This is my Airfix
1.48 scale Buccaneer S2D based on HMS ARK ROYAL during the late 70s. I Built the
kit about a year ago and being off with the flu at the moment and decided
to fill the time while the paracetamol was working with an article for
ARC. I added some extra details to the kit this being the wheel wells and
cockpit, little of which can be seen once I added pilots and fixed the plane to
the base. Other changes were the lowering of the flaps to a pre catapult launch
position the inner flaps needed a little rebuilding to fit well.
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images below to see larger images
The kit is a not a brilliant fit
mine also suffering from some minor warping which did not help, I spent a
good week sanding and resanding. One tip I do have is before you join the upper
and lower fuselages sections together, fix the vertical tail to the upper
fuselage half with two small self tapping screws from the
inside, this gave a very strong joint it also helped reduce the gap between the
two, make sure the tail is vertical before you commit to glue. (I hope that made
sense to you). I had decided to pose my Buccaneer on a section of carrier deck
from the start, I scoured the web for photos and found a few of Buccaneers
about to be launched from Ark Royals bow catapult, this is what I have tried to
represent. The blast deflectors are scratch built and detailed using the pictures
I found and are just a close guess mostly, the deck markings are fairly close to
what I could see, I think they looked pretty good once they were added (I got
close to ditching the whole idea) the base took nearly as long to build as
the kit. I used Humbrol paints throughout the build and weathered with
pastels, the base was painted the same.
I sealed the
buccaneer with one coat of Johnsons Klear,which gave it a
suitable semi gloss sheen, which the real thing looks to have had. This kit is a
bit of a chore to build but it really looks the part when finished.
Cheers
Warren
Osborne
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images below to see larger images
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