1/96 Lindberg Avro Vulcan VX770.

[Head in the clouds.]

VX770 was the first of the mighty Vulcans to fly on the 30th August 1952, 'Roly' Falkes was the test pilot, dressed in his pin stripped suit ( you wouldn't get away with that today). He was the only crew member aboard. Powered by RR Avons RA3s', Roly put it through its paces and in doing shattered several windows on the airfield. At this point the aircraft had yet to be named, some suggestions were; Albion, Avenger, Apollo or Assegai..... In October she was finally given her most famous of names-Vulcan.

Well; this kit started out as a box of about 40 pieces, produced way back when the protoype Vulcans had just about finished their flying in the late 50's/early 60's so I thought this would be the quickest build to date for me. Yeah! about 2 years later it is done.

Fortunately for me, when Lindberg produced their 3 V Bombers kits, 2 out of the 3 were the prototypes, the Vulcan and the Victor. I have both and this was the first Lindberg kit I have built and what a hoot they are. Most of the 40 odd bits don't fit that well so straight from the off I decided to build it in flight as opposed to on it's undercarriage. The U/C  bay doors and flying surfaces were a poor fit, they were fixed and filled over. Then, after painting and a good coat of varnish I drew the outline of the U/C bays and flying control surfaces with a very fine marker. Then I sealed it again with more varnish coats. That was the easy bit done. Up next was the infamous shallow cockpit.

Fortunately, those kindly fellows at Avro made the Vulcan with small cockpit windows and next to nothing can be seen inside so I decided to make a sub frame inside where the canopy would sit, this would support said canopy from off the airframe giving the right(ish) depth. The surrounding area was then filled with plasticard and filler and sanded to shape. The one thing I was not going to alter was the dropping of the glazing, that would stay as is. All in all it looked better, not 100% accurate mind, but that was never the end game, a better representation of a very basic kit was the goal. Now came the hardest improvement.

The engine intakes on a Vulcan taper slightly but the kit items are dead straight so I fitted a section of square plastic rod about 1.5mm square and fixed it to the leading edge, this was then tapered about the same(1.5mm) outwards, it is subtle when looking at it bit it is there; honest guv! This was by far and away the longest part of the job, it took a lot of filling,sanding, checking but got there in the end. While I was at it I made some tunnels from the inlet to the engines, represented by some round plates with blades painted on, this stopped the inside of the wing from being seen.

Some scribing was done for the four sets of double airbrakes, this was later reduced to two pairs on production models. Also, the nose pitot tube was made from 0.3 wire and the wing pitots made from brass rod.

I used good old Humbrol white for paint and tried to weather it as seen in a common picture of VX770 banking away to starboard, all grimy and dirty underneath. I don't normally weather and I think I buggered it up.

Decal wise the kit items fell apart in water so most of the decals are all from the spares box, the others were given by a fellow modeller, in particular, the Avro logo on the tail, thank you @Adam Poultney.
A final satin varnish coat finished it off. The display stand is unfinished, I am still pondering how to display it but for now it will do.

I will let you good folks decide whether I have improved it or not, now it is finished that is a bit more space on the bench and it has helped finishing this as it gave me a break from scribing on another build.

For your perusal, VX770, Avro Vulcan Prototype;

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[amos brierley]

🎩 off to you for giving it a go, a better man than me. Nice to see your enthusiasm for the subject.    😉

[Pete in Lincs]

That looks just right in that pose, Gary.

The head on shot, number five, is my favourite. Comin' ta getcha!

Will you be coming to the Lincoln show next month?

[Tomcat101]

Having looked at that kit box several times and seeing the many inaccuracies I think you have accomplished a great job. I also like the dynamic pose and the white anti-flash paint scheme. Well done.      

[Billos]

2 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

At this point the aircraft had yet to be named, some suggestions were; Albion, Avenger, Apollo or Assegai.....

And Avro's preferred name was ... Ottawa. Now although I'm canadian, that just wouldn't have cut it ... 😲

[billn53]

Not bad at all, considering what you had to work with.

[Rabbit Leader]

That looks awesome and the neat / clean finish is testament to some excellent modelling skills there. I love the flying pose and front view showing smooth and seamless engines. 
 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

[Head in the clouds.]

20 hours ago, amos brierley said:

🎩 off to you for giving it a go, a better man than me. Nice to see your enthusiasm for the subject.    😉

Thanks @amos brierley, it put up a fight but I had the last laugh.

 

19 hours ago, Pete in Lincs said:

That looks just right in that pose, Gary.

The head on shot, number five, is my favourite. Comin' ta getcha!

Will you be coming to the Lincoln show next month?

I think so too Pete, Vulcans look best in their natural element. Yes, I will be at Lincoln so look forward to seeing you again and hopefully
@general melchett and @shortCummins and anyone else who pops up.

 

Thank you @Tomcat101, I have to say though there were times when it was going back in the box.

 

Where do these ideas for naming aircraft come from @Billos? None of those mentioned sound right but then again we have only ever know 'Vulcan'

 

13 hours ago, billn53 said:

Not bad at all, considering what you had to work with.

Cheers @billn53, there is not a lot too work with so a good dose of grit and determination goes a long way.

 

13 hours ago, Rabbit Leader said:

That looks awesome and the neat / clean finish is testament to some excellent modelling skills there. I love the flying pose and front view showing smooth and seamless engines. 
 

Cheers and well modelled.. Dave 

Kind words @Rabbit Leader, thank you. I spent more time on those than anything but they are a very prominent part of the Vulcan so glad I did give them the attention they deserve.

[tempestfan]

You're a brave man! Looks great in white. And the trestle (?) stripe under the nose makes it look as if it smiles 😊

 

But the third Lindberg V-Bomber - I'm not aware they did a Valiant? Lincoln did, but somewhat smaller.

[Head in the clouds.]

1 hour ago, tempestfan said:

But the third Lindberg V-Bomber - I'm not aware they did a Valiant? Lincoln did, but somewhat smaller.

You are probably right, my memory is shocking and a often spoken about event in my family. I may also have been thinking of the Frog kit too.🤪 Anyway, thanks you for your kind words on the Vulcan.👍

[tempestfan]

2 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

You are probably right, my memory is shocking and a often spoken about event in my family. I may also have been thinking of the Frog kit too.🤪 Anyway, thanks you for your kind words on the Vulcan.👍

Praise where praise is due. I got the LB Vulcan in a Revell box as birthday present by my uncle ca. 1983. I never thought about it long and hard in 40 years, but a) did he want me to be put of from modelling for my mental benefit, or b) did he simply hate me? Kit resides in the stash forevermore... [whistling The Raven]

[Richard S]

That’s really nice, after the write up you gave it I was scrolling down expecting to see something pretty rough looking, but no! An absolute cracker, just goes to show that you can make a silk purse out of a pigs ear. Love the anti-flash paint scheme. Thanks for sharing.

[Head in the clouds.]

Thanks @Richard S. It is a rough old box of bits but not the roughest kit I have made by a country mile, this is;

 

 

 

When you choose to build one offs and prototypes this is sometimes what you are dealt.

[Richard S]

That is rough, looks like something the cat's been playing with.

[tempestfan]

17 minutes ago, Head in the clouds. said:

Thanks @Richard S. It is a rough old box of bits but not the roughest kit I have made by a country mile, this is;

 

That kit was put onto screen by Spielberg IIRC as "The Blob from outer Space", but it was not one of his successes.

[keefr22]

1 hour ago, tempestfan said:

That kit was put onto screen by Spielberg IIRC as "The Blob from outer Space", but it was not one of his successes.

 

I've been trying to work out what it is but have failed miserably! 🤣

 

Anyways, as to the Vulcan, you made a stunning job of it, the paint looks lovely, I like the subtle weathering and the drawn on door outlines are really effective!

 

Top modelling!

 

Keith

[Head in the clouds.]

9 hours ago, keefr22 said:

I like the subtle weathering and the drawn on door outlines are really effective!

Cheers @keefr22, the drawn on lines were bit of an experiment really to see if it could work.

 

9 hours ago, keefr22 said:

I've been trying to work out what it is but have failed miserably!

I will put you out of your misery; Supermarine TOR 4040 paper design for a vertical take off fighter.

 

[keefr22]

That's a new one on me, no wonder I didn't have a clue!

 

Looking forward to seeing the 'The Blob' built....!!

 

Keith 

[Head in the clouds.]

9 hours ago, keefr22 said:

Looking forward to seeing the 'The Blob' built....!!

Already is Keith, that is it in the pic above. Completed about 5 years ago.

[bennyboi]

props! what an excellent build!

[Head in the clouds.]

Thank you @bennyboi

[keefr22]

9 hours ago, Head in the clouds. said:

Already is Keith, that is it in the pic above. Completed about 5 years ago.

 

Sorry, didn't realise - that's a cracking result!

 

Keith

[general melchett]

Great job old chap, like the body mods....Can't help but love the V-Bomber prototypes, they made quite a stir back in the early fifties. I've also built a few of these over the years, along with the three Frog kits, a lot of fun to be had.

 

Unicraft, ah, wonderful subjects, somewhat less than stellar kits. Good result, especially considering what you started off with... 

 

Hopefully catch up with you and a few of the usual suspects at Lincoln in the near future.

[Head in the clouds.]

1 hour ago, general melchett said:

Hopefully catch up with you and a few of the usual suspects at Lincoln in the near future.

Thank you @general melchett.

Looking forward to Lincoln as I missed our clubs outing to the Fenlands  show at Holbeach, pity, because the lads walked away with a few 'gongs'