Blackburn Seeräuber S.51

[Enzo the Magnificent]

When the Blackburn Buccaneer was entering service with the Royal Navy, there was some strong interest shown by the West German Marineflieger.  The Germans were of the opnion that the Buccaneer was the ideal aircraft to patrol the Baltic.

 

There were a couple of problems though.  Firstly, the S.1 version which was in service was underpowered, although this might not have been much of an issue for the land-based role.  Secondly, the RAF at the time was strongly opposed to the Buccaneer.

 

In the event the Germans went with the F-104 starfighter, which provided economies of standardisation.  It wasn't as good in the anti-shipping role as the Buccaneer though.

 

So I'd like to speculate what a Buccaneer would have looked like in Marineflieger colours. 

 

This is the old tool Airfix kit. 

 

 

It was originally bought for the Buccaneer STGB, with the intetion of chucking a lot of aftermarket components at it.  Of course, the release of the new airfix Buccaneer made that plan obsolete.  The Neomega resin cockpit, intakes and gear bays therefore went onto a FROG Buccaneer in the Frog Squad GB.

 

I still have these goodies left over though.

 

Freightdog correctly shaped nose:

 

 

Scale Aircraft Conversions  white metal undercarriage:

 

 

[PhantomBigStu]

Nice, would watch along, but I know there will be no post for 2 months and suddenly it will appear in the gallery all finished 🤣

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I'm desperately trying to break that bad habit!   

 

The Airfix Buccaneer kit was originally issued in 1960 as a Blackburn NA39.    As far as I was aware, it was retooled in the late 80s as an S2.  However, comparing the two kits, I see very little commonality between them I think the reissued Buccaneer was essentially a new tool.

 

Whatever, it was reissued again around 2010 with two new sprues to allow Gulf War and SAAF aircraft to be build.

 

These are the original sprues.

 

 

 

The two new sprues for the 2010 boxing are shown below.  I won't be using any parts from these sprues.  The universal pylons will be used on an RAFG S.2 in the Buccaneer STGB next year.   The large tanks will be used on an SAAF conversion in the same STGB.  

 

 

[Enzo the Magnificent]

There's no messing around with this one as there is no seperate cockpit detail.   It's just a tub moulded into the upper fuselage part.  Likewise the gear bays for the lower fuselage.

 

So, I simply glued in the engine fronts and the weapons bay doors then sprayed everything with aluminium from a rattle can.  I then bunged in some ballast.

 

 

Fuselage halves assembled.

 

 

Time for some filler.

 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Very good choice with your entry and I'm looking forward to seeing this one built up. 

[CliffB]

A nice concept Enzo 

[whitestar12chris]

Welcome aboard Enzo, look forward to watching this one.

 

All the best Chris

[Shalako]

16 hours ago, PhantomBigStu said:

Nice, would watch along, but I know there will be no post for 2 months and suddenly it will appear in the gallery all finished 🤣

 

16 hours ago, Enzo Matrix said:

 The Neomega resin cockpit, intakes and gear bays therefore went onto a FROG Buccaneer in the Frog Squad GB.

 

I still have these goodies left over though.

 

Freightdog correctly shaped nose:

 

 

Nice to see that I'm not the only one who still has the old airfix "Buc"!!!

 

Two questions: Did you buy the Neomega sets directly from their website or from another site? And from where did you buy the Freightdog resin nose? I'm asking this because I have tried to find it but no luck!!!

 

looking forward to see your Airfix Buccaneer finished!!!

 

Cheers

 

Bill

[Enzo the Magnificent]

The Neomega sets did indeed come directly from their website.  I've had the Freightdog set for ages but it is still available.

 

https://www.freightdogmodels.co.uk/freightdog-1-72-buccaneer-s-2-airframe-set-early.html

 

[Col.]

Excellent subject choice good sir  Looking forward to seeing it finished in your next update  

[Enzo the Magnificent]

25 minutes ago, Col. said:

Looking forward to seeing it finished in your next update  

 

[PeterB]

Hi Enzo,

 

As I recall Freightdog did and may still do 2 sets with nose, horizontal tail with upper fairing and refuelling probe. One was "early" and one "late" though I cannot now remember what the difference is - which did you use?

 

Pete

[Shalako]

18 minutes ago, PeterB said:

Hi Enzo,

 

As I recall Freightdog did and may still do 2 sets with nose, horizontal tail with upper fairing and refuelling probe. One was "early" and one "late" though I cannot now remember what the difference is - which did you use?

 

Pete

Good question Pete, though I think they only have the early type still available which by the way I wanna ask is it suitable for improving the Airfix SAAF Buccaneer?

 

Cheers

 

Bill

 

 

Edited November 13, 2019 by Shalako

[PeterB]

Not too clear but the early set is on the left and the later one on the right. The early set has the nose, probe and tail whilst the later set has what seems to be the same nose and probe and a modified tail with the rear of the fairing raised somewhat for the warning receiver I guess, and also contains the wing bullets.

 

 

The late "bullet" at the back of the tail also looks thicker and blunter to my mind. As to which version you need for a SAAF one I have no idea.

 

Pete

[Enzo the Magnificent]

4 hours ago, PeterB said:

As I recall Freightdog did and may still do 2 sets with nose, horizontal tail with upper fairing and refuelling probe. One was "early" and one "late" though I cannot now remember what the difference is - which did you use?

 

To be perfectly honest, I have no idea.  However, I believe the nose is the same in both sets.

 

4 hours ago, Shalako said:

Good question Pete, though I think they only have the early type still available which by the way I wanna ask is it suitable for improving the Airfix SAAF Buccaneer?

 

I don't see any reason why not, at least in their "as delivered" fit.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

And after that discussion about the Freightdog nose, here it is attached, together with the vertical tail and airbrake in the closed position.

 

 

 

 

 

[PeterB]

Just checked and as far as I can see Enzo is correct - the nose was the same for all S2 and probably the S1 as well. The S50 would have the same nose and the early style tail as delivered.

 

Pete

[Col.]

Looks to be going well for you Enzo. Proof there's plenty life left in the older kits yet.

[Enzo the Magnificent]

I must admit that I didn't put much effort into the cockpit.  The canopy will be only partially open so I simply sprayed the cockpit area with Lifecolor UA-033 and then applied the kit decals and rear instrument panel. 

 

I primed the fuselage with grey plastic primer from a rattle can while I was working on the joint line.  I then added the outer wings.

 

 

Windscreen added and masked.  Cockpit masked.  Final primer coat applied and cleaned up.

 

 

Now comes the fun part!  

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Looking good so far, will you use the F-104 Grey over silberweiss belly ? Or did the Marineflieger use other camouflage types

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Yep, it's gonna be Basaltgrau over silberweiss...

[Col.]

23 minutes ago, Enzo Matrix said:

Yep, it's gonna be Basaltgrau over silberweiss...

[Enzo the Magnificent]

Undersurfaces sprayed with Lifecolor UA-026 Light Ghost Grey.

 

 

 

Uppersurfaces were masked off and sprayed with Tamiya XF-54 Dark Sea Grey.  The nose was sprayed with Lifecolor UA-743 Dirt Road.  This is an off white which avoids having a stark white area.  Other areas on the wing were masked off and sprayed with aluminium from a rattle can or Tamiya XF-4 Yellow Green.

 

[Col.]

Looks good Enzo 

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Hello Enzo just a friendly reminder that we’ve reached the mid point of the build.