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Airfix 1/48 Buccaneer S.2 for 2022!


The_Lancaster

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6 hours ago, MarcV said:

An overview of Buccaneer variants is harder to find than expected.

 

Here is a post about mods and variants  I made when the 1/72 kit first came out.  It was merged in with the Bucc question thread in the Cold War aircraft section.

 

The former 1/48 release just fudged over the fairing issue as well as quite a few other little details for different schemes that they were more conscientious about with this release.

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11 minutes ago, wadeocu said:

We have turned a corner it seems.  Until this release folks used to say “it’s good, almost up to the standard of the Lightnings”.  This is the first time I’ve heard the call to upgrade the Lightnings to a new, higher standard.  Is this perhaps Airfix’s best to date?

 

Not asking for new tools, just a repop from the superb existing moulds. The Lightnings are very hard to come by and I could do with a brace of F.6's

 

Tony  

 

 

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3 hours ago, wadeocu said:

We have turned a corner it seems.  Until this release folks used to say “it’s good, almost up to the standard of the Lightnings”.  This is the first time I’ve heard the call to upgrade the Lightnings to a new, higher standard.  Is this perhaps Airfix’s best to date?

I think this new Buccaneer looks superb and Airfix have done a very fine job of work here.

Yes I personally think it does surpass the Lightnings. Mainly for me (and not wishing to go into thread drift on Lightnings too much), because I love a Lightning just as much as a Buccaneer and whilst I think they've totally nailed the Bucc here and are rightly due some praise

for it (and I know I'm in a minority of one when I say this and will be sent down in flames), just to my eyes the topline spine on the Lightning is off, with it's kink behind the canopy and unfortunately for me I can't unsee it, (which is why I chopped up the spine to fix it on mine - which was quite a bit of work).

Airfix subsequently brought out the F6 in 72nd scale which looks great, so I wished they'd have done the same with their 48th scale F6. I don't think they'll change it though, as everyone except me loves it and I should probably just change my eyes instead?

 

Back to the Bucc anyway and well done again, Airfix, for going the extra yard on this one and I'm really looking forward to the RAF version to follow. 

 

 

 

 

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I'd love to see how many have been sold by now.  Airfix are probably rubbing their collective hands together in glee.  Hopefully that won't cause a fire, but it's hopeful that the sales of this tooling will be used to fund other boxings of the Bucc, and then fund some other subject we'd like to see.  DON'T all start wishing in here, or I might drive to your house to murder you :fight: There's a thread for that... sadly :crying:

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On 15/08/2022 at 15:13, WV908 said:

I have now received a response from Airfix spares and the replacements for my short-shot parts are on the way.

 

Cheers,

  WV908

Glad to hear this as I'm going to have to use this service also! Kit arrived yesterday and all looked good on initial inspection. However, tonight I was giving the sprues a wash and noticed that I've got a short shot on the starboard rear fuselage/fin part (A7). The small intake half on the leading edge of the fin is missing with a curved deformation in the plastic running down from it. 

 

Disappointing but hopefully Airfix's customer services will be top of their game!

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7 hours ago, Muzz said:

Disappointing but hopefully Airfix's customer services will be top of their game!


it’s a shame their quality control wasn’t on top of their game too 😐

 

as to sales, it appears to be doing very well here in UK - which I reckon will account for the vast majority of sales; this is just my own guesstimate, not based on any hard data - but I do know that Mike Jolly / MJR Models and Hobbies (who have a massive Facebook group) have already sold over a 150 if that means anything?

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3 hours ago, nicholas mayhew said:


it’s a shame their quality control wasn’t on top of their game too 😐

 

as to sales, it appears to be doing very well here in UK - which I reckon will account for the vast majority of sales; this is just my own guesstimate, not based on any hard data - but I do know that Mike Jolly / MJR Models and Hobbies (who have a massive Facebook group) have already sold over a 150 if that means anything?

Thats exactly where I got mine!

 

Customer services have responded first thing which was great. Requested photos and traceability codes (sticker on box), they don't have the part in stock but hope to have it in a few days. Good job so far.👍

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Not bought mine yet, penny pinching at the moment, but fitting this into next months budget for sure, really looking forward to it and it looks like a great seller already for Airfix, so hopefully more variants to follow soon.

I do love the Bucc's, live near RAF Lossiemouth and was at their friends and family farewell show when the Buccs were retired, so will be doing mine OOB and one of the kit provided Lossie decal versions.

 

After the Buccs were retired and locally at our scrap yard, me and a friend went for a look and asked how much the Martin Baker ejection seats would be ... £15 each he said ... WOW, never hesitated and they were snapped up along with some other bits and bobs, they were willing to sell, even the old engines, but we had to stop somewhere and owning the seats was fine ... its interesting to note, the Buccaneer Pilot and Navigator seat differ slightly, the Nav seats side are splayed out slightly compared to Pilot seat and I hope Airfix have modelled this?

Still have original Airfix 1/48  Bucc in stash, will I build it after getting this new one? .... probably not, but it will be interesting to compare them side by side sprue wise though, built one of the old Airfix 1/48 Buccs before and while it was a challenge for sure, it came together very well in the end and was very proud of it.

As I say ,,, big fan of the Buccs, for a while our town had one parked on the edge of town at local petrol station, new owners now and decided they don't want it, so she's went to a new home ... I kinda miss it to be honest and live just up the road from there, it was quite the landmark.
 

 

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11 hours ago, Muzz said:

Glad to hear this as I'm going to have to use this service also! Kit arrived yesterday and all looked good on initial inspection. However, tonight I was giving the sprues a wash and noticed that I've got a short shot on the starboard rear fuselage/fin part (A7). The small intake half on the leading edge of the fin is missing with a curved deformation in the plastic running down from it. 

 

Disappointing but hopefully Airfix's customer services will be top of their game!

 

They replied to me really fast, but did ask for some photos of the parts, hence the wait as I was only able to reply at the weekend. I got an email Monday morning to say the parts were on the way :)

 

Cheers,

WV908

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On 8/19/2022 at 1:13 PM, WV908 said:

but did ask for some photos of the parts

That seems to be standard Airfix practice nowadays- whatever happened to that little slip you could send off for a few handy spares?

 

BTW these short shot comments have had me crawling all over mine with a fine toothed comb- no faults found yet, unlike my Sea Fury (common issue with an easy fix) and Chipmunk (quick parts replacement by Airfix).

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It does look amazing. I really did ‘accidentally’ get one of these when I forgot to cancel the back order as I had done for all other kits and bits. I’ll probably never make this but it’s nice to see the work others have done and have in the works. Also just managed to sell on my two 1994 versions with complete AM for a surprisingly high price. Intriguing to think of what the likes of Eduard, Aires, Blackdog and Quinta might add to this.

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On 8/21/2022 at 1:53 AM, gunzo said:

whatever happened to that little slip you could send off for a few handy spares?

Some enterprising soul will likely have tried to piece half a kit together that way for 'free'. Having worked in retail, you'd be amazed what lengths some people go to.

 
It does make sense, having you email a pic of the code & parts helps trace where a potential problem in the production/packaging batch lies. 

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5 hours ago, alt-92 said:

Some enterprising soul will likely have tried to piece half a kit together that way for 'free'. Having worked in retail, you'd be amazed what lengths some people go to.

 
It does make sense, having you email a pic of the code & parts helps trace where a potential problem in the production/packaging batch lies. 

 

Or they took note of the TA infantry unit in the 90s which, thanks to a request from a rather high-ranking individual suspecting his empire had become lax and was just sending stuff out on request (contrary to the 'if we were meant to issue it, we'd be called 'Supplies', see?' stereotype), set about attempting to see how long it would take before it was twigged that they were apparently attempting to obtain a Challenger 1 piece by piece.1

 

My informant still wistfully wonders over a pint or three whether they might well have ended up in the 'Riiight.... Er... Anyone got a Haynes manual for this?' stage had the QM not asked the senior chap (wishing to demonstrate that people needed to pay more attention to requests from TA units for bits and pieces) to intervene since the lack of 'What the Hell do you want that for?' missives after his latest request gave him a very nasty feeling that they were going to get the 120mm gun they'd just ordered and he'd nowhere secure to store it. Sprockets, bits of electronic kit, etc: yes; Gun, 120mm Tk L11A5: no...2

I digress, but I think the 'build my kit for free' option may well have been pursued by dishonest sorts as you suggest

 

1 IIRC, there was a belief that a couple of TA units had individuals taking advantage of their position and this laxity to obtain items of kit (nothing quite as dramatic as an MBT or weapons) which their unit had no need of, and which they then sold on. Once the MBT scam had proved this was entirely possible, an investigation followed leading to several convictions and exciting changes of career involving blanket stacking in remote places for the lax suppliers who'd enabled the crimes through being jack so-and-sos who'd not done their jobs properly

 

2 In reality, the scam lasted no more than six weeks with the attempt to requisition the gun meant to be the dead giveaway (which sadly for the careers of those involved in furnishing the requests wasn't), but he misses this out of the dit and the unsuspecting are left thinking that the TA unit was left with a very large pile of bits as if they'd bought the whole series of a 'build your own 1:1 scale Challenger Tank' magazines from Del Prado...

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Mine just arrived today, and while i had concerns about the kit plastic and parts possibly being short-shot, i was pleasantly very, very wrong.

 

It looks great. The 72nd scale Buccaneer was excellent. I estimate this kit to be just as good.

 

-d-

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14 hours ago, Nocoolname said:

It does look amazing. I really did ‘accidentally’ get one of these when I forgot to cancel the back order as I had done for all other kits and bits. I’ll probably never make this but it’s nice to see the work others have done and have in the works. Also just managed to sell on my two 1994 versions with complete AM for a surprisingly high price. Intriguing to think of what the likes of Eduard, Aires, Blackdog and Quinta might add to this.

Accidents happen to anybody I 'may' have done similar myself 🙃

It sounds as though people will only need to buy 'add-on's' rather than correction pieces which makes a very nice change.

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  • 2 weeks later...
On 8/8/2022 at 2:35 PM, alt-92 said:

I think it helps that Paramjit is a modeller himself - considering the kit was designed during lockdown and in-person visits weren't feasible, all the details are based on reference materials.

Yes it isn't cheap, however they really went to town on it and it's worth the money from what I have seen.

 

 

 

 

I have just received the first of my Airfix Buccaneers here on the Eastern Front and I have to say that I am mightily impressed with the end result. I rarely take notice of 'armchair' reviews or observations but this one has been worth the hype. I must also make a call out for Paramjit after watching his interview. To think that this was his first 1:48 project and that most of it was completed against the backdrop and challenges associated with COVID-19, speaks volumes for his knowledge, skill and dedication to the task. He was quite obviously passionate about the subject and, as indicated during his interview, had wanted to put even more detail into the project; of course this would have pushed to overall cost up and rather sensibly Airfix have produced a neat balance with the final product, IHMO. I simply cannot wait to see what Airfix ask Paramjit to do next. Well Done, Sir !  

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  • 3 weeks later...
On 03/09/2022 at 12:46, Tiger331 said:

I simply cannot wait to see what Airfix ask Paramjit to do next. Well Done, Sir !  

 

I can't agree more!

 

Over the past few years, Airfix has got better and better, the Buccaneer marks a new standard for Airfix :)

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