Back in the Saddle Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 My next entry into this GB is the Airfix Vulcan. It’s essentially built, but needs painting. I recently bought an airbrush, so this will be the first time it gets used in anger. I had the model primed and pre-shaded ready for the top coat, then dropped it on the floor about a month ago and dislodged a wing... It’s now repaired and ready for painting: Underside: I do my spraying outside, so at the next opportunity with suitable weather I will get this underway. 10 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted November 2, 2019 Share Posted November 2, 2019 (edited) We have a full set of V Bombers in here now! What scheme will this be in? If it's 558, you'll need to do a few modifications yet. I built XM575 earlier this year, which has both ECM plates, the TFR blister and Olympus 301 engines, perfect for the Airfix kit. Edited November 2, 2019 by Adam Poultney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 4, 2019 Author Share Posted November 4, 2019 Hi Adam. Not sure yet, but not XH558... Will consult with the instructions and remind myself which version I built! All I know is it will be camouflaged on top and the 'off white/light grey' on the underside. I'll be using Humbrol enamels so planning on 130 on the underside (satin white) and 163/165 for the camouflaged areas. The 130 might need to be darkened slightly...? As this KUTA is primarily a painting project, I thought I should get my spray booth organised. I cut the components I needed from MDF, giving a base, two sides and the back with cutouts for extraction fans: I have bought two old fans from eBay and used silicon to attach them into the back piece: They were under £10 each and I'm hoping they will provide suitable extraction. I'll be spraying in the shed when the weather is suitable and this should blow any fumes straight outside via an open window! I'll leave the silicon overnight to cure and hopefully finish the spray booth tomorrow. I might even get some paint on the Vulcan - the forecast looks promising! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted November 4, 2019 Share Posted November 4, 2019 I'd ignore the instructions, they're rather rubbish with that kit. It's nice to see a Vulcan other than 558 being built. I don't think I'll ever build a 558 in a large scale just because of how many are done, at least not in the VDF/VTTST scheme. Must say though, you have chosen the best Vulcan B2 scheme, camo over white/grey. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 Bit of a setback on this - I had to rewire one of the fans, due to a nick in the insulation I hadn’t seen... That involved ripping the fan out of the housing, then re-attaching with more silicon. Once again, I’m leaving it overnight to cure. The forecast looks dank for a few days, so I don’t think much will happen here... will look at the Victor instead! 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 5, 2019 Author Share Posted November 5, 2019 To answer your question Adam, it will be in this scheme, supplied with the original 1983 kit: XH562 (according to Airfix) has the two ECM plates and square tail fin - assuming they're correct with this, that's the version I have built... 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted November 5, 2019 Share Posted November 5, 2019 Unfortunately they were not correct. 562 only had the one ECM plate and Olympus 201s. Take this with a pinch of salt as I can't find any photos clear enough to confirm this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 6, 2019 Author Share Posted November 6, 2019 Oh well, maybe it won’t be strictly accurate... Hopefully close enough though! On a separate note, any suggestions for the colour on the underside? I think Humbrol 130 might be a bit too light? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted November 6, 2019 Share Posted November 6, 2019 The underside colour on camouflaged Vulcans changed over time. Initial finish remained gloss white but from the early-mid-seventies this was slowly replaced by Light Aircraft Grey (Humbrol 166 or its equivalent), coupled with the change from red/white/blue national markings to the “tactical” red/blue variety. As ever try to find a photo of your chosen subject. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 On 06/11/2019 at 03:08, stever219 said: As ever try to find a photo of your chosen subject. Thanks - found quite a few and it looks very white underneath! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 Oh the irony... Airfix have announced a new tool for the Vulcan... Guess this one and the Victor will both be practice for when I get the newer releases! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stever219 Posted November 8, 2019 Share Posted November 8, 2019 1 hour ago, Back in the Saddle said: Oh the irony... Airfix have announced a new tool for the Vulcan... Guess this one and the Victor will both be practice for when I get the newer releases! Don’t be too hasty: apart from the choice of subject matter any resemblance between any new Airfix Vulcan that may or may not be about to be officially revealed (or not) tomorrow is likely to be accidental. There are a limited number of ways that the Vulcan structure can be sensibly broken down for kit manufacture so there may be some apparent commonality but we might now get a vertically-split front fuselage as per the new Buccaneer and separate intake and tailpipe sections to allow for a B. Mk. 1 later on. If this new tool, should it exist, is anything like the Victor we’ll get half-decent wheel wells and weapons bay, full-depth intakes and exhausts, more cockpit detail (albeit that most will become invisible after assembly) and maybe a selection of things that go bang in the night/bucket(s) of instant sunshine. We might also get a choice of fin tops, with and without RWR antenna failings, and TFR radome, rather than having to resort to surgery to delete these as on the current kit. In the meantime do your best with your present Vulcan and Victor: I’m sure the tricks you learn from the Vulcan will read across to other kits of that vintage that you’ll probably wind up building at some point. Talking of tricks, if you’re building the Vulcan with undercarriage down and you’ve not yet started on it (or found out elsewhere) there’s a wrinkle to getting all of the main wheels touching the ground. Firstly install the nose wheel leg and the forward parts of the main legs, all three complete with wheels and leave them to set on a flat, level surface (support the model if necessary). Once the main parts are set you can push the rear parts of the main legs up against the main parts ensuring that the wheels are all in contact with the surface (you may need to adjust the rear struts to get them to fit neatly). Once everything’s set you should have all 18 wheels with no daylight showing under them. Good luck! 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 8, 2019 Author Share Posted November 8, 2019 Cheers Steve. The undercarriage assemblies are already glued together, so it looks like I won’t be able to do it quite as you described. However, I’ll glue the nose gear in situ first and let it set, then try to get the other 8 wheels to sit level. I’m definitely looking at these two models as practice models. I’ve been away from building for years and have a lot of catching up to do, regarding learning new techniques, etc. It should be fun and hopefully they will look semi decent by the end! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 9, 2019 Author Share Posted November 9, 2019 When I said eight wheels, I obviously meant sixteen...!🙄 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 12, 2019 Author Share Posted November 12, 2019 I finally had a morning free from other jobs and some decent weather warm enough for spraying outside! My first task was to finish making the spray booth. It is built up from 4 sections of MDF which slot together - that way, I can easily dismantle it for storage when not in use. The base and one side: And the whole booth, with spinning fans!: It slots together in seconds and effectively extracts any fumes through the shed window and into the garden. I'm very pleased with it - as long as it's warm enough, I can paint! Airbrushing is a new skill for me and I’ve been practicing on an old 1:32 Venom I had sitting around: Lots to learn still, but I’m enjoying getting to grips with it! The Vulcan will be the first kit I have airbrushed in anger, so is very much a work in progress. This is the box artwork, which shows XH562, the version I intend to paint: I had the model primed and pre-shaded on the underside about a month ago. However, after carelessly dropping it, I had to re-attach the wing and blend it back into the fuselage. This was the state of play this morning - I have masked the bomb aimer’s window with a blob of Vallejo liquid mask. I’m planning to use this later on the camouflaged upper surfaces too, to ensure a distinct line between the two colours. I'm assuming it can be accurately brushed into the required curves without running…? Time will tell! I may have been too heavy with the pre-shading, but that can be remedied with more of the final colour. In particular, I want to replicate a ‘dirty’ Vulcan - I have sprayed heavily around the engines, wheel bays, bomb bay and hydraulic control units. I have also given the whole wing a general spray, picking out some of the raised detail in the process. Ironically XH562 looks fairly clean compared with other Vulcans in all the photos I have found online. I also discovered that I need some sort of guard over the fans, after sticking a wingtip into one - fortunately without causing any damage! That’s all for now. I will leave the paint to harden for a couple of days and if the weather cooperates, return to the shed later this week! 11 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Corsairfoxfouruncle Posted November 13, 2019 Share Posted November 13, 2019 9 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said: Airbrushing is a new skill for me and I’ve been practicing on an old 1:32 Venom I had sitting around: New skill you say ? Thats very good work here and you should be happy with it. Ive been A/Brushing since 1988 and i still have issue’s. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 13, 2019 Author Share Posted November 13, 2019 I showed the best side! As you can see, the gloss white underneath may have run a little...!😁 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 13, 2019 Author Share Posted November 13, 2019 12 hours ago, Corsairfoxfouruncle said: New skill you say ? Thats very good work here and you should be happy with it. Ive been A/Brushing since 1988 and i still have issue’s. BTW, thank you! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 15, 2019 Author Share Posted November 15, 2019 I painted the underside yesterday and left it overnight to harden. In reality, the colour variations look more subtle than on the image below: I decided to go with light grey on the underside, as that (for me) is the 'classic' Vulcan colour scheme. As other elements of this build might not be strictly accurate either for XH562, I decided it did not matter too much - I'm not a rivet counter, I just want a good looking model of this aircraft. This morning, after giving the airbrush a good clean as it got blocked yesterday, I started to pre-shade the top surfaces. I have been a bit more subtle this time, which may be a mistake as the next coats of paint will be darker than on the underside. If so, I can always repeat the process - this is a learning exercise after all! I have left the nose quite clean, as it will be busier with decals - a light wash later should do the trick! I'm hopeful that I might get this masked and sprayed grey later this afternoon... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 18, 2019 Author Share Posted November 18, 2019 On 15/11/2019 at 12:10, Back in the Saddle said: I'm hopeful that I might get this masked and sprayed grey later this afternoon... Well that didn't happen! Masking took an eternity, especially trying to get the intake ducting masked correctly. In the end, I gave up and made a couple of foam blanks to insert into the ducting - hopefully that will do the trick, possibly with a bit of touching up required later... The canopy was also a challenge, as there were no discernible markings for the framework. I placed the masking tape in what looks like the correct places and will see how this turns out. I sprayed the first coat of grey, but mistakenly used 'clean spirit' instead of 'white spirit' to thin it down. No real harm done, but it takes a while for this particular solvent to flash off. I will try to get this colour finished tomorrow, so I can mask the upper surfaces ready for the next colour. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Back in the Saddle Posted November 20, 2019 Author Share Posted November 20, 2019 Did the final coat of light grey on the upper surfaces this morning. I’m a bit busy over the next few days, but will try to get the green on at the weekend. Obviously there will be a masking marathon first, to ensure a crisp line between the two colours...! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 On 18/11/2019 at 21:39, Back in the Saddle said: The canopy was also a challenge, as there were no discernible markings for the framework. I placed the masking tape in what looks like the correct places and will see how this turns out. It seems that your masking far closer to the real thing than the kit's lackluster framing is. Remember to drill out the fuselage windows (one of the few recessed panel lines on the kit), although they are actually in the wrong place on the kit. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scargsy Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 I noticed there's a Vulcan sat at Southend airport, unfortunately when I got there my package holiday sent me on a 737 instead 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fightersweep Posted November 20, 2019 Share Posted November 20, 2019 26 minutes ago, Scargsy said: I noticed there's a Vulcan sat at Southend airport, unfortunately when I got there my package holiday sent me on a 737 instead XL426. Remember well the day she flew into the airport in 1986. Awesome sight to see her on a few circuits before landing for the last time. She still stretches her legs on the runway, including quite recently. Steve 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted November 21, 2019 Share Posted November 21, 2019 (edited) 19 hours ago, Scargsy said: I noticed there's a Vulcan sat at Southend airport, unfortunately when I got there my package holiday sent me on a 737 instead Every time I go past Coventry (XL360) or East Midlands (XM575) 😂 Edited November 21, 2019 by Adam Poultney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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