Modelling XH558 "Spirit of Great Britain"
A brief history of XH558
The Avro Vulcan is an aircraft that has captured the imagination of the British public in a way that few aircraft can claim to, Concorde and the Supermarine Spitfire are rightfully in that small set of aircraft along with the Vulcan. Right from the pure delta prototypes' first public appearances at the airshows of the early 1950s until XH558's final fight in 2015, Vulcans have been the star of British airshows, performing displays that seem to defy the laws of physics in such a large aircraft, even gaining some popularity overseas in the US.
When the aircraft retired from RAF service in March 1984, the Vulcan Display Flight (VDF) was formed to allow the type to continue being displayed at airshows. This unit was initially allocated the Vulcan B2 XL426, which it flew until 1986- this aircraft is preserved in a taxiable condition today at London Southend Airport. At first XH560, a Vulcan K2 tanker, was held in reserve for the VDF and was intended to replace XL426, but was scrapped when another Vulcan tanker, withdrawn and awaiting disposal for spares at RAF Marham, was found to have more remaining flying hours. This was XH558.
By pure coincidence, XH558 was the first Vulcan B2 to enter RAF service in 1960, and was then to be be final to leave RAF service. The aircraft was moved to RAF Waddington, the home of the most famous squadron to operate the type, 617 sqn, and reverted to B2 status, although to this day still shows her history as a K2 tanker. The VDF performed displays with XH558 until 1993, when the unit was disbanded due to defence cuts. XH558 took the final flight to Bruntingthorpe in Leicestershire, and remained there, performing taxi runs until 1999.
Ending the taxi runs was not the end of the road for the old Vulcan, through lottery funding public donations, she was returned to our skies by the Vulcan To The Sky Trust on 18 October 2007. She flew until 2015, when maintenance concerns and the withdrawal of support from companies responsible for maintaining the aircraft forced its final retirement.
Today XH558 is preserved in taxiable condition at Doncaster Airport, and will hopefully remain so for many years to come, although the chance of ever seeing her in the air again are slim to none.
Above: XH558 flying with the VDF in 1992
XH558 at the 2008 Waddington airshow
Modelling XH558, a one of a kind Vulcan
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Due to XH558's unusually varied career for a Vulcan, spending time as a B2.MRR and K2 tanker, then being returned to a near B2 configuration for service as a display aircraft, she is not quite the standard Vulcan B2. A number of modifications will be needed to most kits and the paint scheme is unique, quite different from the standard 1980s wrap around scheme. If you want to model XH558 at an earlier point, she was pretty much a standard example of whichever variant she was at the time. As always with modelling, gather reference material.
The modifications are as follows:
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Remove the TFR blister from the nose (the legacy of being a B2.MRR). Few Vulcan B2 kits are moulded without one, although the new tool Airfix kit is set to have the smooth profile needed. Removing a TFR blister is easy and a bit of sanding to smooth the profile will be required.
Note the rounded nose lacking a TFR blister. VUlcans which have had the TFR blister removed are given away by the plate over where it used to be (not on aircraft which never had one)
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Remove the air scoop on the right side tailcone. All Vulcan K2s had this removed as it was redundant with the removal of the ECM gear in the tail. Xh558 never had this replaced when reverted to B2 status.
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(Relevant on some kits) Replace the jetpipes with Olympus 201/202 jetpipes, which are significantly different to the Olympus 301 jetpipes in many kits. Currently only the GWH/Pit Road kit includes 201s. In 1/200 this can be overlooked, but in 1/144 and above it is quite noticeable.
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Remove anti icing system exhausts for XH558 and any other 201/202 powered Vulcan
This image of XL360 at the Midlands Air Museum shows the air scoop on the tailcone. This also shows Olympus 201 jetpipes
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Only one ECM plate. XH558 was only fitted with an ECM plate on the right side. This is an easy thing to represent in most kits, but the Trumpeter Vulcan will require you to source spares for the pipes that run under the engines on Vulcan B2s, which are exposed on the left side if no ECM plate is installed there
For the correct paint scheme on XH558:
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The colours you should use are Medium Sea Grey (gloss) and Dark Green (gloss). The Cold War era Dark Green is different to the ww2 era Dark Green. Personally, I recommend Tamiya XF83 Medium Sea Grey and XF81 RAF Dark Green (2) if you will be using an airbrush. These are matt colours so a gloss coat will be required afterwards.
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The camouflage pattern should have soft/feathered edges. Most Vulcans had hard edges to the camouflage patterns, the difference is noticeable, especially with a gloss painted aircraft such as XH558. This can be easily achieved with freehand airbrushing, or by masking with a putty such as blue tack and leaving an overhang on the edges that will result in a soft gradient, again using an airbrush.
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2010 repaint. XH558 was repainted in 2010, resulting in a subtly different camouflage pattern, generally lookign a lot less worn and the addition of the name "the Spirit of Great Britain" on the side of the nose
The anti icing system exhausts circled in red on a 1:144 Trumpeter Vulcan B2
"the Spirit of Great Britain", an appropriate name for the last flying reminder of the V Force and one of the greatest British aircraft ever built
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The camouflage pattern extends into the intakes. All wrap around Vulcans had camouflage extending into the intakes, whereas top half only camouflage Vulcans had the intakes painted white from a few feet back from the intake lip.
XH558's unique camouflage, many better images can be easily found on the internet for reference material