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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images below to see larger images
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