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Clearing the Shelf of Doom Part 1 - 1/48 Airfix Buccaneer


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Like many other people, I'm finding myself at home quite a bit more than usual so have decided to get some of my older models finished.

 

I'm starting with this one, the 1/48 Airfix Buccaneer. It's been a challenge at times, but is building into a respectable model. Here's the fuselage, assembled sections and the bits still on the sprue:

 

bucc-fuse.jpg

 

bucc-bits.jpg

 

bucc-sprue.jpg

 

A major sanding session is next on the list of things to do...

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I built this last year and really enjoyed it! It needed some fuselage sanding especially around the jetpipes and nose but I never understood why the kit had such a poor reputation. You've made a good start so far! 

 

 

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1 hour ago, mackem01 said:

Which boxing is it, can you put up a pic of the lid please?

As requested!

 

bucc-box.jpg

 

1 hour ago, Col. said:

Always good to see a Buccaneer kit getting some attention :thumbsup:

 

1 hour ago, Lord Riot said:

You've made a good start so far! 

 

1 hour ago, mackem01 said:

it's good to see another Brick build.

Thanks all. Sanding has been mostly completed (just the slipper tanks to go), so hopefully glue will be cracked open later today!

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1 hour ago, mackem01 said:

Ahaa - same boxing as mine so I now have an idea of what lies in wait! Thanks for that. From what I can gather, different boxings have

slightly differing problems.

   Yeah looks like the same boxing that I bought here in the states when it first came out. The problem with mine is the pebbly surface of the plastic and a fuselage

that looks as if it's gonna need a belt sander and a sledge hammer to get the halves to line up. I admire anyone who tackles this kit.  I have not attempted mine yet

because OSHA requires too much paper work and safety equipment to operate the tools that I will need to assemble this kit.

  A tip of the hard hat and a heavy safety glove salute to Airfix for giving us this kit.  I do love the 1/72nd scale rendition of the Buc that Airfix released in 2019 however.

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12 minutes ago, Todders said:

The problem with mine is the pebbly surface of the plastic and a fuselage

That will disappear with all the filling and sanding you are going to need to do. Mine has a warped fuselage.

 

Not very helpful of Mars 👽

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The sanding went ahead as planned, but a few other issues stopped me from getting any glue applied. The cockpit needed some attention, as there is a huge ridge behind the rear seat. I think the whole cockpit tub might have shifted a bit whilst being attached and was re-glued in the wrong position... There is also a sink mark on the spine just behind the tub that needs attention:

 

tub.jpg

 

Some plasticard and filler have been added and will be left overnight. Tomorrow I will sand it all flush and check for more blemishes before hopefully getting some bits glued together.

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I have finished repairing the massive ridge behind the rear seat and it is blended in well, it just needs some paint now. I also had my first experience with alclad, painting the intake rings and leading edges:

 

tub-2.jpg

 

Bit of a mixed experience with the alclad. The base coat of gloss black was very splattery but the top coat of aluminium went on beautifully:

 

splatter.jpg

 

Quite pleased with the finish, just confused as to why one coat was so much smoother than the other...?

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1 hour ago, Retired Bob said:

You mean that some were made without warped fuselages? :whistle:

The degree of warping varies. At one time I had three of these kits and some fitted better than others.

 

Martian 👽

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18 hours ago, Martian Hale said:

The degree of warping varies. At one time I had three of these kits and some fitted better than others.

I have a RN and a RAF one, and they are both well and truly warped. :winkgrin:

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On 3/28/2020 at 9:34 AM, Martian Hale said:

That will disappear with all the filling and sanding you are going to need to do. Mine has a warped fuselage.

 

Not very helpful of Mars 👽

The buc I had wins my personal prize for most warped model I ever purchased. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Thing aren't happening as quickly as I would like - more gardening jobs keep getting in the way!

 

Yesterday saw the canopy masked, ready for spraying. I tried to mask the areas that have had Alclad applied, but the masking tape kept sliding off. Hopefully I can re-apply the Alclad at a later stage, unless there is a risk of it reacting with the enamel? If so, I will just brush paint the silver areas to touch them up.

 

bucc-mask.jpg

 

This afternoon I actually managed to get some airbrushing done! 😀

 

It was a bit of an experimental session, varying the pressure to see what worked best. Too low and the paint became splattery but about 15-20 psi seemed to work well. I sprayed the canopy frame first, then took the advice of @The Spadgent and applied a pre-shade along panel lines. I deliberately kept it a bit more random though and also covered a few other areas too, to hopefully replicate the finish on a real aircraft. If I thought an area should be darker it got a coat of paint!

 

pre-shade.jpg

 

With any luck I will get some more paint on the beast tomorrow!

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Good progress, Matt.

 

Are you thinning your paint? Metallic paints like Alclad have low viscosity and spray beautifully straight out of the bottle, but your other paints need to be thinned to atomize correctly.  That might explain your splattering.

 

David

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On 3/30/2020 at 11:13 PM, Lord Riot said:

You're coping manfully with its inadequacies. 

 

Anyone think Airfix will issue a new tool version in the next couple of years?

https://www.airfix.com/uk-en/blackburn-buccaneer-s-mk-2-rn-1-72.html
 

They did, they did...

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