CT Modeller Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 (edited) Buccaneer S.1 700Z Naval Air Squadron, RNAS Lossiemouth, 1961 Having finished the beautiful recent Airfix 1/72 Buccaneer S.2 I was left with all kinds of bits and pieces designed to turn the old Airfix 1/72 kit into something decent so I thought I may as well use them up on the old kit. The result was this pre-production, or very early production – not sure which – Buccaneer S.1. This is something I’ve always wanted to build but never got around to it as there was always another S.2 to do using my old Airfix kits. This is what I was aiming for: I wanted to keep the natural fibreglass panel on the fin which XK532 originally had – just visible in this photo (the farthest aircraft): This was a fairly major rebuild of the old Airfix kit which included (from front to back): - Freightdog resin nose (a must have item for any Buccaneer) - Whirlibirds resin S.1 main air intakes and wing root intakes (access panels scribed in and fasteners added). Fitting them was a real struggle as they were designed for the Matchbox kit: - Cockpit interior and seats from the CMR resin S.2 kit (I bought one of these cheaply years ago then found there were too many surface bubbles and never built it – amazing instructions though) – note there was no internal blast screen for the observer in these early aircraft. - My own crash-moulded canopy, based on the Frog S.2 kit. - Aeroclub white metal undercarriage. - CMR resin undercarriage doors. - Pitot replaced with a sewing needle. - Wingtips cut back to S.1 shape - Missing vortex generators on wing top surface added – one on each wing (correctly missing on the old Airfix S.2 kit which represents a Martel capable aircraft). - Fin leading edge air intake removed – replaced with small side intakes on these very early aircraft only. - Blisters added to the bomb door - Anti-col light added under fuselage ahead of the bomb door. - Aeroclub white metal tail bumper added. - Freightdog resin tailplane / fin tip. I should have modified the exhausts. They look too big but I thought I would get away with it – lesson learned. The finish was Halford’s Appliance Gloss White for underside and fin, with Xtracrylic Extra Dark Sea Grey on top. The pale red/blue roundels, codes, underwing serials and ejection seat warnings were from a Freightdog decal sheet, with the small white serials from Modeldecal. The correct size and style ‘Royal Navy’ on the fin was difficult to find but I came across them on a Model Alliance sheet for HMS Ark Royal’s air wing. Photos are not that brilliant (indoors in ambient light) and maybe I will replace them a) when the sun comes out and b) when it’s warm enough to mess about with outdoor photography. Edited March 30, 2022 by CT Modeller 55 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul J Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Nice one Chris. I think I may have some spare decals from the CMR kit left over in my decal stash that would have helped if I had known. Look forward to seeing this on one the 'flesh/plastic'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Homer Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Congratulations on a beautiful piece of work well done 👏 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harry Lime Posted December 21, 2021 Share Posted December 21, 2021 Superb model Chris. Beautiful rendition of a kit that has really been surpassed by the modern tooling from Airfix. Mark. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
F-32 Posted December 23, 2021 Share Posted December 23, 2021 That's great work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverWings Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 My favorite scheme on the Buccaneer. Nice work. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adam Poultney Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 Love it! This is the kind of build I like. This Buccaneer, XK532, is one of the four surviving S.1s, currently left at the site of the now closed Highland Aviation Museum without a permanent home. I photographed her in the summer, although I wasn't able to get up close due to the site being closed. I did manage to get a few pictures up against the fence. One of my photos is currently featured here: https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/buccaneer/survivor.php?id=37 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted December 24, 2021 Author Share Posted December 24, 2021 8 hours ago, Adam Poultney said: Love it! This is the kind of build I like. This Buccaneer, XK532, is one of the four surviving S.1s, currently left at the site of the now closed Highland Aviation Museum without a permanent home. I photographed her in the summer, although I wasn't able to get up close due to the site being closed. I did manage to get a few pictures up against the fence. One of my photos is currently featured here: https://www.thunder-and-lightnings.co.uk/buccaneer/survivor.php?id=37 Thanks Adam. Good to see the old girl still survives. The model goes nicely with the rest of the S.1 collection : 5 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bobby No Mac Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 Very smart, the best scheme the Buccaneer ever had. Cracking build, thanks for sharing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FatFlyHalf Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 Wow. Now that's modelling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Riot Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 Lovely! Beautiful build, very classy looking Bucc. I tried this exact same thing ages ago but it ended up in bits in a box in the loft. Just couldn’t get the intakes or jetpipes right. You’ve absolutely nailed it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Maginot Posted December 24, 2021 Share Posted December 24, 2021 Really good modelling. Like the outdoors pics with the garden building doubling as airfield infrastructure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CT Modeller Posted March 30, 2022 Author Share Posted March 30, 2022 Now with better photos! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paulaero Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 That's a very nice result nice to see some proper old school modelling and nothing going to waste !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CJP Posted March 30, 2022 Share Posted March 30, 2022 Lovely collection of S1 Buccaneers very skillfully done - I hope Buccaneer, XK532 at the closed Highland Aviation Museum finds a new home CJP Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AdrianMF Posted March 31, 2022 Share Posted March 31, 2022 Nice collection and a great addition to it! Regards, Adrian Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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