RN Bucc - as it was intended to be - so I hope that a few others will want a scaled up version of the 'other' decal sheet as it strikes me as the only 'easy' way of getting stencils that will work on an EDSG airframe!

Simon,

 

Michael Belcher of Belcher Bits done some artwork for the Buccaneer, it includes an FAA decal sheet version, not a lot of stencils but a lot better than the original one supplied in the kit. It is laser printed on clear paper, so any white background will have to be included. Alternatively, you can ask Nigel at Kits-World to make a digital decal version, he will do one-offs. Can send you the artwork if you are interested or anybody else; I think me and you are the only real FAA buffs around here as everybody else seems to prefer the RAF versions.

 

Alan

[Simon Cornes]

41 minutes ago, Icelandic Fine Art said:

Simon,

 

Michael Belcher of Belcher Bits done some artwork for the Buccaneer, it includes an FAA decal sheet version, not a lot of stencils but a lot better than the original one supplied in the kit. It is laser printed on clear paper, so any white background will have to be included. Alternatively, you can ask Nigel at Kits-World to make a digital decal version, he will do one-offs. Can send you the artwork if you are interested or anybody else; I think me and you are the only real FAA buffs around here as everybody else seems to prefer the RAF versions.

 

Alan

Hi Alan

I'm hoping  that Kits World will do a scaled up version of the Test aircraft as they are mostly RN and the one with HOSM markings is overall EDSG. I'm sure the RN titles should be in pale blue/grey though like the serials. Probably best for Phartycroc to do the negotiating otherwise to many people getting involved might annoy Nigel! You'd think it would be  so easy for him to just enlarge his 1/48th sheet by 50% and have done with it!! He's got all the info on his PC so its not like he's starting from scratch!!

 

Simon

[Rich1730]

I'm intending to build mine as a RN version if possible and following news on decals. 

[Simon Cornes]

Great - that’s 3 out of 15 airframes!! Let’s have some more RN fans!!

[colin ritchie]

Sorry , My one will be XB891, 12 SQ RAF  Lossiemouth,