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1/72 Airfix Avro Vulcan **NEW TOOL**


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Looks good, that's quite a decent clamp you've got, I either use the Mk1 hand clamp until the parts stay in place or a combination of bands, tape and pegs if it needs to be clamped for longer.

 

I was hoping that more WIPs would appear but it seems to be just us two sharing our builds for now 😕 Come on Britmodeller! Don't you all want to build some Vulcans?

 

Edited by Adam Poultney
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17 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

I do, I have just ordered mine for conversion to Skybolt configuration, I have my missiles but no Vulcan......yet!

That should be good! Will you be going the what if route with late serial B2s it was intended for or making one of the development aircraft? 

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1 hour ago, Adam Poultney said:

Looks good, that's quite a decent clamp you've got, I either use the Mk1 hand clamp until the parts stay in place or a combination of bands, tape and pegs if it needs to be clamped for longer.

 

I was hoping that more WIPs would appear but it seems to be just us two sharing our builds for now 😕 Come on Britmodeller! Don't you all want to build some Vulcans?

 

 

Give me chance :P

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6 hours ago, Sparkie said:

Like the look of those rather than spring clamps

They certainly come in useful for many jobs - but you can easily apply too much pressure so use with care!

 

5 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Looks good, that's quite a decent clamp you've got, I either use the Mk1 hand clamp until the parts stay in place or a combination of bands, tape and pegs if it needs to be clamped for longer.

I can recommend them. Tape/bands do work well though!

I'm not sure if a strong clamp produces a stronger joint? I suspect it does and my models seem to be more robust since I started clamping more tightly...

 

5 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

I was hoping that more WIPs would appear but it seems to be just us two sharing our builds for now 😕 Come on Britmodeller! Don't you all want to build some Vulcans?

I must admit, I was expecting a few on WIP's with this kit!

 

I found my photos of XL426, taken a decade ago. She looks far smarter now, having received plenty of TLC over the past ten years. A gratuitous shot to start (I have previous with these, you should see my 747-436 build!😆). Here's XH558 approaching XL426 for a flypast at Southend:

 

vul1.jpg

 

Inside the cockpit (note that the central windscreen wiper is present on this aircraft):

 

p2.jpg

 

The ladder up to the cockpit, showing the fire extinguishers (top) and bomb aiming window (bottom):

 

p1.jpg

 

The view from between the pilot's seats, down the access ladders to the nose gear. Note the centre seat at the back, which is accurately portrayed in the kit:

 

p3.jpg

 

The rear station, with a large flat working area and side window: 

 

p4.jpg

 

Plenty of details there if somebody ever decides to do a PE cockpit kit for this model! A shame it would not be seen unless you have a removable canopy...? 🤔

 

Back to the build... The next set of components, including the cone for the nose weight, the rear cockpit panel (the busy looking bit in the above photo!), internal cockpit access ladder and fire extinguishers:

 

10.jpg

 

The lead was an offcut from a builder who was fixing a roof - very useful to have! This was fixed with silicon and work on painting has begun:

 

b1.jpg

 

I will let it all dry overnight and hopefully do some more tomorrow. 👍

 

 

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13 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Will you be going the what if route with late serial B2s it was intended for or making one of the development aircraft? 

Development aircraft are my thing so that route is mapped out for me, was it the late serial B2's that would have carried four Skybolt?

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Coming along nicely, it is a shame that little of it will be visible when everything is closed up.

Lead sheet is very useful for noseweights, I was given some about 25 years ago and still have a little left.

I belong to a target shooting club here so I scavenge around for spent rounds when everyone is finished shooting and I have a bag full of assorted lead shapes to choose from.

 

John

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4 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

Development aircraft are my thing so that route is mapped out for me, was it the late serial B2's that would have carried four Skybolt?

No, the B2s as far as I'm aware would only have been capable of carrying two. It was later projected variants that were never built which were intended to carry more.

If you're going with XH537 or XH538 (the Skybolt development ones), you'll need to make narrow intakes, thankfully it doesn't look too bad with the new kit.

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11 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Coming along nicely, it is a shame that little of it will be visible when everything is closed up.

Thanks John 👍. There is a certain irony about this stage of the build -  I'm doing the work, but to a basic standard...😉

 

11 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Lead sheet is very useful for noseweights, I was given some about 25 years ago and still have a little left.

I think my supply should last that long too! 😄

 

3 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

Sorry for the chit chat @Back in the Saddle back on course now....:winkgrin:

Chit chat is encouraged!

 

I have finished the cockpit painting. The view from the front:

 

c1.jpg

 

And from behind:

 

c2.jpg

 

It's a bit rough in places, but as it will almost certainly not be seen I'm not going to lose any sleep over this... As an aside, I was not impressed by the decals as I had huge issues getting these to work... Anybody else had problems with these?

 

The clamp is in use again, holding the rear bulkhead in place:

 

c3.jpg

 

A decal for this area would have been nice, but perhaps it will be invisible once the cockpit is closed up...?

 

Gluing the weighted nose cone on caused a few problems. If I build another Vulcan, I will attach this a bit later - gravity caused it to roll away from the required position too often! 😁

 

Getting the nose finished is next then on to the bomb bay...!

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Nice cockpit work there Matt. I understand the bomb bay has some decent detail in it. Do you plan to leave that open?

 

Back in 1969, at a cadet camp at RAF Scampton, I got to climb all over some Vulcans. They took us inside the cockpit and even gave us a tour of the Blue Steel servicing hanger. An incredible experience at that age (I was 15) especially at one of the UK's main operational bases for the type. I think I'll have to build one at some point. This thread is a great nostalgic trip for me!

 

Terry

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Me too, I went on a visit to Woodford with my ATC squadron and at one point we all stood on a platform just under the bomb bay ( about 30 of us ) while our guide told us how many miles of wiring went into each aircraft, unfortunately I can’t remember the figure now.

Incidentally there was a black Valiant skulking in the corner which no one wanted to talk about.

 

John

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14 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Nice cockpit work there Matt. I understand the bomb bay has some decent detail in it. Do you plan to leave that open?

Cheers Terry. Yes, the bomb bay will be open - but I have a question for @Adam Poultney regarding that in a moment...😉

 

14 hours ago, Terry1954 said:

Back in 1969, at a cadet camp at RAF Scampton, I got to climb all over some Vulcans. They took us inside the cockpit and even gave us a tour of the Blue Steel servicing hanger. An incredible experience at that age (I was 15) especially at one of the UK's main operational bases for the type. I think I'll have to build one at some point. This thread is a great nostalgic trip for me!

It's certainly an interesting aircraft to look around - I was surprised how cramped it was inside, given the size of the airframe. There's not much of it designated for the crew! 😁

 

3 hours ago, Biggles87 said:

Incidentally there was a black Valiant skulking in the corner which no one wanted to talk about.

 

I wonder why...? Maybe @Terry1954 is right! 😁

 

Anyway, onto my question for Adam... I want to portray my model as the 'A' scheme option - XM594 with the white undersides and camouflaged upper surface. Would this airframe have ever have carried a conventional bomb load as shown on the 'B' scheme model? I want to have the bomb bay open, but I'm not sure if this would be wrong for this aircraft given the note at the top of page 10...

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8 hours ago, Back in the Saddle said:

Anyway, onto my question for Adam... I want to portray my model as the 'A' scheme option - XM594 with the white undersides and camouflaged upper surface. Would this airframe have ever have carried a conventional bomb load as shown on the 'B' scheme model? I want to have the bomb bay open, but I'm not sure if this would be wrong for this aircraft given the note at the top of page 10..

From my thread:

XM594 in freefall bomber configuration c.1973. Some Vulcans kept their Type D roundels well into the 70s

Photograph

I immediately noticed that you'll need to use the later UHF aerials, which were painted yellow, and by this point TFR was installed. Less obvious is the ECM tailcone tip, in the kit scheme you'd need to just leave it as is, with the slightly less bulbous, more rounded part which housed Orange Putter. In the 1973 scheme, you'll need to use the alternate part provided for Red Steer Mk.2 which had a longer and more bulbous housing.

They really didn't make this easy with so many strange names in the same format... Blue Steel, Red Steer, Orange Putter, Yellow Sun, Blue Danube, Red Shrimp, Violet Club, etc...

 

 

Basically, when Blue Steel was retired, they all went back to freefall configuration. By then a few changes had been made (eg introduction of TFR) so it isn't as simple as just butting on the regular bomb bay (and they couldn't be easily reconfigured when Blue Steel was in service, hence the split Vulcan fleet with half Blue Steel half free fall)

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Time to get the nose finished and take a look at the clear sprue:

 

j.jpg

 

All very crisp and transparent! Incidentally, the entire nose was built from one sprue, so if Airfix ever wanted to they could potentially release a 'nose only' model  using that sprue and the clear sprue - I'm sure @Adam Poultneywould be up for a few of these!

 

A close up of the side window, which is nicely engineered for easy placement - the tapered fitting is great! Not the best quality photo, but you can hopefully see what I mean:

 

4.jpg

 

The sides of the nose had the windows attached then painted dark grey. I intentionally painted over the interior of the windows too, so they would look very dark from the outside. The bomb aimer's window is also in place:

 

fnh.jpg

 

The clamp was pressed into service again to glue the first side into place:

 

n1.jpg

 

And then once this had set I glued the other half into position as carefully as I could, securing it with tape:

 

n2.jpg

 

The fit was a tiny bit too neat - possibly some enamel in the way at the edges of the cockpit? I'm sure some filler will smooth things over! The worst area is behind the seats, which will be hidden by the canopy 👍.

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Looking forward to your build for obvious reasons!!  Can I ask which pains you are using for the camo?  I only ask because it asks for the Humbrol enamel which I have not tried for years, and I will be AB'ing.

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On 7/1/2021 at 10:28 PM, Steve Coombs said:

Absolutely. I still remember the Vulcan at the RAF Abingdon Battle of Britain Display in 1980, when the weather could generously be described as overcast. The Vulcan came in fast and low under the cloud at what couldn't have been more than 300m agl and vibrated everything within range. My jeans fluttered (and they were not flares).

That was also the year I got into the cockpit of one of 44 Squadron's machines in the static display. With permission, of course. I found it a bit cramped for my lanky frame.

Not as svelte these days, alas...

Some years later, I was allowed into the cockpit of one of 55's Victors. I doubt very much anyone's allowed on board the Valiant at Cosford. Does anyone know if there is entry to the Valiant cockpit at Brooklands, so I can notch up the trio of V-bombers?

The Valiant cockpit at Cosford was opened in February 2017, along with those of the Victor and Vulcan, for a special V Bomber event. It was a supposed to be a one-off and predictably was extremely well attended. 

Edited by avro683
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On 7/6/2021 at 3:57 PM, Adam Poultney said:

Looks good, that's quite a decent clamp you've got, I either use the Mk1 hand clamp until the parts stay in place or a combination of bands, tape and pegs if it needs to be clamped for longer.

 

I was hoping that more WIPs would appear but it seems to be just us two sharing our builds for now 😕 Come on Britmodeller! Don't you all want to build some Vulcans?

 

I haven’t received mine yet!

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16 minutes ago, avro683 said:

The Valiant cockpit at Cosford was opened in February 2017, along with those of the Victor and Vulcan, for a special V Bomber event. It was a supposed to be a one-off and predictably was extremely well attended. 

How did they access the Vulcan? You'd need a pretty big ladder. Or was it the B1 cockpit they have in storage?

 

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5 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

How did they access the Vulcan? You'd need a pretty big ladder. Or was it the B1 cockpit they have in storage?

 

Special entry platforms were set up in the Cold War Hangar alongside each aircraft, except for the Vulcan where the standard crew entry door was open. The only one I could (barely 🙂) see into from my wheelchair was the Victor because the door opens rather wide. @stever219 was with me armed with both of our cameras to take pictures. It was a “Grand Day Out”!

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On 09/07/2021 at 12:44, Andy350 said:

Looking forward to your build for obvious reasons!!  Can I ask which pains you are using for the camo?  I only ask because it asks for the Humbrol enamel which I have not tried for years, and I will be AB'ing.

Thanks Andy. 👍 I intend to use the Humbrol enamels as suggested by Airfix. I've used them before with excellent results, but beware if you are using old stock - they had a few dodgy batches several years ago! The new tins should perform well.

 

On 10/07/2021 at 15:55, avro683 said:

I haven’t received mine yet!

It's worth waiting for - hope you get it soon!

 

For some reason I seem to have little spare time at the moment for hobbies...🙄 However, I managed to finish the nose and applied some filler on a few areas to tidy it up - I will post pictures once I've sanded this section. In the meantime, work on the bomb bay is going well. Here are the parts:

 

bb.jpg

 

Rear spar at the top, bomb bay sides beneath that, then the front spar in the middle. Bottom left are the helpfully numbered formers and bottom right are the bits they glue onto. Once assembled we get the basic shape of the bomb bay:

 

bb1.jpg

 

The wing brace is next - here are the parts:

 

bce.jpg

 

A bit of cleaning up required, but nothing too critical - nothing glues onto the areas where the numerous tabs are located.👍

 

The wing lower halves have guides molded into them for the above pieces, which can be seen below around the gear area and towards the back of the wing:

 

wlw.jpg

 

The high lighted areas need to be cut away for the Blue Steel version of the aircraft and should be relatively easy to remove (if required). Incidentally, if building the Blue Steel version of the Vulcan all the detail in the bomb bay cannot be seen, which is why I'm going for the conventional free fall bomb option! It would be a shame to hide the bomb bay structure...

 

Finally a look at how the wing halves join together. There are tabs molded onto one side (high lighted orange, below), which align the wing with the other side and strengthen the joint:

 

wll.jpg

 

It sounds good in theory - I should find out soon how well it works in practice!

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