I'm still here! :D

Evening all,

Progress has resumed-this time it's the cockpit seats being built up and then detailled more thoroughly, the pilot and co-pilot's level has had a bit more of a structure added to it.

So, plan for the cockpit: Finish central rear crew seat, finish rear crew instrument panel-detail bomb-aimer's position, add jump seats, detail upper cockpit, complete the canopy and finally add ribbing and panels on one side. (To show the interior). I've also decided to get the main wing spars out of the way once the cockpit has been completed.

Picture time!!!! :D

Sam

XH558 grounded forever :(

Hi all!

Back from a quick holiday to Yorkshire, went to Doncaster on Sunday and saw '558 in her hangar, in all her glory-sadly grounded forever on Wednesday.

Sam

Farewell 558 ;(

And so for the last time, Vulcan XH558 flew over Cosford yesterday on the first day of her farewell tour.

Sam

Bomb bay takes shape

Finally, after much deliberation and editing, the first bomb bay spars are being added to the side-wall of the bomb bay, the front bulkhead for the bomb bay has been added as well.

Sam

Suggested Documentary

Evening, again.

I should have added this much earlier but for any Vulcan fans there are two great documentaries to watch:

Falklands most daring raid XM607
and
617-Last Days Of A Vulcan Squadron

Sam

Research, research, research.

Good evening,

The bomb bay spars are gradually coming together, trying to source images of the servicing panel at the front section of the bomb bay doors and trying to find a moderately comprehensive wiring diagram for the bomb bay roof. The front cockpit is being planned out as I obtain new diagrams.
I'll leave you with a few images of XH558 earlier in the year:

Sam

Rear cockpit panels, continued.....

Afternoon all,

I'm finding this quite this quite an enjoyable thing to do-some more panels over the last hour or so. More to come soon!

Sam

Rear cockpit panels taking shape

Well with the brief interlude of GCSE results day, I return to this project. For now, the rear cockpit panels are coming together and the structure is finally starting to take shape! The main additions include the periscope (on the right), the H2S radar unit and the joystick.

Sam

Bomb bay spars...

Just a quick one, been doing quite a bit of research on the bomb bay-making the spars and structure.

Blue Steel Engine (side project)

Well, as mentioned before, to arm a Vulcan you need a weapon! And what better weapon could you imagine than Blue Steel? (Quite a lot actually...)
Thanks to some poking around various sources, I have found many references for the Blue Steel missile. It also helps that I live near RAF Cosford where they have a cutaway of the Stentor engine-something which I hope to replicate in all its detail for this project.

So without further meandering here are the photos:

The adventure continues!

Hi, just a quick one today,

The pilot and co-pilot's ejection seats are being worked on again, the various straps added (but not completed) and the arm rests have been added to the sides of each seat, also note the small oxygen bottle added to each seat. In the next update I aim to have added the remainder of the straps and buckles and to have finally done the upper surfaces of the seat with the ejection handles.

Thanks,
 Sam

Rear Crew Seats

Good afternoon,

Work commenced on the rear crew seats today, the basic shell was first created, with sections of panelling added later-along with the ribbing at the back and the headrest (note:the valve which is modelled at the back of the headrest).

Plan: add the back cushion and the padding to the seats-as well as the emergency "egress cylinder" which was used to push the occupant out of the seat and onto his feet in the event of the aircraft experiencing significant "G" loading.

Thanks for having a look,

Sam

Update #1

Update #1:

The basic "frame" of the pilot's ejection seats has been built, the only other things that need to be added is the top ejection handle and the head cushion. Then it is all of the straps and buckles, etc to add.

Thanks for having a look,

Sam

Blog started, huzzah!

Morning all,

In this blog I hope to keep a record of making a 1:48 Avro Vulcan out of card. While it may seem a bit of an arduous task, I am more than willing to have a go!

So, what is the Avro Vulcan?
The Avro Vulcan was Britain's answer in regards to a jet powered nuclear bomber which could strike at the heart of the Soivet Union, it was created by Avro (A.V.Roe) in the 1950's, making its first flight in August 1952-only 11 years after the Lancaster's first flight!

Why are you making it?
At the time of writing, Vulcan XH558 of the Vulcan To The Sky Trust is still flying and sadly into her final display season, having seen her only twice (both being this year) it is rather sad that she will have to be grounded for ever-thankfully the promise of fast taxi runs every so often does lighten the blow. I am making this not only to commemorate the final flight of XH558, but to get a detailed understanding of the technical aspects of the Vulcan and its weaponry.

That's all good but won't it take forever to get all the details modelled perfectly?
It might. There is not really a timespan to this project, however evidently because it is a scaled down version of the vulcan, every single detail can not be captured perfectly-indeed, quite a bit of detail may have to be missed out and/or their dimensions estimated because there is no scaled cutaway/cross-sectional drawing of areas such as the cockpit.

The Plan: (yes there really is one!)

The following is a brief and rough outline of the main steps involved with this project:
1. Bomb bay
2. Cockpit
3. Main fuselage section
4.Nose
5.Tail
6.Wings (the hardest job by far!)
7.Landing gear
8.Control surfaces
9.Details!!!

Planned Features:
-"Functional" landing gear
-Cutaway panels (to show areas such as the cockpit and engine
-"Moving" control surfaces
-Wings able to be removed for any kind of moving/maintenance
-Functional bomb bay doors
-Detailled ribbing/fuel tanks/engine nozzles,etc

That is all for now, update to follow shortly.

Sam