Blackburn Buccaneer S.2C

Airfix, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by John Miller

Airfix's 1/72 scale Sea King is available online from Squadron.com

The Blackburn Buccaneer is a British carrier-borne attack aircraft designed in the 1950s for the Royal Navy (RN). Designed and initially produced by Blackburn Aircraft at Brough, it was later officially known as the Hawker Siddeley Buccaneer when Blackburn became a part of the Hawker Siddeley Group, but this name is rarely used.

The Buccaneer was originally designed in response to the Soviet Union's Sverdlov-class cruiser construction program. Instead of building a new fleet of its own, the Royal Navy could use the Buccaneer to attack these ships by approaching at low altitudes below the ship's radar horizon. The Buccaneer could attack using a nuclear bomb, or conventional weapons. It was later intended to carry short-range anti-shipping missiles to improve its survivability against more modern ship-based anti-aircraft weapons.

The Buccaneer entered Royal Navy service in 1962. The initial production aircraft suffered a series of accidents due to insufficient engine power, which was quickly addressed in the Buccaneer S.2, equipped with more powerful Rolls-Royce Spey jet engines. The Buccaneer was also offered as an entrant into a new Royal Air Force (RAF) contest for a new attack aircraft. It was initially rejected in favour of the much more advanced supersonic BAC TSR-2, but the cost of the TSR-2 program led to its cancellation, only to be followed by the cancellation of its selected replacement, the General Dynamics F-111K. The Buccaneer was finally purchased by the RAF and entered service in 1969.

The Royal Navy retired the last of its large aircraft carriers in 1978, moving their strike role to the British Aerospace Sea Harrier, and passing their Buccaneers to the RAF. After a crash in 1980 revealed metal fatigue problems, the RAF fleet was reduced to 60 aircraft, while the rest were scrapped. The ending of the Cold War led to a reduction in strength of the RAF, and the accelerated retirement of the remaining fleet, with the last Buccaneers in RAF service being retired in 1994 in favour of the Panavia Tornado. The South African Air Force (SAAF) also procured the type. Buccaneers saw combat action in the first Gulf War of 1991, and the South African Border War.

Edited from Wikipedia. More details available here.

Close examination reveals the same crisp, recessed details that are the norm for this manufacturer. There is practically no flash to contend with on any sprue.

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Thumbnail panels:

Parts layout and engineering are conventional and the sprue gates are conveniently located. This appears to be a straightforward build.

Assembly begins with the cockpit, wherein the nicely molded, 3-piece ejection seats look very nice. Instrument panel details are provided by crisply printed decals.

With the completed cockpit captured between the front fuselage halves, the builder is directed to begin assembly of the airframe center section. If the model is to be built with the wings folded, the outer panels of the full-span lower wing halve must be removed at this stage of the build. Additional outer panel parts are provided for the folded wings.

The twin-engine intakes are molded as single parts obviating the need to fill and blend the usual seams. The main gear and nose wheel legs are nicely molded, as are the gear doors and wheels. Parts are provided to pose the sizable rear air brake open or closed—nice.   

If you want to put a load on your Buccaneer, underwing stores include drop tanks, two different type bombs, and twin rocket launchers.

The canopy parts are clear and nicely molded with scale-appropriate faming.

No option for an open canopy is provided.

Marking Options

The decals, by Airfix, are well printed with good registration and color density.

Airframe stencil data and markings for two airframes are provided as follows:

• Blackburn Buccaneer S.2C, No. 809 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Ark Royal, January 1972.

• Blackburn Buccaneer S.2C, No. 800 Naval Air Squadron, HMS Eagle, June 1972.

The layout is simple and straightforward with no apparent issues laying in wait. With the option building the kit wings folded and air brake deployed this will be an interesting model when completed.

Review kit provided by my retirement fund.

For more on this review visit Modelpaintsolutions.com.

Text and Images Copyright © 2019 by Model Paint Solutions
Page Created 7 January, 2020
Last updated 8 January, 2020

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