Airfix Avro Vulcan B.2 Black Buck

This is the fourteenth and final build part of the Airfix Avro Vulcan B.2 Black Buck 1/72 Scale A12013 build and review.

As I conclude this project, I’m looking out my window, and some leaves are already turning. There is a slight chill in the air this week. Fall is on the way, and I’m glad for the change. I mentioned this in a previous post, but I find my summer projects more memorable than the other times throughout the year.

I’ve had to postpone this project a few times during the summer, due to illness, unexpected work, and 4 heat waves that prevented me from painting. And I can’t express how excited I am to wrap up this project, and state that I’ve finally built an Airfix Avro Vulcan!

The Avro Vulcan was quite a dirty aircraft after it had been flying for a while, and I decided I wanted to add some streaking effects to sections of the aircraft. I started with some Tamiya Enamel XF-1 Flat Black.

I’m not going to need a lot of paint for this process, just a small drop of Flat Black. And to help the paint to flow a bit better I’ve added 2 drops of Tamiya Enamel thinner. You might even find that one drop is enough as you don’t want to thin down the paint too much this will make it difficult to create the streaks.

Next, I will brush the thinned black paint into the intended area. As I’m painting I’m partially creating the streaking effect by pulling the paint downwards.

I took a wide flat brush, preferably one that is softer and I dipped it into the Enamel Thinner. I wanted the brush to be damp so I wiped off the excess thinner. If there is too much thinner it will quickly remove all of the paint we just applied. You just need enough to be able to manipulate the paint and not leave a puddle of thinner behind on your model.

Then I go over the Flat Black and slowly pull the paint dragging it along the model. This might take a few passes to get the desired effect, and what is really nice because you are using Enamel paints on top of Acrylic if you don’t like the streaking that you created you can easily wipe it off and try again.

Here is an example of some of the streaks I added to the underside of the wing. Once I got in the right rhythm adding these on to the model was really fun and very quick. I added these all over the model, and I think it’s a nice addition to weathering.

Based on references I found online I kept a lot of the streaks longer on the underside, but you can create these as long as you would like. This effect is also very useful when you want to create exhaust stains from an engine.

In my first attempt at adding the streaks I used Tamiya XF-10 Flat Brown, and when I had completed the top side I noticed that the brown looked more like rust than dirt. I did remove these in favour of the black paint, but I took this picture to show how choosing the correct color can affect the presentation of the model.

And now for the part that caused a bit of controversy when this kit was announced. The AN/ALQ-101 was a jamming pod that specifically flew with Black Buck One. If it wasn’t for this pod the mission would likely have been abandoned. However, as many eagle-eyed Vulcan modelers pointed out the pylon is too long and the middle section never existed. So I will have to modify this part to correct it.

Here is the picture that caused the confusion. Someone mistook the gear bay door for an extension on the pylon. And I understand how this might have happened as I was only able to find one other picture of a Vulcan with the pod, and it wasn’t the best quality.

Using my Tamiya Scriber I was able to quickly separate the pieces. Next, I’ll glue the pod to the pylon.

I painted the pod and pylon the same color as the underside of the Vulcan, AK Interactive RAF Dark Sea Grey (RC296). I then painted some of the smaller sections with Mr Hobby Aqueous H-12 Flat Black. Lastly, the smaller decals were added to either side of the pod.

Next, I glued the pod to the underside and it looks pretty great. I’ll admit that I was tempted to leave the fiction extension to this part, even though it’s not accurate I thought it looked interesting dangling from the aircraft.

The last part I needed to add to the underside was the lower hatch. The ladder was painted with Tamiya XF-3 Flat Yellow. And I was pleased with how snug this part fit to the model. Just 2 drops of Mr Cement SP and the hatch was set.

I attached the refuelling probe just before I added a semi-gloss coat to the model. I thought given the size of the model there was likely a good chance that I’d accidentally break this off of the model during construction.

I sprayed a final clear coat over the entire model. I used Mr. Hobby Aqueous Semi-Gloss Clear (H-110). And once it had dried I was able to remove the maskings from the canopy. As I mentioned earlier there isn’t a lot to see in there with the tiny windows, and it seems to be even more limited than I had initially expected.

I painted the wipers with Flat Black, and this was a nice extra detail to the front of the aircraft.

I wanted to keep the nozzles flat so I felt them off the model until now. I’m really pleased with how they look against the light grey and dark green colors.

With everything completed on the underside, I was able to add the tail section. Due to warping as discussed in previous posts, I had a bit of adjusting to do to get the tail glued securely to the fuselage. It looks great now that it’s on, and I’m thrilled that this Vulcan is complete!

I lastly polished up the windows with some NOVUS 1 plastic polish, and now this Vulcan is finally done. It’s quite the model to behold, and standing back looking at it all done, the size is really impressive. It’s amazing that an aircraft this big was reportedly so agile.

Here I’ve placed an Airfix 1:72 Spitfire Mk.I next to the Vulcan, just so you can see how massive this giant bomber really is. The Spitfire is barely the length of the nose section, and it almost looks like it’s 1:144th scale.

In the beginning, I mentioned the possibility of building the other V bombers, and while I’m not saying for sure that it will happen, you’ve certainly got to have the proper space for such giant models.

And I will say this, this is a challenging model, it’s not impossible to build but you need to work slowly at it and carefully see how the parts fit together and match up. It seems like such a simple subject, but it’s surprisingly more complicated than you would think.

It’s also a lot bigger than I had expected it to be. And I’m not talking about taking up shelf space when it’s completed, but it was a great challenge for me at times to photograph, record, and at times build. There were times I’d turn the model around and knock into my desk shelf or lamp so I learned to be careful around my desk and painting station.

All that being said, it was a very fun build, and I’m so excited to have had the chance to build one of these kits. I wanted to build the older Airfix Vulcan, and when this new one came out I was so thrilled for a modern tooling of the Vulcan, and I’m glad that it was as much fun as I had imagined.

This is one impressive model, and I think it will certainly steal the scene in your collection or at a model show!

Jared Demes is a modeler from southern Alberta. He has been building models since he was 4 years old when his Dad first introduced him to the hobby. He has written for several magazines including, Fine Scale Modeler, Scale Aircraft Modeling, Phoenix Scale Models, and others. He has an interest in all modeling subjects, with a focus on WWII Japanese aircraft and Science Fiction.

Jared has won several IPMS awards for his modeling, and currently operates his YouTube channel rebelsatcloudnine, where he showcases model builds and product demonstrations.

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First Post: Part 1