Introduction

The Buccaneer was designed in the late 1950’s and served with the Royal Navy from the early 1960’s as a carrier borne bomber, and with the Royal Air Force from the early 70’s as a bomber and ground attack aircraft. The Buccaneers service with the Royal Navy ended in the late 1970’s with the demise of the Aircraft Carrier proper in Royal Navy service. The Buccaneer soldiered on with the Royal Air Force into the mid 1990’s and even took an active role in the first Gulf War performing the task of laser designation aircraft.

Contents

This release from Revell of Germany is supplied in a small end opening box, the contents of which break down as follows;
3 light grey sprues
1 clear canopy
A decal sheet
An instruction booklet
An advisory leaflet

Review

This model is the old MatchBox offering from Revell of Germany and so does have some vintage qualities about it, inside the fuselage moulding it still states ‘MatchBox Lesney Prod PLC 1974’, a number of us here still remember that time of being young. Anyway onward.

Judging by how clean the mouldings are, the moulds for this model must be holding up exceptionally well or Revell of Germany have done a very good job of keeping them in good order. There is no flash present anywhere on the model or sprue for that matter, impressive for a 41 year old mould.

The model is only made up of 45 parts and so is an ideal candidate for youngsters entering the hobby. The interior detail is the models weakest feature, consisting of two pilot figures in very basic seats. Moving onto the exterior things look up, the panel lines are recessed if a little on the large side, make that very large side by current standards. A lot of the panel detail is missing, but could be easily scribed if wished.

The general lines of the aircraft look good and do a reasonable job of matching photographic online reference. The wheel bays in the wings have some pleasing detail present, but the nose wheel bay is pretty devoid and has a seam line running through the centre of it front to back. The undercarriage is not hugely detailed being fairly basic, but it does appear to be the correct shape and good for the age of the model. The only area I am not keen on is the jet exhausts as they look solid rather than an exhaust.

A check of the overall dimensions of the model is a perfect match for available data, something many companies have issues with still today. Construction of this model is very basic and straight forward and so if you have a young child that is showing an interest, this model should fit the bill as a training aid very nicely. The model is designed to allow the undercarriage to be depicted retracted or down, ideal for the youngsters who still hang them from the ceiling, but if the model is to be built with its wheels down a 20g weight will be needed in the nose

The instructions are as you would expect are very basic and easy to follow, no stage is overly busy and so should make this model a joy to build. The decals for the model are for one of the Buccaneers that took part in Operation Granby during 1991. I suspect that due to the age of the model and the aircraft it is to depict, there may be a few accuracy issues as regards aerials and the like.

Conclusion

Well dimensionally this model is accurate and general shape and lines look good. The panel lines present are recessed if overly large, but you have to admit good for the age of the mould. This kit is easily affordable and an excellent introduction to modelling, perhaps father/son or grandfather/grandson.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For details visit www.revell.de/en, @RevellGermany or facebook.com/Revell

Box art photo by Revell Germany


Please remember, when contacting retailers or manufacturers, to mention that you saw their products highlighted here - on Aeroscale.