Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 Hi All, A new red box dropped through my letterbox a couple of weeks ago, and it wasn't long until I just had to start it. I know a couple of other contributors have already posted their completed builds ( and very nice they are too!), but I thought I would do a blow by blow account./media/tinymce_upload/74793894ce685c329fa72f368d4beb86.jpgA quick check of the contents revealed fine engraved panel lines, detailed cockpit and other areas, and Cartograf markings for two Royal Navy Birds from 800 NAS on Eagle and 809 NAS on Ark Royal./media/tinymce_upload/3551fd07af59792d862eccdc31c89a83.jpgThe instructions are in Airfix's usual style, with red for sections just completed, and grenn for areas to be removed./media/tinymce_upload/a8bb64ff0f24751ab8773248626c0de8.jpgThere are plenty of stencils as shown on the placement guide./media/tinymce_upload/064b53f53cd45aec2b8424cc293445ed.jpgFull colour painting and marking guides for both options are included./media/tinymce_upload/b034462d26256e07bbe27749b0472939.jpgThe kit decals are top centre, while from the spares box came the decals from the original Airfix Buccaneer S.2 are on lower right, and from the later release lower left.I was tempted to use the South African Air Force markings, but in the end I think I will use the kit markings for 809 NAS, but with the later red/blue tactical roundels as I already have a 800 sqn kit with the red, white and blue ones./media/tinymce_upload/0802b5e8390aacb86176e90fed296fb1.jpgBefore starting the kit some research and reading to get into the mood took place. Phoenix Squadron tells the story of the Buccaneer overflight of Belize to prevent an invasion ( the 809 sqn machine in the kit is one of the two aircraft involved, and there are photos of her in the book). Buccaneer Boys has lots of personal stories from Bucc air and ground crew, while the Haynes Manual has lots of detail about the airframe. The actual build starts with the cockpit and bang seats. each seat is in three parts, and while not what would be called highly details, there is some detail present, including some moulded on belts. The paint instructions all refer to Humbrol numbers, but is pretty accurate from what I can tell./media/tinymce_upload/42ff8438e7aa656236467209da275b45.jpg The cockpit was soon painted up and decalled (17 decals in the cockpit!), and ready to be put together. as can be seen there is also moulded on detail on the inner walls./media/tinymce_upload/8a90d4e9e163e73c9805ea6153ebd7b0.jpgThe inside was dry brushed with a darker grey to show some wear and tear. The forward fuselage was then joined after adding some nose weight to prevent tail sitting./media/tinymce_upload/c24e01b45592d2ceaaefe0b8baf5b5b1.jpg Next will be the centre section and wings. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted October 24, 2019 Share Posted October 24, 2019 What sort of weights did you use? Did you get enough in the nose?I put more weight behind the cockpit and it has worked well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2B Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 As usual PMM I will flow your excellent blow by blow build review with interest before I start my kit!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted October 25, 2019 Author Share Posted October 25, 2019 What sort of weights did you use? Did you get enough in the nose?I put more weight behind the cockpit and it has worked well.I used as many small nuts and bolts as I could cram in embedded in white tack. Hopefully it will be enough or else it will be modelled with the tail hook down! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 So you're not folding the wings then 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted October 25, 2019 Share Posted October 25, 2019 I added 40g in the space where the engine would sit. A dry fit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted October 27, 2019 Author Share Posted October 27, 2019 After the nose section had been completed, next up was the centre section and wings. Ratch was correct, I am building with the wings extended. I did contemplate folding the wings, as I already have two Buccs, but the 'plane just looks better with the wings spread. Maybe the next one?Anyway, on with the build. Before the top and bottom centre section can be joined the intakes, including undercarriage bays and jetpipes need to be constructed, painting as we go. By the way the fit of all the parts so far has been fine, with everything clicking into place./media/tinymce_upload/5eafb805595d66b1709125183ac67d01.jpgIn keeping with the real machine the construction of the internals includes some substantial bulkheads to keep things true. Unfortunately one of the lower wings was quite badly warped. This was only partly fixed by the triangular wing spar seen above./media/tinymce_upload/f0cbfed7e3f20f5f98e281264fd7f66b.jpgIn this view the very nicely detailed bomb-bay can be seen as well as the intake trunking running through the main bays./media/tinymce_upload/8b2ba4b2e8fc727f1395b61ba056dfb0.jpgOnce all the internals are in place the upper and lower parts can be joined. The fit was good with only slight seams to be dealt with. After this the upper, outer wing sections are added, and clamped. Due to the top overlapping the lower wing section, there are no seams to sort out here. The clamping also fixed the warped lower wing. The join between the inner and outer section of the top wing left what I feel to be to greater gap, which will need sorting out later. In the picture above the nose section is only test fitted./media/tinymce_upload/82426a968ba30017617ce24da2a77584.jpgNow things started to proceed fairly rapidly. The nose was attached, but even with careful alignment I had iffy joins top and bottom. The tail section was then put together, with a separate rudder, end bullets to the tail-planes and top cap to the fin. There was some gaps around the top, especially around the bullets. The jet exhausts and intake fairings didn't fit to well either and some fettering was need to one of the intakes to get a good fit. At least I'm beginning to get something resembling a Buccaneer./media/tinymce_upload/5f113882f46f5a0c8aad1b5f3f29c483.jpg Here the prominent join between the centre and tail sections can be seen, as well as the jet exhaust fitting./media/tinymce_upload/e3f4f69c4e8e30ac32114cda10108d30.jpgHowever it didn't take long to sort out the gaps with some Perfect Plastic Putty and wet and dry paper./media/tinymce_upload/e46ef2c3b342fe5180d979ebe8d84623.jpgIn the second picture the open air-brake is also fitted.Talking of which, here are the parts laid out for said air-brake./media/tinymce_upload/053a1d09d2595b4759c82db8a0da6726.jpgAlthough fiddly it went together and fitted well, just so long as the instructions are followed./media/tinymce_upload/aa012da42a73f73b48b2d87015038b96.jpgAll the seams are now sorted, and the gaps along the upper wings were lessened by running some white glue into the join.Now to add some of the smaller parts and it will be ready for painting. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter s Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 I probably got enough lead in the nose (off cut of deep sea fishing weight bashed into a wedge with a hammer) but just to make sure did exactly as Rach shows and put extra weight into the void between the intakes to make sure. I was really impressed with this one. Perfect part fit and very little ambiguity in the instructions. The kit is as solid as the real thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tonto Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 This does look like a nice kit. Would it take much to convert this kit to a South African S.50 version? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted November 1, 2019 Author Share Posted November 1, 2019 This does look like a nice kit. Would it take much to convert this kit to a South African S.50 version?Not Really, all you would need would be the decals for the SAAF, the larger slipper wing tanks and specific South African weapons. The SAAF did have RATO in the aft of the aircraft (Rocket Assisted Take Off), but this was soon deleted, and would only need the location scribed in if you were really bothered. By the way good quality decals and the larger slipper tanks are available in the old tool Buccaneer boxing, which should be available pretty cheaply ( the red box with Desert Storm Aircraft on the top). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Tonto Posted November 1, 2019 Share Posted November 1, 2019 Thanks PMM. I have built the old kit so should have the slipper tanks and decals in the spares box.Time to buy this kit me thinks. 😀 Thanks for the quick reply. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted November 24, 2019 Author Share Posted November 24, 2019 Hello everyone,Sorry about the delay with this build, it's been slow going because of a house move and other priorities. Anyway, here is the airframe, ready for painting. The light grey paint is to check out the seams, note the clear plastic wingtips for the navigation lights./media/tinymce_upload/2b51d8fe446a845e7eb657d710558318.jpg. First on was three hand painted coats of Extra Dark Sea Grey Acrylic, followed by some careful masking of the silver leading edges, which were first undercoated in gloss black./media/tinymce_upload/95d00c96f26181ed1868add1d79490ed.jpgUndercarriage was also painted and assembled at the same time. The instructions had some confusion here, with construction guide stating one shade of Humbrol grey and the painting guide another shade. The same happened with the inside of the airbrake./media/tinymce_upload/7b8733bbee60290109bc11001ec021bb.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/c3821ef5895c195ee4c90f7329a180d4.jpgAfter a couple of coats of Klear, it was time for decals. Although I'm using one of the kit options for 809 Sqn on Ark Royal, I wanted an aircraft with the tactical red/blue roundels, rather than the kit red/white/blue ones. So I have used some artistic licence and completed the Bucc as she would have appeared in 1977/78 if she had still been with the squadron rather than 1972 (which she might well have been). To do this I robbed the tactical roundels from the unused sheet from the previous Airfix Buccaneer./media/tinymce_upload/ba068fe6c73a84343dce312b1f8b9483.jpgI might get another Buccaneer just to use those South African markings! The decals went on without issue as usual, although I did slice the underwing serials and flood them with Decalfix where they went over panel lines as some silvering was evident. Some of the stencils are tiny, and I must admit not all of them were applied./media/tinymce_upload/0f6256ca573b04d24fea079ee7100235.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/35ed452f1985851cbcaed60e75199adc.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/243fbe5dee908e4a18afe592cc05188b.jpgSub-assemblies (shown) and small parts to go on next, then a coat of semi-matt varnish and a little weathering and it will be done. And here is the finished kit. Weathering consisted of a smoke wash in the bomb bay and wheel wells, and smoke weathering powder streaked back from the exhausts./media/tinymce_upload/c19cce33f4bc0c6e0c7399441a8f246a.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/3f664541f4cb11f22f3783ca36de5c14.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/b5f6ff88b338d4cda82444fc6e7a9a4c.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/ac67527312eaaf04a1791c3fd0b1a6bf.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/61d8ae9b7fc920152c2f80da5423c026.jpgI really loved building this kit, it's great that at last we have a decent injection moulded Buccaneer, and I'm pretty sure I will be building at least one more, can't wait for the RAF boxing! One issue I had was that the main wheels toed in slightly, but I think that's probably my doing rather than any fault with the kit. Don't know what you think but I really like the look the different roundels give. An constructive comments welcome. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Symmons Posted November 24, 2019 Share Posted November 24, 2019 Hi PMMAnother fine build and it's nice to see so many Buccaneers and being done in different finishes to the Airfix suggestions. Would love to see the South Africian one you alluded too. Remember we do this for fun John the Pom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2B Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 Another very good build PMM. Makes me think I'll move my Buccaneer up my build schedule but keep changing my mind on what finish to do?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted November 25, 2019 Share Posted November 25, 2019 Nice job. This model was one of the most satisfying builds I've completed in ages.How about you PMM, how did you find your build ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted November 25, 2019 Author Share Posted November 25, 2019 Yes Colin, really enjoyed this kit, I will be making another sometime. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Bollig Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 first, let me say thank you for the build. I have three of the older airfix kits and 2 matchbox and 1 frog kit of the buc. As I plan on doing a retrospective build of all three kits, i take great interest in how the new kit builds. Wondering if one with the folded wings would be harder than the other options. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratch Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 I made the folded wing option John. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dominic Thomas Posted December 20, 2019 Share Posted December 20, 2019 I enjoyed following the build. The final result was excellent, in my opinion. Thank you.Looking forward to the next version. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happykat Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 😆 I liked your review and am looking foward to getting this kit (and the Mig-17) over here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocket Ron. Posted April 17, 2020 Share Posted April 17, 2020 Excellent build of an excellent kit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Will5080 Posted April 20, 2020 Share Posted April 20, 2020 It looks really good) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarnacleBill1707821335 Posted June 28, 2020 Share Posted June 28, 2020 What sort of weights did you use? Did you get enough in the nose?I put more weight behind the cockpit and it has worked well.I used as many small nuts and bolts as I could cram in embedded in white tack. Hopefully it will be enough or else it will be modelled with the tail hook down!Just as a sort of tip, I built a 1/48 scale Gannet, and I crammed as much lead as I could into it, but it still tail sat, and so, I built it tail hook down, but the plastic tail hook couldn't take the strain, and so I used the metal nozzle from a bottle of that other makers glue as a tail hook, and it worked well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dark Earth Posted July 2, 2020 Share Posted July 2, 2020 Nice work Modeller !Impressive brush painted finish. And thanks for the effort in putting that great build report together ! The finished product looks awesome !Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretty Mediocre Modeller Posted July 2, 2020 Author Share Posted July 2, 2020 Nice work Modeller !Impressive brush painted finish. And thanks for the effort in putting that great build report together ! The finished product looks awesome !ChrisThanks Chris,I did finish it in a matt varnish, which does a good job of hiding the brush marks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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