All this talk of Shackleton's has got my modelling juices going and as I have had a couple old 1/72 scale Avro Shackleton Mk. 3's hidden away in the stash for years, so now maybe the time to get one out and have a go at building it.
Frankly the kit which was originally produced by FROG and released in 1966 is well by it's sell by date. The example I am building used the same moulds but was issued by Eastern Express in the late 90's and judging by the amount of flash residue on the kit parts the mould is shot. But it appears that Revell are still producing examples of it spasmodically.
The first question is how to do it? Straight out of the box rivets and all or to lavish some time on it and try to produce something special. Time and inclination preclude the latter but I'd like to make a good job of it. So the first 3 or 4 sessions were spent sanding off most of the rivet detail, but not all, as close up photos especially of the AEW Mk.2 in Manchester's Engineering Museum clearly so that the rivets are actually very prominent on the real thing.
So the past 2 weeks have been spent essentially preparing, cleaning and priming the parts before any serious construction or painting takes place. This where I am now, the next phase is deciding which version to do, I fancy building the MR Mk.3 Phase 3 aircraft that is currently on display at the Newark Air Museum as I actually worked with Sqn Ldr Bill Houldsworth in Scampton Operations just before he retired in 1977, the pilot who is famous for recovering this actual aircraft after "dipping" it into the sea! The major task will be to rebuild the outer engine nacelles and fitting a viper jet engine into each but that is about as far as the modifications will go. Here's some pictures of the actual aircraft and progress so far.
Frankly the kit which was originally produced by FROG and released in 1966 is well by it's sell by date. The example I am building used the same moulds but was issued by Eastern Express in the late 90's and judging by the amount of flash residue on the kit parts the mould is shot. But it appears that Revell are still producing examples of it spasmodically.
The first question is how to do it? Straight out of the box rivets and all or to lavish some time on it and try to produce something special. Time and inclination preclude the latter but I'd like to make a good job of it. So the first 3 or 4 sessions were spent sanding off most of the rivet detail, but not all, as close up photos especially of the AEW Mk.2 in Manchester's Engineering Museum clearly so that the rivets are actually very prominent on the real thing.
So the past 2 weeks have been spent essentially preparing, cleaning and priming the parts before any serious construction or painting takes place. This where I am now, the next phase is deciding which version to do, I fancy building the MR Mk.3 Phase 3 aircraft that is currently on display at the Newark Air Museum as I actually worked with Sqn Ldr Bill Houldsworth in Scampton Operations just before he retired in 1977, the pilot who is famous for recovering this actual aircraft after "dipping" it into the sea! The major task will be to rebuild the outer engine nacelles and fitting a viper jet engine into each but that is about as far as the modifications will go. Here's some pictures of the actual aircraft and progress so far.