To the amazement of the historic aviation world, the last flying Avro Vulcan, XH558, the aircraft which had previously served as the Vulcan Display Flight aircraft, triumphantly returned to the air once more, this time in the hands of a civilian organisation in October 2007. Over the course of the next eight years, the Vulcan thrilled millions of people around the country, becoming something of an aviation national treasure a relic of the Cold War which was held in great public affection.

Setting course for Brazil with the decision made, an immediate mayday call was transmitted, along with a landing request for Rio Airport with a fuel critical status. As this was taking place, all mission sensitive documentation was being jettisoned into the ocean, along with the two Shrike missiles which the crew clearly did not want Brazilian authorities to see. Despite the crew's very best efforts, only one of the missiles released as commanded, with one steadfastly refusing to leave its pylon station. Airfix has been releasing newly tooled kits of some of the subjects in its catalog, and I suspect that this 1/72 scale Avro Vulcan B.2 plastic model kit is likely the one everyone’s been waiting for. The company produced its original 1/72 scale Vulcan in 1983, and, as you might expect, this one has all the hallmarks of a 2021 tooling with better detail and much improved fits. Occupying a significant position in the history of post war British aviation, the Avro Vulcan was without doubt one of the most distinctive aircraft ever to take to the skies, with its huge delta wing profile becoming almost as iconic as the elliptical wing of the Supermarine Spitfire. Built to satisfy an extremely demanding Air Ministry requirement for a fast, high altitude strategic bomber, capable of carrying a special payload of 10,000 imperial pounds in weight (a nuclear device), the new aircraft was intended to serve as an airborne deterrent to any future military threat against the UK, with the required specifications representing a 100% increase in the capabilities of any previous British bomber aircraft. When the Vulcan made its maiden flight in August 1952, the Avro team were well on the way to presenting the Royal Air Force with not only the worlds first delta bomber, but also one of the worlds most effective strike bombers. Tech SpecsWith many supportive comments received from modelling enthusiasts over the weekend of the show and with the reassurance of knowing this new model is the one most requested by modellers over recent years, we think we have a future Airfix classic on our hands and the Workbench team are very much looking forward to bringing you plenty of project updates as the new Avro Vulcan B2 (A12011) negotiates the various stages of its development. The model on display at the show was a unique and rather expensive resin prototype model and it proved to be quite an attraction at SMW 2019. With our display plinth rarely without a crowd of people around it all weekend, that even extended until after the Saturday show had been closed to the public and only the traders and exhibitors remained. It seemed as if nobody was prepared to leave before dropping by to take a look at our new Vulcan and to grab a picture or two – it turned out to be a late meal that night. Attracting plenty of interest over the weekend of the SMW show, this magnificent scratch built 1/350th scale HMS Prince of Wales raises the question, should Airfix return to this scale of ship models? Visitors to the Airfix stand at SMW 2019 would have been intrigued to see a spectacular hand built model sharing display space with our new Vulcan, one which has a particularly interesting story behind it. Occupying a prominent position initially near our make and paint tables and on Sunday, on the display stand itself, this magnificent 1/350th scale model of the Royal Navy’s new aircraft carrier HMS Prince of Wales was painstakingly built by talented modeller Dave Coventry, who was on hand to make sure nobody took too much of a shine to his latest creation and got a little too close. Attracting plenty of interest over the show weekend, this beautiful model was intended to stimulate discussions on two specific points – should Airfix be looking to re-enter the 1/350th scale ship market and if so, which particular vessels would be most popular with modellers? The moulding looks good, details appear finely engraved or raised as appropriate and although there will undoubtedly be debates raging for months about the depth of the engraving it seems about right to me; not excessive but sufficient to take a panel line wash if that's your choice. The responsibility of providing Britain's strategic nuclear deterrent passed to the submarines of the Royal Navy in July 1969 and saw the RAF performing its final V-bomber Blue Steel mission late the following year. Although taking on a more conventional strike role, RAF Vulcans would retain a nuclear capability and maintain their position as one of the worlds most effective bombers for the next fourteen years, before finally being withdrawn from service. Due to the affection in which this aircraft was held by the British public, the Vulcan Display Flight was almost immediately formed to operate one aircraft on the UK Airshow circuit for a further nine years, before itself being disbanded.

The well appointed weapons bay with three carriers supporting 21 1000lb bombs. A Blue Steel stand off bomb is also included along with the correct fairing. For now though, here is a final selection of images taken on or around the Airfix stand at this year’s Scale Modelworld show. Testing the water As the Avro Vulcan entered squadron service with No.83 Squadron at RAF Waddington in July 1957, the Royal Air Force had one of the most advanced bomber aircraft in the world at their disposal, one which was at that time not only the first delta bomber in service, but also the fastest nuclear capable bomber in the world. The front fuselage fits the wing assembly well, but I carefully clamped it to minimize misalignment. I had to trim quite a bit from the mounting tab for the tail to fit flush with the fuselage. All the little bits and landing gear finished the build. The main gear legs were a little tough to get in place but are sturdy and should have no problem supporting the weight. If you paint the camouflage, enlarge the marking diagram 250%; it provides a nearly perfect match to the model. With the stand prepared and everyone ready for action, Saturday morning presented the team with arguably the most challenging task of show weekend – smuggling the new Vulcan into the show and onto the display plinth without being discovered. Travelling en masse, our development manager carried a rather large box containing the prototype model past the hundreds of people waiting to get into the show, each one knowing we had something exciting in the box. Adding to the modelling subterfuge, was this large box protecting a big model, or were we attempting to throw everyone off the scent? They would not have long to wait.If building models of historic aircraft is one of your passions, this latest Avro Vulcan B.2 kit release will definitely prove hard to resist. As modelling also serves as a really effective recreation and preservation of the machines which took part in some of the world's most historic events, this Vulcan scheme pairing has to be amongst the most appealing we have ever offered and as we have only just marked the 40th Anniversary of the Falklands War, could this be considered the perfect modelling project for the impending Autumnal nights? It worked OK, but they still needed a little touch up, so I’m not sure it’s the ultimate solution. If you plan on using the FOD covers, add them before installing the intakes in the wings; they will not fit afterwards. After gluing the upper half of the wing together, I added it to the lower half. The bomb bay assembles from sides, frames, and spars that attach to sturdy supports for the massive wings. Good engineering makes for smooth construction, but be sure everything is aligned. I airbrushed the bomb bay with Tamiya white primer. The lower wings needed a just a little filler and sanding before I added the landing gear bays, bomb bay, and wing spars. I also wonder how easy it would be to splice spare Olympus 201 jetpipes from this onto the old kit rather than finding resin ones. Worth a try if someone has an old tool kit to sacrifice in the name of modelling science. Anyway, I don't want this to turn into any longer a review, congratulations if you got this far without glazing over, if you're interested, please read my article in AMW for more details. For those interested I'll probably write a post about building the kit, in detail, after it's officially released.

The Editor (Geoff) has already done a full in box review of this kit along with a subsequent in-depth build. He took the option of doing an all anti-flash white aircraft with the bomb doors closed and no TFR nose antenna or AAR probe. At their Chadderton factory facility near Manchester, the A.V Roe design team began work on this ambitious project in response to Ministry of Defence requirement B35/46, one which called for an aircraft which must possess an operating range in excess of 3,350 nautical miles, be capable of speeds approaching 500 knots and have an operating ceiling of 50,000 feet. Importantly, the aircraft was also required to carry a ‘special’ payload of 10,000 Imperial pounds in weight - this special payload was a nuclear bomb. The new aircraft was intended to serve as a flying deterrent to any future threat against the UK.An on-line exclusive offer, the first several hundred models sold also included the latest in our popular series of collector coins, however, sales have been so healthy that they may have all sold through now. If any are still available, snap one up now! Even though the Vulcan originated from the same design offices as the wartime Lancaster, this was a very different breed of aircraft. If you are using the Blue Steel bomb, it is built from two halves, with the forward steering vanes a single part on a rod that passes through the nose. At the rear, the top fin is installed upright, two small parts are fitted to the horizontal fins, and the bottom fin is glued in the folded position parallel to the ground, then the exhaust cone is popped into the hollow rear of the missile. It inserts into the semi-recessed section of the fuselage where the bomb bay would normally be, with the top fin sliding into a slot like the real thing. Now it’s time to mop up the small and delicate sections that are best left until the end. A clear light is fitted into a recess in the underside of the aft fuselage with an exhaust port just behind it; the crew access hatch and ladder is made up with handrails, then glued into the hatch behind the bomb-aimer’s window bulge beneath the nose with a trio of probes around the aforementioned window; a pair of antennae fit into recesses in the upper spine between the engines, and if you have selected the nose with the fuelling probe recess, that is the last job on a long list. Molded in 227 soft blue-gray plastic parts, the kit features optional parts to build the landing gear up or down, conventional bombs or a Blue Steel nuclear missile in the bomb bay that can be posed open or closed, and separate posable control surfaces. One of the stand-out parts of a Vulcan is the fin, which makes them easy to find on the ground. The tip of the fin is first to be made, then joined to the two-part fin, which has a posable rudder that can deflect 30 o to either side. The two flap sections per side are also made up and installed either side of the engines, and the two-section ailerons are also installed, with 10 o/22 o deflection and 12.5 o/27 o deflection respectively. The latter have separate actuator fairings fitted to the mobile section afterwards.

There are two markings options on the decal sheet, one camouflaged with white undersides, the other completely anti-flash white. Both schemes are laid out using a full side of the A3 each, with smaller drawings showing the colours of the bombs and the Blue Steel missile, with colour call-outs in Humbrol shades. From the box you can build one of the following: There’s a lot of internal structure to this model, as it is a large kit. There are two spars that form the front and rear of the bomb bay, which have small sections cut out first if you are depicting a Blue Steel aircraft, then the interior of the bomb bay, which has a series of arches along its length, some of which are numbered for your ease. The three larger arches are made first from three parts each, then the bay walls are attached to the two spars to be joined by the rest of the arches from above. The whole bay is painted white, and you have the basis of the structure provided for you in this kit, but there is always more you can add if you have the references and the inclination to detail it further. A pair of intermediate spars are attached to the sides of the bomb bay, and all three are joined by an L-shaped stringer that gives the structure some strength. This large assembly is set to the side now, while the upper and lower wing skins are built up. All about the Vulcan, at the end of Saturday’s show, there was finally an opportunity to take some unobstructed pictures of our SMW 2019 display You will really find it hard to ignore this latest release when next visiting your favourite hobby store - it just looks so spectacular!

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I don't see on the sprues anywhere, but did they include covers for the jetpipes as well? Or is this going to be something for the aftermarket lot to cover (and I'll certainly want a set for one of my Vulcans).