1/72nd Valom Bristol Brigand & Buckmaster,..... **BOTH FINISHED**

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks,

                  I thought this GB stated in July not June,.... so I`ve lost a month already,.... but I`d like to build a Valom Bristol Brigand, most likely in 84 or 45 Sqn markings,.... we`ll see. Here is the box art

Decals are included for two aircraft;

- VS584 "G", 84 Sqn, RAF Malaya. Medium Sea Grey upper surfaces and Black lowers

- RH764 "B", 8 Sqn RAF Aden. White upper surfaces and Black below.

 

As I`ll have to wait for the missus to get the kit out f the loft (I cannot get up there anymore!) I have borrowed a few photos from Brett Green`s excellent Hypersale review,.... I`m sure he won`t mind;

 

Hopefully I`ll get the kit started in a few day,..... I`m still finishing off another Bristol product,.... the Airfix Beaufort as an Australian built version!

 

Cheers

           Tony

 

 

Edited July 20, 2021 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Further to my last,.... the missus couldn`t find the right version,..... but I did have a T.Mk.4 kit,.... so I`ll build that as a bomber/strike aircraft instead! She also dug out a Buckmaster,.... which I may also get stuck into,.... we`ll see;

 

I have also had some Aeroclub propellers and engine fans put away to complete these kits;

 

 

Here is an old vacuform kit that I built years ago,.... or the wreckage of it at least,.... I might be able to make use of it?

 

Cheers

          Tony

[Rabbit Leader]

Excellent, Tony’s in, and with a Brigand as well.. this’ll be good. 

I’ve got the same kit, however am a little gun shy to give it a go. Those additional props will come in very handy as apposed to what’s provided in the base kit. Hard to choose between my favourite No. 45 Sqn or those lovely deck of cards suits as used by No. 84 Sqn…I’ll be watching on,. 
Cheers and good luck.. Dave. 

[tonyot]

1 hour ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Excellent, Tony’s in, and with a Brigand as well.. this’ll be good. 

I’ve got the same kit, however am a little gun shy to give it a go. Those additional props will come in very handy as apposed to what’s provided in the base kit. Hard to choose between my favourite No. 45 Sqn or those lovely deck of cards suits as used by No. 84 Sqn…I’ll be watching on,. 
Cheers and good luck.. Dave. 

Thanks Dave,.... I have the same quandary re markings,..... I do like both units to be fair. Hopefully I`ll come across the bomber version kit and then I can use the 8 Sqn card markings from that,....... and maybe built the Buckmaster as a 45 Sqn aircraft,..... win win! 

[Mjwomack]

I'm planning on one of these as well. Haven't studied it in detail bit just seen how atrocious the decal registration is; that could well add to the general entertainment value

[Muddyf]

I built one of these (and have the similar Valom Buckingham in the stash).

 

Things i noticed and had to address include the shape of the cowlings (oval as opposed to circular) and various other fit issues. Nothing significant that someone of your skills cannot easily address.

[rob85]

Fantastic choice Tony! But rather you than me 😃 I hear it’s hard work, more than my meagre skill.

 

will be good to see you put it together and as we can see from the wreckage of the last kit you will do a fine job

 

Rob

[JOCKNEY]

Not an aircraft I'm familiar with, but that's great 👍

Best of luck with this one 

 

Cheers Pat 

[tonyot]

13 hours ago, Mjwomack said:

I'm planning on one of these as well. Haven't studied it in detail bit just seen how atrocious the decal registration is; that could well add to the general entertainment value

I`ve yet to study it properly to be fair,...... I think I may have a few old Matchbox Tempest Mk.II cowlings which I might be rooting out yet. 

 

9 hours ago, Muddyf said:

I built one of these (and have the similar Valom Buckingham in the stash).

 

Things i noticed and had to address include the shape of the cowlings (oval as opposed to circular) and various other fit issues. Nothing significant that someone of your skills cannot easily address.

 Thank for the heads up,.... I don`t know about ort it,....... as above I think I`ll be rooting out a few spare Tempest Mk.II cowlings if I still have them? 

7 hours ago, rob85 said:

Fantastic choice Tony! But rather you than me 😃 I hear it’s hard work, more than my meagre skill.

 

will be good to see you put it together and as we can see from the wreckage of the last kit you will do a fine job

 

Rob

Oh don`t go saying that Rob,..... I`m getting a bit worried now! 

4 hours ago, JOCKNEY said:

Not an aircraft I'm familiar with, but that's great 👍

Best of luck with this one 

 

Cheers Pat 

Cheers Pat,...... it`s a beast of an aircraft, I just hope that I can do it justice! 

[tonyot]

Thanks for the encouragement fella`s,..... I`ve not been able to find the bomber version of the kit,..... so I remembered that Freightdog Decals did some Brigands so I dug the decals out;

So there are 84 Sqn and 45 Sqn aircraft,.... plus a trainer,...... but unfortunately the 84 Sqn aircraft chosen doesn`t have a playing card motif on the fins,..... so I have dug out an old Modeldecal Wessex sheet which does have some and I`ll do a bit more research.

 

Cheers

          Tony

[Rabbit Leader]

Thanks for the tip on the Modeldecal sheet, I didn’t know about that one. 
Cheers.. Dave 

[tonyot]

5 minutes ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Thanks for the tip on the Modeldecal sheet, I didn’t know about that one. 
Cheers.. Dave 

We would still have to provide a white background for the card suit.

Edited June 11, 2021 by tonyot

[Rabbit Leader]

16 minutes ago, tonyot said:

We would still have to provide a white background for the card suit.

OK thanks, that shouldn’t be too difficult… even making a rRed Diamond is probably something we could all manage to make / mask fairly easily. 
Cheers., Dave. 

[tonyot]

Well I`ve decided to build a Valom Buckmaster alongside the Brigand and I`ll post ome pics in a while,..... first,.... construction started with the Brigand with the cockpit, which was painted black. The seats for the cockpit appear tiny,.... so the pilots seat was replaced by the white metal seat from the Hallam Vac kit which I showed earlier,..... I may yet replace the two crewmens seas and increse the sie of their work area after I have researched it more;

 

 

Given a bit of dry brush weathering to highlight the detail;

 

Then the fuselage halves were joined;

 

As I do with most Valom kits, I test fitted the canopy before starting construction and here it is in place again just to double check the fit;

 

Next,..... those worrisome engine nacelles! I`ll have to have a long think about these! I may have a go at closing the opening down smaller by building it up with plastic strut. The engines are nice;

 

Then its the wings,..... most Valom kits need to be built like a vacuform by sanding down the mating edges of the parts and this is no different,.....

 

The wheel well inserts go into place and the wing halves are joined;

 

Next the tailplane was fitted to the fuselage and the engine fairings were fitted to the wings,..... here is an exploded view of the main kit parts;

 

So that is the Brigand so far,...... next the Buckmaster,.... stand by!

 

[tonyot]

Well here is the Buckmaster!

 

Which is basically the Brigand kit but with a new fret;

 

Sorry about the pre painting,.... I did it at the same time as the Brigand, before I had decided to build both together here!

 

As you can see the Buckmaster has two sets of engine cowlings,.... those from the old Brigand kit,..... and a new set on the Buckmaster fret, which do have a smaller hole at the front!

 

 

So onto the cockpit,.... here is  a real Buckmaster cockpit;

And that from the model;

 

Then the fuselage was joined;

 

The canopy wasn`t a very good fit, but after some light sanding around the forward section of the fuselage it slotted in better,....

 

So,... that is it for now,..... time to do some photo research and reading up while watching Trooping the Colour on play back,..... did the Scots Guards just about turn and put their back to The Boss!!!!,..... Surely not??!

 

Cheers

          Tony

Edited June 12, 2021 by tonyot

[Graham Boak]

I have the Buckingham, which I presume was the first tooling, and looks rather more like the Buckmaster, unsurprisingly. Unfortunately, none of these kits provide the fans in the cowlings in front of the engines, and no-one has thought it worthwhile producing in aftermarket.  (Sorry: John Adams did but had none left by the time the Valom kits came out.)  Probably no-one ever will now, sadly.

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, Graham Boak said:

I have the Buckingham, which I presume was the first tooling, and looks rather more like the Buckmaster, unsurprisingly. Unfortunately, none of these kits provide the fans in the cowlings in front of the engines, and no-one has thought it worthwhile producing in aftermarket.  (Sorry: John Adams did but had none left by the time the Valom kits came out.)  Probably no-one ever will now, sadly.

I bought a few sets of fans from John when I bought these kits along with a set of suitable propellers,.... I did put a photo of them on this build. I have the Buckingham too,.... but it may be a whiffer when I get around to it? 

Edited June 12, 2021 by tonyot

[tonyot]

OK,... a few reference pics;

 

Brigand;

 

 

Although I`m doing a bomber,..... the erlier strike and the later trainer variants are still very interesting and their lighter schemes show off details that are hard to see on the black scheme too;

 

 

Pakistani Air Force Brigand;

 

And some armament pics,....

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited June 12, 2021 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Ref Pics,.... Buckmaster;

[Mr T]

A good start Tony, I built the Buckmaster a couple of years ago. My main issue was that the undercarriage lacked a sufficient number of retraction struts/hacks. The wings I also remember have differences that I am not sure the kit reflect. 

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, Mr T said:

A good start Tony, I built the Buckmaster a couple of years ago. My main issue was that the undercarriage lacked a sufficient number of retraction struts/hacks. The wings I also remember have differences that I am not sure the kit reflect. 

Thanks mate,..... yeah I know about different air intakes etc in the leading edges, lack of actuators on contol surfaces etc,... I`ll check out if there is anything else. 

[Mr T]

I just mentioned the wings as I have seen a couple built up where the builder was not aware, but I should have known you were on the case. The cock up with the undercarriage is a bit weird though, i spent ages looking at the kit and photos, shame thee is not a real one to look at.

[tonyot]

2 hours ago, Mr T said:

I just mentioned the wings as I have seen a couple built up where the builder was not aware, but I should have known you were on the case. The cock up with the undercarriage is a bit weird though, i spent ages looking at the kit and photos, shame thee is not a real one to look at.

No I really appreciate the heads up mate,.... it was great of you to bring it up and better to be safe than sorry..

 

 

Edited June 14, 2021 by tonyot

[tonyot]

Hiya Folks, a bit of an update,.....

 

I`ve got the wings attached to the fuselage today and sanded the model, then applied some filler along the seams just to be safe! The Aeroclub propellers can be seen here too,.... awaiting tidying up and painting. Regarding the nacelles,.... I`m still going to check out whether I have a pair of old Matchbox Tempest Mk.II nacelles in the spares box and to see if I can utilise them in any way. The wheels have also been assembled and I have yet to add the bulges on the rear fuselage which appear to be th remants of a set of barbettes like those on the Me210/410,... although I`m not fully sure what they were for off the top of my head;

 

Cheers

          Tony

Edited June 14, 2021 by tonyot

[Max Headroom]

On 6/10/2021 at 9:27 PM, tonyot said:

My brain is shouting Hallam Vac for this?

 

If interested I have an Alan ‘balsawood’ Hall build article from an Airfix annual. All you need is an He-111 and a Bristol Freighter (and something else I’ve forgotten) and a chunk of balsa! Also plunge moulding your own canopy.

 

Needless to say, I’m looking on with interest!

 

Trevor