My three new Airfix Vulcan kits and three old one's

[Gondor44]

So I have three of the new Airfix Vulcan kits, I also have three of the old kits as well which I intend to use for project cancelled and what-if builds, waste not, want not.

I had originally thought that I would do each of the new kits in a different camouflage scheme, overall white with a Blue Steel, Light Grey/ Green/ Darker Grey and wrap around. Now I am not so sure and may have to add a fourth kit, which I will wait for the release that uses the RWR fin top and the 201 engine exhausts.

The intention of this thread is to act as not only a build thread, but also a repository for what I am doing with the older kits as well.

So perhaps I should list the ideas I have so far.

1. New Kit: XL361 of 617 Squadron, Blue Steel, Decals from Airdecal 7216
2. New Kit: XM607 Black Buck 1 1982, 21 x 1,000lb bombs
3. New Kit: No idea yet
4. Old Kit: Indian Air Force with 21 x 1,000lb bombs
5. Old Kit: RAF 2 x Skybolt as an operational aircraft
6. Old Kit: Thinking about the Phase Six version

So that's the rough plan at the moment.

Initial research shows that item 1 has Olympus 201's fitted which should be doable without instructions in the kit but with input from here. One problem I know of for this option is a camera mounted somewhere around the bomb aimers station but the picture I saw had no real definition and I didn't know what I was looking for.

Option 2 will mostly be OOB but I am unsure if it carried any underwing pylons and ECM or not and if so what and where?

Option 4 I intend to use parts of the bomb bay not used with option 1 along with some scratch building to create the bomb bay in the old kit, I would also pinch the 301 exhausts from the new kit as it's going to have the 201 engines.

The rest we will see about in time.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

Just noticed that the Blue Steel Spru in the Vulcan new Vulcan kit is from the Victor kit. I did wonder a day or so ago as I thought the tail cone looked odd for a Vulcan.

 

Gondor

 

 

[Murph]

What type of engine exhausts does the kit have?

 

Regards,

Murph

[Gondor44]

The old kit has 301's, no options there. The new kit comes with both 201's and 301's but the currant boxing does not have instructions on how to put them together nor for what should or should not be used as well or otherwise. At the moment I can't add more than that as I havent got that far sorting out parts. I'm working on how best to use parts of the Bomb Bay from the new kit in the old kit. Starting to think I may have to part build one of the new kits to see what I can get away with.

 

Gondor

[Murph]

9 minutes ago, Gondor44 said:

The old kit has 301's, no options there. The new kit comes with both 201's and 301's but the currant boxing does not have instructions on how to put them together nor for what should or should not be used as well or otherwise. At the moment I can't add more than that as I havent got that far sorting out parts. I'm working on how best to use parts of the Bomb Bay from the new kit in the old kit. Starting to think I may have to part build one of the new kits to see what I can get away with.

 

Gondor

 

Thanks for the information.  I'm surprised there isn't a pinned thread for the new kit.

 

Regards,

Murph

Edited July 12, 2021 by Murph

[Gondor44]

Starting to get somewhere with this. Found some thickish plastic card and drew around them to cut out the replacement and copied parts.

 

 

The cut outs drawn in the bottom of the two sides will not be made as those are for the open bomb bay doors in the new kit and these parts will be going into a Blue Steel aircraft so won't be needed. The front and rear of the bomb bays are the two parts on the right which I will be trying to copy the detail provided on the spars provided with the new kit.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

I've been tinkering away with this so I thought I better show a few pictures.

First off, one slightly out of focus picture of the bombs from the new kit. Two fully assembled clips on the left and the two half's on the right. The full clips are help in place by a mixture of gravity and friction so I can paint them more easily.

 

 

Next is the old upper fuselage with rough pen marks for where the wing spars are which also form the front and rear of the bomb bay. As you can see I cut a big chunk out of the locating slot for the tail fin as it would have protruded into the bomb bay.

 

 

 

The tail fin was suitably modified as well

 

 

And here it is with the frame from the new kit placed onto the the old kit

 

 

I'm not going to be adding all of the frame, just the sides and the arches of the bomb bay, the front and rear of the bay will be scratch built.

The blanking plates for Blue Steel provided with the old kit were fitted. The rear part fits reasonably well, the front one is a horrible shape for what it's doing and is far, far better handled in the new kit.

 

 

Some sanding has taken place on the rear Blue Steel fillet but will require some filler to fully blend it in, the front one will need a lot of filler. Thankfully this build will have the bomb bay doors open and the wheels down so if the shape isn't correct it won't be so noticeable.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

Second update for today

The exhausts are all together, or at least as far as they will be for now

 

 

301's at the top and the 202's at the bottom. The 202's can easily be made into 201's by removing the squarish lumps on the top and lower sides.

202 set up for the Starboard side

 

 

301 set up for the Starboard side

 

 

And a view from the rear of the assembly

 

 

The 200 series exhausts, while in the kit are not in the instructions as the two aircraft depicted had 300 series engines. It's a fairly simple matter to assemble the parts though which have engine numbers, 1-4, on the inside of the trailing edge part. Hope that makes sense.

For engines 1 and 2 of the 200 series exhausts are on part 23. Engine 1 then uses parts 20 with parts 24 and 25 going around part 20 and fitting to part 23, just like the parts in the instructions. Engine 2 uses part 21 with parts 26 and 27 fitting around part 21 and fitting to part 23. I didn't make notes for engines 3 and 4 unfortunately but it should be easy to work out as each exhaust part is keyed. I have also ended up with slight seams which should be easy to sort out.

 

As the 200 series exhausts are for my Blue Steel new Vulcan, the 301 exhausts will be going onto my old Vulcan. I am already working on a way to replicate the rear of the engine and the exhaust tunnel which may be fiddly but in theory should work.

 

Gondor

[John B (Sc)]

Interesting bomb bay build work.  Why Indian Air Force?  Just for fun as a What-If, or did they  think about Vulcans?

[Gondor44]

For fun as a What-if. At the time the Indian Air Force flew Canberra’s, Hunters and have flown various other British aircraft so why not a Vulcan? It's also a good way of using up one of the older Airfix kits I have which also uses parts not needed in one of my builds of the new Airfix Vulcan while improving the detail. A win-win situation I think.

 

Gondor

[Graham Boak]

They did seriously attempt to obtain Valiants.

[Gondor44]

I thought they might have done that. I will keep that in mind for a future project.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

A bit more work done, this time in the bomb bay, at least that's what I can show you at the moment.

 

As supplied in the kit, on Sprue D

 

 

And the result of a little chat with General Melchett on Britmodeler as well as looking at some walk-round pictures

 

 

Now I have two sideds of one of these pieces to put holes into then I will add them to the bomb bay sides to help me scratch the front and rear bulkheads and the roof!

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

OK, time to go in at the deep end......

 

Started to make replacements for the exhausts, well the part between the end of the engine and the bit at the trailing edge of the wing. This part needs to be scratch built as I am sure none makes detail parts for the old kit unless it comes as part of Freightdog's 200 series exhausts.

So here goes.....

 

 

The white tube is some paper that I curled and fitted inside the lower "tunnel"? There are only the two in the new kit as that is all that is required and of course I am retro fitting an older kit with new parts where possible so I have to use the new part as a pattern for a scratch built part.

 

One thing that doesn't help is that shape is a tapering cylinder, or a truncated cone depending on your point of view. So that rules out using a section of tubing. I am using a sheet of paper here as I don't have to worry about making a mess while working out the shape for a piece of 0.10in plastic card.

 

 

As you can see the marks I made are longer than the size to fill the part, however I have to take into account that the thickness of the plastic that I am forming the new "tunnel" out of reduces it's diameter so I have to make it over size so that I can correct the position of the tubes end, compensating for the plastic's thickness. I am being generous with where I have marked the ends as I have no idea how much I will need as I build the tube.

 

We shall see...

 

Gondor

[Adam Poultney]

Remember to leave the Air Oil Separator pipes off for smooth 201 jetpipes pre c.1962

[Gondor44]

1 hour ago, Adam Poultney said:

Remember to leave the Air Oil Separator pipes off for smooth 201 jetpipes pre c.1962

I will also be removeing the lumps on the exhausts as there are for the 202 series engine if reserch shows that the aircraft I model had 201 engines.

 

Gondor

[Adam Poultney]

1 hour ago, Gondor44 said:

I will also be removeing the lumps on the exhausts as there are for the 202 series engine if reserch shows that the aircraft I model had 201 engines.

 

Gondor

As per my understanding all the 200 series ones (except XH533) they were all 201s then refitted to 202s but don't quote me on that

[Biggles87]

I’ll be pinching some of your ideas on the cross-kitting if you don’t mind. I still have an old Vulcan and have been pondering using or cloning some parts from the new version, which I’m expecting next month as a birthday present. Only one, I hear you cry.

 

John

[Gondor44]

13 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

As per my understanding all the 200 series ones (except XH533) they were all 201s then refitted to 202s but don't quote me on that

Ok, I won't quote you. I will just conveniently forget who said it

 

30 minutes ago, Biggles87 said:

I’ll be pinching some of your ideas on the cross-kitting if you don’t mind. I still have an old Vulcan and have been pondering using or cloning some parts from the new version, which I’m expecting next month as a birthday present. Only one, I hear you cry.

 

John

 

I expect to get another one when they bring out the second or third boxing. You may wonder how I know they will do so, but looking at the sprues and the instructions for this boxing there are parts that are not used. For example the 200 series exhaust and the RWR fin top and the TFR nose.

 

As for pinching my ideas, go ahead. They are simply ideas and what works for me may not work for someone else. What I am doing isn't set in stone either so adaption and modifiy as necessary as well.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

Decided to fit parts of the bomb bay together from the new kit and then see how it looks in the old kit...

 

 

Surprisingly well is the answer. It will need some careful alignment when it is fitted in place but for an initial dry fit I was very happy with it. Thinking of maybe using a planking method to skin the roofwith alternative strips of plastic sticking downwards into the bomb bay to reproduce the ribbing, or trying to get a sheet of 0.10" plastic card to conform to the roof and then add the ribbing onto that. The ends still need to be cut out and detailed but I wanted to do something that showed progress and the feasibility of my idea at cross-kitting the two Vulcan's

 

I drilled out the obvious holes in the roof structure, joining the middle two holes in the middle structure as several walkround's show this feature as well as there being just two holes. Here are pictures of the New kit's central part of the bomb bay..

 

 

 

So you can see what it looks like without a huge Vulcan cluttering up the picture 

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

Just ordered four packs of Evergreen Strip Styrene, two packs each of 0.010 x 0.060 inch and 0.030 x 0.030 inch for the roof of the bomb bay. I think alternateing between the two with the 30 x 30 inserted between the 10 x 60 strips should work, wee will see when they turn up or I may start with the stock I have once I finish working of the front and rear of the bomb bay.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

Lots of little bit's and pieces have been done. The main cockpit assembly has been put together. Some of the seats have been assembled as well. Painting is what is holding up that area at the moment.

 

I have fitted the lower wing together along with the Blue Steel fairing.

 

 

I made a slight modification to the Blue Steel fairing, and would probably do the same to the closed bomb bay. I slightly reduced the length of the tabs next to the lower air brakes, see arrows

 

 

Undercarriage bays are going together at the moment, but in a way that makes it easier for me to spray paint them with a rattle can.

 

Other things I am going to do, just so I can get some progress is to put the frame together and in place even though I have been using the front and rear frames as a guide for scratch building the front and rear of the bomb bay. I do have another kit that I can "borrow" these parts from as reference, there are also pictures from various that I can use as well so it's not a problem.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

So I got a little bit done yesterday and should finish clamping and gluing the frame in place tonight.

 

 

I think I need clamps with a longer reach 

 

I will take more detailed pictures of my replacement bomb bay walls, which are as well enginered as a Mach 2 kit  :rolleyes:, seriously, they are not going to be seen so they only had to fit and provide support. There are gaps in places almost big enough to drive a bus through 

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

As promised, the front part of the frame has been glued in place. I defiantly need more and better clamps for when I build the next one....

 

 

The "locally manufactured" replacement bomb bay sides 

 

 

 

Not exactly a tight fit, but then it didn't have to be that. I will probably add "L" shaped plastic rod in several places along the sides to help give rigidity.

 

Next up is the undercarriage bays and the intakes which need to be finished before the wings can go any further forward.

 

Gondor

[Gondor44]

The undercarriage bays have been painted and so have the main engine intakes, not looked at them yet to see how they have turned out as I used a rattle can and such things can be a bit iffy with the results at times. The cockpit was painted as per the instructions yesterday evening as well although I intend to use other shades of black to detail and differentiate between items a bit.

 

Another thing I have been pottering away at is the forward end of the bomb bay

 

 

 

I don't need to say which is which as mine is far messier than the kit part but it will do for what I want especially as the bomb bay will be fully loaded with bombs.

 

Gondor