1/48 Airfix Buccaneer

Gallery Article by Angelo M Picardo on May 4 2012

 

 

The Buccaneer started of as a sub sonic carrier based strike aircraft for the Royal Navy.

As well as conventional weapons, it had the capability to deliver nuclear weapons. 

After the cancellation of the TSR-2 and the decision not to buy the F-111, the Royal Air Force also took on the Buccaneer, and they also inherited the Royal Navy's ones when the final aircraft carrier, HMS Ark Royal was scrapped.

The Buccaneer entered service with the British in 1962 and served until after the first Gulf War, being retired in 1994.

The South African Air Force also flew the "Brick".

 

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This is the Airfix kit of the Buccaneer to which I added a resin cockpit from Pavla Resins and etched sets from Airwaves and Eduard.

The kit it self is not brilliant. It does not fit particularly well, and the detail is a bit rough in places, the panel lines are a bit heavy, and the plastic has a grainy texture.

With the extra parts, and some work, it does dress up nicely.

The fuselage halves, divided top and bottom, need a lot of clamping to get them to meet.

This leaves a horrendous seam that needs cleaning up, destroying panel lines that then need re-engraving.

The kit gives the modeller the option of folded wings and open air brakes, the Airwaves set detailed these areas.  To represent a Buccaneer stowed away in a hangar on an aircraft carrier such as Ark Royal, the nose needs to be folded back too.

The fold line is clearly marked and easy to cut through. I constructed the details with card, wire, and bits from the spares box.

I was lucky some years ago to visit the Fleet Air Arm Museum at Yeovilton where their Buccaneer was displayed with its nose folded so I took plenty of photos that came in handy for this project.

Humbrol enamels provided the paint and the kit's markings were used. They are slightly out of register, but generally OK.

Angelo M Picardo

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Photos and text © by Angelo M Picardo