Avro Vulcan B.2, XL444, No. 617 Sqn, RAF Scampton, 1971

[Lord Riot]

At the second attempt, I got the new(ish) Airfix Vulcan to a satisfactory standard! Apart from the serial and squadron badge decals and a bit of scratch building in the bomb bay, the kit is oob. I used Tamiya spray cans (AS-30 and TS-81) for the camo, and a can of Humbrol gloss white spray for the undersides. The wheel wells and bomb bay I sprayed satin white for contrast with the underside. Please feel free to comment so I can improve for my next one … or two … 

 

XL444 was apparently prone to technical issues, so spent a fair bit of time in servicing, but there are still plenty of reference photos of the aircraft out and about. It first flew from Woodford on 12th October 1961, being delivered in an all white scheme to 27 Sqn the following month. It was back at Woodford on 18th September 1964 for a refit before re delivery to the Scampton wing in June 1965. It served with 617 Sqn as part of the Scampton wing before receiving the unit markings on its fin in May 1971. It ended its service days with 44 Sqn at Waddington in September 1982.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[RWestcott]

Great work, bomb bay detail looks fantastic,  impressive.  

[Keeff]

Now that's impressive! 👏

 

Looks fantastic and super details. 👌 

 

Keith 😁 

[Selwyn]

21 hours ago, Lord Riot said:

At the second attempt, I got the new(ish) Airfix Vulcan to a satisfactory standard! Apart from the serial and squadron badge decals and a bit of scratch building in the bomb bay, the kit is oob. I used Tamiya spray cans (AS-30 and TS-81) for the camo, and a can of Humbrol gloss white spray for the undersides. The wheel wells and bomb bay I sprayed satin white for contrast with the underside. Please feel free to comment so I can improve for my next one … or two … 

 

XL444 was apparently prone to technical issues, so spent a fair bit of time in servicing, but there are still plenty of reference photos of the aircraft out and about. It first flew from Woodford on 12th October 1961, being delivered in an all white scheme to 27 Sqn the following month. It was back at Woodford on 18th September 1964 for a refit before re delivery to the Scampton wing in June 1965. It served with 617 Sqn as part of the Scampton wing before receiving the unit markings on its fin in May 1971. It ended its service days with 44 Sqn at Waddington in September 1982.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

"XL444 was apparently prone to technical issues," Err, No. It was the dog of the fleet! It lasted to the end as it had the lowest flying hours as it was the original hangar queen. When they scrapped it the guys from the Vulcan servicing flight all came out to watch. Apparently it took twice as long to scrap as the other Vulcans, basically it fought to the end!

[Pete in Lincs]

It looks proper though. Mmm Camo. 

[petetasker]

Nice - you can't beat a Vulcan! 

[The Shearwater]

That looks lovely! Good work on the build and the photography. Is the newer kit pretty good then? I’d heard rumours the older kit had some fit issues, but no idea if they sorted all that with a new mould.

[Lord Riot]

Thank you for the likes gents!
 

@The Shearwater I didn’t think it was a great fit to be honest, though that may have been me being inept rather than any fault with the kit. It is better than the old tool, but I still needed a bit of filler around the nose join, intakes and tail cone join. Oh and the fin tip! The tolerances are tight so it needs careful sanding in places. I would say more skilled modellers than me would still have a better chance of building a truly great kit from the new tool rather than the old though.

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Great job on this, and handsome results on a difficult and rather large kit.  It's one to be justly proud of!

[Pantherhawk27263]

Very nicely done. Back in the early 80's, when I still lived in Iowa, we were under a low level training route for the USAF for a couple of years and Vulcans would occasionally fly over my home town. I never expected to ever see one in person and it was a thrill to hear them whistling overhead. Interestingly, it was the Vulcans that honored the established hard deck. The USAF planes (mostly B-52s and FB-111s) were constantly flying way lower than the Air Force said they would.  I was always hoping a Vulcan would come in at a couple hundred feet AGL like the B-52s did, but it never happened that I saw.

[Lord Riot]

That must have been a terrific sight @Pantherhawk27263, especially a B-52 that low! It is interesting as I always thought it was the RAF that flew lowest on Red Flag exercises, etc (especially the Buccaneers!) and US jets didn’t like to chase Buccs that low. Maybe the less manoeuvrable Vulcans stayed a bit higher? Interestingly I also read that it was the German Air Force crews who took their fast jets lowest of all, not sure how true that is? 
 

A Vulcan is always impressive, at around 250 ft AGL it must have been amazing! I wish there were photos of that. And imagine a Vulcan in the Mach Loop! 

[Pantherhawk27263]

2 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

That must have been a terrific sight @Pantherhawk27263, especially a B-52 that low! It is interesting as I always thought it was the RAF that flew lowest on Red Flag exercises, etc (especially the Buccaneers!) and US jets didn’t like to chase Buccs that low. Maybe the less manoeuvrable Vulcans stayed a bit higher? Interestingly I also read that it was the German Air Force crews who took their fast jets lowest of all, not sure how true that is? 
 

A Vulcan is always impressive, at around 250 ft AGL it must have been amazing! I wish there were photos of that. And imagine a Vulcan in the Mach Loop! 

The established hard deck was either 1,000 feet or 1,500 feet, and those B-52s coming at 500 feet and less were terrifying at first. As this happened for 3 years people eventually just got used to it, until the 3rd year when they let fighters use the route as well. They came mostly at night. My town did frequently complain to the Air Force. Our primary concern was if a B-52 crashed into our town, as it was only 1 square mile in size. A single B-52 could pretty much wipe it out. The Air Force told us we were the only town to complain, but I seriously doubt that.

 

I was never able to get any photos of any of them. As that was well before cell phones and we had no idea when they would be coming, by the time you heard one, ran and got the camera and got outside, it was gone. They came at 20 minute intervals, however if you waited for the next one it wouldn't come over town. I guess it's the old "A watched pot never boils" thing. I waited 2 hours once and as soon as I put the camera away and started to do something else a B-52 rumbled over. 

I use the phrase "come over town" because they weren't supposed to flying over our town at all, their navigation point was a lake 3 miles west of town. They would be so low over town so they could read the name on the city's water tower is what we were told. 

[F-32]

That’s beautiful work 👏

[Hopesdaddy]

Great work on the excellent build of "The original hanger queen"

[Alan P]

Very sharp result. The camouflage looks really good 👍

 

The kit certainly looks like a better Vulcan than its predecessor, especially the bomb bay detail. How much extra did you add? Either way, looks streets ahead of the old one.

[Bedders]

Looks and sounds fantastic (cue blue-note)!

 

Justin

[Lord Riot]

Thanks chaps! 
 

@Alan P the kit bomb bay is quite nice already, just a little sparse so I added the pipes and wires to busy it up a bit, then a few areas of dirt wash. In hindsight I should have drilled the holes in the spars, but I just used black posca pen as the kit just has indented circles. I assume in the real thing they were there to reduce weight.

[canberraman]

That's a great result Lord Riot. A first class build and lovely paint job. You can be proud of this one that's for sure.

 

Mark