1/144 Avro Vulcan B.2 with Blue Steel Missile - Pit-Road

1/144  Avro Vulcan B.2 with Blue Steel - Pit-Road

A reissue of the Pit-Road Avro Vulcan with  additional parts:

· New parts:
    - nose tip,
    - vertical tail wing upper end,
    - Blue Steel 'air-to-ground' nuclear stand-off missile

· decal:
     - The Famous 617 Squadron ('Dambusters'), Based at  Scampton Air Force Base 1962, and
     -  1x other scheme  (it should be for RAF unit, 4 JSTU - to be confirmed?)

· 1 display unit with display stand

Est shipping: November 2018
Est price: 3,900 yen / £25GBP

Source(s):
http://pit-road.jp/?p=18384
https://hlj.com/product/PITSN-22/Air

So the dilemma here would be - do you grab this on release from Japan, or wait and see if Great Wall Hobbies(GWH) release a cheaper version for sale outside of Japan?

The Avro Vulcan (later Hawker Siddeley Vulcan[2] from July 1963)[3] is a jet-powered tailless delta wing high-altitude strategic bomber, which was operated by the Royal Air Force (RAF) from 1956 until 1984. Aircraft manufacturer A.V. Roe and Company (Avro) designed the Vulcan in response to Specification B.35/46. Of the three V bombers produced, the Vulcan was considered the most technically advanced and hence the riskiest option. Several scale aircraft, designated Avro 707, were produced to test and refine the delta wing design principles.

The Vulcan B.1 was first delivered to the RAF in 1956; deliveries of the improved Vulcan B.2 started in 1960. The B.2 featured more powerful engines, a larger wing, an improved electrical system and electronic countermeasures (ECM); many were modified to accept the Blue Steel missile. As a part of the V-force, the Vulcan was the backbone of the United Kingdom's airborne nuclear deterrent during much of the Cold War. Although the Vulcan was typically armed with nuclear weapons, it was capable of conventional bombing missions, a capability which was used in Operation Black Buck during the Falklands War between the United Kingdom and Argentina in 1982.

The Vulcan had no defensive weaponry, initially relying upon high-speed high-altitude flight to evade interception. Electronic countermeasures were employed by the B.1 (designated B.1A) and B.2 from circa 1960. A change to low-level tactics was made in the mid-1960s. In the mid-1970s nine Vulcans were adapted for maritime radar reconnaissance operations, redesignated as B.2 (MRR). In the final years of service six Vulcans were converted to the K.2 tanker configuration for aerial refuelling.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avro_Vulcan

The Avro Blue Steel was a British air-launched, rocket-propelled nuclear armed standoff missile, built to arm the V bomber force. It allowed the bomber to launch the missile against its target while still outside the range of surface-to-air missiles (SAMs). The missile proceeded to the target at speeds up to Mach 3, and would trigger within 100 m of the pre-defined target point.

Blue Steel entered service in 1963, by which point improved SAMs with longer range had greatly eroded the advantages of the design. A longer-range version, Blue Steel II, was considered, but cancelled in favour of the much longer-range GAM-87 Skybolt system from the US. When development of that system was cancelled in 1962, the V-bomber fleet was considered highly vulnerable. Blue Steel remained the primary British nuclear deterrent weapon until the Royal Navy started operating Polaris ballistic missiles from Resolution-class submarines.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blue_Steel_(missile)