1/48 Airfix BAe Buccaneer

Gallery Article by Ian T.M. Holahan on Nov 6 2012

 

 

This is a 1/48th scale Airfix BAe Buccaneer that I recently completed. I have always loved the "Brick" and I think it still stands as one of the greatest low-level fast movers of all time. The Airfix kit is not bad and I was glad to see it had recessed panel lines and rivets. However, I was hampered by a real lack of available after-market items for this jet. I added details to the cockpit tub and the ejection seats, using wire and lead foil. I decked out the instrument panels and consoles using decals, placards and bits of sheet stock.

 

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Construction went fairly well, although the horizontal seam on the fuselage took some doing to get flush and smooth.  There were also some waves in the plastic from the molds that I had to remove.  Once the model was assembled, it was primed with Testors Primer and then smoothed down with fine steel wool.  The model itself was pained with Life Color Desert Pink.  This was the first time I had used this paint and I was extremely impressed with how it laid down.  The pink color was also perfect for an RAF Granby jet because the pink was not too pink, nor too yellow.  I added scratchbuilt intake and exhaust covers as well. Panel lines were drawn with a Micron Pen, as were the rivets.  Spots where the paint had peeled were done with Vallejo Acrylics.  Also, fluid leaks and stains were added with oil paints since these jets were fairly worn by the time the conflict ended.

Finally, panel lines were shaded with Tamiya Smoke.  I used Airfix decals to depict "Longmorn" from the RAF Lossiemouth Gulf War Detachment, Operation Granby 1991. The decals went on fairly well but the airframe they chose to depict is fairly non-descript. A Hasegawa Pave Spike Pod was added and the ECM pod and the Sidewinder came from the Airfix kit.  This was a very enjoyable build and the Airfix kit really captures the lines of this beast from BAe.

Best wishes, Ian

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Photos and text © by Ian T.M. Holahan