New Tool 1/72 Airfix RN Buccaneer

[Graeme H]

OK, a slow start to this one, which ensures I will end up in a stressed and panicked state near the end.

I started with some basic work about a week after the start of this GB, and been doing little bits here and there, but now into it sort of full time

so the box shot

 

 

 

plan is a basic OOB build as Post takes too long to get anything else anyway

 

the tub removed and painted

 

 

these single type GB's don't allow much time for mucking about, so need to get stuck in

 

 

[Col.]

Welcome to the GB Graeme. You look to be off for a fine start already  

[Graeme H]

OK, got done with Part 8 and page 1 of the instructions, here is the cockpit installed in one half and some nose weight superglued in

 

 

I have started on the wings and all that entails, with a lot of different painting done 

Why is it that Airfix have chosen to just give paint numbers and no translation anywhere as to what they are, downside for me is no one stocks Humbrol in my town anymore so have to rely on translating from their paint chart.

 

 

I painted around the Undercarriage bay, to make less masking later on, should just be able to put on the maingear doors as a masking medium, won't need to go right up to them anyway, or that's the plan

The exhausts are visible in the bay, and they are painted Alclad Semi Matte Aluminium, one side is a bit duller than the other, but this is an in service aircraft anyway.

 

 

OK, time to turn the page on the instructions.

 

[Graeme H]

Well, one needs to be very careful looking at the pictorial instructions, I glued the main cross brace the wrong side of the mouldings on the lower half

giving me a really big gap between the back of the engines and the tailpipes

 

 

so using Tamiya extra thin to soften it up, got it off and on the other side

 

 

After a lot of cussing and scraping got a reasonable join, I think if I ever did this kit again, I would mount the tailpipes to the rear cross member and then put the whole lot in in one go, or even build it all as a sub assembly and mount up complete.

 

 

So after messing about, back on track I hope

 

[Col.]

Good save getting this one back on track Graeme and hopefully no further fit issues will arise from here forward.

[Jabba]

Good recovery from that situation.

[CliffB]

Getting this one together seems to be an intellectual, as well as a practical, challenge Graeme!

It's looking good though and hopefully things will now become more straightforward.

 

Cheers

[Graeme H]

OK, got the upper and lower centre fuselage halves together

 

 

 

Built up the back end and stuck it on also

 

 

starting to look like an aircraft now

[Col.]

Looks to be going together well for you Graeme  

[Graeme H]

Getting more done, firstly I managed to get off most of those extra plates that Mark @Harry Lime tells us are not on the early Buccs

so last night I started thinning out the tailpipes, only one done so far, I just use a blade going slowly around in circles, also started to drill out the holes in the airbrake

 

 

Got the nose on, still needs blending in at this stage, sort of wanted to twist very slightly, so used superglue to hold it on

 

 

you can see the airbrake is now fully vented, so ready to build up now.

[Jabba]

Looking very much Buccaneer shaped now. The extra work on the air brakes and engines make the parts look so much better and realistic.

[Col.]

Coming together well and the extra attention to those small details will make a big difference

[P-3s rule]

Keep up the great work Graeme. And I hear that you have a roden early he 111 ready to build in parallel as a form of stress relief!? Lol

[Cookenbacher]

Very nice Graeme, this looks like a complex kit, but you're making it look worth the effort.

[Graeme H]

Slow progress

Very poor photo of the wheel wells, I'm happy with how they turned out, which is all that matters really 

 

 

The wing and tailplanes sprayed black in preparation for the Stainless or whatever

 

 

 

Now one big question is the wingtips are moulded in clear, assuming that's for the nav lights, but Airfix don't mention anywhere which bit are the nav lights

anyone with any clue, can't find anything on walkarounds at all.

 

 

[Harry Lime]

5 hours ago, Graeme H said:

Now one big question is the wingtips are moulded in clear, assuming that's for the nav lights, but Airfix don't mention anywhere which bit are the nav lights

anyone with any clue, can't find anything on walkarounds at all.

The nav lights are the tiny sections at the forward edge. Some builders have assumed that being such a large piece, the nav lights are the middle section but this is incorrect. The two rectangle shapes towards the rear should be a very pale grey colour with the small raised bit inside them in black.

 

Mark.

[Graeme H]

10 hours ago, Harry Lime said:

The nav lights are the tiny sections at the forward edge. Some builders have assumed that being such a large piece, the nav lights are the middle section but this is incorrect. The two rectangle shapes towards the rear should be a very pale grey colour with the small raised bit inside them in black.

 

Mark.

Thanks so much for that, really helpful

[Graeme H]

Wow nearly a month has slipped by since my last post on this, have been doing bits here and there, but progress is very slow, getting there I hope

So this afternoon I put some Extra Dark Sea Grey on the underside, will let that dry before I do the top, these single colour schemes are OK, but I really needed something to hold it, but no time to make it with time running out on this GB, seems to happen to me a lot c'est la vie

I had planned on using the tanks, but read on someone else's post they are for the very early Buccs, so not appropriate for the later Ark Royal one I want, all to do with the fairing from the tank to the wing and after having it pointed out, I can see it so clearly, oh bugger,   

This is just a first coat, will need another coat in places.

 

 

 

[Jabba]

Coming along in leaps and bounds.

[Graeme H]

Well things are not going well painting wise, I applied a coat of Xtracolor over the Humbrol, to gloss it up and one of them was a very bad finish, so having to sand all of it down to start again, otherwise it will be a paint strip, not keen on that as it will take too long, and we only have week left

 

Photos where I have done most of the sanding down, I lost the front pitot, so need to scratchbuild a new one of those

 

 

 

planning on painting it with the Humbrol and putting a gloss coat over that, lets see how we go

better get back to it

[nimrod54]

Sorry to read about your paint woes Graeme, but keep plugging away bud, I'm sure you will get it sorted.

[Jabba]

Sorry to read about the paint problem, hopefully all will go better next time around.

[Graeme H]

well going on with the paint job, I found I had an old tin of Compucolor, marked as Extra Dark Sea Grey, so stirred that for about 20 minutes with my stirring machine, ended up smooth so sprayed it on last night just on the underside, to my horror it has a green cast, left it until this morning and digged out my British Aviation Colours chart, turns out there on that chart there is an Extra Dark Sea Green which it matches perfectly.

 

 

 

Now it must be just me, but I have never heard of Extra Dark Sea Green, and what was it used on?  see on the chart on the top line of colours

 

So dug a bit deeper and found I had new bottle of Model Master FS36118, which all quote as Extra Dark Sea Grey, so good enough for me, sprayed beautifully, lovely smooth job, quite happy with it, it could be a touch light, I will put on some clear tomorrow.

So where I'm at tonight

 

 

It does look much lighter here than it really is as it's late in the afternoon and I flooded it with light from some LED Lamps

 

 

 

[Jabba]

Good recovery.

[Col.]

Glad to see the paintwork issues are resolved now Graeme. Decals next?