Peter s Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Post 1: There's some nice buccaneers up here already but apparently no-one is reckless enough yet to try this idea........ I'm seriously hoping I haven't screwed up and overlooked something enormous. When I was born Britain's big carriers were long gone and amazing collection of fixed wing carrier planes were long gone. Sea Vixens and Sea Hawks were things I walked round in museums. Phantoms were pale grey and carried 111 squadron colours. Buccaneers were something else............ More to follow when the mods approve the pics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter s Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 Post 2: Bucanneers looked like this!/media/tinymce_upload/8363b25386779e3fc419f27988a1210c.jpgI've a few amazing memories of these beasts. On holiday in Scotland we were on the Islay ferry when I noticed 2 smokey dots on the horizon. These came towards us totally silently (because they were travelling so close to the speed of sound) and so low they were leaving wakes on the sea. As they closed on us they pulled up and the sound was like the earth splitting open. Unfortunately the initial airfix release has a slim bomb bay whereas most of the RAF ones I remember had the fatter bay doors with extra fuel (although from the extra holes in the wings you don't use in this build suggest a 2nd release is planned and it won't have just 2 rocket pods under the wings). Coincidentally weeks before Airfix announced the new tool release I'd bought an old Matchbox buccaneer on eBay. Some of these old Matchboxes are really good kits 40 or 50 years on (I can thoroughly recommend the Lysander) but the bucanneer is crude heavy thing that realistically I was never going to build once I'd seen the airfix./media/tinymce_upload/8173ecb328c9f4a9836ab8453655bb9a.jpg(lots of parts in this kit)/media/tinymce_upload/e1b4079791178ded8562077d4adbc0b7.jpgThe airfix bomb bay doors were dumped and the matchbox ones grafted on. The fit wasn't brilliant so this wasn't the neatest job I've done but after plenty of filler and sanding the effect was OK.The rest of the kit went together really well. I had a few issues with the initial naval F4 release, especially with the air intakes and the panel that runs down the spine. The buccaneer goes together perfectly. Its a tail sitter but the nose is big enough for just enough weight. There's also a convenient void space between the air intakes when you fit the cockpit and nose assembly which is about an inch square. To be be on the safe side I put some extra weight in there too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter s Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 Post 3: Airfix were very kind when it comes to painting the engine intakes:If you paint the jet pipes white:/media/tinymce_upload/01709037c0102438aae3441a7b8c8325.jpgThen the outer intakes steel you get a very neat final effect. I used a Mig Jimenez trick of filling the finished intakes with foam rubber (cut from a wash up sponge) to make sure no paint spoiled the final finish./media/tinymce_upload/05dded5bb7bb1fc0b164589e844d1317.jpgBefore spraying I fitted the canopy (I found the windscreen fit a bit uncertain... thats probably the only minor criticism I can possibly make). I painted wing and tail leading edges in steel and masked them and painted the inside of the dive brake a paler grey and also masked that. The later RAF Buccaneers had a few vanes and antenna not included in the S2.c kit so working from photos I tried to add what I could. Most obvious where two small horizontal vanes on the tail. These came from a Paveway.I should also praise Airfix for the dive brake. It comes in about 10 bits if you want it open. Its a work of art. Just don't fit it upside down like I did initially! Doh!!!!I've started priming my kits in black tamiya paint. When you overspray with vallejo the water based vallejo is reluctant to flow into the panel lines and you get a nice neat black panel line effect./media/tinymce_upload/a3a03ba53e0c7fa08a729110d2c70b37.jpgAfter priming I sprayed with my own mix of RAF green. This is 50/50 vallejo 1324 Dark green and 1316 US dk olive drab. Initially I used 1273 RAF Ocean grey for the grey but it looked to light compared to Buccaneer ref pics so I lightly oversprayed with 1110 Extra dark sea grey/US dark grey which is a WW2 coastal command shade. The Buccaneers I remember were looking a bit old and tired so I weathered the wrap around scheme with oil paints. Basically a small amount of olive green or dark grey oil in turps... basically dirty turps... which was applied with a clean brush randomly and allowed to flow over the base coat. As it dries it varies the shades of the base coat nicely/media/tinymce_upload/f78d7474b733b136c3df116c41dbd9ce.jpgBelieve it or not this is almost complete. Decals, fine detail work like tyres and weapons load to do. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter s Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 Post 4: finished job. I'm sure I missed some fine detail but I think it basically looks like I want it to look. Weirdly I actually had a pave spike laser designator in my parts box. I did consider a Gulf war scheme but I prefer the wrap round green and grey/media/tinymce_upload/6c91c2366f7cd35012bb5e492dfd1595.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/88164c260079559356c43f1bc975231f.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/8149002cc438a770486891b2894b3010.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/64834b085b7c0d837072c4d1a291c3a5.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/2485cb29329459c319f88b248df7a5ba.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/c42cfb295228e19c74b5a4951354f627.jpg/media/tinymce_upload/a0e576bc89667f73da9dbc83f07332fa.jpg(those jet pipes / intakes do look good! ) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2B Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Yes lots of Buccaneers on the forum at the moment which is why I'm trying to be patient with mine. And you must be keen to get the S. 2B version as I'm sure Airfix would issue a rebox of 1 pretty soon? I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the new 2020 Catelogue! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter s Posted October 26, 2019 Author Share Posted October 26, 2019 Yes lots of Buccaneers on the forum at the moment which is why I'm trying to be patient with mine. And you must be keen to get the S. 2B version as I'm sure Airfix would issue a rebox of 1 pretty soon? I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the new 2020 Catelogue! I'm 99% sure you're right. There are some almost drilled holes in the wings that suggest a second release is " in the post". They made useful positioning marks for my own pylons.I tend to try and play around with new releases and try for something different. TBH I'm amazed at the buccanneer variation already! Keeps me on my toes. I've posted the whole build today so fingers crossed it's approved soon Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2B Posted October 26, 2019 Share Posted October 26, 2019 Should be moderated sometime Monday morning so will look forward to seeing the build post then. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colin M Posted October 28, 2019 Share Posted October 28, 2019 Well done, nice job on the conversion. I'm a bit more lazy and will wait for Airfix to release theirs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
T2B Posted October 29, 2019 Share Posted October 29, 2019 Yes me too, I will wait for the next Airfix incarnation of this little gem. I have too many on my 'to build list' to contemplate a conversion when I'm sure Airfix will release the S. 2B pretty soon, and hopefully a Gulf War version?! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peter s Posted October 29, 2019 Author Share Posted October 29, 2019 Yes me too, I will wait for the next Airfix incarnation of this little gem. I have too many on my 'to build list' to contemplate a conversion when I'm sure Airfix will release the S. 2B pretty soon, and hopefully a Gulf War version?! If they do I'll add it to my shopping list. The final low vis grey they wore is attractive too. I very nearly did this one in 91 gulf colours but settled for just a gulf war style weapons load. I've another Airfix project getting the pink paint which I'll share soon if I don't screw it up. Btw if anyone fancies a grey and green buccanneer the straight Airfix kit would be quite appropriate for a 1970s grey and green over light grey with three colour roundels . Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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