Blackburn Buccaneer

Cockpit kit parts painted and Eduard harnesses anchored at the main buckle. 

Rest of Eduard PE detail added and cockpit has had a wash applied, ready for assembly. I'll add the HUD and throttle levers once everything is closed up. (Actually, I never did add the throttle levers - just too fiddly and basically invisible anyway) 

I decided to try using the micro magnets I bought when building my Thunderbird 1 to make the fuel tanks and weapons removeable. I had bought 80pcs 2mm dia. x 1mm thick magnets with this type of application in mind. Rather than drill 1 mm holes right through the wing, I carefully used 2 mm bit to form a bed for the magnets. 

The wings were thick enough to do this without the point penetrating the underside, but the beds were shallow. The magnets were fixed with CA glue, using a stack of similar magnets on the 'far' side to help seat them and keep them level. 

A trial fit of the internal components to confirm that the magnets would not interfere with later assembly. I took care that all the magnet poles were orientated the same way. 

The underwing tanks are in three parts; left and right upper halves and a full width base. I assembled the upper halves, cut off the mounting pins and used the point of my modelling knife to mark the centre of the pin positions. I used a 1mm bit to drill holes throgh the top surface to mark the positions on the inside. 

Using the same technique as before I made 2mm beds for the magnets and fixed them with CA glue. 

I used the same 'hidden magnet' method to allow the mounting of two fuel tanks, two rocket pods, two bombs in the bomb bay and the bomb bay itself. 

This is the clean underside. 

This shows the completed fuel tanks and rocket pods (sans pointy ends) in place and the messy positioning of magnets inside the bomb bay cover. The plane has a rotating bomb bay so this cover does not exist in this form. I had to relieve the thickness of the front end to clear the detail part of the front face of the open bay. I filed 2mm slots in the four positioning tabs provided and then had to find a way of positioning the magnets. What I came up with was fixing the hidden magnets at 4 corresponding points around the open bomb bay and then let the magnets for the cover 'find' them to define their own position. I ran a strip of greasproof paper under the magnets at each end of the bay to act as a glue barrier. I used glue'n'glaze to fill the slots in the tabs on the cover and carefully fitted it in place and held it with masking tape and crossed my fingers. 

The rocket pod pylons are less than 2mm wide. I cut off the pins and tried dtilling 2mm beds in the upper flange but had to resort to filing slots for the magnets. The bombs in the bay are intended to be fitted on the supplied pylons, but I preferred to use magnets to mount them in the bay. 

Once the glue'n'glaze had dried overnight I could remove the masking tape and using the greaseproof paper strips carefully lift off the bomb bay cover. I added blobs of CA glue as reinforcement. The result is not pretty but it does fit over the bombs and its outside surface is the only face that will be seen. All this messing around with magnets cost a lot of time, but I think the rest of the build will be quite straightforward now. 

The rear section basically complete. The fuselage, wings and tailplane all fitted really well. The undercarriage doors also fitted without any problem once the curved hinges were removed. The housings around the jet tailpipes were a different story and needed filling and sanding to blend properly. I used CA glue + activator as filler and left off the wing flaps to give me better access for filing. Assembly was done with the plastic bare for optimal adhesion. Light grey primer was applied from the wing roots back to check the blending while leaving the joint for the cockpit/air intakes bare. 

The leading edges of the wings, horizontal stabilisers and air intakes are silver. I masked the areas and painted them with black primer, gloss varnish, chrome silver and finished with more gloss varnish. I took the opportunity to do some (very) rough pre-shading while I had black primer in the airbrush. I had decided that, especially for the intakes, it would be easier to protect the finished colour than to mask the surrounding areas and add the silver later. Having said that, the inner silver panels on the upper wings are too narrow to mask easily so these will be applied once the dark grey scheme has been applied. 

Canopy masking now with a combination of tape and masking fluid. The rear seater has his own internal windscreen with a thin frame. 

The main canopy needs masking twice; once for the light inner frame and then for the main body colour. The instructions call for yellow for the internal frame but I think they started life white and yellowed over time. I decided that they would still have been white in 1971. 

Canopy masked and ready to be fitted. 

Buccaneer on HMS Eagle with white canopy lining. 

Cockpit fitted and canopy glued in place. The air intakes are just dry fitted to ensure that the inlet tubes are correctly positioned. 

Looks like a proper buccaneer now. 

Inlet rings masked and fitted. I had missed that the silver leading edge is longer on the wing underside so I had to mask and paint the extra. The silver edges were shielded while the newly attached front section was primed in light grey. The central section of the rocket pods were painted while I had silver in the airbrush. 

Silver leading edges properly masked and pre-shading added at the front and toned down at the back. 

Bomb bay painted inside and radar altimeter radome masked and painted yellow ohcre. Ready for top coat now. 

Grey applied overall. The finish on the real aircraft was kept in good condition and I tried to reflect this while also using the pre-shading to avoid a toy-like impression. The masking slipped on the leading edge of the port wing and had to be patched. I missed the instruction in step 23 to drill a 0.8 mm hole in the upper spine for the forward antenna. Unfortunately, step 73 indicates the antenna should be fitted further forward and that's where I put it! I can't find any photos of Buccaneers with the antenna here, and I think it would prevent the canopy from opening fully, but it isn't too obvious a fault, so I left it. 

The grey may be a little too light, but it is difficult to be sure, looking at contemporary photos. A gloss varnish could well darken the final finish, as will any weathering/wash. 

Masking removed except for cockpit. Fun fact 1: the Buccaneer was designed with a retractable refuelling probe but the airflow around the nose always pushed the drogue away just before engagement! A longer fixed probe worked fine and rather than try to design a new retracting mechanism was adopted for production. The tandem seating in the Buccaneer is unusual with the pilot seat offset to port and the observer offset to starboard and looking over the pilot's right shoulder. The probe was also canted to starboard, out of the pilot's direct forward view. 

The view from below with rocket pods and fuel tanks in place and the bomb bay 'open'. 

Two coats of gloss varnish applied and this did appear to darken the grey finish. Inboard chrome silver panels and steel tip of refueling probe added between coats. 

Some touch-up under the wings and steel added to arrestor hook. This is not called out in the instructions but I can't believe that paint would have survived long during carrier operations. Stores also finished.
When the varnish is dry I can tackle the decalathon...
 

Getting there. The decals always bring a model to life. Still quite a few stencils left to go on this one. 

Decals finished! Excellent quality, both thin and strong, but also very cooperative. I realised I had misaligned a couple (mistaken placement or moved during subsequent handling) but I was able to free them with a liberal application of water and reposition them - even a day or so later! Applying the tiny individual dashes running either side of the dorsal spine severely wore my patience. 

Ready for adding remaining details and a final gloss coat. 

Basically complete now. Canopy masking can finally be removed. 

Attempt at box art pose as is my wont. 

Definitely looks like a Buccaneer. 

These aircraft always look immaculate in contemporary photographs aboard ship, with no panel lines visible from a distance. I don't think it makes sense to highlight them on a model at this scale.  

It casts a shadow a bit like an overgrown harrier... 

Fun fact 2: towards the end of its (RAF) service life, the Buccaneer was modified to allow the use of Sidewinders for defence against aircraft, but until then it relied upon flying really low to make a very difficult target for an opponent. Getting a radar lock with so much ground clutter was difficult, and diving for a gun attack (as the USAF found during Red Flag exercises) left little or no time to pull up before hitting the ground. This meant that the only realistic way of attacking the Buccaneer was to try and close on it from behind at the same altitude. To deter this type of attack, Buccaneers were trained to drop retarded bombs intended to detonate beneath their pursuer. This tactic was known as 'dropping their knickers'. 

Bomb bay 'open'. I gave the bomb bay interior, the front half of the bombs and the radar altimeter radome a couple of coats of matt varnish. I'll add a subtle wash to the inside of the bomb bay, just to highlight the (limited) detail inside.