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What you get in the box:
Club Airfix leaflet
Flash Service leaflet
An out of register decal sheet with options for
XH562 9 Squadron, 1977
XM607 44 Squadron, 1982
XL321 617 Squadron 1963
XH558 Vulcan Display Flight, RAF Waddington, Lincolnshire, 1992
16 page stapled booklet in 10 languages containing:
· A history of the aircraft
· 16 stage assembly sequence
· 8 painting diagrams
· Painting advice
· Symbol chart
· Decal advice
One sprue of clear parts with textured detail and no flash
Six sprues of light grey plastic with raised panel detail and no flash
Build Review:
The instruction sheet advises that when modelling the aircraft with wheels down an additional 30g of nose-weight will be required. I decided to stay true to type and go ‘in flight’. I began by painting the interior parts prior to starting the assembly.
The kit was then put aside for six months while other projects were pursued. Resuming work, I assembled the cockpit and prepared for the instrument panel decal by applying Glosscote. I used DecalFix in the application of this decal. When I came back to the kit, to seal the decal with a second layer of Glosscote, it had disappeared! Nowhere to be found, I painted the instruments in silver and clear/metallic paints.
When it came to cementing the upper and lower parts of the fuselage, the fit was not perfect and required some persuasion to seat-out properly; this was done with three small G-clamps (the moulding being protected by masking tape). Having successfully fixed the fuselage I discovered that I had failed to fit the glazing in the underside. I concocted a tool from a bent paper clip with some masking tape, poked through from the open crew access hatch to reach the aperture. In doing this, the clear part became fogged and failed to seat correctly.
When the wings were cemented, a small gap remained. This was filled with Humbrol Filler and sanded smooth. The actual assembly is very simple for such a gargantuan model. Some areas of concern might be the location of the smaller parts, which lack positive location points. It was with some trepidation that I cemented these prior to airbrushing. I was tempted to leave them off until after this operation, but decided against it to achieve a uniform application of colour. Although not required for the Vulcan, I constructed the Blue Steel missile to display separately. I removed the moulded lugs; a little filler and sanding were required on this too.
With assembly complete I masked the glazing with masking tape and Maskol. Firstly I airbrushed the upper surfaces in the base light grey. I applied two coats a few days apart. Unfortunately I lost the radar aerial from the underside of the fuselage; a replacement would have to be fashioned from stretched sprue.
More masking followed prior to the next airbrush application. I used masking tape for the clean demarcation between the upper and lower fuselage, and Blutack along the leading edge of the underside of the wing for a softer edge. Whilst masking my Victor, the Carpet Monster regurgitated the lost aerial, so saving me from having to make a replacement. The under surfaces required two coats to achieve adequate coverage. Once the masking was removed I impressed myself with the result, but as the saying goes ‘Pride cometh before a fall’ so I would need to be extra careful nearing the end of this build. The area around the cockpit required a re-spray and guess what, the Pitot tube broke off. Another repair was needed to re-secure this part.
Preparation for the green camouflage areas began by brushing Maskol over the areas to remain grey. Airbrushing followed the next day. I was surprised by the amount of paint needed for this subject. Once the paint had dried I removed all of the masking to reveal a disaster. The masking tape around the nose had been misplaced and left a light grey stripe between the green and dark grey. The green had bled under the tape around the tail, and probably worst of all, I had not applied the Maskol thickly enough and streaks of green were apparent in the light grey areas. I decided to attempt touching up by brush painting the errors. Once this was done I set about painting the jet exhaust outlets, the black topping to the tail followed by the khaki patches.
The next stage involved brushing Glosscote all over as preparation for the decals. I began by trying to decipher the blurred and illegible illustrations. Initially twelve decals were applied to the starboard side of the nose and tail using Microset and Microsol; four of these folded over and two ripped; they seem to be very thin, not dissimilar to the ones I had the displeasure to apply to my Halifax some years ago. I decided to take a break and resumed the decal application the following evening. On this occasion I used Humbrol DecalFix with better results. Interpretation of their positioning was still proving to be haphazard. Rather than follow my usual procedure of applying decals to particular surfaces sequentially, I decided to apply those I could reasonably identify first, thereby eliminating these decals and reducing the chances of misplacement of the more obscure markings. I am not sure at all of the positioning of the decals, and by placing one of the side elevations on a different page to the remainder of the decal illustrations just made things more confusing. My reference photographs did not help either. I also applied the decals to Blue Steel at this time. With the decals applied, the model was now almost ready to be sealed with Mattcote.
The Blue Steel missile was Mattcoted but I still had a few repairs to make before the Vulcan could be finished. Firstly I had to re-cement the Pitot tube, which had broken off the nose and the ‘aerial’ onto the front undercarriage doors. I had also lost the two wedge shaped ‘aerials’, one on the upper fuselage behind the canopy and the other below the ‘bomb-aimer’ bulge. These were cut from Plastikard to an approximate shape and size. By this stage I just wanted to complete the build and was not too concerned with accuracy. I made the final touch-ups to the paintwork and then brushed the Mattcote in two stages. Once again, a couple of the wedge shaped ‘aerials’ had disappeared and had to be replaced as previously described.
In conclusion this has been a somewhat frustrating build. Without doubt I would do things differently were I to attempt this subject again. That said it is still an impressive sight to me, evoking childhood memories of Air-shows at RAF Gaydon with my dad and granddad. The thundering roar as it became airborne accelerating almost vertically into the great blue yonder. If only my build had done it justice…
Painting Profile:
Crew
R35/Hu: 61 Matt Flesh = crew faces
R45/Hu: 86 Matt Light Olive = flight suit
R65/Hu: 75 Matt Bronze Green = helmet
R9/Hu: 85 Satin Coal Black = boots and oxygen equipment
Aircraft
Hu: 33 Matt Black = cockpit interior, top of tail
Hu: 109 Matt WWI Blue = seat cushions
Hu: 120 Light Green = back rests
Hu: 148 Matt Radome Tan = headrests
Hu: 22 Gloss White = interior of engine intakes, interior of crew access door
Hu: 11 Metallic Silver Fox = jet turbines, instrument dials
Hu: 52 Metallic Baltic Blue = instruments
Hu: 51 Metallic Green Mist = instruments
Hu: 1321 Clear Red = instruments
Hu: 64 Matt Light Grey = camouflage
Hu: 164 Satin Dark Grey = lower surfaces
Hu: 163 Satin Dark Green = camouflage
Hu: 53 Gunmetal & Hu: 171 Metallic Antique Bronze = exhaust undercoat
Hu: 26 Matt Khaki = details
Blue Steel Missile
Ha: 1950 Vauxhall Glacier White = overall
Hu: 53 Gunmetal & Hu: 171 Metallic Antique Bronze = exhaust undercoat
History:
This model represents ‘Black Buck’ aircraft XM607, of 44 Squadron, August 1982.

Ratch that is a cracking review, esp the paint breakdown, but I have to ask ,you said:

Gosh

Has it been three years since I built this

1/ I forgot to fit the window in the underside and messed it up with my awkward fix

2/ Using Maskol was a mistake

I'm no Vulcan officianado so others may tell of remedial fixes the kit requires but they're the two things I'd do differently

I've got this in my stash and have been looking at the engine intakes as these seem to be the BIGGEST issue with this kit but i am aware you can obtain AM resins to rectify the problem area so when i am in the mood or a GB comes up ....