Some time ago, I got it into my head to see if I could get my paws on to every 1/72 scale flying machine in the 1981 Matchbox catalog, and build them. I took me about half a year, but I found them. Building them, not unexpectedly, was another matter, but with this build, I'm finaly kicking off what I refer to as one of my Pokemon projects.
This particular kit had a previous owner who very "helpfully" removed most of the parts from the sprues, so the sprue shot is a little different:
The crew were AWOL, but the spares box still had a pair of (by the looks of it) Matchbox jet pilots in white plastic, so I'll consider that an acceptable fudge.
My intention is to build this kit (and the rest of that pile) as bare plastic first, then disassemble as far as needed for painting, and do the whole thing over again "for real". I'd sort of tested the idea on my Tempest from the Wulf in Johnson's Clothing GB, and decided I like it, but that the process needed a bit of improvement. We'll see how it goes with the Buc.
This hole "build the same thing twice" idea has one clear downside: you need two complete sets of decals to do it properly. I had only one set for the Buccaneer, but Dwomby was kind enough to donate a spare set to this cause, which should be travelling accross the Atlantic in the care of the postal system as I write this. Thanks again, David
