Lee White

Hi Ian, I have seen the return to flight video on youtube, and envy the fact that you were able to see it firsthand! I'm in Colorado, so I'll have to wait a while before I can see 558 in her element. We have 3 Vulcans here in the States, the nearest being a day's drive from here. As to cost, well, all I can say is at 300 quid, it is likely (99.9% certain here) the most expensive kit I'll ever buy. The kit itself is comprised 10 large vac parts, a clear canopy, around 50 resin pieces, and about 6-8 white metal parts. A very nice decal sheet is provided, but it is for XM558, which is a B.2, and the kit most accurately reflects the shape and dimensions of a B.1A. The more I get into the build, the more I'm finding some shape issues to deal with- Nothing incredibely(sic) major, but issues that will have to be dealt with nonetheless. a few of these are- The Spine- on the real Vulcan, there is a noticable interface where the wing meets the fuselage, a graceful, sharp crease immediatly aft and above the intakes. This then blends into a more subtle interface further back, and has a smooth radius between the wing and fuselage starting at about 1/3 root chord. The kit has the aft part right, but the forward crease is non-existant. I've already fixed this, and now just must build up the area between the wings with a bit of putty, as it looks a little flat. The pic that I posted with the Bf-109 show the lack of this. The nose- On the original build of this kit for the Telford show, the nose of the prototype model looked overly bulbous. This has been addressed by Ian Taylor, owner of Heritage, who, on his website, shows that a bit of careful cutting and sanding will deliver a much, much more accurate profile to the nose. The problem that still exists is that the nose is still too bulbous in planform. I intend to remedy this with a box or 2 of Milliput and some quality time with a coarse sanding stick. I will post pics of each of the model's parts, with supporting info, so it will be easier to see what I'm saying. The Canopy- This is where I have to say up front that my issue here is totally subjective- it SEEMS to scale out very well, and certainly is clear enough, and is made out of a very hard plastic, but pictures of Vulcan canopies seem to show it kind of "wrapping" around the fuselage a bit on the sides, whereas the kit's canopy is more "perched" on top, F-86-ish. I have sanded the kit part down so it drapes over the sides a little, but to get the drape I think it needs would mean that it would sit so low, it would look like a chopped lowrider. The landing gear- The kit's resin gear is modeled after the B.2 gear, which is signifigantly different from the B.1. The Y shaped main struts are attached to the cross-piece trunnion by 2 thin areas of resin- put the kit down even a little too brusquely will result in a sheared strut, and much gnashing of teeth. I really think that these should have been made of metal, and have already made replacement struts. Ian himself has said that this kit isn't for box shakers, and he is quite right there. All the issues mentioned are strictly issues with me, as a very nice, if not totally accurate replica will result OOB. That said, none of these issues mean this kit isn't worth it- At least, to me. Only 25 will be made, and some simple scratchbuilding skills will CERTAINLY help make the model much better. I do wish that it had B.2 wings, though- I also understand that a portion of the kits cost is going to the flying Vulcan's preservation fund, so I can tell people that I have a (tenuous) connection to the real one! PS to Ian Taylor- I can't find a production number on my kit. Can you tell me which #/25 it is? just curious! Lee

I too have the Rutman update for this kit, but the resin seems to be breaking down with regards to the resin- It is now coated with an oily film, that wasn't there when I bought the set several years ago. Anyone here a Chemist that can explain this?? Lee

Ummm,,,, Had not thought of that..... maybe I can convince the kids that camping is really, really fun, and that they should do it for several years, while I put their rooms to good use....

Well, I've started the big Vulcan. Maybe "started" is the wrong word- I haven't glued anything yet, but I've got the fuselage halves cut out, and the canopy cut and sanded to fit, so there are only 3 parts in the pic. Fit is pretty good so far, with only some fine sanding to do to get it to fit even better, but it will need some putty! Perched on it's back is the fuselage of a 21c Bf-109F, to give some scale- Lee

....And connoisuires of fine wine and women, also! Now, pass the Thunderbird, Gladys!!

I might have to send some of those minds back to you, Stephen.....

COOL! I scratched one in 48 many years ago- BIG beast. This plane was to be launched from a 5 mile launch ramp, under rocket power, and reach a low orbit, and skip across the atmosphere and drop a nuke on NYC, and then re-enter, and land back in Germany 2 hours later

A Starfix kit, maybe...

Please let us know what you think of the canopy, esp the windscreen/hood frame. I thought that it should be a lot more vertical, and not angled forward like a '57 Thunderbird......

Beautiful work my friend!!!

It's just what the name implies- Scrap-ple. They take everything left over from the slaughtering process, and i mean everything, eyeballs, butts, and teeth, (well, maybe not teeth,) and put in an industrial grinder, add a gelatin to hold the bits together, and sell it. On a similar note, has anyone had a softshell crab sandwich? I remember being given one once on a trip to Delaware, and for whatever reason, I opened up the bread to see what it looked like. Big mistake. It was a whole, dead crab on a piece of bread staring back at me. no lunch for me that day. I seem to prefer my food passing little resemblance to what it looked like when alive. Lee

Using the non-calibrated Eyeball Mk.1b (B for bifocals) the pics of the built up model look like the wing sweep is insufficient- Anyone else think so?

Matt, after seeing your BV-155, methinks you are quite capable of building just about any vac kit out there. And I hope that Lancman puts his tremendous skills to use and builds the 1/24 Lanc! Lee

I was in a 1/1 EC-121 3 weeks ago- The local museum has one, and was great to go inside and see what passed for hi-tech back in 1954!!

Jack, Here are the rotor pics

Hi Jack! I will take some pics and post them here for you- Lee

Here is my finished 1/35 Lockheed Cheyenne

My kit must be defective- I got the struts!

Almost there!!! I haven't finished a kit in ages, and now I'm about to- WOOHOO!! Now I can get this thing off the bench-

some decals added....

Well, She's green...... Overall OD, with some shading to break up the monotone, but it's a little bleached out here-

hi Jack, the canopy fit and painting was pretty straight-forward, I just could not get motivated. Since there is no framework on the model's canopy, I masked off the frames, first the vertical ones, and painted grey followed by OD. I then repeated this on the horizontal frames. An hour's work, but one I just put off for so long. Crazy, eh? Lee

Well, finally got around to working on the Cheyenne some more- don't know why, but I really hit a bit of a psychological wall when it came to painting it, especially the canopy. Finally decided to just do it, and now that the canopy is completed, it should be a matter of a week or so till it's done. Yay!

I don't think i like the way the gunner is looking at me....

The exhausts are in the blister pack- Lee