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

[Tornado 01]

If I hadn't mentioned it before, yep that is me standing on the ladder of 657 in December 81, a month before it was retired to Manston and survived till about 1991ish

 

They originally dug a hole and lowered its nose leg in, to simulate a large aircraft undercarriage collapse. When I finally got a trip organised to see it in 1992 ish they had already torched it. XL386 was still there alas it had a large square area cut out of the nose to do aircrew rescue the easier way from memory

 

K.2 XJ825 at Waddington was chopped up in early 1992 also from memory

 

Tim

[stever219]

39 minutes ago, Tornado 01 said:

If I hadn't mentioned it before, yep that is me standing on the ladder of 657 in December 81, a month before it was retired to Manston and survived till about 1991ish

 

They originally dug a hole and lowered its nose leg in, to simulate a large aircraft undercarriage collapse. When I finally got a trip organised to see it in 1992 ish they had already torched it. XL386 was still there alas it had a large square area cut out of the nose to do aircrew rescue the easier way from memory

 

K.2 XJ825 at Waddington was chopped up in early 1992 also from memory

 

Tim

My best man's late father was at Manston at the time that '388 and '657 arrived. arrived.  I think that the former had a set of engines with very few hours on them and the question was asked by Manston of the late operators "What do you want done with them?"  The reply came back "Drop 'em out and we'll send someone down for 'em."  Apparently they were still sat on a set of dollies under her when the scrap man came to call......

[Tornado 01]

Not there when I saw it on the main burning pan, I assume that they burnt it art some point after my visit post 1992. Although reports from there were few and far between in the days before the internet  spotters networks got going

[Adam Poultney]

So I started applying the decals yesterday. I don't have nearly enough references on Vulcan stencil markings of that era so I'm going to have to trust that they got most of them right. To be fair Airfix generally are pretty good with their decals, but they do make some mistakes.

So far they have applied really well, down into the panel lines no problem.

 

Pretty happy with how everything lines up. White could have maybe been another half mm further down but it's as close as I'm going to get on a model. The roundel lines up with the bottom of the camo and the panel line along the fuselage bisects it. A great way to measure where to mask is to blue tack on a circle the size of the roundel, which you can accurately place with the panel line as a reference.

 

 

Wheels! 18 of them. Used a chrome pen and a wash to tone it way down; they should not be shiny. I used the pen because I suck at painting wheels and am never happy with them, decided this might work better for me and I was right. Iirc the Victor used the exact same main wheels so I should get some ones from an Airfix Victor to compare with.....

 

Well I have a driving test in an hour so that's going to be fun. Hopefully I pass first time.... Next up after that, maybe pilot's license one day? 

 

 

 

[Andy350]

1 hour ago, Adam Poultney said:

So I started applying the decals yesterday. I don't have nearly enough references on Vulcan stencil markings of that era so I'm going to have to trust that they got most of them right. To be fair Airfix generally are pretty good with their decals, but they do make some mistakes.

So far they have applied really well, down into the panel lines no problem.

 

Pretty happy with how everything lines up. White could have maybe been another half mm further down but it's as close as I'm going to get on a model. The roundel lines up with the bottom of the camo and the panel line along the fuselage bisects it. A great way to measure where to mask is to blue tack on a circle the size of the roundel, which you can accurately place with the panel line as a reference.

 

 

Wheels! 18 of them. Used a chrome pen and a wash to tone it way down; they should not be shiny. I used the pen because I suck at painting wheels and am never happy with them, decided this might work better for me and I was right. Iirc the Victor used the exact same main wheels so I should get some ones from an Airfix Victor to compare with.....

 

Well I have a driving test in an hour so that's going to be fun. Hopefully I pass first time.... Next up after that, maybe pilot's license one day? 

 

 

 

Great job Adam.  Certainly made this look an easier job than my effort.  When you come to fix on the small parts, antennas etc, will they just be brushed painted after?

[Adam Poultney]

1 hour ago, Andy350 said:

Great job Adam.  Certainly made this look an easier job than my effort.  When you come to fix on the small parts, antennas etc, will they just be brushed painted after?

They should all be airbrushed (on sprue, just cover ones i've done with tape)

[AliGauld]

3 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Well I have a driving test in an hour so that's going to be fun

The Vulcan is looking absolutely splendid.

Hope you didn't do what I did on my first test and stall the car 17 times trying to leave the test centre. 

The Examiner told me afterwards that I was the first person ever to fail before getting out on the open road.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

[Adam Poultney]

45 minutes ago, AliGauld said:

The Vulcan is looking absolutely splendid.

Hope you didn't do what I did on my first test and stall the car 17 times trying to leave the test centre. 

The Examiner told me afterwards that I was the first person ever to fail before getting out on the open road.

 

Cheers,

Alistair

I passed it with one minor fault, mine was one of the one in three tests that require you to do an emergency stop and I caught my foot on the underside of the brake pedal so was a little slow stopping. 

Said I drove very well and was quite impressed. Got chatting a little about Vulcans actually since I have a vulcan t shirt on today and he said he'd seen it fly once so that probably helped a bit 😂

Obviously didn't do it in Hinckley then if no one had failed before getting to the road! Here our test centre is in a small row of shops and if you go out of the car park wrong you'll fail, you've got to stop before the pavement, go onto it, then turn onto the road, then an immediate and very sharp turn onto the main road. Lots of failures before getting onto the road here! 

[Back in the Saddle]

6 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Used a chrome pen

I've just bought one of those and am impressed with the finish.

 

Your Vulcan is looking splendid! And congrats on passing your test too!👍

[Adam Poultney]

Just looking at see l stencil decals, there are two pairs of decal 26. The "DO NOT STEP" markings are one way up on one pair and the other way up on the other pair. I just kind of assumed they'd be facing outwards so you can read them on approach to the area to avoid stepping on, but will two of them face the wrong way. Instead I've gone with readable from the front of the aircraft. It'll be annoying if I've got this wrong but honestly this is small enough that I won't be bothered too much. If anyone has any proof of how these should be oriented then I'd love to see it, or in fact any good reference material for early camo stencils.

 

Decal 14 I believe is incorrect. This more visible marking for the location of the bomb bay inspection panel with a central white circle was introduced c.1968 and was applied fleetwide within a few years. It's a couple of years too late for this kit's camo scheme.

 

 

Edited August 23, 2021 by Adam Poultney

[Adam Poultney]

41 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

 

 

 

An additional detail to note is on decal 19. The canopy release handle (vertical and painted yellow, at the end of the arrow) was not painted on some aircraft that went through the refits around 1966-67 fairly early. XM603 is an example of one of these and its canopy release handle remained camouflaged for quite a few years afterwards, at least until after it was fitted with TFR in the 1970s. 

It's not confirmed but XM594 may have been one of the airframes which didn't receive the yellow handle, so I will be removing it from the decal before applying it.

 

[XrayLima]

8 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Just looking at see l stencil decals, there are two pairs of decal 26. The "DO NOT STEP" markings are one way up on one pair and the other way up on the other pair. I just kind of assumed they'd be facing outwards so you can read them on approach to the area to avoid stepping on, but will two of them face the wrong way. Instead I've gone with readable from the front of the aircraft. It'll be annoying if I've got this wrong but honestly this is small enough that I won't be bothered too much. If anyone has any proof of how these should be oriented then I'd love to see it, or in fact any good reference material for early camo stencils.

 

There must have been a number of variations over the years so this may not help your build but XL426's late camouflage scheme has no words, just the yellow footprint with a red cross through it, which also appear elsewhere on the aircraft.

 .

 

[Selwyn]

On 7/5/2021 at 2:58 PM, Retired Bob said:

Guilty as charged (being a damn rivet counter)  I have decided to build XL 317 of 617 Sqn so I need the 201 engine parts and some decent 617 Sqn badges, I have the pink lightning bolts for the tail from the AirDecal Anti Flash Vulcan sheet #7216 but their unit badges are lacking in detail, I'm hoping FunDekal get back online soon to meet my Vulcan decal needs (they told me 20 months ago they would be re-issuing their 1/72nd Vulcan sheet when Airfix released the new kit)  In the meantime I can remove the de-icing vents and Skybolt fairings, only the starboard ECM plate was fitted but why it is photographed in colour carrying a pale blue Blue Steel missile?  If it were for a firing or drop test the usual method of aiding ballistic photos was blocks of bright colour like red or day-glo but all over pale blue, anyone have any info on why?

Bob see here re blue steel colours.

 

Selwyn

[Adam Poultney]

10 hours ago, XrayLima said:

There must have been a number of variations over the years so this may not help your build but XL426's late camouflage scheme has no words, just the yellow footprint with a red cross through it, which also appear elsewhere on the aircraft.

 .

 

Very useful! Not for this build as I think they did change, but for my 1/144s since no one can seem to agree on how this style of stencil should look

[SallysDad]

_{Your paint job is great. I like it better than the firm , exact lines.}

[Adam Poultney]

On 24/08/2021 at 20:58, SallysDad said:

_{Your paint job is great. I like it better than the firm , exact lines.}

Thanks!

 

Minor update, I've been applying more stencils. They aren't as densely applied as on a Phantom, but due to the Vulcan's sheer size there are quite a lot to get through. 

No pictures for now, I'll wait until they're all done.

 

I will be participating in the Blitzbuild this weekend so it may be a few days until I get them finished

Edited August 27, 2021 by Adam Poultney

[XrayLima]

If anyone wants reference detail to model the airbrakes in the open position here is the lower airbrake to complement the pictures of the upper ones which I posted earlier.

 

[robvulcan]

Great thread just had a read through the whole lot.

an a fantastic looking build.

can’t wait to start mine soon. I’m just struggling to decided which one to do.

best finish some of the others off first.

cheers Rob

[Adam Poultney]

On 05/09/2021 at 12:11, robvulcan said:

Great thread just had a read through the whole lot.

an a fantastic looking build.

can’t wait to start mine soon. I’m just struggling to decided which one to do.

best finish some of the others off first.

cheers Rob

Whatever you do I'm sure it'll be great! Can't wait to see it

[Adam Poultney]

Sooooo update time!

That's the underside stencils done. Can't see half of them; if you're just building a vulcan because you want a vulcan and don't care for the finer details, do yourself a favour and don't bother with most of them. 

 

 

There are thirty nine copies of decal 47 to apply to the upper surfaces. Not tedious in the slightest! Worth it though as you can see them.

 

On the gear again

 

 

 

 

Now this is where stuff started going a little wrong. Vulcans did get dirty sometimes and I decided I'd like mine nice and dirty, a well used Vulcan. I did have an idea of doing this clean at one point but I like dirty planes.

 

image source

 

image source

 

You can see where they'd get dirty; down the underside of each engine and behind the right wheel well. 

 

So since i was doing this as a well used Vulcan, I put on a satin varnish. The gloss used in the first iterations of Vulcan camouflage quickly faded to satin. Then I applied done Flory dark dirt underneath.

 

 

Once most is removed, it should leave just the panel lines shaded but when I went to remove it about an hour after putting it on, it seemed like some had seeped into the satin varnish and wouldn't come off. In trying to remove it, some of the satin came off and the gloss underneath showed through. Some stencils were lost in the process, but these were all around areas which would be particularly dirty so it's not the end of the world. Just very annoying. 

This was obviously quite demotivating and the Vulcan was put aside for a few days. I have since applied another coat of satin to try to fix the glossy patches, but when I went in with weathering powders made from crushed chalk pastels, areas that had only the second layer of satin didn't pick it up anything like as well as areas which never wore through back to the gloss. No photos as of yet of this.

 

Wash applied to the top surfaces went a bit better

 

 

[Adam Poultney]

 

Underside photo, I've also added landing gear doors. Pretty much just the Blue Steel Missile to go now and it'll be done

 

 

[Reparty]

A good looking build.

I'd prefer it if Airfix hadn't broken down the nose profile the way they have as it could introduce unnecessary outline problems, but oh well.

 

Btw, can anyone with the right book tell me when the DSG/DG/white scheme was applied to XM597 and XM600?

I thought it unlikely Adam Tooby's boxart was in error, but I hadn't seen mention of it before.

However, it seems misguided, as I saw a video of a Vulcan in standard MSG/DG flying over Canadian forest tundra at lo-level and it was damn near invisible.

I think any MiG-21 pilot with that restricted vision canopy over Siberian tundra would have had a very hard time visually tracking it.

[Graham Boak]

It was applied because the unit had a maritime role in addition to the deterrent.  I'd have thought a scheme similar to that of the Fleet Air Arm, or a Nimrod, or even the wartime Temperate Sea Scheme, would have been more appropriate, but the RAF has its ways...

[RichG]

On 10/6/2021 at 5:53 PM, Reparty said:

Btw, can anyone with the right book tell me when the DSG/DG/white scheme was applied to XM597 and XM600?

 

Photos of these aircraft in this scheme are few and far between but there is one of XM597 in the scheme earlier in the thread (page 5). As I understand it this was an experimental scheme applied when the aircraft were at Cottesmore with 9 Squadron. This would make it the winter of 1966/67 I think - could possibly be a bit later. Certainly there is a colour photo of XM600 in the scheme on the 35 Squadron flightline (contrasting with the rest in MSG/DG/ White) at RAF Luqa, Malta on 5 March 1968 in Craig Bulman's book The Vulcan B.Mk2 From a Different Angle.

 

These were the only 2 aircraft to carry this scheme. 27 Squadron (the RAF's only dedicated maritime radar recce unit from November 1973 - March 1982) was equipped with the Vulcan B.Mk2 MRR all of which were in MSG/DG/White or later MSG/DG/Light Aircraft Grey.  Late in their lives some of the Vulcan fleet of course received a wrap-around camouflage of Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey.

 

I feel sure BM's Vulcan experts will confirm or correct me if I'm wrong - but hope that helps.

 

Rich

 

 

Edited October 18, 2021 by RichG

[Reparty]

That's great, thanks Rich. It's unlikely I'll make one in that scheme, a silver B1, a white B1A, and possibly a Blue Steel carrier of some description with the more common MSG/DG scheme being quite enough, thank you. But it's nice to know these things. Thanks again.

Edited October 6, 2021 by Reparty