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c. Wayne Sharp
3 articles

Airfix 1/48 Scale Blackburn Buccaneer S2B

March 14, 2013 · in Aviation · · 17 · 10.4K

First, this is for new friend, Gregor de Ste Croix, who lives and works near RAF Lcssiemouth North of Scotland who has, and does, see a lot of this stuff on display now and also, a model builder and provider for this site and wanted to see one of these things built.

The scale British is a long out of production kit at this time, it has, and is, contempt-ed as being one of the more difficult kits to assemble / build, by most people and even the “scale Model builders” and ACEs .. but in-spite of all that, if and when, it is built with some very nice renditions on some of the other modeling sites by some very good modelers, they seem to look very well and very striking with all the various versions. This Model was one of the “never again” model constructions for me along with a few more over the years.

The S2B Buccaneer was a British low-level strike aircraft with Nuclear weapons' delivery with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force between 1962 and 1994 and provided service in the 1991 Gulf War. It flew in support of the TORNADO force as a target designator. This one is painted in the scheme before it went there and so, no “pink” paint.

I f fit is your thing, and rivet counting is extra special to you, then you can just forget this one and get the high dollar paste and paint kits and be sure to use the correct FS paint and just orange peel them to your hearts content. No adventure in that, ever notice that all are beginning to all just look alike?, A good skill build on an old (your pick),looks better than any new( your pick) of same thing in my opinion.

I have built my fair share of those and guess what? None of them are “Correct” either.. I don't care.. makes no difference, none of them fly, don't look real either, Everyone, (including me) have to alibi everything we cannot fix or correct, so, we just select what we want and do the best you can and go from there. But on a model, it plays a huge role along with even some rivet detail with artist “enhancement” will endear most of us as a great build. Some of the purist disagree, which is fine, I just don't like the Mattel look in all it's correctness, that's just me.

. My Hobby shop had this last Airfix kit and the reports were there were no more that he knew of. I had heard the tales about it but I had a challenge from of friend of mine. Looks ok in the box but as it turned out, a real chore.

Nothing seems to fit, but pictures and some after market Air wave etched metal for all the major detail parts which the kit did not have made me start fitting up parts and slapping on lots of putty and finding some brass tubing for the engines it started going together. The turbine faces were not good so I cut them off so I could fix the intakes with no seams and then replace turbines with some spares.

The wing fold areas would never fit so I used some etched metal to detail the fold areas and put them up as the last stage.

The gas bags were the “slipper”type and did not fit either, so more putty. [PIC13] The Kit seats were not very good but no one made those types so I had to scratch building and added the metal seat belts and paint according to the information I had. Opened the dive brakes and added detail. I use the kit weapons and used kit decals and the paint scheme.

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17 responses

  1. Wayne...Superb job on a difficult model. I'm sure Gregor will be impressed with your efforts, I know I am.

  2. A most excellent build on a bird rarely seen. Nice presentation and photography as well. Surely a contender for the next contest. Great work!

  3. Thanks to all... just a nother sows ear thing...sometimes they deserve a chance at the dance.. maybe with a sack over their head.

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    said on March 15, 2013

    Wayne, absolutely fantastic Buccaneer. Amazing rendition of this aircraft especially when you consider the "raw" material you had to work with. Gets my vote for model of the month.

    • yea, "Raw", thats a good word for this kit..I know I have not been kind to some of the Newer kits by some of my comments about them but the truth is, they are now some of the greatest technical avances we have now compared ot any and all, of what I had way back when, even this one.

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        said on March 16, 2013

        Totally agree about the new kits. You just have to try a few of the older mouldings to see the huge advances modern kit manufacturers have made. A lot of people describe them (the new stuff) as shake n bake, and compared to the old stuff thats true. I still enjoy the older moulds as they help develop and hone your build skills.

  5. That's a beautiful rendition of the Brick, seemingly produced with much care for the subject. Congratulations to a great model.

    • Thanks again for just taking a look at some of this stuff I have and like everyone else, sometimes, and we all do it, we see something we just have to do. might have been a reason for this one, not sure now.if we live long enough, we all morph into different thinking. yea, kind of tough on this thing, but I try to take the same attitude with the latest and greatest too. I like your site and I will try to put something on next time that is more current and will be some of the usual suspects, still might not be in the current theme, if there is one.

  6. Nice job Wayne, I'm still learning to use the parts in the box, let alone scratch building anything.

    • Tom, I understand, and yea, I do some scratch stuff even on the new stuff which is great, but I think I do a lot of it because from where I come from on building these "little airplanes" ( wife still calls them that), I got in the habit because the old kits of old, required you build it and figure a way or you did without. I think now it is more a habit than "have to" but the market for after market stuff is remarkable and you can get most anything you want. Plus, I am and old Hotrodder too ( had to sell my old Cutlass last year, Dr. orders) so I still think my old 56 Ford is / was, a better car mostly than my wife's current Buick made of cardboard and plastic.. that is just me...as my old Guru and fellow actual "Scale Modeler", Roger Jackson says, "others may know more".

  7. said on March 15, 2013

    Wow! You did a very very very nice job on this one!
    Next time put all your talents and skills in a "beautiful" plane... 😉
    ( Hints ; NOT a jet, Single prop, WW2 British, Italian or Japanese. 🙂 )

  8. Very, very impressive build for what is a very difficult kit by all accounts. If only Airfix would revisit the subject matter & bring out something of the same quality as the Lightning or Sea Vixen.

  9. Marek, thanks, and yes, would be nice to have some of the updated it so some of these rare models but market dictates the re-tooling and the want of sales. I built the E.E. Lighting from Airfix and still have one iwth some resin help as well.. I thought it was a nice kit. and I stull have the old Jaguar Airfix kit which is pretty much not buidable but someone is issueing a new version of the French and then the Brit soon I understand. NOw the Sea vixen is and was, a very cool air plane and nerver understood why one of the larger companies did or have, not produced it. I think it would be a great seller. really cool paint jobs on those. some kits are very remberable and the Buccaneer was one of those for me and won me a ton of lolly pops at shows too. thanks again. cws

  10. Bit dissapointed really as there are a few inaccuracies that I don't like, as I served with 208 sqn '75 - '77 and in fact a friend of mine painted the 12 sqn fox I do know what I'm looking at, envious of the fact that you've managed to acquire a kit

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