The Wooksta: Not a Spitfire Blog

[The Wooksta!]

"Here we are, situations vacant, pages seven to thirteen."

I am getting sick of XM607.  The tailfin/rudder is now in place, so the airframe is largely complete and I've sanded back the filler on the base of the fin, but spotted lots of other places that needed more coats.  Seems to be endles - fill and sand one area, only for another to pop up.  The area underneath at the back of the bomb bay next to the ECM section is an ongoing pain in the arse as it's been filled, refilled, sanded and refilled yet again, but little dimples just keep sprouting.  I've got one coat of filler on it and that's the last.  I'll prime it and see what happens.

The intakes for the RAAF one are all sanded and have had a couple of coats of white primer.  Too late, I've found out that wraparound camo Vulcans have the camo IN THE SODDING INTAKES as well as the rest of the airframe.  I'll plug the base with sponge and see how far I can spray inside.

I still have to assemble the cobbled together designwise Martel pylons for this beastie, but they should look okay.  Which reminds me - I need to look at the missile themselves - do I use the ones from the old tool Brick or see what I can find in the Airfix NATO weapons sets?

The new tool Brick that's part started now has the u/c bay all resplendent in Halfords primer, as it's close enough to the alleged colours on the distructions.  Bit more painting in there and I can get the back end together.

This one is going to be the WE177 equipped one, and will have the underwing tanks so it can penetrate deep into Poland during WWIII in February 1984.  I'm going to have to build the underwing tanks, although I've seen mention that they're a bit skinny.  I may also give it a pair of Sidewinders, using the pylons and rails from the Gulf war boxing of the old tool and 'winders from elsewhere.

The old tool ones that are part of Eagle in the Falklands are moving along slowly.


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[The Wooksta!]

"Yeah, hippie, where's the bloody lager?"

All the filling on XM607 is hopefully done, whilst the canopy is now on, masked and the undercoat of the black interior colour painted on, so if the weather is dry tomorrow, it'll get a coat of primer, which should show up all the bloody flaws underneath.  Again.

The missile pylons are done.  I've used the larger of the two pylons to ensure better clearance for the fins, using them from two kits.  The lower section of the pylon is a twin launcher, made by simply gluing two of the smaller of the two pylons from the old tool Brick together horizontally.  There's some pick up points on the pylons where they would attach to the wing on the Bucc, but happily they line up perfectly with the lugs on the Shrike pylon in the Vulcan.  I'll have to slightly modify one of them as the locator pins on one are in slightly different place, but that's just a question of drilling an 'ole.

Vulcan 2, the RAAF one is getting closer to the centre section being closed up.  The intakes are all done and painted and fitted, with the first lot of filler done and sanded off. The noseweight is in and the cockpit, such as it is - I'm not adding anything other than tape seatbelts on the perfectly reasonable grounds that it cannot be seen - is now resplendent in black. I've still to sort out the seats, but as I'm going to have to wait a bit for the resin exhausts, I'm in no real hurry to do much else, although I may well get cracking on the bomb bay door and try to get some of the filling there done before I have to start cutting dirty great lumps out to get the new exhausts in.  I was minded to leave the RAAF with 300 series Olympus engines but the resin ones do look vastly superior and I've asked about them now, so I have to follow through.

All this work on Vulcans is making me think about that part started Matchbox Victor I have somewhere as I think it may well have been intended for RAAF use.  I think I know where it is, so it shouldn't take too long to find.  At the same time, I'll strip another Vulcan of it's nosegear to go on the one that's on the go.

The new tool brick is together and not far off being primed.  There's a few places where I've had to use filler to hide a few fit problems - the lower nose to mid section join and the exhausts, neither of which wanted to fit properly.  The back end seemed a bit off too, but some judicious sanding sorted that out without recourse to filler.  It does look good though and the few flaws should be hidden by the wraparound camo.  The u/c seems okay, but i'm not happy with the design which seems done to make painting as difficult as possible and the fit of the nosegear is a bit woolly.

Colin's resin bomb bay bits are all cleaned up and a snug fit, although I'm not entirely sure what colour the exposed bay should be on WE177 equipped aircraft.  I'd like to plumb for white but I'd be happy enough with Halfords grey primer.  Whatever colour it is, I'll give ift a few coats before priming the rest but I'll use the kit bomb door to blank it off whilst spraying the camo and then add the resin bits after everything else is sprayed and ready for decalling.

With that in mind, it was time to start thinking about the decals themselves as I'd like to know I've got them.  I've chosen 16 Sqn as a user, as they were in Germany with Buccaneers in the relevant timeframe.  However, I seem to be lacking for Buccaneer decals, locating the remains of an Xtradecal sheet - no 16 Sqn - and a Matchbox set.  This was indeed 16 Sqn, but so misaligned to preclude the use of the squadron markings, although the serials look perfectly useable.  I'll have to go hunting on the Hannants site for Buccaneer decals.

One thing I will need is some 72nd CND badges to go on the bombs, although I have a cunning plan if I can't find any.

See which method I employ in part two.

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[The Wooksta!]

"I still tend to think that the whole outfit is somethat on the snug side."

This will be short.

Decals for the Brick have been located at Hannants and an order placed with Uncle Frank via text.  The model itself is ready for primer and the weapons bay is apparently the underside colour - at least on the photo I've seen, which is a 70s machine with LAG undersurfaces and type D roundels.  Will that translate to wraparound?

Vulcan XM607 is *FINALLY* ready for paint, after several PSPR* sessions.  The underside is still a bit "meh" but I've come to the conclusion it's as good as it's likely to get.  Spraying may commence on sunday after some tidying.

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*Putty - sand - prime - repeat

[The Wooksta!]

"Quiet, everybody, the bet's on!"

God help me, but I've got TWO Matchbox Victors on the go.

Why two?  Well, one was part started anyway(but not enough...)  and the other was a complete salvage job that had fallen apart and wouldn't take that much effort (pause for sarcastic effect as this is a Matchbox Victor...), although many parts of the original build seem to have vanished and some others have taken their place.

At the moment, I'm waiting for some superglue to cure, having secured enough lead in both airframes to keep the noses purely on the ground.  One still has the wing centre section still in place, the other centre section was assembled earlier and now has some filler on the myriad sink holes.  Oddly, the intake vanes all seem to line up, which is ironic as I'm going to be fitting FOD guards so I don't have to paint in there.

Given the kit's reputation for fit - which so far is well earned - it's going to be a filler hound and I'm sure I'll have to invest in a new tube at some point.

What are they intended as?  Well, I've always wanted to do an RAAF one, but I've decided to go for a more modern grey scheme, albeit three tone RAF greys.  It's a tanker, albeit single point as the RAAF decided on the more flexibility and retained the bomb dropping ability.  The RAF one will of course be a standard 3 point tanker with the correct markings for a real aircraft but in the same scheme as the RAAF one.  I just liked the grey scheme for it and bearing in mind the VC10s went to greys it's quite likely that the Victors would too.  I may have to invest in a new decal sheet as the kit one is long since past the point of usefulness.  I will be adding a 607 shield as a zap, as the aircraft would have been in the static park at Acklington Air Day, an airshow at some point in the late 90s.

Wish me luck as I think I'll need it...

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[The Wooksta!]

"I don't know why you bother ever."


Both Victors are getting somewhere but in the process driving me round the twist.  Quite frankly, *NOTHING* on this kit fits properly and after these two are done, I'm NEVER doing another Matchbox one and the one that's left is going to Telford for the Kitswap.  It's nearly as bad a fit as their 32nd Venom that still gives me shudders now, 30 years on.  Even their Meteor is a better fit!

The salvage job is back together, sort of, and when it's finished will be the remnants of quite possibly 3 kits and a tube of filler.  The wing outers were in a box of bits I got ages ago and have been tidied up and the ailerons filled and sanded back - I just have to put in a deep panel line. Would that the rest of the control surfaces be as nice, as none of the flaps line up or even sit properly and there's a HUUUUUGE yawning chasm on the upper wing trailing edge that had to be filled, not to mention various sink holes.  The airbrake section, plus the crew entry hatch, don't want to sit in their relative spaces properly either - the door stands proud whilst the brakes just sink leaving nasty steps.  I'm considering skinning them with thin plastic card and then sanding them back.  Might work...  I do have a more radical back up plan in case this approach fails.  See which method I employ in part two.

T'other one isn't as far advanced, being largely a fuselage and some wing sections that are ready to go together but it also has exactly the same issues, although the flaps are a marginally better fit.

The tail surfaces for both are done and primed, being filled and needing a respray.  I also did the underwing tanks, which revealed a need for yet more remedial work.  I'm about to prime the rest of the bits.

I did think that the Airfix Vulcan was a badly fitting filler hound - I didn't know when I was well off, as compared to the Victor it's a Tamiya kit...

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[The Wooksta!]

"Exactly, Neil. And you are a totally different size and weight than a packet of smash, so we should be all right."

The salvage job has been primed, which threw up a number of flaws I was waiting for, so they've been filled and sanded back, revealing a few more.  Sounds to be typical progress with this kit.  The tail surfaces have also been primed and again, there's a few flaws to fix so once they've been done and reprimed, I should be able to get those on by the end of tomorrow and then I can look at getting the outer wings on.

Despite having a pair, I've slowed down on the RAAF one as I'd rather concentrate on getting one to a complete airframe stage.  Ding the two together could well be a recipe for insanity and there's various sections of this build that would try the patience of a saint.  I mean, I've yet to even look at the u/c which I know from anecdotal evidence that it's a nightmare.

I *may* be able to get some of the sections of the RAAF one primed tomorrow, but I'm in no hurry with that one, despite wanting to do it for a good fifteen years.  Another week or so isn't going to harm it.

I did see some Mastercasters wheels on ebay for it, but unlike Vulcan XM607, decided against them - I've spent enough on this build already with replacement decals.



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[The Wooksta!]

"My brain's exploded! My brain's exploded!!"

Having had case to go into the loft at me Mam's to rescue a Shackleton, I had a quick look at some of the larger stuff up there.  Having thought about using the remains of a Victor fuselage as part of a cunning plan to scratchbodge an Avro Trader (a Victor fuselage look to be the right diameter for a Tudor, oddly), I had a look through the box of the remaining Matchbox one before realising that's one for the future.  Had a rummage through the Mach Poo DH Comet (I've thoughts of one i camouflage or possibly even Hemp/LAG) and then my eyes fell on the Valiant.

Do I dare?  I mean, I've a pair of Matchbox Victors that are taxing my patience, not to mention a stalled Vulcan waiting on resin exhausts from Colin.  Do I *really* want to take on one of Mach Poo's finest pieces of crap?  Any sane person would correctly say "no!" but then I've a feeling my sanity went long ago, if I ever really had any to start with.

I had a look in the box.  The interior, such as it is, is largely in, tailfin, tailplane underwing tanks, one of the wings is assembled and it even has a set of Two Mikes resin intakes.  Can it be too difficult to get together?  I mean, lesser modellers than me have managed to hammer them together.  The answer is probably yes as I've seen some of the problems already, although the canopy issue could be fixed by stealing one from the Airfix kit.

So, the sheer insanity and audacity to actually build it, alongside a pair of Vulcans and a pair of Victors, totally to one side, what would I actually do with it?  Well, given that at the same time that the Valiants were being withdrawn from service due to the wing spars falling to bits as they were made from Lego, the entire Hastings fleet was quietly going through a factory at Radlett and having their wing spars replaced.  If the money could be found to do that, perhaps the money could have been found to sort out the Valiants too (apart from the fact that the Air Staff were never that keen on it as it wasn't as shiny or exciting as the Vulcan or futuristic as the Victor) as withdrawal left a gaping hole in the tanker fleet, not to mention SACEURs nuclear deterrent, leaving the RAF looking decidedly embarrassed.

With the Valiants fixed, they're largely likely to be used in the tanker role, and that's what I want to do.  I never did get the tanker conversion that Airfix did for their kit, but I do have several drogue pods from the Matchbox Victor.  Two point tankers, with the conversion not being set in stone so they can be reverted back to bombers if the need arises?  Scheme is likely to be Hemp over Light Aircraft Grey, although Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green over Light Aircraft Grey with the toned down Tactical roundels could be a bit more subtle, especially if it has the markings of a tanker squadron and a serial from one of them too.  Slam dunk, perhaps?  I'm leaning towards the former, as it was one I was tempted to do anyway, but I do like the latter.  Did any of the Victors get the Gulf war Desert Pink scheme?  Although really that's a bit too late.

Bit like any appeals to sanity, really.

Final thought - has anyone whiffed all three V Bombers?  I mean, I'm doing several now and I still have the Skybolt Vulcan I did alongside the Atlantic.  It could make for a fantastic display.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Now then, where was I?"

Having had a closer inspection of the Valiant, I'm now convinced it's not such a mad idea - certainly no more insane than taking on TWO Matchbox Victors at the same time - especially considering how far along I'd actually got.

Yes, there's likely to be a lot of filling and sanding - it as a Mach Poo kit after all - and judging by some of the dimples and flow lines in the plastic Halfords filler primer is likely to be deployed.  The port wing needs to be assembled, so I'll get that done, leave it curing overnight and make a start on getting the wing root intakes hacked off to take the resin replacements.  The cockpit just needs a coat of black and the bang seats replaced with Airfix Vulcan ones - Mach Poo's HUGE armchair type contraptions and whilst teh Airfix ones are relly pretty awful too, they look okay after a lick of paint and some tape belts.  Besides which, you can see SOD ALL though the cloudy clear "transparencies" that Mach Poo provide.

The flow lines and dimples in the plastic may necessitate a rethink in the eventual camouflage - the late 70s scheme with DSG/DG/LAG and tactical roundels may be a better option, as the dark colours could hide  multitude of flaws.  I could always do an Airfix one in Hemp instead.

So, that's the state of play.

To be honest, picking up the Valiant to do some work on it wasn't as spur of the moment as it may have sounded, as I've been thinking about doing it for a few days now.  I mean, I'm doing Vulcan and Victor, so why not a Valiant to complete the trio?  It also makes sense to finish something part started and get it out of the way.  As to why build the Mach Poo one?  Well, it was there.  I've paid money so it's not gone to waste. 

It's also the last of the first generation 72nd injection V bombers to do.  Airfix are releasing a shiny new Vulcan later in the year, so we'll have all three in modern tooling - the Valiant may not be currently in production, but I think a rerelease will come next year, if only as part of a V bomber gift set which will be over a hundred notes.

Having done a bit of sanding and clean up, I'm now of the opinion that this is going to be an easier build than the Matchbox Victor.  But that's enough with the idle boasting and back to work.

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[kitbasher]

An act of treason I know, but apols Lee the replies link is sending me to a place I don't recognise as being the forum.  At least not while my only tinterweb access this week is through my phone.

Victors, VC10Ks and Nimrods were not painted Desert Pink as they were already in Hemp.

Two 216 Sqn Tristars (subsequently nicknamed Pinky and Perky) had their fuselages painted Desert Pink.  The wings were left untouched, as was the case when the entire fleet went grey.  Something to do with the Lockheed warranty (honest).

Shiny 10 Sqn VC10s were not pinked up.

[The Wooksta!]

"Doesn't it? Well maybe that's what's going wrong!"

Does the same here but now it's fixed - I tend to cut and paste the last two lines.

Did some more sanding and filling with bits of the valiant - the plastic is a bit soft but easy enough to work with.

The port wing is now together, but I had problems aligning it - everywhere I managed to get in line threw everything else out.  In the end, I aligned it with the exhausts, as they have to be round.  There's a nigh on 2mm step on the leading edge which I'll fill with some strips of plastic card and filler, although I may well try something else, namely superglue and baking soda as I know it's quick.

There was also an odd step on the lower surface of both wings which normally I would have sanded back but on closer inspection it keys into the fuselage and gives a marginally better joint.

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[The Wooksta!]

"Why'd I do that?"

Having got the starboard wing all cleaned up, I started hacking out the area for the new intakes to go and it's blatantly obvious to a blind man that they don't fit.  Whichever way they're aligned, there's a HUUUGE step that sanding just cannot cure.  So I've decided to line it up along the top and then use filler underneath.  And then a test fit of the wing reveals that it won't fit with the intakes in place.  Cue more sanding and scraping and they just about fit now.

Closer inspection of the port intake reveals that it's deeper and looks like it's free of the problems incurred by t'other set.  It's quite clear that the masters were based on one particular kit and that they differed from mine.  A good rule of thumb with Mach Poo kits is to get them as soon as they're issued, as the later in the run the release is, the more problems it has.  I'd already hacked the back of one set of intakes off to get them to fit, so rather than nice shiny compressor faces, I'll go for some FOD guards instead.

The fuselage is together, eventually, with a heady mixture of swearing, extreme violence, copious quantities of Plasticweld, superglue, masking tape, clamps, elastic bands and a lot of brute force used in the process.  I've done some filling and sanding but the worst mismatch is around the bomb bay, so I may use a skin of plastic card and a lot of filler to try and sort that area out.  The glazing is in place, largely because I know there's another mismatch there and yet more sanding.

Given that I've decided on a late 70s/early 80s aircraft, should I have it fitted with a fin mounted RWR or is there one already somewhere else in the airframe?

The tail surfaces are cleaned up and the fin got primed, along with the bulk of the two Victors.  The underwing tanks there need yet more sodding PSR.  The RAAF one will need a lot more filler, but it's a bit further down the build list as I'm waiting for decals from Australia for it anyway.

In Zenrat's Victomic thread, he mentioned issus fitting the canopy and he's right,it fits where it touches and the section with the lower quarterlights is a reall problem.  I've added a few shims of plastic card at the back to get it to line up correctly and a great deal of Krystal Kleer to get it to sit.  The plan is to sand the hell out of the quarterlights and then polish them before masking off with tape and seeing if I can restore them that way.

Priming has revealed yet more flaws on the RAF one, but these hopefully should be the last and I can get the fin in place.  I'd like to have the airframe complete by the end of the week.  Be nice if the Valiant could be at a similar stage. 

All three V bombers at once?  Bravery, stupidity or sheer insanity?  I leave it to you to decide, I can't really tell anymore.



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[The Wooksta!]

"This calls for a very special blend of psychology and extreme violence. "

Well, the Valiant's fuselage is almost ready, with just some filling round the glazing before getting that odd cable duct? around the main canopy and some more sanding underneath.  Having done some judicious sanding afer fixing the underside mismatch with some plastic card and two rounds of PSR, it's just about done.  Say what you like about Mach Poo kits - and I have, repeatedly - that plastic polishes really nicely.

Would that the wings be so good.  I've tried using that Holts Knifing Putty that Gondor started using to fix the leading edge on the port wing and in my opinion, it's utter wank.  It takes forever to cure and attacks the plastic.  Garbage and it's going in the bin, although it may work better with resin kits, so I may hang onto it for them.  Anyway, that's sanded back to a degree that I could just about live with and then I started hacking out the intakes to fit the other resin one. 

Oh dear.  If anything, this is even worse than the other one.  Fits where it touches and is not a good fit.  I tried taking a slice out of part of the upright(?) where the wing jois to try and get it to cloe that way and it's marginally better but...  TBH, I'd had a few drinks by then and wasn't feeling it, so back in the box for now.

Pity, because apart from that, it was going okay up until then.

The RAF Victor now has the tailfin in place plus I scribed the lines in for the flaps after blending them all in to try and get rid of the huge chasm that was there.  Not quite as good as I'd hoped, but I can live with it.  The canopy was given a good sanding and looks better - at least the quarter lights are a better alignment now bit really, it's a terrible fit there and indeed the whole sodding airframe is a poor fit.

I have finally got round to doing the scribing on the outer wing sections to restore the ailerons, so they'll get a coat of primer before going on tomorrow.  Again, I'm expecting trouble, so will be deploying the superglue and copious quantities of Plasticweld to get them to fit.  In a way I'm dreading it but looking forward to it at the same time, because it means I now have the second leg of the trio assembled.

Two down, one to go, and the work needed to get the wing on and ready for priming, let alone paint, is going to be considerable.  I think some more filler is required...

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[The Wooksta!]

"But it says here, Michael look, "Ensure machine is clean, and free from dust"!"

I did start a post t'other day but technical difficulties got in the way and consequently I lost it and couldn't be bothered to rekey a wall of text.

So, what's happened?

Well, the Victor has now got her outer wings in place.  All the filler has been applied and sanded off.  There was a decided mismatch in one area, which has been heavily sanded and I applied a piece of plastic card underneath plus more filler to blend it all in.  It's looks a bit awry if you know what's wrong and where it is.  But I'm not saying, so there.  The canopy will need some more work and the pitot tubes need to go into place on the wings (although I may just leave them until just before I need to apply the upper colour for safety reasons), and then attach the refuelling probe.
I'm going to leave off the underwing tanks and the refuelling pods, simply for ease of spraying and masking.  It may well be easier to do the underside of the wings first, then the lower fuselage and then the uppers.

And where are we on the Valiant?  I'd cut out the areas for the Two Mikes intakes and *nothing* would align properly.  But leaving it overnight did some good and I could see better how to fix it.  More sanding, plastic card, superglue and masking tape.  The port wing had the intake attached to the fuselage first and then the wing itself went on once the superglue had set on the intake.  Masking tape held it in place to give the superglue I'd used to tack it in place time to cure before I deployed the Plasticweld, copious quantities at that.  Left it to cure for a few hours and then dropped some strips of plastic card into the yawning chasms that were the gaps and smeared about half of what filler remained in the tube over pretty much every mating surface.

Sanded the whole lot back this afternoon, the intakes are reasonably well blended into the wing now, a few smears of filler to make it good and on with the other intake.  That method didn't work with this wing, so I did it the other way round.  Superglue to take the wing into place, deploy the masking tape to keep it in place and then apply the plasticweld.  Leave to cure whilst I smeared some filler on the port surface of the tailfin to fill a few dents.  Dig out the superglue gel I'd had kicking about the workroom and fit the other intake, the gel giving me a bit of time to fettle the intake into place.  Not ideal but it'll do, so pour some superglue into the gaps and leave to one side whilst I get on with cleaning up the wing fences and a few other bits.

I'd snipped these off the sprue but they look decidedly thick - at over a mm, scaled up they'd be about 7cm thick, which I think is the depth of your average housebrick.  Not sure about the aerodynamic qualities of those, so I'll probably use them as a pattern and craft some others out of thin plastic sheet.

After cleaning up the tailfin, attach the tailplane.  Bit of a tight fit, but got it in eventually after some swearing.  Pour in the Plasticweld and them add some filler.  Cleaned it back an hour or so back and it's looking magic.  TBH, that's been the easiest part of this build so far.

After the tail surfaces, clean up the exhausts and the wheels before it was that time to smear more filler on the wing, using more than on the previous one.  Sanded it back a while ago, although I'll leave the stuff on the intakes a bit longer to cure. 

Next job is to get the tail surfaces in place.  Once that's done and filler applied, I've got the airframe together and I can relax, because most of the hard work getting this thing together is done.  Okay, I've yet to do all the sanding, but the bulk of the hard work is done.  I just have to fight the u/c next but I may well cheat and use an Airfix one instead as I've a second Airfix kit with the B2 conversion and that means the main gear is surplus.

I may even steal some of the Airfix markings too.

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[The Wooksta!]

"I must be hallucinating. What's good for a hangover?"

I am quite possibly going insane.

There's a pair of built up Matchbox Victors on ebay and I'm seriously thinking about getting the better one of the two (naturally, just that shade more expensive), stripping it, restoring the bomb bay but keeping the shorter span. 

Why? 

Well, with the Valiants still in service as tankers, there's no need to turn all the Victor B2s into tankers and they stay as bombers, but we don't need so many - hence Australia getting them to supplement their Vulcans until they get TSR2) and the few that are retained (say 3 squadrons?) are used for the strategic recon role and long range bombers, with freefall nukes - Victor and Vulcan would be kept in the UK for the strategic role whilst TSR2s and Buccaneers would be attacking the WarPac forces in Germany and Poland if the balloon goes up (See Last Flight on XM594).

Obviously, Victors would be part of the wargames at Red Flag and they go wraparound like the Vulcans.  The Valiants would start to be retired in the mid 80s, so the Victors would be converted to tankers, keeping the Vulcans in the strategic strike role and finally retiring them after the Gulf War.

Just realised that means I can now do the Gulf War Vulcan I've been wanting to do for some time.  And that means getting another old tool Vulcan...

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[The Wooksta!]

"I was just beginning to enjoy myself."

The Valiant now has the tail fin on and the filler all sanded back.  That done, off to be primed and not before time because it's decidedly grim out there and showery.  Naturally, the primer has shown up all the myriad flaws which I knew where there, including a nasty crack where the fuselage seam has popped when I dropped it on it's nose on Sunday.  This had a side efect of shifting the nose weight and some of it rattles about and shifts when I'm twisting the model to get at other bits whilst sanding.

There's not as much filling as I'd feared, although the area where I had to blend the intakes into the wings needed a considerable amount of rework.  Overall, I'm really happy with it, largely because although it's been challenging - it *IS* a Mach Poo kit after all and I knew it would be when I dragged it down from the loft - it's been quite rewarding. There's stil a great deal of work to go before I can get paint on it, but it's looking promising.

I caved in to temptation and bought that Victor on ebay.  I'm tempted to go with a similar twin Martel mount under each wing in the location vacated by the refuelling pods and have it as an alternate Black Buck bomber - that capacious bomb bay could carry quite a bit of fuel, so you'd be looking at fewer refuelling stages perhaps.  Or maybe they're there to assist getting through the WarPac defences.

All of this depends on the condition of said model and just how much work I'll need to do to salvage it.  If it's anything like the one I'm working on, it could be considerable but then again, a Dark Sea grey/Dark Green wraparound scheme could hide a lot of flaws.

Can we have a V bomber theme for next year's Telford? Maybe I can sneak one onto the Bomber Command SIG for the LOLz?




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