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Alistair Gauld
102 articles

Airfix 1/72 Avro Vulcan B.2 XM597

September 23, 2019 · in Aviation · · 14 · 2.8K

Hi There,

After my impatience with my IL-2 I decided to take David's advice and teach myself some patience. So, I thought, what better way to do this but by attempting the Vulcan that had been lying in the stash for four years. I had just managed to pick up the decals for the plane I wanted to build so I went for it.

After 10 weeks of mainly sanding, filling and more sanding I give you my attempt at "The Grand Duchess of East Fortune" XM597.

I had so much fun and enjoyment building this even when she was staring at me from the worktable telling me that it was due time I was working on her.

Primed with Halfords Plastic Primer Rattle Can as she was way to big for my spray booth and was done outside.

Painted with Tamiya Dark Sea Grey, Medium Seas Grey and Vallejo Modelair Dark Green.

The refuelling probe was from Master

The Decals were from Airframe Decals RAF V-Bombers Pt III.

Finished with three coats of Galeria Satin Varnish.

Reader reactions:
9  Awesome

9 additional images. Click to enlarge.


14 responses

  1. Nice work. I’m a big fan of the Vulcan.

  2. Awesome build- Wish I had kept my Airfix Vulcan. I built it, and hung it in a friend's hobby shop. Someone came in and wanted to buy it, so i said sure, and used the money to get more hobby stuff... however, I do like the Vulcan a lot- memories of Thunderball!

    I had an opportunity to visit East Fortune Airfield, and enjoyed it immensely! I still have some aircraft prints hanging in my hobby room that I got there. Imagine that, a Bermudian all the way up there!

    • Hi There,
      Many thanks for your kind words.
      I'm glad you enjoyed your visit to our small part of the world.

      As an aside I was talking to some of the staff at the Museum and they told me that it has now reached the top of the NMS funding list and they have purchased some adjoining land to build a new hangar. This will be for all their civil aircraft including the Concorde and the current Concorde hangar will become a cold war hangar with the Vulcan brought indoors and the paint work restored. that also means that the Buccaneer and the Phantom will be taken out of mothballs and displayed properly which made me a very happy bunny.

      Cheers,
      Alistair

  3. Turned out beautifully, sir...I love that display stand as well !

    • Thanks,

      The stand is just two bits of skirting board glued together with a black wash and varnished with some bog-standard 10mm copper pipe but it works rather well. I was pleasantly surprised.

      Cheers,
      Alistair

  4. Fantastic Vulcan! Often thought about doing a Thunderball dio.

  5. Looks great! Nice way to mount it too. Well done.

  6. I like it a lot Alistair, nice job. Years ago I flew an AH-1F Cobra down to Randolph Air force Base from Fort Hood, Texas for static display and got to see a Vulcan do a flight demo. The size and the noise of it flying low-level was impressive and left a lasting impression.

    • Hi There,

      Many Thanks for your kind words.
      The Vulcan was an amazing aircraft to see in flight. I was lucky enough to see one that had diverted to Lossiemouth when I was in the Air Cadets many many years ago. A sight will always remember.

      Cheers,

      Alistair

  7. Nice work and i love the base, very simple but super effective!

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