1/32 Buccaneer S2B - Icelandic Fine Arts

[Scotsman]

Well someone had to be the first ….

 

Its been in the house less than a week and already I’ve cut, sanded and ground the parts , and to be honest I’ve already made one mistake with the model, which I’m going to have to remedy, therefore it makes sense for the first one to start the model should post about it.

 

First  , no photos yet , my photography skills are almost as bad as my modelling ones, but there will be some in the next day or so , so just be patient , and forgiving!

 

Thoughts so far , well it’s a simple model, as I’ve said elsewhere  the airframe is composed of 9 major parts. The fuselage castings are incredibly robust, the aluminium infused resin that Alan uses for these parts makes for very strong and stable pieces, and while some of the engraved panel lines are a little rough , they’re in the right place, and easy to work with .

 

Prep of the parts for assembly requires similar skills to the prep work required  for a Vac form , that is careful sanding of the mating surfaces, in my case with a large file. The resin sands very well, and very cleanly , so no worries there , gluing the two halves , well that’s going to ned some thought , Slow Setting epoxy I think , but we’re a long way from that point yet!

Cockpit – good news here, remember the old Black Box cockpit sets from the early 2000s, the odd pinhole, and after being pulled from an old mould , the detail would be a little soft , well welcome to the Buc pit!

 

Alan does say that the cockpit parts were something of an afterthought , but to be honest you’d never have know it . The first thing I did was shoot a coat of alclad Grey primer over all the parts to help define the detail, and its generally pretty good. Some pinholes, but the shapes are accurate , but you will need a set of Airscale Jet dials. There’s no definition on the dial faces what so ever , and this is especially obvious in the Pilot’s IP, I’ve already started working on adding detail in .

 

The seats look like the MB6s fitted to the Buc, but compared to other offerings out there , Hmm, the detail is a little soft . To remedy this I’ve ordered a pair of AMS MB6 Mirage seats, and by transplanting the enhanced canopy busting spikes to the top of the seats, I’m hoping this will enhance the look of the cockpit somewhat

The fit of the cockpit parts seems to be pretty good,  and the suggested method of putting the cockpit together of fitting the tub , with the side walls glued into the fuselage halves seems sensible , but will require some careful prep work.

 

Something that applies to the rest of the build to be honest.

 

I did turn white yesterday evening ,

 

Why?

 

Well I’ve been trying to get  the bulged bomb bay insert to fit!

 

To be fair to Alan this is a new piece, and it’s fairly crude on the inside requiring, in my case an hour with a Dremel before it began to fit. I have contemplated chopping out the bomb bay doors from the fuselage halves to ensure it fits more securely , but the cost of the kit , and the lack of replacement parts has put me off so far !

 

Now I mentioned a mistake, well yes.

 

Chopping off the old tail from the fuselage castings , I didn’t pay enough attention to the plans included in the documentation.  The replacement airbrake parts are just that , just the airbrake, the plug that houses the actuation parts isn’t included so if you don’t pay enough attention and cut it off just beneath the rudder as the plans show , you’ll need to re-create this  plug , as I’m now doing , hopefully the pics will show what I mean .

 

The upshot is that I’ve laminated a load of plastic card together , and I’m going to be sanding again

 

Lesson  learned .. instructions , not just a suggestion .. they’re actually useful!

That’s all for the time being , as I said pics to follow

 

 

Edited December 10, 2019 by Scotsman
I'm an idiot

[Simmo.b]

Trailblazing ahead, good on you mate.

I have to wait until the new year to get my kit so welcome the insights that your effort will provide.

Cheers

Brent

[blackbetty]

i also started to sand the fuselage halves as soon as i took them out of the box, just to see how the material works

but i really have to finish the F-100 first, but then i´ll have a go at it...

[Stevepd]

A modelling pioneer then, or test pilot. Seriously though it’s great somebody has made a start and others will follow. Remember you took the first steps. I’ve also got one on order but I don’t know when it will come through. I’m anticipating the New Year so I’ve just order the 1/48 Piston Provost to keep me going for a month.

[nmayhew]

do you have a smart phone?

 

unless you are looking to take pro shots in a light tent and all that, phone pics are more than fine 

 

give the people what they want to see lol

[thierry laurent]

Interesting start.

 

I also sanded various parts and I'm still wondering what I will do with the airbrake. Recreating the details on the airbrake will not be that difficult. However, the mechanism to open it is another matter. The TM views given by Alan are very useful but if I choose that approach, this will ask for serious planning and work.

 

By the way, mine will get two Sea Eagles with the fuel tanks. I found only one picture of a Buck with such a configuration but this demonstrates this is possible.

 

I'm currently assessing the surface details to add on the fuselage as the skin of that big baby is not that smooth. For instance, the full size Buck had a protruding panel on the fuselage right in front of the air intake.

 

I'm still waiting for one additional Buccaneer book that have scale plans and it should arrive while I will be in business trip. Not sure it will give me more info to recreate the two pylons and adapters but I think this should be OK with what I already have.

 

By the way, this is the most comprehensive walkaround I found on the web:

 

http://www.grubbyfingersshop.com/walkaround_galleries/Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S2B Walkaround XV361 RAF UAS 2017/Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer S2B Walkaround XV361 RAF UAS 2017.html

 

Cheers

 

Thierry

 

 

[mozart]

I live 20 minutes away from the Fleet Air Arm museum at Yeovilton, where I believe there’s a Buccaneer on display. If I can help at any time with detail pictures not covered by Thierry’s excellent link above, please let me know.

[thierry laurent]

There is indeed a Buccaneer in the full scale deck diorama. Unfortunately, if the set-up is very impressive, it is alas far from ideal to take pictures...

[Phartycr0c]

i have a load of photos from a shoot i did last year, while they are not detail shots i can pop a few up if people want? 

 

[Scotsman]

"Working" from home to-day , so some pice, and yes I live and indeed model is something resembling a bomb site , the scots have a phrase, "Clarty but Cosy", translated it approximates to , yes its a mess but its my mess,,,

 

Ok enough with the self justification , 

 

General view of the fuselage halves taped together and the airbrake area removed to be replaces with the Resin  pieces

 

 

At this  moment the File is my goto tool!

 

A general view of the cockpit bits

 

 

 

The Tub in detail

 

 

As I said , a little rough , but workable!

 

 

Also in the pic  is the pilots IP , prepped for my Airscaling efforts later to-day , Poor Thing!

 

[thierry laurent]

Hi Colin, 

 

If you still consider using the Flightpath Sea Eagles, here's a tip: cut the front section of parts 4. This will noticeably help in assembling the rear winglets. Otherwise, the part is creating so much tension that gluing the front edge of part 5 is very difficult. I finally succeeding in gluing the first one as such but it took me 15 minutes with CA glue! Multiply that by four for each missile and then by the number of missiles and you will get my point! Useless to say I have a lot of Flightpath sets because there is no other option as I'm not really a fan of their origami philosophy... 

[Scotsman]

I built 2 for my GR-1B a few years back , and yup , they are an almighty nuisance ,

 

If you want a lesson in masochism , try their Tornado access ladder, The ladder sides are made up from multiple laminations of brass , when a simple resin or even white metal one  would have sufficed

 

As for the Buc , I'll get some pics done to-night , since I'm thinking about getting the epoxy out for the fuselage join , which promises to be fun , as I haven't used epoxy on something this big ever!

 

BTW , the rear fuselage insert - are you thinking about using it , frankly , to me the hassle involved in cutting the pieces out of the fuselage halves, then sectionioning the new part does not provide that much on an improvement  in what's in the kit, but that's me - but I'm willing to have my options changed!

[thierry laurent]

I know what you mean about the airbrake. The diameter of the separate parts is also a bit larger in my kit. However, I'm still considering using them as the section on the fuselage has not the correct cone taper shape. Look more closely and you will see it. I got the info from Alan. He realized it later. This explains why he re-did that section. One point that is annoying me more is the two resin gates deep into the intakes. Rather than coping with that fight, I'm considering making vacformed FODs. 

[thierry laurent]

Regarding the missiles, I'm still trying to decipher the rare makings they had (black tags with white lettering) and find a view of the rear end as I've never seen any sign of a RBF tag there. I've at least twelwe Buccaneer books but do not think I've one useful picture showing such areas. 

[Kagemusha]

Regards the Tornado ladder, Paragon made one in resin.