neilfergylee Posted September 17, 2020 Share Posted September 17, 2020 As some very supportive people on the Cold War forum know already, I have started building an Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer while converting it to S.1 standard using the Whirleybird (neé Maintrack) resin intakes. Here are a selection of images showing the latest build state. The fuselage of this kit is known to suffer from warping and this was no exception. Furthermore, removal of the S.2 intakes meant that the lower fuselage in particular was lacking rigidity. Therefore I added the rotating bomb bay door to provide strength and then, as can be seen, I added a pretty extensive internal structure both to support the not-insubstantial intakes and also to straighten-out the lower half's warp. I used drawing pins (thumb tacks) both to retain some of the bracing and to act as attachment points for the undercarriage. As I wanted to model an early S.1 I had to bite the bullet and remove the MDC cord moulded into the canopy. The final effect benefitted from Johnson's Kleer. Just for a change, I decided to build the undercarriage early-on, rather than as an afterthought near the end, as usually happens. The whitemetal legs were by Scale Aircraft Conversions, and the resin wheels by ResKit. The undercarriage colour is Light Admiralty Grey from Mr. Color. Steel rods were used to align the resin intakes and provide further support. For the past week I have been in a continuous loop of filling, priming, rubbing-down and repeating. Here are a couple of shots taken last night. I hope this is of interest. Kind regards, Neil 17 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper-30 Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Very involved build mate. Like this 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Terry1954 Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Looks like this will be a great build of a great aircraft. I really like the result of removing the MDC from the canopy. Takes a brave man to do something like that! Terry 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted September 18, 2020 Author Share Posted September 18, 2020 22 minutes ago, viper-30 said: Very involved build mate. Like this 6 minutes ago, Terry1954 said: Looks like this will be a great build of a great aircraft. I really like the result of removing the MDC from the canopy. Takes a brave man to do something like that! Terry Thank you both: this certainly isn't a 'Shake and Bake' job and I need to be certified for taking-on the canopy! Neil 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnT Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Neil will be observing from afar with interest as one day I will follow in your footsteps. I have one with S1 intakes in the stash but it’s way down the list. I’ll be taking notes though Nice job on the internal support and the canopy work with the det cord removal. What I call a sweaty moment but it’s well done Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Looking excellent so far, and that undercarriage is amazing! So neatly painted, how do you do it? Are the tyres just matt black? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Great work Neil, achieved a lot of hard work in a short space of time. I really like S.1s, they stand out from the crowd! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
exdraken Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 wow! another Bucc! great and inspiring work, quite some surgery going on here! those intakes look good! are the main wheel doors also different on the S1? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
harvy5 Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Very nice work. But my favorite is S. Mk.2B from Operation "Granby" 😎 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted September 18, 2020 Author Share Posted September 18, 2020 2 hours ago, JohnT said: Neil will be observing from afar with interest as one day I will follow in your footsteps. I have one with S1 intakes in the stash but it’s way down the list. I’ll be taking notes though Nice job on the internal support and the canopy work with the det cord removal. What I call a sweaty moment but it’s well done I must confess that I had to work my way up to taking this on! 2 hours ago, Lord Riot said: Looking excellent so far, and that undercarriage is amazing! So neatly painted, how do you do it? Are the tyres just matt black? Thank you! The lovely thing is that the wheel hubs are separate so all the parts can be painted separately and the assembled. Yes, the tyres are just Humbrol rattlecan matt black: I had intended to use Tamiya Tyre Black but messed-up the thinners and gave up in disgust. The real fun was very carefully widening the whitemetal undercarriage leg brackets to accept the wheels as they were inserted. One false move and I might have snapped the metal. 1 hour ago, 71chally said: Great work Neil, achieved a lot of hard work in a short space of time. I really like S.1s, they stand out from the crowd! Thank you and yes indeed! They make a change form the latter marks. 1 hour ago, exdraken said: wow! another Bucc! great and inspiring work, quite some surgery going on here! those intakes look good! are the main wheel doors also different on the S1? Thank you! Yes, it has taken some thinking time as well as cutting and glueing. I don't think the main undercarriage doors are different on a Mk.1, indeed I pray they are not! 1 hour ago, harvy5 said: Very nice work. But my favorite is S. Mk.2B from Operation "Granby" 😎 Ah, each to their own. 🙂 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted September 18, 2020 Author Share Posted September 18, 2020 One other thing I did was to trim-back the extended wingtips of the early S.2s. Once firmly attached, I trimmed-off the forward part and, substituting for a piece of clear sprue, carved and filed the navigation lights. 6 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted September 18, 2020 Share Posted September 18, 2020 Am liking your work very much , looking forward to more !! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted September 18, 2020 Author Share Posted September 18, 2020 13 minutes ago, Norman said: Am liking your work very much , looking forward to more !! Thank you - I'll do my best! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted September 23, 2020 Author Share Posted September 23, 2020 An update from holiday. A bit of quality time yesterday and today allowed me to progress the fueselage to a point where I was reasonably satisifeid with the surface finish. The canopy was attached temporarily and masked so I could give the fuselage a final spray in primer before yet another detailed rub-down and addition of a fairing seen from 1964 that appeared in front of the windshield. A coat of white was added for two reasons: 1. I wanted to check the surface detail in a shade other than grey and 2. I wanted to get an idea of how it will look finished! It is not 100% accurate because I plan to pain the aircraft EDSG and white but it helped convery the impression. A Buccaneer S.1 is most definitely emerging although I have a lot of hard work to follow. While I was in a creative frame of mind, I added outer wings and undercarriage to get another preview: Now the really hard work begins. I have decided to model the aircraft with folded wings and tail, so a lot of PE work is about to take place. Wish me luck! Cheers, Neil 8 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted September 24, 2020 Share Posted September 24, 2020 looking great Neil ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 (edited) A bit of an update. Since coming home from holiday, I have managed to fit in a lot of detail at home: conference calls can be a godsend! Attention turned to some of the more detailed areas, namely the wingfold and airbrakes. I used the Eduard PE parts for both sides of the fold and there will be more detailing to come. I also built the airbrakes. Again I used the Eduard parts but one change that was necessary was to remove the wedge-shaped spacers to hold the inner parts at the correct angle. These were replaced by brass rod: not 100% accurate but conveying a better impression. I took advantage of the wings-folded nature of my model to paint the outer wings. You will see that I have masked the roundel location so as to prevent the white parts from being dulled by the EDSG background. I did make one error: I added the incorrect ESM antennae. When fitting them I thoguht they were an incorrect shape and so trimmed and filed them. Only later on did I realise that the correct ones were also included! As they had been cemented to an inch of their life, I decided not to try and correct the error, especially as the modified ones look OK - albeit at a distance. I am now well beyond the rubbing-down phase (hooray!) and so details have been added to the fuselage and it has benefitted from several coats of Humbrol Matt White from a rattlecan. I am a staunch advocate of Humbrol and find their spray to be excellent for providing a stable finish. Next comes the big masking job: more to follow! Kind regards, Neil Edited October 4, 2020 by neilfergylee Typos 4 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ex-FAAWAFU Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Loving this; like (it seems) many of us I have an S1 in my future, and you’re doing great things with the same raw materials I have in the stash. [Have you noted the fact that the “pen nib” fairings at the rear of the exhaust were a different (shorter) shape on the S1?] 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 (edited) 7 hours ago, Ex-FAAWAFU said: [Have you noted the fact that the “pen nib” fairings at the rear of the exhaust were a different (shorter) shape on the S1?] Oh God, I feared they were. Might have to do a bit of 'kidology' there Thanks though, it's encouragement like this that keeps me going. 🙂 Cheers, Neil Edited October 4, 2020 by neilfergylee Typo 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted October 4, 2020 Author Share Posted October 4, 2020 @Ex-FAAWAFU emergency surgery has been undertaken! 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
71chally Posted October 4, 2020 Share Posted October 4, 2020 Superb work going on here Neil. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted October 5, 2020 Author Share Posted October 5, 2020 Another update. A LOT of time was spent priming, tidying and masking. Tonight it went under the airbrish - the largest bit of airbrushing I have done to date - and here are the before and after pictures. Cheers, Neil 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted October 6, 2020 Author Share Posted October 6, 2020 And so the first thing I did after getting-up was to remove the masking tape.... 😃😃 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Norman Posted October 6, 2020 Share Posted October 6, 2020 Congrats ! Looks good from here ! 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
neilfergylee Posted October 7, 2020 Author Share Posted October 7, 2020 @Norman thanks for your kind words. In the meantime, I have glossed all surfaces and (I was looking forward to this), painted the radome Mr. Color Radome Cream. Ideally I would have liked a translucent radome but that is for another time. The cockpit was uncovered and right now it all looks very toy-like. I now need to finish the cockpit and paint / detail the canopy itself. Thanks folks, Neil 7 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phildagreek Posted October 7, 2020 Share Posted October 7, 2020 It all looks rather tasty from over here. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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