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Avro Vulcan reference photos


Adam Poultney

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Hi all, today I decided to visit two Vulcans. I visited XL360 at the Midland Air Museum and XM655 at Wellesbourne airfield.

XL360 has recently seen some progress to its long ongoing repaint, the nose which was previously looking quite dreadful is now very smart.

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Then I visited XM655

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WZ507 also happened to be there

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Skybolt hardpoints (incomplete set)

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An opened up access panel

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Jammer - not fitted to most Vulcans, if you want to know if a Vulcan you want to build has the jammer feel free to ask. The info can also be found in Craig Bulman's book The Vulcan B.Mk2 From a Different Angle

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Some weathering. This is a live Vulcan, so any weathering is about as authentic as you can see now.

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Light under the tail

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Short jetpipes indicate later Olympus 301 engines (XL360 has earlier 201s which have longer, tapered jetpipes)

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Braking chute housing

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These bits caused some debate when the new Airfix kit was released

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Edited by Adam Poultney
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On 11/06/2022 at 20:45, JohnT said:

Thanks for sharing Adam. Much appreciated and handy once I get to building my Vulcans

 

On 13/06/2022 at 05:22, VG 33 said:

Thank you very much and perfectly timed for my build to come.

 

Patrick

Looking forward to seeing these future builds! What kit(s) do you have?

Edited by Adam Poultney
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Great photo!

Here one question came up; Does annyone have flying experience with a typical black british cockpit of any jet? Tell me your experience! plese! On day and nigjt duty please, or with the bright sun at 12 o'clock or from the rear!

Happy ist 

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XM575, East Midlands Aeropark 

This Vulcan was one of the 14 airframes to have standard wrap around camouflage applied. Its first repaint was unfortunately not very accurate due to using incorrect paint colours, a similar mistake was made on XL426, however it has recently been restored to more correct colours (as has  XL426) and the quality of the paintwork in the restored areas is fantastic. There is still some work to do but it is getting there. The correct colours are Dark Green and Dark Sea Grey. 

 

IMPORTANT: if you are building XH558, this set of reference images is not suitable. XH558 wears a unique one off variation of wrap around. 

 

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Stencilling is generally yellow or red

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I have plenty more photos of Vulcan stencil markings, if you don't find what you need just ask on here and I'll see if I have a photo. 

 

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Doppler radar panel post 1974. Pre 1974 this was a flat, trapezoidal panel with a black (not tan) finish

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Some of the markings are cracking, these will need to be replaced sooner or later

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Olympus 301 jetpipes, painted black on wrap around scheme

 

Airelon actuator minus aerodynamic

 fairing

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Note that the aerials on this aircraft may not be applicable to earlier schemes 

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Edited by Adam Poultney
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Thanks for the images @Adam Poultney, but you appear to have been a victim of $^$*£¥^&^●□☆ auto-incorrect.  Image 15, "Dappled radar panel".  You and I know you mean "Doppler" but I can just imagine a weathering fiend applying all sorts of dots, dashes, squiggles and splodges of paint to it to get a "just right, never seen in service" dappled effect.  I think the Sun's got to me already.....

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1 minute ago, stever219 said:

Thanks for the images @Adam Poultney, but you appear to have been a victim of $^$*£¥^&^●□☆ auto-incorrect.  Image 15, "Dappled radar panel".  You and I know you mean "Doppler" but I can just imagine a weathering fiend applying all sorts of dots, dashes, squiggles and splodges of paint to it to get a "just right, never seen in service" dappled effect.  I think the Sun's got to me already.....

Ty, corrected

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5 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

 

Looking forward to seeing these future builds! What kit(s) do you have?

2 old mould Airfix and one new mould in 1/72 and Alan Wilson’s 1/48 Icelandic Models resin beastie. 
 

I suspect I might be bugging you for advice sometime. The stash has grown as I’ve not been building due to the new build house and office. They are finished but there is a huge garden to make out of a building site. We are on ten lorry loads of top soil so far and not done yet. Then there is an old dairy with stable and hay loft to convert. Lord knows when that’s all getting done :huh:

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On 17/06/2022 at 17:21, JohnT said:

2 old mould Airfix and one new mould in 1/72 and Alan Wilson’s 1/48 Icelandic Models resin beastie. 
 

I suspect I might be bugging you for advice sometime. The stash has grown as I’ve not been building due to the new build house and office. They are finished but there is a huge garden to make out of a building site. We are on ten lorry loads of top soil so far and not done yet. Then there is an old dairy with stable and hay loft to convert. Lord knows when that’s all getting done :huh:

Of course I'd be more than happy to provide whatever advice you want, but to be honest the only advice you need is just buy more Vulcans

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Brilliant, thanks for sharing these Adam. I’m considering one of my Vulcans next so these will be helpful, though I’ll probably be doing the first one in the late 60’s gloss camo with white undersides. At some point I’d like to do XL444 in wraparound though, did they all have black jetpipes in that scheme?
 

Have to be honest, personally I’d prefer XL360 without that massive anniversary logo, but at least the repaint is good and should protect the airframe a bit longer.

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3 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

Have to be honest, personally I’d prefer XL360 without that massive anniversary logo, but at least the repaint is good and should protect the airframe a bit longer.

The logo will be removed in a few months I'm told

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XM597 - National Museum of Flight 

 

Sadly this set of photos will serve as reference for what a Vulcan left outside for decades in harsh weather will look like. The condition of this Vulcan is poor and deteriorating. Paint delamination is not going to kill an aircraft, but in areas like the control surfaces it looks like more than just paint delaminating. I fear that without a change in her circumstances she will not survive in the long term. Given the quality of the majority of the museum's exhibits, I'm sure if they got this inside it could be one of the best looking Vulcans around.

This was the very Vulcan that landed in Brazil during Black Buck 6, and is one of only two to have used weapons in anger along with the more famous XM607.

 

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Jammer (not fitted to most Vulcans)

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I'll put up my photos of XL319 soon, another Vulcan which suffered harsh Northern weather and was in a bad way. XL319 however has had a lot of attention in the past few years. 

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XL319 - North East Land, Sea and Air Museums (NELSAM)

 

This Vulcan has suffered in retirement. Many parts are now missing, and the tail was substantially damaged in 2010 when the aircraft tipped over in heavy snow (far from the first Vulcan to do so as well). She has suffered further damage to her canopy, which I suspect could be a result of past vandalism given that the museum has a history of suffering from it; its Vickers Valetta was destroyed in 1997 by arsonists. To add to this Vulcan's woes, the weather has meant that many parts are severely corroded, such as the pitot tubes, one of which hangs off by a thread. 

In recent years, nelsam have been restoring the aircraft, addressing much of the surface corrosion and applying a new coat of paint. In 2019 one engine was brought back to life and ran a few times, although there are no plans to repeat this. The repaint has seen the late 1960s to early 1970s camouflage scheme applied, although this isn't a strictly accurate choice for the configuration of the aircraft, and a mistake was made where later roundels were reapplied on the wings (a Type D roundel like what is on the fuselage should have been applied to the left wing only). Regardless, it looks really good so far.

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The red of the old roundel has almost completely faded. 

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Damaged pitot tube

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The other pitot tube is painted yellow. Probably primer of some sort, don't paint your models with yellow pitots.

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The tail shows a remarkable transformation from the state it used to be in. Unfortunately the RWR (squared fairing) is inaccurate for this scheme. I imagine fabricating a more accurate fin cap without would be too expensive and the museum (rightly) has higher priorities to spend money on at the moment.

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Work has been started on the tailcone since I last saw XL319. I don't know if the damage is even really repairable with the resources at the museum's disposal, but I'm sure they will make it look good in due course. 

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The same tail in October 2018

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Black painted area of the radome. Note that this is not the full radome panel and the rear part is not black. 

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Type D roundel

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Damage to the canopy. I suspect this may be beyond repair. 

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Tyres are looking a bit flat

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Damaged light

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Restored areas and unrestored areas

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I got a lot more photos at NELSAM, with huge thanks to Kevin and Bill who were there today for allowing me access to areas not usually accessible. If anyone wants some of these to be shared I can start another thread in the relevant area

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