The start

For £24.44 ModelActive provided me with the 1:72 Airfix Concorde kit. Easy isn’t it. Inspecting the contents I found the clear visor rattling around the bag in two pieces. I’ve requested a replacement, but could mend it. On the other hand I might contemplate scratch-building a visor as the original part is thick and really un-defined. Scale canopies and glass are difficult to achieve but at least this subject is fairly simple.
The rest of the kit looks fairly straight forward and the size is really impressive. It certainly inspires me to put the effort in as, once built, this would look great on display.

Most issues I’ve read about have been to do with the fit between fuselage sections. The instructions suggest that the sections are constructed then these ‘tubes’ fitted together. Doing a dry run of the sections really shows the differences in the diameters along the fuselage.
I think I’ll join the sections for each side together first and then join the two halves together as I think the centre seam will be easier to deal with rather than 3 main sections of different diameters. With a little pressure the fit isn’t too bad (I’m not saying it’s great though).
There was no question that I wanted this model displayed gear down and nose up, so I’m not interested in the ‘gimmick’ of a moving nose. None of that around here, thank you very much. Besides the brittle clear plastic the mechanism’s moulded from (“Look, you can move it up, down *SNAP* oh, and off…”) the fit of the panels is pretty poor and will look sharper filled and re-scribed.
So, this will have to come off.Anyway, Step 1 : Starboard Engine and Intakes.
The moulding is very thin and the bottom leading edge of the intake is warped.
Hopefully I can sort this out when the dividing panel is fitted.

The engine panels have moulded vents on the underside, which I think are meant to be ‘spill doors’. Looking at the reference images these are incorrect.

The moulded flaps would lift into the air-intake whereas the section hi-lighted in blue is a large spill door and can be lowered. I’m not going to lower/lift anything here and I’ve sanded down the lumps and will fill and re-scribe. I’ve continued the panel lines up the side of the moulding as they were non existent. Also here are a couple of prominent panels and a few vents that I’ll try and detail.
To end my first session I tried to do something with the ‘back-end’ of the engine. The fans at the front are quite well hidden so a bit of dry-brushing will be enough there. At the hot end though some detail will be seen and something needs to be done to add some interest. The moulding is very basic so I’d like to at least add the after-burner rings. I sanded down the part using wet-and-dry on a sheet of glass to keep it flat. It didn’t take long to get through to the spokes and I was able to pop out the thin triangles and clean up the edges with a scalpel.

Looks better already.