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Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer S.2 for 2022!


The_Lancaster

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8 minutes ago, keithjs said:

So, what modifications would one have to do to the kit to build one in the early grey/white scheme as per the forthcoming Xtradecal sheets (circa 1966). Did anything on the airframe change or was it purely removal of the white undersides? Whats the 'noise reducing fairing mentioned previously'? Thanks for any advice.

 

The noise reduction fairings are the small bulges on the fuselage side immediately in front of the intakes, previously discussed in the thread about the 1/72 kit:

 

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1 hour ago, AntPhillips said:

 

The noise reduction fairings are the small bulges on the fuselage side immediately in front of the intakes, previously discussed in the thread about the 1/72 kit:

 

Thanks Ant, thats very helpful. So if were able to remove these from the kit I could build a grey/white one circa 1966?

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36 minutes ago, keithjs said:

Thanks Ant, thats very helpful. So if were able to remove these from the kit I could build a grey/white one circa 1966?

 

I'm no expert but my understanding is you would need to remove them and also the chaff launcher mounting plates under the jet exhausts, highlighted below:

Bucc Mods

 

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As Wadeocu showed, it's not difficult to remove those noise reducing bulges. I have done the same on two of the old 1/48th mould kits. I will be very surprised if the same can't easily be done on the new mould. At worst, a little bit of plastic card to cover any resulting hole/gap, though I doubt that. 

 

Sounds like deliveries are imminent.

 

John B

Edited by John B (Sc)
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1 hour ago, John B (Sc) said:

As Wadeocu showed, it's not difficult to remove those noise reducing bulges. I have done the same on two of the old 1/48th mould kits. I will be very surprised if the same can't easily be done on the new mould. At worst, a little bit of plastic card to cover any resulting hole/gap, though I doubt that. 

 

Sounds like deliveries are imminent.

 

John B

Well, sometimes life is simple - so no cockpit layout changes, the only differences are the noise reducing bulges?

 

If that's all that should be no sweat.

 

 

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7 hours ago, keithjs said:

So, what modifications would one have to do to the kit to build one in the early grey/white scheme as per the forthcoming Xtradecal sheets (circa 1966). Did anything on the airframe change or was it purely removal of the white undersides? Whats the 'noise reducing fairing mentioned previously'? Thanks for any advice.

You could always model the museum example at Elvington which has obviously been redone in the early colours .........

 

https://www.jetphotos.com/photo/8612905

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2 hours ago, MarcV said:

Well, sometimes life is simple - so no cockpit layout changes, the only differences are the noise reducing bulges?

 

If that's all that should be no sweat.

 

 

Far easier to remove than add them. Kudos to Airfix for only supplying colour schemes to late aircraft with these noise reducing fairings.

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4 hours ago, MarcV said:

Well, sometimes life is simple - so no cockpit layout changes, the only differences are the noise reducing bulges?

 

If that's all that should be no sweat.

 

 

Oh, I'm fairly confident there may well be significant internal cockpit changes in order to correctly model an early FAA Buccaneer S2. The difficult bit will be finding good enough references and working out which changes can be easily seen.  I know  a couple of Buccaneer crews who flew in Naval days, but trying to recall the precise layout variations over the years is hard. Suspicion is that the navigator's instrumentation probably changed  more than the pilot's.

 

There are some small airframe & aerial changes too.  Good photo references help if you want to be definitive. Lots of fun research. Somewhere, I have old slide film from those days, when Lossie visits showed different demarcations between EDSG and white on different machines, and then the first all grey machines appeared, looking very impressive with 809's Firebird crest on their tails.  Happy days, but of course I have no cockpit photos...

 

Interesting that the boxtop art appears to show an  aircraft without the noise reduction bulges. (Edit : my error, a closer look shows a line where the bulge should start)

 

John B

Edited by John B (Sc)
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44 minutes ago, John B (Sc) said:

Oh, I'm fairly confident there may well be significant internal cockpit changes …

I’m not so sure about this.  The first major changes in the cockpit that I’m aware of were associated with Martel.  I think the map holder (sticky-up thing) in the nav's windscreen may have come up sometime in the late 60s but not sure exactly when.  The aerial fit etc looks to be provided for in this boxing.  I think they fudged the location of the light on the belly for the S.2D but I am certain this mod will be addressed in the next boxing; it was so with the 72nd kit.

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10 hours ago, wadeocu said:

I’m not so sure about this.  The first major changes in the cockpit that I’m aware of were associated with Martel.  I think the map holder (sticky-up thing) in the nav's windscreen may have come up sometime in the late 60s but not sure exactly when.  The aerial fit etc looks to be provided for in this boxing.  I think they fudged the location of the light on the belly for the S.2D but I am certain this mod will be addressed in the next boxing; it was so with the 72nd kit.

 

Oh good.  I really thought there might be  a lot of 'hidden' changes over the years that would have been forgotten about.  Thanks. Fingers crossed !

 

Incidentally 'wadeocu' - is that a Shiney 12  badge as your photo ?

 

John B

Edited by John B (Sc)
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There's a nice build review of the new kit and article on flying the Buccaneer in the Royal Navy by an RAF Nav on the first Buccaneer exchange to the RN (lots of nice photos of the S.1) in the new issue of Airfix Model World (September 2022) 

 

Wow; that's really nice box art isn't it? Gorgeous  :wub:

 

Rich

(who wasn't going to buy this kit... but who is now off to find the best deal... 🙂 )

 

spacer.png

Edited by RichG
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4 hours ago, John B (Sc) said:

 

Oh good.  I really thought there might be  a lot of 'hidden' changes over the years that would have been forgotten about.

Head to the Bucc q&a thread in the “Cold War” aircraft forum with any questions; I’ll visit it frequently now that this kit is shipping.  Always feel free to pm me too.

4 hours ago, John B (Sc) said:

Incidentally 'wadeocu' - is that a Shiney 12  badge as your photo ?

But of course sir!  The final iteration that appeared on the 12 sqn Buccs.  My dad’s exchange tour involved 3 years instructing navigation on the OCU (73-76) and a glorious year on 12 (76-77).  These were my first four  years of life; lasting impressions were made! 🤩🤯☺️
 

 

 

Edited by wadeocu
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Received a shipping notice this afternoon, should be with me tomorrow.

 

I pre-ordered mine back in March when Airfix had their 20% off everything sale, I honestly didn't expect it to include pre-orders but it's gone through on my card at £57.99 including shipping. 

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10 hours ago, Shaun said:

So who's going to be the first to measure/offer up the old kits bulged bomb bay into the new kits opening to check the size to make an RAF aircraft.

I haven't got the new one yet, but I've just measured the part of the old Airfix bomb bay door that's designed to protrude through the fuselage aperture at 116 x 26mm?

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Just a quick question.

What colour should the ejection seats be? I can find pictures of black ones and grey ones. All the cockpit shots I have only seem to show the actual cockpit and not the seats. Many thanks.

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7 hours ago, wadeocu said:

But of course sir!  The final iteration that appeared on the 12 sqn Buccs.  My dad’s exchange tour involved 3 years instructing navigation on the OCU (73-76) and a glorious year on 12 (76-77).  These were my first four  years of life; lasting impressions were made! 🤩🤯☺️
 

Ah - excellent stuff. Your Dad and I would likely know some of the same folk, since my acquaintances at my local airfield include several ex-navs and pilots from both the OCU and 12.

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