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XM598: Cosford's Black Buck Vulcan +++ Finished +++


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I'll be joining with another 1/200 scale Vulcan (which was released I see, to correspond with the 30th Anniversary!).

 

P1120874.JPG

 

I bought mine second-hand last year and it looks nice, with all parts still in their bags.

 

P1120875.JPG

 

Weirdly, the war largely passed me by at the time, as I was working in Swaziland (now, Eswatini), and had to rely on local radio for my news.  Of course, I've tried to catch up since :thumbsup2:

 

Cheers

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Love a Vulcan (if you hadn't guessed already!). I'll be following this one.

There are a few obvious and easily corrected errors in this kit, I'd recommend reading through this thread to see some of those:

The good news for you is that besides the extra wheels and extra pitot tube that have been mysteriously added to the kit, it's pretty much spot on what you need for a Black Buck Vulcan; correct engines, correct jammers she aerials, just one blister should need removing so the pylons will fit under the wings correctly (the twin Skybolt blisters, one of which is already missing in the kit). 

A further warning, the kit's roundels are undersized so you might have some issues with lining up decals and the split between the dark underside and camo top surfaces. 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Morning all.

I thought I should make a start on this one, as I'd like to get it finished by 30th April (the take-off date of Black Buck 1).

 

The kit's quite cleverly moulded, with the join line between the top and bottom halves of the fuselage/wings being hidden away underneath.  This arrangement also means that there's no join line cutting through the air intakes :thumbsup:

 

 

P1120897.JPG

 

With the underside resting in place, things look very busy due to a mass of overscale panel lines.  Hopefully things will calm down a bit under some paint!

 

P1120898.JPG

 

My one real criticism of the kit so far is that many of the locating slots are too large, leading to some big gaps when pieces are added.  The tail fin is typical, with quite a trough around it.  I'll need to dig out my tube of PPP...

 

P1120899.JPG

 

I'm aware that this kit has quite a few fans out there and I have to agree that there is something rather appealing about a palm-sized Vulcan :coolio:

 

P1120900.JPG

 

Cheers

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The cleverness with the intakes doesn't just stop at moving the seams further back where they're hard to see. The intake inserts almost line up with where the camouflage should stop and the white should begin, not perfectly but close enough in the scale. 

 

Having built rather a lot of these, the panel lines are just about right under some paint, just don't put a very dark wash in them. At least they are for my taste, I don't know about how visible you like your panel lines.

IMG_20210523_214100786~2

 

 

 

I don't know if you glued the pylons, but the front should be in line with where the blisters are (removing the larger one so it fits).

 

And from experience with this kit, I'd recommend putting a bit of plastic card behind the hole just behind the bomb bay. That is for a stand which isn't included (it's included in a pre built that uses the same moulds as this). It'll make filling it a bit easier.

 

Anyway, it's a good start, I definitely agree with the critique about the size of some of the slots. Looking forward to the next update!

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Thanks for your comments @Adam Poultney

Personally, I'm not a great fan of panel lines (especially in 1/200), so I rarely highlight them.  I'm sure the Vulcan's will look OK under some matt paint - it was just a bit of a shock when I first saw the underside of that wing!

 

Yep, I'd completely missed the positioning of the pylons - I just used the kit's locating holes.  I did remember your comment about removing one of the blisters to allow fitting of the pylon and was somewhat surprised when I didn't need to do it on mine :winkgrin:.  They are well and truly glued on now, so I'll leave them as they are.  I'll maybe try to shift the ECM pod forward slightly on the pylon.

 

On the subject of the Dash 10, do you know if the instructions correct in stating that it's black?

Also, I'm assuming that the ECM Panel's colour is DSG.  Is that right?

Finally, what colour should parts B24 be?  I don't know what they are, but if the Red Arrows flew Vulcans I'd assume they were for making smoke!

 

Sorry for all the questions.

Cheers

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Parts B24 are called the air oil separator pipes. They should just be the colour of the underside. The tips should be bare metal though.

As seen under the port engine pair (no ECM plate) on the real XM598 at the RAF Museum, Cosford:

43ac53cf656a983c6c31fb42a94c3ce1.jpg

 

Based on reference photos in Vulcan 607, the Dash 10 looks like it's DSG. I'm not 100% sure though.

 

I'm not 100% sure on the ECM colour either. Cosford's one is bare metal, but a lot of vulcans appear to have had them painted at the time. I'm looking for more reference photos I'll let you know when I find something

 

 

Edited by Adam Poultney
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A little more progress to report.

 

First, I've been assembling some smaller components:  the intake ducts and the landing gear.  The ducts went together well, with the joints all but disappearing under a light sand.  The u/c legs were fiddly but satisfying - three parts in each of the main legs and two in front leg.  Nicely detailed for 1/200.

 

P1130001.JPG

 

 

Secondly, I decided that I couldn't live with my badly placed pylons - mainly because their leading edges will be visible when the model's on display.  So I've added some small extensions (I'm much less concerned about the pylons now being too long ;)).

 

P1130002.JPG

 

Next, I need to think about which order paint things....

 

Cheers

 

 

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Good work on salvaging the pylons! Unfortunately the incorrect pylon positions are the least of this kit's issues.

I remembered today that some of the details on the control surfaces... well, they aren't on the control surfaces. There's some small details on the upper side of the aerilons, they are misaligned on one side

 

 

Also, as I'm getting started on mine I thought about needing to remember nose weight. This kit needs a little. Just putting this here in case you forgot

 

 

Edited by Adam Poultney
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On 4/16/2022 at 9:57 PM, Adam Poultney said:

Also, as I'm getting started on mine I thought about needing to remember nose weight. This kit needs a little. Just putting this here in case you forgot

 

Thanks Adam - it's now duly weighted :)

 

Also, I'm starting to get some paint on (courtesy of Tamiya).

 

P1130003.JPG

 

Cheers

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Colours look right to me! Just be aware that the split between upper camouflage and lower dark sea grey doesn't go along the joint between upper and lower halves.

How did you find the landing gear to paint? I find it's right pain with wheels that small

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1 hour ago, Adam Poultney said:

Colours look right to me! Just be aware that the split between upper camouflage and lower dark sea grey doesn't go along the joint between upper and lower halves.

How did you find the landing gear to paint? I find it's right pain with wheels that small

 

Thanks Adam.   I've actually already sprayed and masked off the DSG bits on the underside of the top half.  I just fancied painting it this way for a change (a rare opportunity :winkgrin:), plus it will allow me to more easily spray the intakes.  I painted the wheels while they were on the sprue, which I think was a mistake.  If I were to do again, I'd add the wheels to the legs before painting.

 

40 minutes ago, ArnoldAmbrose said:

Gidday Cliff, I thought for a moment you had two Vulcans on the go and I thought "That's just plane plain greedy" 😁 Good luck with the painting. Regards, Jeff.

 

LOL.  Yes it does look that way!  

 

Cheers

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Thank you all for your continuing support :thumbsup2:

 

The decals are on now, followed by a coat of matt.  I'm not sure whether all of the stencils are in the right place (or even appropriate!), but the Cartograph decals performed beautifully and brighten the Vulcan up a bit.

 

P1130006.JPG

 

Just the u/c and a few other small bits to add, so I should have no problem being ready for take-off on Saturday night (the precise 40th anniversary of Black Buck 1).

 

Cheers

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1 minute ago, CliffB said:

Thank you all for your continuing support :thumbsup2:

 

The decals are on now, followed by a coat of matt.  I'm not sure whether all of the stencils are in the right place (or even appropriate!), but the Cartograph decals performed beautifully and brighten the Vulcan up a bit.

 

P1130006.JPG

 

Just the u/c and a few other small bits to add, so I should have no problem being ready for take-off on Saturday night (the precise 40th anniversary of Black Buck 1).

 

Cheers

Now that really does look fantastic! Mine should be catching up soon I'm just figuring out how I can best go about rivet counting the tiny Shrike Missiles

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2 minutes ago, Adam Poultney said:

Mine should be catching up soon I'm just figuring out how I can best go about rivet counting the tiny Shrike Missiles

 

Not to mention the random squiggles! :hypnotised:

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And here we are finished!

 

 P1130007.JPG

It's been a very enjoyable build and has provided a striking addition to my 1/200 scale collection.

Thanks to all of you who have supported this thread and especially to @Adam Poultney for his invaluable advice on Black Buck Vulcans.

Thanks too, to @Enzo Matrix for providing us with this Group Build :cheers:

 

Cheers

 

 

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