New Tool Vulcan B2 - "rivet counted" build X2 - second build now active

[Rabbit Leader]

9 hours ago, Harrier/ViperFan said:

Looks like it need a lot of work due to errors i might have to pass i think.

I wouldn’t call these ‘errors’, they are just lumps and bumps that have been added to the airframe over time for various ECM or weapons fit outs. They are ‘accurate’ depending on the scheme you choose.
 

What we are trying to understand is what ‘perhaps’ is not required, subject to the particular Vulcan serial and year of service the modeller wishes to portray. We are very fortunate that Adam knows his Vulcans better than most of us know the back of our hands!

Cheers.. Dave 

[Rabbit Leader]

2 hours ago, Harrier/ViperFan said:

Edited July 4, 2021 by Rabbit Leader

[Martian]

On 02/07/2021 at 22:19, PhantomBigStu said:

Nah will resist despite the temptation given I’ve only just got myself a victor (which I will be building soon), he says knowing there’s very good chance having consumed a few beverages during the england game I’ll accidentally click a buy button somewhere 

In that case, more power to the beverages says I. Anyway, I'm sure you were brought up to be a polite Earthling and it would be rude of you not to buy one after Airfix have been to all this trouble to give us a state of the art Vulcan.

 

Foul Temptress of Mars 👽

[WV908]

At this point I'm just wondering how long it will take @Adam Poultney to convert one of these new kits into a B.1 haha

 

I'm tempted to try and do it, but at £60 a kit I have plenty of preserved builds I want to do first that I'll already never get around to.

 

Cheers,

WV908

[Martian]

10 hours ago, WV908 said:

I'm tempted to try and do it, but at £60 a kit I have plenty of preserved builds I want to do first that I'll already never get around to.

Since when has the size of one's stash ever has anything to do with it?

 

Martian 👽 (Existing in an ever expanding stashiverse since star date 08.1967.)

[Fritag]

21 hours ago, Jamie @ Sovereign Hobbies said:

This is great. I approve of such attention to detail. It's very refreshing to see such attention to detail given the hostility one often sees against people who actually know anything by people who prefer not to.

 

I'll follow along and try to learn a bit about Vulcans

 

21 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

I love this level of research in an aircraft I'm interested in. Being pedantic over someone else's build where it isn't welcome or asked for isn't great, but where someone is wanting to get the best model they can I see no problem with checking every last detail.

On this thread, every detail will be checked and double checked to the limits of my modelling abilities (let's be real, that's the limiting factor here), and if I miss something... I want to know about it. 

 

Couldn’t agree more with these views.

 

Knowledge and expertise should surely be prized, and expertise so generously and unselfishly shared as Adam is doing here (in the best traditions of BM) is doubly to be valued (it’s the complete antithesis of being an unwelcome pedant on someone else’s build ).

 

My Dad did his national service as a radar technician on a Valiant Squadron; and I tanked from a Victor lots of times - however the Vulcan, despite being the most iconic V bomber is the one I’m least familiar with, so like Jamie I’ll follow along and try to learn a bit about Vulcans 

 

Steve

 

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Fritag

[woody37]

Just caught up with this build and loving your approach to educating us on the various iterations of the Vulcan life span Adam. I'm far from being a Vulcan expert so appreciating your thread, it will be a great reference guide. Looking forwards to more instalments  

[Adam Poultney]

2 hours ago, WV908 said:

At this point I'm just wondering how long it will take @Adam Poultney to convert one of these new kits into a B.1 haha

 

I'm tempted to try and do it, but at £60 a kit I have plenty of preserved builds I want to do first that I'll already never get around to.

 

Cheers,

WV908

I did want to try it, but it ain't happening now... Not enough time before I'm off to uni to start cutting these up. Perhaps a project for next summer.

[Adam Poultney]

 

 

14 hours ago, DaveJL said:

Your passion for Vulcans is clear to see in this thread! Nice work mate!

 

My kit arrived this morning and I’m itching to get it started (though it’s not on my build planner for the year!)

 

Just start it now, you know you want to! 

14 hours ago, DaveJL said:

 

I’ll be tapping into your knowledge whenever I come to build mine. I’ll probably get aftermarket decals for either a 9 or 12 Sqn machine.

 

You shouldn't need aftermarket for 12 Sqn, the kit has those decals included, unless of course you want to do another aircraft on the squadron such as XH560, in which case check photos because some of them had various pennants next to the roundel which you will need to source from somewhere else.

 

10 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Once again Adam, excellent work and I’m almost ashamed to say that many of us will be freely benefiting from your numerous hours of thorough Vulcan research. I’m sure many more WIP’s will occur once this beautiful kit gets distributed worldwide. The Scheme A hints and tips are most welcomed, now awaiting your notes on the Anti-Flash white scheme B. 

Cheers and many thanks.. Dave 
 

 

Well I'm quite enjoying this so the more in depth research I can share the better. I will try to get Scheme B written up this afternoon; it will be much easier than scheme A, it's plain white so no worrying about exactly which version of camouflage was applied. 

10 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

Now although this great kit hasn’t quite hit the Australian Hobby store shelves as yet, it’s led me to pull down my new tool Airfix Blue Steel Victor from the stash cupboard. I’m now wondering what other minor differences may exist between some of the kits ‘let’s call them’ generic parts to what may have been fitted for a particular serial when in active service. A similar Victor thread just like this would be most helpful, unfortunately I’m not clued up enough on the subject to attempt to go there.. has this been done before / any takers? 
 

Cheers.. Dave 

I'm nowhere near as knowledgeable on the Victor but give me a few months and a Victor kit or three and I'll have a rivet counting thread up 😂

Certainly the Airfix Victor is very generically accurate, with only one error in the plastic that I know of (a missing intake on the wing root in one side that was removed on K2s, which is why it was missed; all surviving MK2 Victors are K2s) and overall great shape. The B.Mk.2R kit is pretty good, but I see some people putting a standard bomb bay on it, which is incorrect; similar to the Vulcan, fitting Blue Steel was an extensive refit that couldn't be undone in an afternoon. 

The specifics with various blisters, aerials and other tiny details are where I get lost and am just copying what I see in photos. 

 

10 hours ago, Harrier/ViperFan said:

I have the Victor and missed out on the Valant, i totally forgot that the Vulcan was coming out as a new tool. Looks like it need a lot of work due to errors i might have to pass i think.

It's really not a lot of work, remember that I am rivet counting this to no end. The standard of accuracy in this kit are as high as Airfix's standards have ever been. Most of the "errors" aren't really errors as such, more so just parts which were added later and need to be removed from earlier aircraft; I think the best way to do the Skybolt blisters for example is exactly what they have done here, put them all on so you can remove the ones that need to go. The actually inaccurate parts mostly come from the way XM594 is displayed at Newark, I think over-reliance on LIDAR scans is causing some problems for Airfix. They are great for basic shape and some details, but museums make alterations for preservation reasons, or display aircraft in configurations which would never have been seen while in service. The recent F86 kit suffers from this problem, I think it's something like adaptors for jacking up the aircraft or something which were left in place on the one they scanned are now in the kit. I'm sure someone can clarify what's wrong with that kit better than I can.

 

 

[DaveJL]

1 minute ago, Adam Poultney said:

 

 

Just start it now, you know you want to! 

You shouldn't need aftermarket for 12 Sqn, the kit has those decals included, unless of course you want to do another aircraft on the squadron such as XH560, in which case check photos because some of them had various pennants next to the roundel which you will need to source from somewhere else.

 

 

I do, but I've just so many GBs that I've entered  

 

My plan was to do the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan all around the same time. Valiant will be anti -flash white, Victor in Op Granby colours and the Vulcan in some sort of camouflage.

[Adam Poultney]

6 hours ago, Martian said:

In that case, more power to the beverages says I. Anyway, I'm sure you were brought up to be a polite Earthling and it would be rude of you not to buy one after Airfix have been to all this trouble to give us a state of the art Vulcan.

 

Foul Temptress of Mars 👽

I agree! It would be very rude not to purchase at least one of these

31 minutes ago, woody37 said:

Just caught up with this build and loving your approach to educating us on the various iterations of the Vulcan life span Adam. I'm far from being a Vulcan expert so appreciating your thread, it will be a great reference guide. Looking forwards to more instalments  

Hopefully by the end of this thread you will have learnt enough to at least be a top grade Vulcan student 😂

Just now, DaveJL said:

I do, but I've just so many GBs that I've entered  

 

My plan was to do the Valiant, Victor and Vulcan all around the same time. Valiant will be anti -flash white, Victor in Op Granby colours and the Vulcan in some sort of camouflage.

A V Force triple build? Now that's something I can't wait to see!

59 minutes ago, Fritag said:

 

 

Couldn’t agree more with these views.

 

Knowledge and expertise should surely be prized, and expertise so generously and unselfishly shared as Adam is doing here (in the best traditions of BM) is doubly to be valued (it’s the complete antithesis of being an unwelcome pedant on someone else’s build ).

 

 

 

Well no point in just sitting on this knowledge and quietly building my kit, that's no fun. I'm enjoying this every bit as much as the actual build itself.

 

[AliGauld]

Adam, I like to add my thanks to you for all the work you have put into this to make life easier for us mere mortals.

I've got the thread pinned and when ParcelForce deign to actually deliver mine I can use this as the ultimate reference along with Craig Bulman's tome which I managed to pick up.

One wee question though. Are there pylons in the kit as I want to do XM597 in Rio. I've got some shrike missiles and I can nick the jammer from my Buccaneer but would like to know if I need to source the pylons.

 

 

Cheers and Many Thanks,

Alistair

[Adam Poultney]

4 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

Adam, I like to add my thanks to you for all the work you have put into this to make life easier for us mere mortals.

I've got the thread pinned and when ParcelForce deign to actually deliver mine I can use this as the ultimate reference along with Craig Bulman's tome which I managed to pick up.

One wee question though. Are there pylons in the kit as I want to do XM597 in Rio. I've got some shrike missiles and I can nick the jammer from my Buccaneer but would like to know if I need to source the pylons.

 

 

Cheers and Many Thanks,

Alistair

No pylons are included, you can get some from the old tool kit though, I think with a little effort they will fit

[AliGauld]

Just now, Adam Poultney said:

No pylons are included, you can get some from the old tool kit though, I think with a little effort they will fit

Oh well I'll need to source some then as I used them when I built the original kit.

 

Thanks for that.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Adam Poultney]

Just now, AliGauld said:

Oh well I'll need to source some then as I used them when I built the original kit.

 

Thanks for that.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

I'm sure someone will have some going spare they're happy to let you have

[Adam Poultney]

Scheme B - XM602 in 1962

 

Photo from @cherry268

 

This one should be a little easier than scheme A, firstly no camouflage variants to worry about, and secondary it was apparently for this kit because of the configuration closely matching the plastic. Scroll back to the first post if you get lost on what some of these parts are.

 

Right so, XM602 was equipped with a full set of Skybolt blisters. You will not have to remove any. The jetpipes are clearly those of an Olympus 301 powered Vulcan, although you don't need to see the jetpipes or other 301 features to know this. XL391 (B2 No.41) was the first Vulcan produced with Olympus 301s as it was held back on the production line, and all Vulcans produced from XM574 (B2 No.55) onwards were equipped with Olympus 301s from the production line. A number of earlier Vulcans were later refitted with 301s (XH557, XJ784, XL384-390). As XM602 was after XM574, we know it must have Olympus 301s, the picture only further confirms this. 

 

As with all white Vulcans, it did not have a TFR blister or RWR fairing (squared tail cap) in this configuration, so you should use the smooth nose part and the original rounded tail cap. Remember to eliminate the seam from attaching the nose tip; it does not follow any real panel line. You should leave the panel lines for the recessed lamps in place, even though there is no IFR probe, these were installed on the production line from the early XL batch onwards iirc. It is likely that the hole for the IFR probe was cut on the production line also and covered until the IFR probe was installed.

 

This Vulcan was configured as a freefall bomber, so the standard bomb bay should be used. The Blue Steel airframes were XH539, XL317 to XM595 (excluding XL391 and XM574 for a total of 34 Vulcans). As XM602 was a freefall Vulcan, it only had one ECM plate (as mentioned before all 24 twin ECM Vulcans were Blue Steel aircraft). The single ECM plate went under the right wing as per the instructions in the kit. 

 

Air oil separator pipes should be used as is indicated by the instructions. 

 

Early style UHF aerials should be used.

 

The red anti collision light covers should be removed as they were introduced c.1966.

 

As with XM594, the square Doppler radar needs to go and the panel should be black not tan. 

 

XM602 was equipped with a single emitter head X-Band jammer, which was later replaced with a twin emitter head version. For 1962 the single emitter jammer should be used. 

 

 

Note:

The only complete white Vulcan currently in existence is XM603 at Woodford (coincidentally at the same place as XM602's cockpit section). Although the museum there has done a remarkable job of making her look the part, it isn't entirely true to the original configuration due to simple limitations on how much you can backdate a Vulcan within the budget they have. For example, it has the TFR mod with a cap in place of the blister, these mods weren't done until after white schemes were phased out. I would strongly advice against using XM603 as specific reference material for the configuration of white Vulcans, and the same goes for the cockpit of XL388 which is painted white.

[Jack Ruskin]

anybody know what became of the 'Vulcans in Camera' website ?

[Adam Poultney]

4 minutes ago, Jack Ruskin said:

anybody know what became of the 'Vulcans in Camera' website ?

disappeared along with all its photos a year or two ago. Since then it's been hard to find photos of some airframes online. No idea what happened, the guy who ran it is very difficult to contact (I gather he always had been). 

[Adam Poultney]

And now to painting up some of the cockpit. Vulcan cockpits are dark and not very spacious. You'd probably have to get to about 1/32 scale before you start worrying about having the the interior perfectly accurate, and although I'm rivet counting this build, it's not worth it on the interior. I usually don't even bother putting it in anymore on 1/144 and 1/200 Vulcans; in fact my 1/200 Vulcan B1a has its canopy panels painted black. 

That said, I still decided to use some.... not etch? These are actually 3D printed decals by Kitsworld, not horrible etch parts (I really don't get along with etch!). They are super easy to use and look as good as etch. Although I don't think much of the regular decal sheet Kitsworld make for Vulcans, so far these ones have been brilliant. 

The first criticism I have for this is a lack of instructions, if you don't have access to a lot of vulcan reference material or don't know them that well (and I'm not going to even pretend to be as familiar with the interior of Vulcans as the exterior), you may struggle with getting some of these in the right place. Others are more obvious. 

The only other thing so far that I don't like is that the adhesive could be stronger, the instrument panel kept on curling and popping off of the part it is supposed to be applied to. Kitsworld suggest using some watered down PVA if this happens, it didn't really help so I used a few very carefully applied droplets of CA glue which seemed to do the trick and then applied PVA around the edge.

 

 

 

Edited July 4, 2021 by Adam Poultney

[Jack Ruskin]

1 hour ago, Adam Poultney said:

disappeared along with all its photos a year or two ago. Since then it's been hard to find photos of some airframes online. No idea what happened, the guy who ran it is very difficult to contact (I gather he always had been). 

 

 

ok thanks Adam

[Adam Poultney]

The second set of 3D decals is missing the upper panel decal 😡 Don't want to delay build 2 to wait for a replacement, oh well it'll hardly be visible anyway.

 

 

[WV908]

2 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

 Although I don't think much of the regular decal sheet Kitsworld make for Vulcans

 

Oh... Is there anything particularly wrong with these? I was looking at picking up a set to compliment the fundekals sheet I already have (with it's undersized roundels)

 

Cheers,

  WV908

[Adam Poultney]

Just now, WV908 said:

 

Oh... Is there anything particularly wrong with these? I was looking at picking up a set to compliment the fundekals sheet I already have (with it's undersized roundels)

 

Cheers,

  WV908

didn't think the Fündekal ones were undersized? 

The Kitsworld ones are very undersized and extremely thick. Not convinced by the accuracy of some of the Sqn markings but would have to check

[WV908]

3 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

didn't think the Fündekal ones were undersized? 

The Kitsworld ones are very undersized and extremely thick. Not convinced by the accuracy of some of the Sqn markings but would have to check

 

I'll have to compare the fundekal ones with the kit decals, but thanks, you've saved me a tenner

 

I have more Vulcan decal sheets than I can wave a stick at and I know some have undersized roundels, I just forget which. 

 

Cheers,

 WV908

[Screech]

Ummm, what's wrong with the Fundekal Sheet for the Vulcan??