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1/32 Buccaneer anyone?


bentwaters81tfw

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No apologies required , we're all modellers here , and what is being provided is a LOT better than the Aerodynamix kit!

 

I am seriously looking forward to getting to grips with this beast , and to exercising my modelling skills .. bring it on we're all more than ready to get started on this wonderful project

 

 

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On 10/11/2019 at 12:38 PM, Icelandic Fine Art said:

Calling all Buccaneers,

The 'Brick' has finally emerged in its pre-production guise with all the usual problems associated with production problems, its as per normal (SNAFU). Now before I sink my jaws into the main topic, I can hear voices in the ether, commenting on the shape of things and that this and that is wrong, well if it is, then fix it; I can assure you all that this Buccaneer is pretty much representative in outline as the real thing. The design and parts are basic and it is up to the modeller to detail them; I think you will find the cockpit is more detailed than one would find in an IM kit of any scale, bar none. As this is an old design, the backseat is not offset to give the Nav a better view as it was originally intended; I was not aware of this information until late in the day. Anyway the full bathtub with bang seats, super detailed, control column and dials and side panels with full details. The user will need to further consult reference material to complete this as I am a little rusty on the full bathtub setup, especially as this Bucc is 20 years, my memory has faded. One can always consult John T who knows where a good Buccaneer is located. The clear transparency, canopy is still under development but it looks very good; there is a clear casting for the Navigator's station, which is not shown in the photo.

Now onto some of  the main issues: firstly, the tail cone on the airframe as seen is incorrect in shape and profile, which is why an extra set of tail cones are provided so that the user can saw off the offending articles and replace them with the better shaped parts. One of the problems I encountered which I had compensated for, was excessive shrinkage, it is simply unavoidable on a casting of this size but one must still do the calculations to satisfy the requirements; so consequently the model is a few millimetres shorter than originally calculated; that being said, the airframe lines up ok, the only real issue is the underneath where the panel lines are out of alignment; they will have to be re-scribed and filled to bring them up to standard. As you all know by now, the main airframe and wings are made out of Aluminium resin matrix, that is essentially an isocyanate polyol polymer, which is a long chain molecule made up of shorter molecular chains; now the logic behind this is to impart dimensional stability and rigidity, so in theory it does not twist or warp but it also has some disadvantages, which I will explain later. The important point is, in order to maintain the directional stability of the airframe, I recommend keeping the two halves taped together with a low tack tape, to reduce unwanted movement. Now one of the minor disadvantages is there is a small gap of about 2mm behind the forward undercarriage bay but it is easily corrected. Also, the ends, nose and tail tends to flare out a little but nothing a little tape won't solve.

Now let me explain the science behind polymers, they form the basis of plastics and resins; with resins, they are basically isocyanates with a polyol base and together they form a long chain molecule called a polymer; these polymer chains move about when they solidify and cause warping and twisting, now the reason the aluminium is used, is to impart mechanical and dimensional stability. However, aluminium by itself is a weak material but when alloyed with other materials and in the correct proportion, it imparts great strength and structural integrity. It basically resists movement by forcing the polymer chain to move in only one direction and not in all directions. Alignment problems can still be addressed by heating the parts and gently easing the parts into shape. If one polishes or scrapes the surface, a metallic appearance becomes apparent. It can be painted as per normal.

Now as Bentwaters (Frank) has already explained, it comes with a Palouste and probe and drogue pod and Martel missiles; a word about the Martels, they are not incorrect the way they look, they are designed to a general standard, so that they can be shortened and the fins reshaped to the correct shape; the front part of the nose can be cut down to make a shorter version, so don't flood my email box with complaints! There are scribed panel lines throughout, which are not visible in the photos. The air intakes go back further than required, so the user will have to find out how far back the turbine blades are located; again one can consult references or find somebody with a long arm. There are guide rails in the cockpit that allow the bathtub to fit into it; the user may have to shave off some material from the sidewalls in order to get the wall panels to fit. If the modeller wants display the cockpit open, mark and tape the separation line on the canopy and saw off, restoring the lost material with some filler. These canopies are very expensive to make, so I was not able to supply a separate section, even though I have the master for one. I am in the process of compiling hundreds of pages of drawings, diagrams and notes on the technical aspects of the Bucc; I have finally managed to get it down to 64 pages! These are the most comprehensive set of drawings ever comprised for such a project.

A word about the undercarriage, it is designed to take the weight of the Bucc, I have done all the calculations, so before one decides to flood my email box with recommendations on the use of titanium and other fancy metals, remember the costs have been kept down so that all you Brick fanatics can get your hands on one. It will come with laser decals for FAA only and with the bare minimum, I am not a multi-million dollar empire, I am one man, with limited resources. That's about as much as I can think of right now and, remember, if you as modellers think this is a poor effort on my part, bare in mind, it has taken 20 years of my life to get this far!

The likely date that this will be released is around November some time but production will be slow, due to the labour intensive nature of it. 

 

Kind regards

Alan

Icelandic Fine Art

I'm in. Where do I order...?

 

Cheers,

 

Tom

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Hello Buccaneers,

 

I have started work on the decals, they will be basic but still good. I will offer a number of RAF options and a couple of FAA options as well. It seems that a bulged bomb bay door is on its way as well, so everything should fit in nicely. I will start casting next week but it is a slow process, labour intensive and very little sleep. And then there's Telford, 2 days of mayhem but its always good to meet modellers and put names to faces. I enjoy chatting to people at these shows as this is what it is all about. 

 

Alan

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Woo Hoo A Bulged Bomb bay and RAF decals , wonderful news, I currently reading "Buccaneer Boys " and I have "Last of the Buccaneers"  sitting on the bench waiting ...

 

Have a great time at Telford alan, I wish I was going, and we'll all wait patintly for what I'm sure will be a beautiful project!

 

 

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Thanks Colin,

 

Of course, you the modellers made this project possible by your support shown and its important to recognise this. I would like to do an S.1 but I need to concentrate on the 1/48 S.2 Buccaneer, that is also in the pipeline. Once Telford is over, I will be able to get things moving on.

 

Alan

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  • 2 weeks later...

This is an update on some of the production problems I have encountered. Firstly, as the Buccaneer is cast in a single section and is quite large to cast, some problems in removal from the mould and difficulty has resulted in some cracks occurring in the rear exhaust shoulder; I will have to use some aluminium filler to fill the voids, so expect this; also the wings have posed particular problems in casting due to the design and the way it is cast, means that there are some negative voids, so when I pressurise the mould, gravity works against the mould causing some underfill in the wing join areas; again I will have to use some ally filler to fill the voids, so expect this. Unfortunately, there is very little I can do to rectify this and unless a complete redesign is done, it will take months and may never see the light of day. Also whilst removing the wings from the mould, there occurred some damage to the mould, causing minor imperfections to the wing surface, nothing a little filler won't cure. Again, the Buccaneer is an awkward shape to mould in one piece (2 separate halves), so its all a question of damage limitations. So, in conclusion there are some minor imperfections but it is still a Buccaneer and I am making members here, aware of them. Those of you who would like to cancel your orders, are quite free to do so, otherwise I will continue production

 

Alan

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  • 2 weeks later...

I have one!! Just thought I'd jot down my thoughts in case anyone is interested!

 

I picked up my kit from Alan Wilson at Scale Model World and I have left it until now to have a look at the contents of the very large cardboard box.

 

What a great kit!

 

First of all though, this is not Tamiya, Trumpeter or Airfix! If you assemble kits then don’t buy this model!

 

This is a builders model. I’ve not measured anything but the shape looks ‘right’ - and I’m not going to measure anything either, what I don’t know, I don’t know and I’m happy.

 

Alan gives you some extremely well cast chunks of resin. This is a big aeroplane and the nickname ‘Brick’ is equally appropriate for this kit!

 

I expect that a fair amount of scratch building will be required to add detail. I think that apart from the usual books, drawings etc (the Haynes Manual may be very useful! ) a copy of the Airfix 1/48th kit might be very useful. In addition I’d also get hold of a NeOmega cockpit (about £18 + postage)  because that is also beautiful. I think these 2 3-D references would then be very helpful as reference when building Alan’s kit.

 

Everything supplied is very well cast. The glazing is nicely clear and I am very happy with that. The cockpit is also very well detailed and it looks comprehensive. The undercarriage bay inserts look fine and you are given a pair of drop tanks, a body refuelling pod and another pod - a Palouste maybe? I haven’t checked. The wing panels feature perfectly cast vortex generators and the panel detail looks fine. Alan says in his instructions - which are also very adequate - that the fuselage half panel lines may not align perfectly but thats where another bit of modelling is required. Finally, not a bulged bomb bay door but Alan has suggested that he may do one at some point but perfectly okay for RN examples and early RAF jets.

 

Any downsides? I think Alan would agree that the decals aren’t great. They are not his strong point but this is described as a ‘Garage’ kit and it is. If you can’t be brilliant at everything, never mind. In truth, some would be very happy with the decals and others would resort to something else. Not a huge number of stencils either but I think I would resort to the Airfix sheet to see whats missing and how easily it can be produced. Maybe someone else could come up with a solution?

 

So, is it worth £180 ?

 

I think that the straight answer is ‘Yes’. Alan gives you something that no one else has produced. Will anyone else make a Buccaneer in this scale? Who knows but I wouldn’t hold my breath!

And Alan tells me that he’s restricting production to 15 units and I think this is because of the cost of resin, mould making rubber - which doesn’t last forever - and the fact that it’s not easy to get good castings.

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Good for you Colin

its not perfect and I think it’s important to be realistic otherwise it sounds like so

much bull! But Alan is very honest about the issues and the shortcomings. I think he originally wanted to include Martels but  there are apparently shape issues, mind you I was looking at one at Cosford today and, apart from external ducting, it’s pretty much shaped like a pencil with either a pointy front or blunt one with wings. Alan’s prototype in earlier pictures looked fine to me but he is concerned about shape so I accept his opinion- because he wants the new owners to be happy with the kit. I certainly am!

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Having cut my teeth on the Aerodynamix 1/32 Buc back in the 90's any kit that doesn't need to be cut out and sanded  is a step ahead, !

 

Being a good Scot , my inclination is 12Sq  Lossie based Camo'ed aircraft with 4 Sea Eagles, so a lack of Martels  really isn't really that important, , so even if I have to scratch the Pylons , I'll be happy 

 

Oh and my stack of Buccaneer reference books is standing by!

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Hello Fellow Buccaneers,

 

Hope all is well. It was so nice to meet so many Britmodellers and at one point we had the largest gathering of BM's around the IFA stand. Telford is hard work but thoroughly enjoyable. I would like to thank Frank (aka Bentwaters81tfw) for his support at the show and the rest of the gang: General Melchett (I think the General is planning on building his own Vulcan squadron), Kev67, Glen, Woody, Chris, Julian and anybody whose name I haven't mentioned. It was nice to meet you Simon Cornes and like I said that 32nd Sea Harrier is coming, so that you can add it to your SIG stand. 

Now back to the main business, I have taken onboard all comments as regards the Buccaneer and I am working on them as we speak, so I guess no sleep for me this week. I am working on a clearer set of decals and looking into getting some stencils done but its going to be expensive for me as I cannot increase the price of the kits, it would be a betrayal of trust.  I am working on a new wing mould design and believe me, I have had many sleepless nights. I have also started work on the bulged bomb bay door. That said, I will ensure that all BM's get their Buccs, others outside the forum, will be unfortunate. Its one of those things, the shape of the Bucc simply does not lend itself to easy casting and I am not going to make it in pieces, that would be far too easy and anyway, it simply would not look like a Bucc in pieces. 

Apart from that, Telford opened up a whole new world to lots of different opportunities and the owners at Bruntingthorpe was so impressed by the Buccaneer, that they have invited me down to the airfield and given me unprecedented access to their Buccs. That will make a lot of difference since I am also working on a 1/48 Buccaneer in CAD and they are keen to give me all the support I need. So standby for the best 1/48 Buccaneer ever made, you will see things at 48 scale, never before seen!

Now back to life in 32nd scale, let me get on with the Big Bucc. 

 

Alan

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Hello all,

 

I am not far off completing the bulged bomb bay door and I making good progress on the Martel missiles. I have redesigned the wings for moulding and will see how it comes out. According to my calculations, all the flow characteristics that have been predicted in theory, should work, the science says so. As the regards the decals I will have to sell quite a few more Buccs before I can raise the cash to go to a decal manufacturer and pay for the design work. The way I see it, is that there is no way I can afford to supply full decals in the kit as I don't have the finances, so my suggestion is, I contract the decal manufacturer to design the decals, which will cost several hundred pounds and if you the modeller wants to buy them from the manufacturer, then that's fine. They won't be cheap and the costs will be out of my hands. 

On a more serious note, I have fallen ill and I am in bad shape, so will be out of the loop for a while, providing I come back from the dead, then hopefully I can resume production. I will try and get a few more other Buccs out and I know Colin Ritchie and Rich1730 are next in line.

 

Alan

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Alan

I second what has been said about your health - sort yourself out before you do anything else!!

Regarding decals, don’t worry about that. I would have bought the kit with or without decals. There is enough knowledge on Britmodeller or other platforms to work out how to produce more refined decals. As things stand, there may only ever be 15 kits in which case there’s no point going to the likes of Fantasy Printshop because he will want to do at least 200 sheets and I, for one, don’t need 13 sheets!! Roundels and fin flashes are best sprayed on, it’s just stencils - so we should all finish ours as Gulf War jets and have hardly any!!

It would be useful if each of the 15 owners all knew who the other 14 were so that we could form some sort of ‘builder group’ so that we could pool resources?

Cheers

Simon

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Echoing other's sentiments, I too hope you are feeling better soon. 

 

With regards to the owners of the '15' I too think pooling resources would be a good idea. It could be an idea to use precision decal's services - John there will do a custom printed sheet for around £20 if you do the designs yourself. He sorts the colour refinements and sends proofs before printing. The quality is good but the decals are fragile and it's required to cut them all out separately. I drew up the markings that he printed for me for the 2017 Hellenic RIAT phantoms in 1/72 which need to get around to A. Building and B. Scaling up to 1/48. No affiliation bar satisfied customer.

 

Cheers,

  WV908

Edited by WV908
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