VC-10 K3 plus some chicks **** Completed ****

[Jabba]

   For this GB I will be using the Roden kit of the Vickers VC-10 K3. Along with this I hope to make a Tornado and a Buccaneer so that I can do a flying diorama of these two aircarft being refueled during  Op Granby in 1991. I say hopefully as I have never attempted anything like this before. I will also be using a decal sheet from F-Dcal for this aircraft. For the Tornado I will be using the Revell kit, but with a dragon kit decal sheet. I may find one from elsewheere, as this kit is quite old. For the Buccaneer whilst I will be using the 1/144th.co.uk kit. I also hope that doing all three aircraft on one build thread is allowed. Forgot to say I also have some baskets that I found whilst walking around Telford last year when this plan all started.

 

The box art.

 

Inside the box.

 

Kit instructions and decals.

 

F-Dcal decals.

 

The Revell Tornado.

 

The plastic.

 

Kit instructions.

 

The big decal sheet for a 1/144th model.

 

The Dragon kit.

 

The decals.

 

The Buccaneer.

 

Inside the box.

 

All the parts.

 

Instructions and decal sheet.

 

The decal sheet.

 

The refuelling baskets.

[Mjwomack]

Straight off a fascinating project and not the sort of thing you can really attempt in 1/72.

I've went to enjoy a Roden kit (to keep the language clean) so think that might be the weak section, have got on well with F-Decal though and who doesn't love a smattering of aftermarket?

[Marklo]

Welcome to the GB very interesting selection. This should be good.

[Corsairfoxfouruncle]

Welcome to the build, Im not super familiar with the VC.10 so will follow along. 

[Jabba]

On 09/07/2025 at 20:53, Mjwomack said:

I've went to enjoy a Roden kit (to keep the language clean) so think that might be the weak section,

 

I see what you mean. I have had a look at the fuselage halves over the past few days, removing the flash and other lumps to try and make the edges smooth. Will be looking at other parts tonight.

 

On a different note does anyone know where I can get 1/144th aircrew from? The VC-10 is fine as I can use a decal for the flight deck windows, but the other two aircraft have rather a big window covering the cockpit.

[Jabba]

 I have made a small start on the VC-10. I fitted the fuselage windows, after removing a little bit of flash plastic from each one. I have also smoothed the fuselage joint so that I get a better fit of these parts. I think that I will be adding some plastic strips along the upper of one half and a more substantial bit to the lower half, as this will have the mount for the diorama. I have also fitted the U/C doors to the lower wing parts. I thought that it would be better adding now when I can get to both sides of the doors than later when the wings are together.

 

 

 

 

[Colin W]

I built exactly this about 25 years ago using an Airfic VC-10 and 2 LS Tornados. I used Florists wire for the lines as they are stiff resistant to bending. The connection into the fighters was OK but connecting the other end into the pylon and the VC-10 was always the weak point. 

I managed to get the Center of Gravity near the tail of the VC10 to allow it to balance on a stand. 

Good luck and I look forward to the finished result. 

[Jabba]

Thank you very much for that information. I will store it away until later. Quick question, did you put any crew in the Tornados?

 

I have made a start on the other two aircraft. To the BuccaneerI have fitted the bomb bay and two of the U/C doors, a bit of filling required. I have left the other one off so that I could show the detail that is in there and unfortunately has to be removed to fit the door. I have also carried out a dry fit of the upper fuselage, which is very good.

 

On the Tornado I have just done a dry fit of the rear fuselage and wings. this again is very good. The instructions would have you fit the tailplanes at this stage, but as the rear of the section is another part and if there is any sanding to be done they would just get in the way and more than likely disappear. This will be glued together tonight and I will start painting the cockpit as there are decals to apply in here.

 

Buccaneer.

 

 

Tornado.

 

[Mjwomack]

On 7/11/2025 at 7:51 PM, Jabba said:

I see what you mean. I have had a look at the fuselage halves over the past few days, removing the flash and other lumps to try and make the edges smooth.

There is a phrase, ''as rough as a hedgehog's bottom ©️ @AdrianMF

 

Good start here though for sure.

[AdrianMF]

Great diorama! I'm particularly looking forward to the physics of balancing the stand...

 

FWIW Ebay has a load of pilots, 3D printed in various scales including 1/144. They are standing and WWII but if you use just the top half and some arm repositioning you could get away with it. There are also N gauge civilians (100pieces of 13mm) pirated from Faller originals, which would take a bit more work.

 

I've researched and used both, but in 1/96 and 1/72 scales. But TBH at 1/144 and under a canopy you don't need more than two blobs of milliput and four or five tiny brushfuls of paint.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Marklo]

1 hour ago, Mjwomack said:

There is a phrase, ''as rough as a hedgehog's bottom ©️ 

For me it’s always badgers and nowadays I use the phrase back parts instead of a^$#…

[Jabba]

   Some more progress on the VC-10. Fuselage is now together, along with the wings and tailplanes. Fuselage has been filled, awaiting sanding. The wings have just been dry fitted to the fuselage to see how "well" they fit. They too will require sanding.

 

 

 

 

[Jabba]

   Buccaneer fuselage halve put together along with nose cone and air brakes. Yet again some filler required.

 

 

[Marklo]

Nice. Are your images very high resolution? I’m finding them very slow to load.

[bianfuxia]

From what I remember from dragon 1/144 tornado it has pilot figures - or pilot-esque shapes - already doesn't it?

[Jabba]

     The Dragon kit does have some sort of aircrew in the kit, but these are welded to the seats which is again welded to the cockpit. So I would have to destroy this to get the seats out to fit to the Revell kit. Hopefully I may have sourced some aircrew from Heroes models (I think), jus need to finance them. I was also looking at the seat for the Buccaneer, it looks tiny.

[Jabba]

   @Marklo it has been mentioned before in another GB that my photos are slow to upload. The main problem is that I am a bit of a luddite when it comes to computer tech, so when I find a method of how to do something and it works for me I tend to stick with it. Even when other people explain how to do things very, very simply I follow what they say to the letter, but it never works for me. Please accept my apologies, but this is how it is.

 

Some work has been done on both of the "Chicks".

 

I decaled the cockpit of the Tornado, so I glued the fwd fuselage together and then attached it to the rear section. Looking at the parts of this kit it appears to be a scale down of the 1/72nd kit, as the nose U/C has that big oleo extension. Ther should be another photo, but this has disappeared into the ether.

 

With te Buccaneer I have been sanding down the filler and then added some more parts.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jabba]

  I have been working on the mother hen (VC-10), but this has mainly been sanding the filller. I have added the APU, fin and glasswork to the fuselage. That tailplanes are only there at the moment so that I could set the fin vertical, with these given me a good reference. I do not know why Roden made the flight deck glazing as a clear piece with masks as there is nothing to see in there when fiished. As I have said earlier I will be using the F-Dcal decals for this area. I have also put the engines together, again with more filler. More stuff to be carried out here.

 

Lastly the missing photo from yesterdays post.

 

 

 

 

[Jabba]

   Nose cone fitted to the VC-10. Another "well fitting" part. Also note the damage to the flight deck glazing when rubbing down the edges so that it fitted the fuselage better. Also there has been some trial fitting of the other assemblies, with some fitting better than others.

 

 

 

 

 

[Jabba]

More parts added to both the Buccaneer and Tornado.  I think that I am almost ready for paint on these 2, but I am a bit reluctant to do so until I get the crew members so that I can fit the canopies. I had to borrow the LMRTS fairing from the Dragon kit, as although the Revell kit says that you can make a GR1 from it, this part is not included. I will also have to make a small change on the wing tips of the Buccaneer. Only one aircraft in the gulf "Guiness Girl" had the wing tips that come with the kit (yet again this is a Gulf War special kit), all the others had the earlier naval (straight) type. As I have decided on which aircraft I am going to do, this will have to be done. Still not decided which Tornado I am doing, so I will be looking at what different markings I can find.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

A comparison photo of each of the chicks.

[Jabba]

   On the VC-10 after sanding the fuselage, I added the TV camera and the centre line HDU fairings. I have also one some sanding on the engine to fuselage joint. After some trial fittings and fettling I have fitted the wings. There is still some gaps, but not as big as before. I have also been advised by Royal Mail that the aircrew are winging there way to me from the other side of the channel, hopefully here soon.

 

 

 

[Jabba]

   A little work has been done on all 3 models. The wing leading edge bullets and wing pylons have been fitted to the Buccaneer. There is no saying which pylon is which in the instructions (I think that they are meant to be the same whether inner or outer), but the outer ones do look a bit smaller and seem to point in an upwards direction. With the Tornado I have fitted the under fuselage pylons. To the VC-10 the talplanes have now been added. With all 3 models filling and sanding has also been carried out.

 

      Some stuff arrived in the post today. The newer decals for the Tornado. I do not know why Kitsworld say that they are GR4s, as they were not about until much later. Still have to decide which one to do. I do not think that any of these 3 aircraft that I choose flew together so it will be a bit of poetic licence. Also the aircrew for the 2 chicks, so I will look at them this evening so that I am sure thatt hey will fit into the aircraft.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jabba]

@Colin W, may I ask a question or two. This is also open to anyone else who maybe able to help. I have been thinking a lot quite lately how I am going to mount these models, as I have never done anything like this before. What I am going to use as poles to hold them up and the base itself. I am thinking of using some sort of clear acrylic rod to mount the models on. Is this going to be strong enough? How high of the base would be best for them to be mounted? For the base I am thinking of some thickish wood, but how big will it have to be? I know that it will have to accommodate all 3 models, but just bigger than what I require or a lot more? The last question is where to get ths all from. Thanks in advance for any help.

[Colin W]

I built mine in the days before digital cameras so no helpful pictures I'm afraid. It looked like this drawing with the weight of the 2 Tornado's balancing the VC10 around the tail. The tricky part was inserting the wire into the VC10. Initially I inserted it into the refuelling pod but I couldnt get the pod stuck strong enough to the wing. Eventually I drilled a hole into the wing and inserted the wire into that then fitted the disassembled pod around it so the weight was on the wing not the pod.  I drilled a hole in the Tornado where the probe was and inserted the other end of the wire. Varying the length of the wire between the aircraft and the weight of the Tornado's eventually got it to balance. I recall a later mod was 2 suspension wires to stop it swinging in the breeze. Using 2 tornados made it easier as they were the same weight making lateral balance easy. It might be harder with different planes?

I took it to the model club and it would balance on a pole inserted into a hole drilled into the rear of the VC10 but it wasn't very stable. 

 

 

HTH Colin 

[Marklo]

I’d probably use flower arranging wire and paint it silver or sky blue. It’s about 1mm in diameter and quite malleable so could be easily shaped into an armature.

 

https://www.greenstuffworld.com/en/acrylic-bases/830-acrylic-rods-round-16-mm-clear.html

 

greenstuff world has this snd a lot of ‘flying system’ components, worth a look.