Vulcan, God of War!

[Gondor]

A bit more work done, this time in the bomb bay, at least that's what I can show you at the moment.

As supplied in the kit, on Sprue D



And the result of a little chat with General Melchett on Britmodeler as well as looking at some walk-round pictures



Now I have two sideds of one of these pieces to put holes into then I will add them to the bomb bay sides to help me scratch the front and rear bulkheads and the roof!

Gondor

[kitnut617]

Thanks Alastair, is Sprue L a stand alone sprue or are there other bits on it ? 
I can strike off the Valiant then, thanks for that bit of info.

Sprue L has the bombs and the bomb bay door in both open and closed positions.

Sprue D has a lot more than a chunk of the frames and walls of the bomb bay as it also includes the undercarriage bays and the Blue Steel Fairing which replaces the doors on Sprue L.

Hope this helps

Gondor

It certainly does, thanks. I did some investigating myself too, I found some photos of the sprues and I can see what you mean. I'm not worried about the bomb bay parts as the Victor has bomb bay parts. Thanks again Alastair.

[kitnut617]

Alastair, what are the part numbers for the bomb parts please. I've written to Airfix to see if they are contemplating having an accessory pack of them so they could be used in the Victor. The message I got back today said my query had been forwarded to the 'development' department but I could get the bits from the 'spares' department if I could give them the part numbers. Seems a bit of a waste of three kits though, I'd need nine clips --- and I'm thinking of the Valiant kit too --

The Valiant kit comes with an optional bomb load, normal and instant sunshine veriaties.

The new Vulcan kit has the bombs on Sprue L while the frame/walls etc are on Sprue D.

Gondor

Thanks Alastair, is Sprue L a stand alone sprue or are there other bits on it ? 
I can strike off the Valiant then, thanks for that bit of info.

I have two full Valiant sets of bombs on clips (2 x 21 bombs) I am quite happy to send you, if you want them. Of my two Valiants, one is a tanker and the other one has closed bomb doors anyway.

Incoming PM 

[Gondor]

The only problem with using the Valiant Iron bombs is that they are not the same shape at the ones used by the other two V bombers.

Valiant bomb load as provided by Airfix



Vulcan bomb load as provided by Airfix


These are also suitable for the Victor as I have seen pictures with this type of bomb and the Victor together, not seen any picture of the Valiant bombs so I cant say how accurate the provided bombs are. The Blue Danube bomb would also be suitable to the Victor and Vulcan, at least in their B.1 versions.

Gondor

[kitnut617]

Hmm! yeah I see what you mean there ---- on the plus side, they'd work for another project I have in mind, an Avro 684 --- 

[Gondor]

I did have a good look for pictures of the Valiant with bombs in my refference material and all I could find was a drawing at the top of page 35 of the Aerofax book which showed the same bomb shape. Text in the drawing says
"21-1,000lb L.C. or M.C. Bombs in Bay" so maybe the LC or MC type of bomb is shown and as I don't have any refference material about such things....

Gondor

[Gondor]

A bit of a cheat but I didn't want all the hastle of trying to get the intakes sorted on the old kit, not too worried about fitting the new kit's intakes together, at least not yet 



Pinched the blanking plates from the new kit, H4 & H8 as at least one of my new kit's will not have these fitted.

Gondor

[Gondor]

OK, time to go in at the deep end......

Started to make replacements for the exhausts, well the part between the end of the engine and the bit at the trailing edge of the wing. This part needs to be scratch built as I am sure none makes detail parts for the old kit unless it comes as part of Freightdog's 200 series exhausts.

So here goes.....



The white tube is some paper that I curled and fitted inside the lower "tunnel"? There are only the two in the new kit as that is all that is required and of course I am retro fitting an older kit with new parts where possible so I have to use the new part as a pattern for a scratch built part.

One thing that doesn't help is that shape is a tapering cylinder, or a truncated cone depending on your point of view. So that rules out using a section of tubing. I am using a sheet of paper here as I don't have to worry about making a mess while working out the shape for a piece of 0.10in plastic card.



As you can see the marks I made are longer than the size to fill the part, however I have to take into account that the thickness of the plastic that I am forming the new "tunnel" out of reduces it's diameter so I have to make it over size so that I can correct the position of the tubes end, compensating for the plastic's thickness. I am being generous with where I have marked the ends as I have no idea how much I will need as I build the tube.

We shall see...

Gondor

[The Wooksta!]

Would it not perhaps be easier to simply mould and cast the relevant Airfix bits?  At least that way you could use the cloned bits for future builds using the older kits?  Ditto the intake blanking plates?  You may also want to think about the exhaust blanking plates too, as the Vulcans definitely had those too.

[Gondor]

Several reasons for not casting, 1) no materials to create the cast, 2) No resin to make the copy, 3) I'm a self confest casting phobic. Others make it look easy and I know that I will either screw it up or make a huge mess and will probably do both at the same time. 4) Someone else will probably do it and far better than I could. So I will stick with what I know, Plastic.

Other reasons for not casting the parts, their shape



Top view above, view from the engine end below



And from the nozzle end



The step is where the bottom part in the picture below goes into.



I may be able to get some tube that will go around the parts at the bottom in the above picture which seem to be the same or close enough diameter to the back of the engine, but of course the size is not what I have in stock in any medium. I will have a look in B&Q for a former tomorrow as Airfix use a jig for the bottom section of the nozzles.

The advantage I can see to my original proposal is that I will not have to do so much work to the inside of the older kit as I will probably have enough to do adding the newer parts and getting the older parts to match to each other anyway.

Blanking plates are also an option, however for this build I want to show that I have gone the extra mile with the "Hot End"

Gondor

[Gondor]

Decided to fit parts of the bomb bay together from the new kit and then see how it looks in the old kit...



Surprisingly well is the answer. It will need some careful alignment when it is fitted in place but for an initial dry fit I was very happy with it. Thinking of maybe using a planking method to skin the roofwith alternative strips of plastic sticking downwards into the bomb bay to reproduce the ribbing, or trying to get a sheet of 0.10" plastic card to conform to the roof and then add the ribbing onto that. The ends still need to be cut out and detailed but I wanted to do something that showed progress and the feasibility of my idea at cross-kitting the two Vulcan's

I drilled out the obvious holes in the roof structure, joining the middle two holes in the middle structure as several walkround's show this feature as well as there being just two holes. Here are pictures of the New kit's central part of the bomb bay..





So you can see what it looks like without a huge Vulcan cluttering up the picture 

Gondor

[Gondor]

Just ordered four packs of Evergreen Strip Styrene, two packs each of 0.010 x 0.060 inch and 0.030 x 0.030 inch for the roof of the bomb bay. I think alternateing between the two with the 30 x 30 inserted between the 10 x 60 strips should work, wee will see when they turn up or I may start with the stock I have once I finish working of the front and rear of the bomb bay.

Gondor

[Gondor]

Lots of little bit's and pieces have been done. The main cockpit assembly has been put together. Some of the seats have been assembled as well. Painting is what is holding up that area at the moment.

I have fitted the lower wing together along with the Blue Steel fairing.



I made a slight modification to the Blue Steel fairing, and would probably do the same to the closed bomb bay. I slightly reduced the length of the tabs next to the lower air brakes, see arrows



Undercarriage bays are going together at the moment, but in a way that makes it easier for me to spray paint them with a rattle can.

Other things I am going to do, just so I can get some progress is to put the frame together and in place even though I have been using the front and rear frames as a guide for scratch building the front and rear of the bomb bay. I do have another kit that I can "borrow" these parts from as reference, there are also pictures from various that I can use as well so it's not a problem.

Gondor

[PR19_Kit]

That's a LOT of plastic. 

[Gondor]

That's a LOT of plastic. 

It's ONLY a 1/72 Vulcan after all 

Nothing like some of the stuff I follow on Britmodeller such as 1/32 Shackelton Mk.2 or Short Sunderlands, they are BIG 

Gondor