Graeme H Posted July 27, 2020 Share Posted July 27, 2020 Great work, and your scratch building skills are great, really looking forward to seeing this come together, I started months ago, and you are up to me already, I did have that kit and probably stated it about 40 years ago, was never going to be as good as yours. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 27, 2020 Author Share Posted July 27, 2020 3 hours ago, CedB said: Very nice cockpit Adrian Thanks Ced. I had the Haynes Buccaneer manual open at the cockpit photos page and a pile of reference photos on my computer screen when I did it and I still only managed to add about half of the features! They certainly could cram buttons, switches and blinking lights into those things. Fortunately the canopy distortion will reduce all this work to "busy soup", which is the desired outcome... Regards, Adrian 1 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 28, 2020 Author Share Posted July 28, 2020 Time to build some fans: 10 by 20 thou strips and old rocket heads on some 10mm disks. Painted, dark grey wash, dry fitted: 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted July 29, 2020 Share Posted July 29, 2020 Wow. Again! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 Seriously impressive upgrade work Adrian 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 At some point I cracked and bought the new Airfix Buccaneer when I found a source for under 25 quid including postage. Got it yesterday and had a look. It's obviously a massive step up from the FROG Buccaneer, and a leap up from the old Airfix NA39, but I was surprised how indifferent I felt about it. What did amaze me was the packaging - the box is massive, it is five or six times the volume of the NA39 box and way bigger than the FROG one: 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 Got the fuselage halves together. A little bit of drift along the length, so I glued front half and back half separately. Filler will be needed, but it isn’t too bad: ...and on re-fondling the new Airfix plastic this morning, I’m quite a bit more enthusiastic. Not sure if it makes sense to run it as a parallel build here though. We’ll see... 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob S Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 On 7/29/2020 at 9:32 AM, AdrianMF said: Time to build some fans: Fantastic work as usual and I’m certain that with the detail you have put into this build that you statically and dynamically balanced those fans before installing them! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stevehnz Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 3 hours ago, AdrianMF said: the box is massive, it is five or six times the volume of the NA39 box and way bigger than the FROG one: But is it FULL of plastic or a fair bit of air? I'm guessing it has a lot more bit's in it & I'm quite keen on one though I 've also got a bit keen on a Frog one too for some obscure reason. Steve. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Col. Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 4 hours ago, AdrianMF said: At some point I cracked and bought the new Airfix Buccaneer when I found a source for under 25 quid including postage. Got it yesterday and had a look. It's obviously a massive step up from the FROG Buccaneer, and a leap up from the old Airfix NA39, but I was surprised how indifferent I felt about it. What did amaze me was the packaging - the box is massive, it is five or six times the volume of the NA39 box and way bigger than the FROG one: To be fair that bigger box is well packed with a LOT more parts than the other two combined. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 Just found this thread. I love your work throughs for solving problems. I’m afraid my answer to the see through look would have been blanking plates front and rear, resting on the ground! If I recall correctly, there are no slipper tanks with this. Do you require a pair as I think I still have the vac-form giveaways from an old IPMS mag in the 1980’s. If I can find them and if you need them, they’re yours👍🏻 Trevor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 In all fairness @Col. is absolutely correct: There are “only” five sprues and a clear one but they are packed (140 parts). There are almost as many parts to detail the inside of the fuselage as there are in the whole Frog kit, plus folding wings and opening tail air brake and a sprue of external stores. I’m definitely warming to the new Airfix but I’m also enjoying the Frog one on another level too: Yes, I will be cutting down the exhaust pipes! If I’d had to pay “eBay rare kit” prices for the FROG then the Airfix would have been a shoo-in, but this was a fiver at SMW 2018. It’s a very nice kit, but made redundant by the Airfix one (unless I find another one for a fiver!) 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 8 minutes ago, Max Headroom said: there are no slipper tanks with this Trevor, that’s very kind of you, but I think I’m going to go “early and clean” for this one and do the new tool one fully loaded and folded. Thanks, Adrian 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 Cleaned up top to bottom fuselage joint. I’m very impressed with FROG’s engineering! It needed some persuasion to stay laterally aligned but the two halves fit together very well and the joint sands down nicely: it will need a touch of filler, but much less than I expected. 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted July 31, 2020 Author Share Posted July 31, 2020 Nose, tail and fin on: I need to make some choices about clean wings or pylons, ECM pods and whether the little bump under the nose was there. The little pylon (music stand?) in front of the navigator was apparently a late addition, which is good because I’ve accidentally snapped it off. And apparently I’m cooking dinner. Oh well, I had a good run at it today... 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted July 31, 2020 Share Posted July 31, 2020 1 minute ago, AdrianMF said: Nose, tail and fin on: Apparently I’m cooking dinner. Oh well, I have a good run at it today... Looking good. Order a chippy. Trevor 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 1, 2020 Author Share Posted August 1, 2020 I’ve milliputted everything that needed it (I’m sure I will discover more!) and blended in my paper cone intakes. My daughter wants some more custom earrings, so the leftovers didn’t go to waste: I think I have to restore the missing vane where there’s a gap - I believe it was removed when they fitted Martel rockets. 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ray_W Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 On 7/31/2020 at 7:54 PM, AdrianMF said: the box is massive, it is five or six times the volume of the NA39 box and way bigger than the FROG one Yes they were smart back then, just big enough to pick it up and slip it into Mum's shopping trolley. Adrian, I've been in the background watching this come together. Great techniques as always. Really enjoying the build. Ray 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 Are you keeping the raised detail on this? Neat thing to do with the earrings! Trevor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CedB Posted August 1, 2020 Share Posted August 1, 2020 Nice Bucc, nice earrings Coming along very nicely Adrian and giving me some Buccaneer envy... 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 11 hours ago, Max Headroom said: Are you keeping the raised detail on this? Sadly I haven’t. I lost quite a bit to sanding on the fuselage and fin. I will rescribe the hatches above and below the engine and below the cockpit. I need to do a line where the nose opens too. Other than that I think I will just leave the raised details that remain. I'm aiming for a new and clean look so I might just do some pencil highlighting of selected hatches before glossing. Regards, Adrian 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 8 hours ago, CedB said: nice earrings It was that or fix back a tray wheel on the dishwasher. The dishwasher was running so the choice was made for me! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Headroom Posted August 2, 2020 Share Posted August 2, 2020 4 hours ago, AdrianMF said: It was that or fix back a tray wheel on the dishwasher. The dishwasher was running so the choice was made for me! https://www.appliancespareswarehouse.co.uk/dishwashers/dishwasher-wheels About the price of an Airfix Spitfire! Trevor 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 2, 2020 Author Share Posted August 2, 2020 The wheels are fine. The plastic bearings are a different matter, and degrade over five years or so before the tabs break. So I’ve been replacing the bearing parts with Milliput, which seems to work well and uses up my leftovers. And I have 6.99 to put into my eBay fund! Regards, Adrian 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted August 3, 2020 Author Share Posted August 3, 2020 Got the white on, well maybe one more coat... I have perfectly good rattle cans of white primer and appliance white that I was intending to use but somehow the brush came out because I didn’t fancy masking the wells! Started with a couple of coats of Humbrol 34, then three coats of Citadel Ceramite White. The weapons mounts had to go because the Martel pylon bases moulded on the wing are much longer than the early pylons. Not sure yet if I will do it clean or add some stores. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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