Aircraft Resource Center

                                 

1/48 Airfix H.S. Buccaneer

by Francesco Pernice

--------------------

Birthday-announcement banner

Gal mainpage Ad above main pic

Gal mainpage Ad below main pic

The Airfix kit was made in 1994 and when it was on the market many people defined it as a "jewel".  The reality is quite different, because even if you decide to build it straight from the box it's a very hard work. 
The panel lines are heavily engraved and the surface is grainy and wrinkled. To improve my kit I used two Eduard sets: the 48-130 and the 48-132.
 
 
Cockpit.
The ejection seats are good, so only the seat belts were added. The cockpit received the biggest quantity of photo etched parts and a good number of scratch built details, especially the control stick molded oversized. A little fire extinguisher was added on the left side of the cockpit and the seats have been placed  ( as in the real plane ) out of axis: the pilot seat 1 mm circa toward left and the navigator 1 mm circa toward the right.
 

Click on images below to see larger images

Fuselage.

The two fuselage halves, in my model, were deformed so it was necessary to bring them in the original shape with the help of a good  quantity of plasticard rounds. All external surfaces were sanded to level the engraved lines and smooth the grainy plastic without touching the rivets.
I made the inferior part of the body longer 1.5 mm circa, just behind the big tank to provide a correct fuselage alignment and a lot of details, not realistic, have been rebuilt or scratchbuilt.
 
Wings.
Normally, the ground configuration of the Buc is with the wings folded and the air brake opened.
To represent this configuration it was necessary to do a lot of work to make the structure  more solid, with only photoetched parts it should have been possible.  To simulate the supporting longeron of the wing I used a thick staple ( the type you use for cardboard box), folded with an angle of 120°.
 

Click on images below to see larger images

 

All p.e. parts have been strengthened with epoxy glue. The rear airbrake has been reproduced by Airfix with many inaccuracies in the shape and in the internal structure, but all the corrections were not too difficult: the only  important thing was to work with the pictures of the brake on the workbench.
The landing gear received a good amount of scratchbuilt detail as well as the front wheel.
The gear bays were also detailed with the help of Eduard p.e. parts.
Click on image below to see larger image

Painting.

In 1977 the RAF decided to participate at the RED FLAG  in Nellis with some  Buccaneers of the 208th  Squadron. With the prevision of desert missions the aircraft were overpainted with more adequate desert colors over the original camouflage till the undersurfaces.
The colors used in Nellis  were manufactured with the intention to allow for easy removal once the Buccaneers were back in UK. But, they didn't recognize the power of the Nevada sun: as a big oven, the sun made the colors so hard that it was really difficult to remove them after. 
The colors used were:  over the Dark Sea Grey  the  Light Stone B.S. 361  similar to the Tamiya XF57, lightened with a 20% of white, over the Dark Green B.S. 641 a classic  Dark Earth B.S. 450 using the corresponding Aeromaster color.
 
Click on image below to see larger image

The decals are those from the box and they have a great attitude for silvering.

This model  is not a milestone  of the English manufacturer and anyone that wants to launch himself  into a superdetailing adventure, well this is the right kit for just such an adventure!
 
Francesco
 

Gal mainpage Ad above main pic

Vertical ad

Photos and text © by Francesco Pernice

footer banner