"You will never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy."

The Wooksta! · March 21, 2026, 09:52:22 AM

"Come on, come on! Get the thing started! God, what excuse is it this time? I suppose they'll be telling us they've been held up by Mexican bandits."

Those who may have been paying attention to my posts may recall that I've sort of resurrected my Bristol Buccaneer project. However, this thread isn't dedicated to that.

What it does concern is what came after Bristol decided it would be easier to add the Buckingham wings to the new fuselage and came up with the Brigand. Except that this won't be quite the Brigand we're used to, it's going to be the short lived single fin one that Bristols worked on before deciding to just use the jigs and tooling for the Buckingham tail surfaces instead to make life easier. As it happens, I made a mould for the single fin when I started the Buccaneer and I have a lot of spare Beaufighter tailplanes.

Which leaves the Brigand. I bought a Magna Brigand some years back as the basis for the Buccaneer and although I actually did some work to get the instrument panel in, with the nosecone being glued on too, it didn't progress much further. The Magna Brigand is a pig to build, largely because the instrument panel doesn't fit, the u/c is a nightmare to assemble and the wheels look like they've been carved from soap by a drunken blind man with a severe case of the shakes. I finished one and promptly gave up all modelling for three months, I was that disheartened by the experience. It had only taken 17 years to get to that stage...

Having made a start with the Buccaneer resurrection, I dug out this a week or so back. Having done the work to get that sodding instrument panel in, I thought I may try and get a bit further with it. Many of Magna's kits came with a nice pre-moulded cockpit interior module and the Brigand was no exception. Apart from the fact that the radar op./navigator were on the wrong side - they were starboard facing port, when it should be other way round. So I sawed off the rather nice seat plinth and put it in the corrected position.

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As it happened, they sat somewhat too high, so I cut the seats off individually and trimmed down the bases before re-situating them and they look much better now.

I also dug out a R1155 and a radar unit from my Mosquito spare box to busy up the shelf they sit in front of. I'm not sure how correct it is, because I couldn't find any photos of the cockpit interior, but it's still better than what was in there. I know it should have a Gee set up too, and whilst I have the correct black boxes, I don't know where they'd go, so let's just say they sit further back in the airframe.

All of these got primed yesterday and the interior got a coat of cockpit green earlier. I need to do some detail painting before I can install it all.

Other work was to remove the fearsome moulding lugs on the wing roots. The engines have vanished elsewhere, but I have a mould so that's not an issue, so it got dug out earlier along with the fin mould and I'll cast a set of engines next week when my resin arrives. I need to go up in the loft later to put some stuff away, so I'll dig out my Beaufighter spares box for a set of tailplanes whilst I'm up there..

From what I remember, the actual airframe build is okay, once the cockpit is done, it's the u/c that worries me - I'll need to cast a set of wheels too - but that's ages away. I really just want to get the fuselage together for now.

Gondor · March 21, 2026, 10:57:00 AM

I have seen a picture of the interior of the Brigand, but can't find it

The Wooksta! · March 21, 2026, 02:04:41 PM

"No, but it doesn't say, "Ensure the machine isn't full of washing-up liquid"!"

So after doing a tad detail painting with the cockpit module, we get this

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Not fantastic, but I'm happy enough with it. It's certainly better than it was before. The installed radio is the R1155, as opposed to the T1154 I had in the first photo upthread. I've a feeling the Brigands got the same radio fit as the Mosquito, with the R1155 in the cockpit for it's radio direction finding capabilities and the T/R?

(I don't recall the numbers offhand) elsewhere in the airframe, plus the Gee setup. Again, there's not the room in the cockpit for it, so I think it's fitted further back in the airframe close to the second dude in the back. As long as I add the whip aerials, I don't think anyone will argue. Well, they can, but they may get F-bombed. MFM!

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And installed with the fuselage closed up. There's some plastic card planking in the space where the tailplane went, which will be sanded down later.

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You may have noticed the superglue used as filler on the top and baking soda has already been deployed.

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Several minutes with my favourite sanding stick and the fuselage is about as far as I can go without having a fin to play with. I may give it a quick coat of primer tomorrow to reinstate a few panel lines, but until I have some engines and the fin there's nothing I can do. Although a visit to the loft to find some tailplanes is in order.

The Wooksta! · March 25, 2026, 01:26:42 PM

"2.999 recurring....."

Well, the resin arrived yesterday, so I've just done the first lot of casting. Various engines and other bits for current builds, including a Buccaneer fin and one Centaurus engine cowling. I'll do a second tomorrow and hopefully, I can get this together by the weekend.

The Wooksta! · March 27, 2026, 11:40:42 AM

"Eenie, meenie, meinie, mo. Oh, by the way, there's a couple of strange girls in the bathroom."

The fin is now in place. The surface needed a good sanding, but other than that, it fitted reasonably well, considering it went onto a fuselage it was never designed for. I did have to do a little bit of surgery to the plastic insert I'd fitted in the tail plane position.

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I used superglue and baking soda to ensure a good fit for the fin and to fill the gaps. Sanded back and primed, I've had to fill a few gaps, but it's coming on.

One of the engines still needs casting, the one done has had a coat of primer. The colour of the resin means spotting issues is problematic. It looks like an aneamic Worthers original.

Edit: whilst the second engines and the wheels are now curing in the moulds, a second fin is also curing. Why a second fin? Because I'd mounted the first wrong - the hinge line should be vertical. So after some harsh words, I ruthlessly snapped it off.

The Wooksta! · March 28, 2026, 10:46:03 AM

"Yeah. We've made some toast!"

Well, the new fin is in place and looks better than it did before, although I'm not entirely sure about the leading edge profile. It looks a bit to bowed when it should be more puffed out. If that makes any sense.

But the engines are on now - I've yet to clean up the white metal deelies that go either side, although one is done, so I'll need to finish those and fit before the wings are glued on. I need to rescribe a few panel lines too, and here's roughly what the finished article will look like.

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I've yet to consider a scheme, although Extra Dark Sea Grey over Sky is likely, because that's what most of the Brigand TF.1s flew in. 36 sqn is definitely the user (and I'm thinking DM-B as the code for humorous reasons), as both 36 and 42 were slated as squadrons that deliveries were going to.

Given that I'll have to face the horror that is the u/c at some point, I'm not sure that this counted as the easy project to tackle after the Wyvern. I have cast a set of wheels, which does mitigate the issues a little.

Gondor · March 28, 2026, 12:11:02 PM

That is looking rather good Lee

kitbasher · March 28, 2026, 12:41:58 PM

👍

The Wooksta! · March 28, 2026, 04:40:08 PM

"Who can tell?"

The fin is now fixed, certainly looks a lot closer to the Buccaneer drawing than it did.

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Now to sort the engine intakes.

Old Wombat · March 29, 2026, 02:04:34 AM

Nice!

Gondor · March 29, 2026, 04:33:08 AM

I found the reference book Lee. Bristol's Buckingham, Brigand and Buckmaster by Alex Crawford. MMPBooks Orange Series No 8125. If you need anything out of it, just holler.

The Wooksta! · March 29, 2026, 10:20:29 AM

"Neil, is it really necessary to nail the plates to the table? "

After I gave the tail a coat of primer, it was time to add the tailplanes. I carefully measured them up and pinned them in place.

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Looks about right and they're now filled too.

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I did add the rudder trim tabs before adding the tailplanes.

In other news, the intakes either side of the engines are on and filled, so the wings should go on soon. I now have the pleasure of cutting out Magna's excuse for a cockpit canopy...

kitbasher · March 29, 2026, 01:10:45 PM

The Wooksta! · March 29, 2026, 01:17:00 PM

"Ah-hah! Just wait one moment, Michael."

A few drilled holes and some pins, bit of superglue and...

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the wings are on along with the filler.

Looks a lot sleeker than the usual Brigand.

kitbasher · March 30, 2026, 06:33:56 AM

Yes, much sleeker. Quite a good looker, although I still prefer the late Beaufighter TF.X/TF.10 fin with the fillet - personal preference, nothing more (and tbh I can't explain why).

I've often thought how old-fashioned the Buckingham/Buckmaster (and to a slightly lesser extent the Brigand) airframes looked - taildraggers, that's why. A tricycle u/c Brigand would have looked so much more mid-1940s to my eye.