1/72 Airfix Vulcan Matchbox Victor Refuelling

[5Craven]

Here is my build for the cold war GB. I am planning to show an inflight refuelling of a Vulcan from a Victor tanker during Operation Blackbuck in 1982. I was inspired to try this after I saw a painting called '40 degrees south' which you can see below.



I managed to pick up a Matchbox Victor model from ebay a couple of years ago for under ten pounds because the previous owner had started removing parts from the sprues. Fortunately he hadn't gone too far! Paul & Lee have kindly OK'ed me using the kit as part of the GB. Pictures of all the bits and pieces below.




















The Vulcan I picked up a couple of weeks ago again from ebay especially for this build. However I now get to do it together with the Victor, its going to be a monster build!







This looks like it should be part of a Star Wars A Wing fighter!







These came off the sprues in transit and is the Blue Streak standoff missile, I won't be using it though.



Grrr... misprint on one of the roundels, will have to try and get a replacement. The antiflash white scheme decals look interesting.



Typical Airfix instructions as well.

Both kits are typical of their vintage with raised panel lines and are going to need a lot of filling and sanding. On the plus side as they will be shown in flight I won't need to worry about landing gear or nose weights. Cockpit detail on both kits is minimal (better on the Victor) but it look like it will be impossible to see much in the Vulcan at least.

My plan of attack will be to assemble the fuselages and wings first and tidy them up and then decide on if I am going to rescribe the panel lines.

This build isn't on the bench.. it is the bench!

[T3hGuppy]

This build is going to be sweet.

Brilliant idea and two very iconic cold war aircraft.

[Lee]

This is going to be AWESOME....!!!

I love that pic,, really has a sense of drama...

[Nige201980]

really looking forward to this and love the painting right there is everything great about our aviation history.

[PhildaFish]

I wanted to have a crack at this scene a while back but couldn't get my hands on a Victor and my Vulcan went a bit, well, off topic to say the least! (Have a look HERE)
One word of warning - watch out for the intakes on the Vulcan!

[chief5437]

Jeez! That's gonna be a huge display! Great subject, I've seen a few programmes about this mission, really good stuff. This will be so cool to see finished, good luck mate!

[5Craven]

I wanted to have a crack at this scene a while back but couldn't get my hands on a Victor and my Vulcan went a bit, well, off topic to say the least! (Have a look HERE)
One word of warning - watch out for the intakes on the Vulcan!

That would have been one hell of an Airshow scheme! I can hear the cheers ringing out

Thanks for the heads up on the intakes, I had already heard they were a bit of an issues but anothers experience is always handy. She is really going to be the words of Freddie Mercury 'A Filler Queen!'

[bullgill67]

looks great - good luck

michael

[EasyEight96]

Wow a giant diorama will be keeping an eye on this build good choice

[Paul]

This will be interesting

[schweinhund227]

Even in 72nd this will be a monster !

Awesome !

Good luck with the build !

[good2us1]

Cool choice, the Victor has a unique look to it!

[ModelingMatt]

Can't wait to see how it turns out.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

Nice!
Love those planes...

[longlance67]

this will be one awesome scene, the Victor and Vulcan are such iconic birds, cant wait to see how this builds up




thanks,



Shane

[5Craven]

Hi guys, thanks for all your interest I only hope I can do justice to your expectations. So where are we? Well as you would expect I did a bit of research on the background to these planes and found a lot of interesting stuff I plan to share with you during the build. In case you get bored with all that stuff and want to get on to the bit where I end up mangling the kits up I will try and break the history up into digestible chunks for you all!

So here is history bit one!
The design of both of these aircraft was kickstarted in 1947 when the Ministry of Supply issued Specification B.35/46 for the design of a high level, high speed bomber capable of delivering a nuclear weapon to any target. As the RAF were still using the Lancaster and its uprated version the Lincoln at the time, since the performance called for, "a bomber capable of carrying one 10,000 lb to a target 1,500 nautical miles at a cruising speed of 500 knots at heights up to 50,000 ft", it clearly required revolutionary designs. It might be thought that the RAF would have learn't the lessons of WW2 and could see that unescorted bombers would not provide a reliable attack solution and that the V2 showed the way to go. However rocket technology was still in its infancy and the new jet technology was thought to provide new possibilities.

In the end there were three designs submitted. The first the Vickers Valiant didn't reach the performance targets of the specification but did use the technology available at the time. On that basis it was put into production as a stopgap during the development of the more advanced designs, the Handley Page Victor and the Avro Vulcan. The designs both focused on the wings of the aircraft as the key. The Victor used an elegant stepped crescent wing which gave a high cruise speed at altitude where the Vulcan team opted for a radical delta wing design. The Vulcan entered service in 1956 and the Victor in 1957. So in just under ten years of design and development the RAF was in possession of two of the most radically designed strategic attack aircraft in the world both with a performance, with the exception of range, that was way ahead of the latest American B-52B's.

So would the aircraft be able to do the job expected of them? In 1960 and 1961 the Vulcan force was put to the test in highly classified full scale exercises simulating a soviet bombing attack on the mainland US called Operation Skyshield. In both exercises two groups of four Vulcans were part of the attack. The first group launched from Scotland and in 1960 one of the attacking aircraft was claimed shot down by a USAF F-101 Voodoo the other three Vulcans were unscathed. In 1961 one Vulcan was acquired by a fire control radar from a Voodoo but this time the groups ECM successfully evaded the contact and successfully attacked their target. The second group of four Vulcans launched from from Bermuda and both years used their ECM to evade the intercepting F-102 Delta Daggers. In 1961 one of this group of Vulcans went on to carry out an undetected attack on New York. V force had officially earned their spurs and were ready for anything. However in typical cold war fashion the soviets were about to change the game................... (to be continued)

The build part one
So I decided to start with the Vulcan. Airfix has clearly updated the mould from their original release.


But having said that it is still a vintage kit. So it does have raised panel lines and the engineering a fit in places is not good. As Phil mentioned earlier the air intakes are a classic example.


Fortunately thanks to the guys on this forum I have discovered 'Perfect Plastic Putty' and 'Mr Cement Applicators' I have used both to good effect on the intakes.


A little tidying up and we should be good here. In the meantime I have started putting together the major components like the wings. Some tiding up with sanding sponges is needed, plus patience as well. A before and after shot here........


Not yet fixed in place but just a quick dry fit so you can see the size of the finished article. The cutting mat under the model is A3 plus and this is only the Vulcan, the Victor has a bigger wingspan!!


I have done a little research and have selected the following paints for the build in Mr Hobby Aqueous range; Dark Green H320, Medium Seagray H335 & Extra Dark Seagray H333, time to bang off an order!

[good2us1]

Looking good so far!

[Lee]

Looking good Dave, watch to for the PPP though, I tend to get quite a bit of shrinkage with it. I always leave at least a day after using just to make sure

[5Craven]

Time for the next update and I just can't get over how much stuff the rest of you are getting through! With an extra month on the GB I thought I could pace myself a bit but you guys are building twice as fast to fit an extra build in!

Anyway I have continued putting together the main sub assemblies but on the Victor this time. There is a lot more filling required on this kit so far so here is picture to show the overall scale. Here you can see the Victor tailplane next to my daughters completed Airfix Tomahawk.



And a dry fit of one of the wings. Scale is on the cutting mat for reference.



Phil warned me about the Vulcans intakes but they are going to be easy to sort out compared to the Victor's. Have a look at this little lot!



I am thinking of using some thin plastic to fit to one half and cut to fit the other half. Then paint everything before fitting together. Any other ideas would be welcome!!

[Nige201980]

I didn't realise it was quite that BIG and those intakes lok a PITA but im surew you will sort it mate

[longlance67]

looking good so far,

great work it will all pay off in the end mate



Shane

[Rob]

This is going to be huge! Good stuff so far and looking forward to seeing more.

[fly1ngdutchm4n]

NICE! Looking good so far!
Can't wait to see more...

[T3hGuppy]

Still got a few days on this.

Are we going to see it finished?