Cold War Avro Vulcan B.2
Comentarios
Album info
I completed this build as the 1962 Cold War Vulcan B.2 XM602 of No. 12 Sqn. RAF Coningsby, Lincolnshire finished in Anti-Flash White with a Blue Steel air-launched, rocket-propelled nuclear missile!
Having built Airfix’s earlier 1983 version, I was expecting great things from this recent 2021 tooled kit. I found it however, very much over engineered and sadly less enjoyable to build than I remember the 80s’ kit to have been. Hours of work on the beautifully designed cockpit were waisted as nothing can be seen when closed within the fuselage and beneath the mostly covered canopy. Where most manufacturers have found a way of moulding exhaust jets in one piece this kit required at least 3 and the use of a jig! That said, from a pure engineering perspective, this is a visually attractive kit, I just think it’s another example of a designer not having a clue of how to design a deconstructed scale model!
I went for the early Cold War Anti-Flash White finish as I already have the low altitude camouflaged version in my collection. Interestingly, Airfix have the Blue Steel nuclear missile installed on the camouflaged version and a bomb bay on the 1962 white version. Although Ive seen some historical photos of this setup, I found this totally incongruous and so switched these two parts. I decided to use the early blue painted version of the Blue Steel missile as white on white, for fuselage and missile, also did not work for me.
Sadly, for the Airfix design team, I lost the beautiful undercarriage and open crew hatch detail by going for a wheels up configuration. I had no space or large enough display cabinet to show this model off in its wheels down configuration and so planned from the outset to have it displayed in flight from my office ceiling … its such a beautiful aircraft in flight and this finished kit, in my view, does not disappoint.
