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Dear Colleagues I am at my wits end with this one. Does anyone know what the fuel capacity of the Avro Manchester was? There is no end of information on the Lancaster, but the Manchester? I am trying to do a comparison of performance with other contemporary mediums. Thanks for any help Andrew

Some of you may remember this Anson. It was submitted for the "Training Types" GB around 2 years ago, but not proceeded with. Well, I am back and on to it now, and I have found out some more about it! L9164 was the last British casualty of 18th August 1940. Those who know about the Battle of Britain, and readers of the book "The Hardest Day" by Dr. Alfred Price will be aware that this was the day of the greatest loss, by both sides, during the Battle of Britain. Anson L9164 was involved in night flying over RAF Windrush on the evening of 18th August 1940. It was attacked by an He111 of KG27 and both aircraft collided. It was suggested at the time that the pilot of the Anson, Sgt. Bruce Hancock, had caused the collision on purpose. No one will ever know as Sgt. Hancock died when his aircraft crashed. It is further alleged that Sgt. Hancock survived the crash but died later, and may well have survived had the search been organised earlier. Again we will never know. I do do not know what markings L9164 carried, but I have found some very useful photographs. Not of L9164, but of L9162 which is close enough. L9162 was one of 2 Ansons that were involved in a mid air collision over New South Wales, Australia, in September 1940. Although locked together, the 2 aircraft made a successful forced landing on the fields below, becoming known as the Brocklesby mid-air collision, named after the town over which the incident occurred.

Afternoon all, I bring sad news unfortunately, text extracted from an SPT Facebook post: --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- A statement from Dave Woods, Chairman of Trustees - Shackleton Preservation Trust (reg charity no 1020951) Legal owner of Avro Shackleton WR963/G-SKTN I first got involved with Shackleton WR963 in late 2008 just after ownership had been taken back by Mike Collet following the failed attempt by ASCET to return her to flight. The aircraft had three engines present at that time, and numerous systems damaged or non-functioning. My first job was to remove the front spinner from the No3 engine which I managed without breaking anything, then shortly after as WR963 looked in a bit of a state the decision was taken to repaint her. The then Chairman (John Cubberley)knew well of my modeling skills and asked me to head up the painting team which I was happy to do, I just approached it like a big Airfix kit. The final painting was completed over the course of five days and has lasted well since. Over time I established a good working relationship with the managemaent at Coventry and Mike Collet in partiicular as we are both northern boys . When the SPT Chair's health took a turn and he decided it was time for him to step down I was invited to join the board of Trustees and later to become Chairman, this job involved steering the activities of the Trust in maintaining and operating WR963 on behalf of Air Atlantique, and raising enough money for the project to be self sufficient. Mike must have been impressed as in 2011 he asked me to take over the running of Air Atlantique's "Airbase", who would turn down that opportuity? Not me - so I said "Yes please!", and we did rather well at it. Then in 2012 it was decided that the whole of CAF would be moved to a new facility in Cornwall. Mike at that time realised that moving the Shackleton and Nimrod was really not an option, so on being called to the office one day he offered the Shackleton to me. Had I declined WR963 would have gone up for auction, and YES this would have also included the scrap man. What would you do, buy the aircraft that by now you have worked on for a number of years, or say "No thank you," in the knowledge that she could be turned into scrap? It was bit of a no brainer for me really, so I bought it - out of my own pocket I might add. Some of you may ask why I bought it myself and not on behalf of the Trust, that is simple, at that time the Trust did not want the liability that may have come with the purchase (indeed there were howls of horror from the other Trustees when I proposed handing it over to the Trust), as this may well have included insurances and parking fees which are substantial for an aircraft of the Shackletons size and the Trust just did not have the funds to cover this. Things were working well as they were, so I saw no reason for things to change so WR963 continued to be maintained and operated by the SPT as Mike had set up and all were happy with that arrangement. A few months later when Nimrod XV232 failed to sell, the transport cost was found to be atronomically high, and the aircraft was deteriorating rapidly, Mike asked me as Chairman to take it under the wing of the Trust on the same arrangement as WR963 had enjoyed, in that the aircraft would still belong to Mike but we - the Trust - would maintain and operate it. This the Trustees were happy to do as it would give us a nice little collection in its own right when all the other aircraft had departed, we would still have Shackleton, Nimrod and Shackleton Mk1 nose all together. Time passed and we had highs and lows, members of the crew came and went as they do, then came 2015 and the Vulcan To The Sky day. The week before this saw WR963 up on jacks to change the brakes on both wheels to allow us to taxy on the day, it was a damn near run thing but we did it in front of the biggest crowd seen at Coventry in many years. We followed this up in April 2016 with a taxy run with paying passengers onboard, the first time this has been done EVER!! The Trust at that time was solvent with plenty of cash in the bank, what I didnt know was that things were about to change and I'm afraid to say not for the better. WR963 became unservicable and remains so to this day. Where did it go wrong? At the beginning of the year I asked the crew to hit all the usual sites with messages pushing the Hanger Fund and the names on the bomb bay doors, they didnt want to do it, why? They were worried that it may be seen that we were spamming people. Thinking I may be pushing too hard and with my wife's failing health taking more of my time, I decided, wrongly, to let them run things largely their way. Things fell away further and faster than anticipated. A small group of the newer members for whatever reason felt that they needed to have private meetings to which the Chair and members they didn't favour were not invited. The whole thing degenerated into a Saturday morning "boys and their toy" club and not a group of like minded people with a common goal. Things I asked of them as Chairman of the Trustees of SPT in an attempt to try and halt the decline were ignored. Little to nothing has been done with the Heritage Lottery Fund Application which would have given the trust £70,0000 development funding , the "Friends of WR963" has been run down and ignored with no updates and newsletters since the first one under the new Membership Secretary, so that is another source of funding gone. The result? Since the middle of May we have had just £338 in donations. There can be no doubt that the unservicability this year, little to no income from events (such as monthly public engine runs) combined with the huge expenditures has killed SPT. If we didnt have the Kickstarter funds the Trust would be out of funds completely now. The majority of the newer members treat this as if it is of no concern, the only idea that was brought up to raise funds is to scrap Nimrod XV232, I have to tell you that as long as I draw breath as Chairman I will not allow this. To add to my stress level, this year new untrained members of crew have been put in positions on board the aircraft for private "test" runs when I wasn't on site. Not only is this poor behaviour from a safety point of view, it equates to some £3000 used in fuel this year alone for private - not public - "test" runs. Given I am the culpable person in that my name is on ALL the insurances, if there had been an incident and someone was injured or killed I would be facing criminal charges despite being 100 miles away at the time. Speaking as the owner of the aircraft would you allow this to continue? I am no longer willing to let this happen so I have with the greatest reluctance removed ALL the insurances on the aircraft. The SPT is now so divided that I doubt it can ever be brought back together. Weighing up all the above I feel I have had no choice but to call time on the work on WR963, and look to her preservation for future generations above all else. As such I have to say that that brilliant dream of flight for the Shackleton is now gone. Kind regards to all Avro Shackleton WR963 --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I can't think of the words to adequately describe how sad this is for UK aviation Sam

Good morning! The postman dropped off the photo-etch pieces this morning so I thought I might as well start So, the base kit will be the old Airfix 1:72 Avro Vulcan, with aftermarket bits including: -Freightdog Resin 201 Series Tailpipes -White Ensign Models (WEM) Vulcan Interior -WEM Vulcan Exterior -WEM Vulcan Bomb Bay This build will be significant for two reasons; first of all, with AS exams starting in two weeks and proceeding over the next couple of months, it will be something to keep me sane! Secondly, it will be the first build where I've already had a go at doing some build-enhancing techniques before and needless to say I shall attempt to use these on this build, these include: using filler to get rid of those nasty gaps, using a scribing tool (Tamiya) to replace the notorious raised panel lines, working with resin aftermarket pieces and finally working with photoetch (I might have thrown myself into the deep end with this one!) XL360 is my second nearest Vulcan, the closest being Cosford, I have chosen this one because it's preserved (and has served) as a 617 "Dambusters" aircraft, I have also had the pleasure of sitting in the rear cockpit of the aircraft- I therefore have quite a bit of reference material to hand and finally because, unlike the shiny Cosford example, the Coventry Vulcan allows me to have a shot at weathering. Pre-build photos: Well, more updates shall follow in due course, don't expect them to be too frequent, unfortunately revision must take precedence over the next few weeks. Kind regards, Sam

Good afternoon everyone Finally now finished the Revell Shackleton AEW2. She was a lovely kit, there is a couple of issues in regards to accuracy as it is a hybrid of a AEW 2 and MK 3, but ignoring those details I decided to build it oob, as it is. On comparing it to the Airfix kit, fit of the overall kit I found better, the surface detail is 100 times better than the airfix kit, The revell kit has some very think sprue gates connecting the parts, which does require some clean up, there are pros and cons for both, but overall they are both fantastic model kits. But I'll leave you with pics of the Revell one and then the 3 kits i've built. I hope you enjoy.

Aircraft in Miniature ltd. is to release a 1/48th (and also in 1/72nd) Avro Blue Steel resin missile in its Rug Rat Resins range. Source: http://www.aim72.co.uk/page170.html Would be nice alongside my Aeroclub 1/48th Vulcan... or the Sanger one. V.P.

Avro Shackleton AEW.2 WL790 on display at the Pima Air & Space Museum, Tucson, Arizona, USA. Pics thanks to Paul Bradley.

Reading in the local paper an article on a mysterious airstrip near Bognor, which it turns out was built in 1946 by the Lec Refrigeration co. for their reps, who used to fly Miles Gemini and Austers to meet clients! Those were the days... in 1957 they bought an Avro Anson for use as a flying fridge and freezer showroom. When you think about it an Anson is ideal shape for fridges, although the sloping floor might have been interesting. Now there's an obscure modelling subject!

We've got 2 great Avro Shackleton Model Kits from Airfix and Revell for you! the Airfix 1/72 Avro Shackleton MR2 Kit is available now with the with the Revell 1/72 Avro Shackleton AEW2 RAF Kit is available for pre-order now and arrives in store on Monday 29th February! For full details, please see our newsletter.

The 1/72 Avro Shackleton AEW2 RAF Model Kit from Revell is available for pre-order and should be arriving very very soon! Get your preorders in as soon as possible to get your hands on some of our first batch! Don't forget to check out the rest of our Revell New for 2016 range too. Watch out for more great release from Wonderland Models!

RS Models is to relase new tool 1/72nd Cierva/Avro/Lioré et Olivier C.30 kits - ref.92188 - Avro C.30 - ref.92189 - Avro C.30 / Cierva C.30 - ref.92190 - Lioré et Olivier C.30 Source: http://www.ipmsdeutschland.de/Ausstellungen/Nuernberg2016/Nuernberg_2016.html V.P.

Good evening all, First of all, apologies about the photos-they're not the best.... Secondly, being a rather large Vulcan fan I thought why not try the Cyberhobby 1:200 kit, I would have never thought of buying one, but it was on Ebay for £5. And oh, my. What a kit! The panel lines are crisp, the decals are outstanding and the options available (shrike, blue steel, gear up/down, open crew hatch, etc, are quite varied. It even includes parts for the instrument panel and ejection seats-which shockingly also include control columns!!! A brilliant kit- the one issue being that the pressure needed in order the keep the upper and lower wing sections mated together while gluing is fairly substantial-requiring a clamp to get a good fit. Furthemore, it doesn't come with a bomb bay, so I've scratchbuilt a fairly crude bomb bay and managed to squash that into the aircraft. -Painted using an airbrush and Vallejo "Model Air" colours. Scratchbuilt bomb bay- including hand painted VTTS logo and a sponsor's logo inside (very messy, i know!) So, that's pretty much it from me, Thanks for having a look around Sam

Morning all, WR963 was finished at 1.30AM on Saturday 7th November, with just a few hours to spare before the Telford show. I awoke at half six in the morning to scratch build some new bomb bay jacks and create a packing case ready for the show. Horrible weather in traffic ensued, but we made it with the Shackleton safe and sound to display her on the Coastal command table, with thanks to Tom W. My apologies for the RFI being a week late, but it's taken a week to get decent enough light for the final photos. Thanks for looking, I hope some of you got the chance to see her at Telford. I may have her at Cosford and hopefully Telford alongside an RAF B-24 next year. With thanks to the guys and gals who look after the real WR963 for providing the info on where to cut the bomb doors, without out further ado; Cheers, WV908

The new Avro Shackleton in 1/72 scale from Airfix is back in stock at Wonderland Models! If you missed out the first time round, now is your chance to grab this fantastic and popular model kit.

At Telford SMW 2015 Blackbird Models is to release 1/72nd Avro Lancaster VI & Avro Lancastrian resin conversion sets. Source: https://www.facebook.com/173300159429640/photos/a.173306382762351.40890.173300159429640/935472259879089/?type=3&theater Source: https://www.facebook.com/173300159429640/photos/a.173306382762351.40890.173300159429640/935472126545769/?type=3&theater V.P.

Decals: Wolfpack 1/72 WD72001 Avro 698 Vulcan Part.1 - incl. two XH558 markings! Source: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.907570666002806.1073741852.554818677944675&type=3 V.P.

Evening all, The Avro Shackleton has long been one of my favourite airframes; WR960 being the first four engined British 'heavy' to stare down on me. At that time, I knew of Lancasters, but had never seen one. This was before I grasped hold of the internet, so had no idea where to see one either. My parents didn't know anything about the Shackleton when we saw it in Manchester all those years ago, and I was intrigued. Is this a Lancaster? I asked the man who was polishing her. From that resulting answer came my love of all things Shackleton, and a little bit of a deviation of interest from the amazing Lancaster. Afterall, '960 is credited with a depth charge hit on a submarine. I did the rounds of seeing three Shackletons and a Halifax before I would see the BBMF's pre-internet elusive Lancaster, flying over my hometown. It wouldn't be until 2013 that I revisited the Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester, now with a significant amount of Lancaster knowledge under my belt and having almost forgotten about old '960. It was only on the off chance that me and my friend were cheeky enough to ask to have a look inside that we found ourselves sat in the fully lit cockpit, grinning and both filling our camera cards with the internals of this cold war beast. By this point, I had learned of WR963, having visited the cockpit of VP293 which had been at that year's Cosford air show. In the time during which I've followed the progress on WR963, she has changed dramatically. Why the want to build this Shackleton as WR963 and not WR960? Two reasons really. Although I have the full aeroclub AEW.2 set in my stash, my late grandfather was in the Merchant Navy through the years the Shackletons were in service. On the occasions that we visited Newark Air Museum, he'd always mention about how he used to see Shackletons on a daily basis and was fond of the type (before wandering off to try and get into Vulcan B.2A XM594, which he eventually did). I wish we'd asked him, but we have no idea where he went during his time in the MN, but then again, we never knew where he was on his work trips with various railway companies abroad. It is because of this that, thanks to the bomb bay names scheme, when WR963 becomes airworthy, she will carry his name wherever she goes. The other is that Airfix is clearly planning to to release the AEW.2 in the near future and that I have already received some assistance with this model from the brilliant guys at Coventry, so it's only right that I build it as 'their' aircraft. Now then, down to business. This build will be as quick as I can make it as i'd like to get it polished off before the AEW.2 arrives as i'm itching to build WR960 (rubber mats included). This is the starting point; Airfix kit, my own AEW.2 interior photos and the sought-after Aeroclub goodies (and the kitchen worktop because this kit is huge... and my workench is full of class 47 parts - the joy of running two hobbies!). WR963, being presently an MR.2 with a number of AEW.2 parts still fitted, makes this model interesting, in that the bomb bay doors supplied in the kit are for an MR.2, and Airfix would have you build it that way. Lovely. Using photo references and info from the guys at Coventry, I've figured out where the cuts need to be made, and if I decide to do it, where that lovely Aeroclub radome sits. Playing around with the aeroclub canopy, which still makes the grade even now; Progress so far is just seats and the deck really, as i've been doing more research. The kit is a bit iffy for flash and there's some serious mould depressions on top of the starboard fuselage half, but at least nothing on mine is short shot... so far. The question for me though, is what condition? I hate painting anything white. White paint just does not like me, hence why my Concorde has been lingering for nigh on a decade *cough*. I'd like to do her current condition, but i'm erring to her post AEW.2 conditon, just to be different from the kit scheme. What do you guys and girls think? Cheers, WV908

Good news for those waiting for the greatly anticipated release of Airfix's 1/72 Avro Shackleton MR.2! Airfix have decided to release the model earlier than planned and it should now be available from Mid-October, rather than December 2015 and is open to pre-order now from Wonderland Models! For more info check out our newsletter here.

As the original thread is locked... http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.php?/topic/234973128-revell-172-shackelton-aew-2/page-11 Test elements as displayed at the 55th All Japan Model & Hobby Show. Source: http://www.1999.co.jp/eng/blog/1509254 V.P.

Hi folks, another little one. White automotive paint, Alclad on intakes, ModelMaster Exhaust for exhausts and Brasil decals. Must have been very very fun to fly to destinations such as Castlegar in British Columbia with these!

Avro MANCHESTER Warpaint Series No.103 The Manchester's origins go back to Specification P.13/36 of 1936, which the Air Ministry tendered out to eight different companies, requiring proposals for a new medium bomber. Of those proposals tendered Avro's design for the Type 679 was placed first, with the Handley Page H.P.56 second, both twin-engined machines which were to be engined by the underdeveloped and controversial Rolls Royce Vulture X-inline engine. Eventually a contract for two prototypes were awarded to Avro who produced the airframes L7246 and L7247. The Air Ministry specification also quoted requirements for a bomb capacity of 8,000lbs (3,629kg) which was envisaged as: sixteen 250lb (113kg) and eight 500ib (227kg) or four 2,000lb (907kg) bombs (other parts of the specification also quoted for the ability to carry two 18in (45.7cm) torpedoes). Avro responded by quoting their design could achieve 12,000lbs (5,442kg) which could be six 2,000lb bombs. The highest possible cruising speed was requested which at 15,000ft (4,572m) had to be at least 275mph (442km/h). Defence weaponry would need to include nose and tail turrets, mounting two and four machine guns respectively. The Book The book has been produced and printed to the standard and easily recognised format of all previous Warpaint series publications; with the familiar blue front cover being overlaid with a photo of the named aircraft in flight, plus a colourful line drawing inset. On turning the cover we are presented with a colourful four-view plan and profile illustration of the aircraft, beautifully drawn and colour-defined by Richard J. Caruana to his usual high quality layout. Another for-view illustration is produced inside the back cover. The history of the Avro Manchester is covered very well by the author Tony Buttler, who has obviously researched this aircraft in detail in which he describes and provided details over twenty two of the forty pages, including covers. Tony's observations about the Manchester being a failure, virtually from inception, is interesting and informative; including the elements that led to the development and production of the Lancaster. There is a total of sixty four black and white photographs printed throughout the book, all with detail information about the type, serial, location and date where known. There are also three sets of tabulated data which provide details of specifications; squadrons, units and their representative aircraft; plus a section on kits, decals and accessories; all being listed by scale. The information on this latter data sheet has been supplied by Hannants and therefore is presumed to be up to date at the time of print. Some of the photographs will be really useful for the modeller wishing to identify marking details, as with the demarcations of the ripple effect camouflage separation from the black sides, as in the images below. Stapled within the centre pages is a two-sided A3 landscape formatted set of plans of the Manchester drawn to 1:72 scale. The drawings show the Manchester I and Ia versions and include the Frazer-Nash FN-5 front; FN-4 rear; Fn-7 dorsal and the FN-21a (dustbin) ventral turrets. As before, these drawings are finely drawn and detailed by Richard J. Caruana and should be of immense use for the modeller. There are no fewer than twenty seven full colour profile illustrations of this aircraft. Each has a short narrative beside the illustration, describing the type, serial, squadron, date and event for which this aircraft was marked up or coded for; as with the first one below - L7417/ZN-V which was lost on May 19th 1942. Close in photographs are included in a short section towards the back of the publication and these provide details of specific elements, including the Fraser-Nash FN-21a ventral turret mount. Conclusion The Avro Manchester is considered to be one of the failures in British military aviation, with its time spent in service with Bomber Command not being a happy one. The aspects leading up to its production, service life, plus the transition to the making of the Lancaster heavy bomber are all described in clear detail in this fine book. Recommended. Review sample courtesy of .

Avro Shackleton MR.3 WR977 at Newark Air Museum, pics mine.

Afternoon all, I was just checking twitter (I am not at any of the Vulcan's displays today) and it appears the Vulcan has returned to base at Doncaster with a possible fuel leak. I do hope they get it fixed so she can be ready for the planned "final tour" that the VTTS are thinking about. Thoughts? Sam

Amodel is to release a 1/144th Avro Lincoln kit - ref.14413 Source: http://www.hannants.co.uk/product/AMU14413 V.P.

Hi all, With the Vulcan and X-Wing off the benches, and the Gnats driving me up the wall, it's time to start something else. So, the Lancaster is the next stop. The Revell 1/72 Dambuster to be more accurate. We have plenty of goodies for this build: A couple of sets of Master brass gun barrels, Eduard masking set for obvious reasons, Aires wheels, and Eduard seatbelts and cockpit photoetch set. I figured that a lot of detail will be seen through the green house on top of this kit, so I've gone to town. Nothing has happened to this build yet, other than washing the sprues as I seem to remember Phil Flory having a problem with release agent on his video build many years ago. After market Hannants Xtradecals are to be used with this build also: To be honest, I bought these decals for a 1/72 Tornado GR.4 project (I've not started yet), and these decals are part of the set. Seemed to make sense to use them. Hopefully we'll have a good time with this little lot! Cheers, Val