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Shackleton kit


Baz50

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Can anyone tell me which is the better kit please

Revel or Chematic

Im not to bothered about the 'rivet' count etc as long as it looks ok

thanks for any replies

of course 1/72 scale

unless anyone knows different

Edited by Baz50
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They are one and the same mate, Revell re-popped the Frog/Novo kit a few years ago and now Chematic are doing it. It wouldn't surprise me if ARK add it to their catalogue soon as they seem to be banging out the rest of the Frog/Novo lot in shiny new boxes and asking £7 each. Much like Airfix are doing with the old Gladiator, dust it off, stick it in a new box and ask the going rate for a small kit notwithstanding it is same 50 odd year old kit that was horrible the last time it was brought out of retirement!

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They are one and the same mate, Revell re-popped the Frog/Novo kit a few years ago and now Chematic are doing it. It wouldn't surprise me if ARK add it to their catalogue soon as they seem to be banging out the rest of the Frog/Novo lot in shiny new boxes and asking £7 each. Much like Airfix are doing with the old Gladiator, dust it off, stick it in a new box and ask the going rate for a small kit notwithstanding it is same 50 odd year old kit that was horrible the last time it was brought out of retirement!

Thanks mate so would you walk away ?

i dont mind using filler & wet n dry

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I have both the Frog boxing and the Revell re-pop, the Revell kit is going to be used in conjunction with the the Aeroclub AEW conversion that I have, that is when I have the bottle to start it. I have the conversion and the decals which if I were to put them on ebay would fetch a ridiculous amount of money hence the reluctance to start it. The Frog kit will be built as the standard MR version but there is a massive amount of work to sand back the horrendous amount of rivets and do a full re-scribe. I imagine at the time it was done the geezer making the tool for the kit must have thought it was a masterpiece, there has got to be 100's of those little rivets. My advice would be go for it, it will be a lot of monotonous work if you go down the sanding & re-scribe route and you will as said require lots of Wet & Dry and filler but I think it will be worth it! The Chematic kit is readily available and the only difference in the other 2 boxings will be price with the Frog version going for the most. You could always start a thread in the "Wanted" section as I am sure some of the other BM'ers will have one or two tucked away that they can't bothered with. If you do go with the Chematic kit then let me know how you find the decals as I would quite like to do my Frog kit in the all over ESDG with the yellow/black Aden stripes.

There is a link to a current WIP for the Shack (Revell boxing and the Aeroclub AEW conversion) here HTH

Alex

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I built this around 1968 - some 6 years after an ATC camp at RAF Kinloss where we all got close up and familiar with the breed.

The rivets are over done on the model BUT you can't get rid of them because a smooth Shack never existed. How to sand back just far enough is THE problem for anyone building this kit as an accurate representation. AVRO at Chadderton and Woodford must have entered into a Faustian deal with the rivetters' union when designing the Shack. These close ups show just how prominent they are, even under coats of primer and paint.

SAAF-Avro_Shackleton-002.jpg

4915227909_92943fa349_b.jpg

In 1968 we didn't have the availability of as wide a range of fillers etc., so the other problems we encountered with gaps can easily be dealt with now.

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Sorry to hijack the thread somewhat but I built the Revell Shackleton MR.3 with the Aeroclub conversion and decals to represent an 8 Sqn AEW2 about 13 years ago. At the time I remember there was a note inside the Revell boxing advising buyers that the kit did not represent current standards of moulding and that many of the components would have become detached from their sprues! Undaunted I persevered with the conversion and I was generally very happy with the end result. I have to say I reduced the rivets rather than remove them completely. I reckon if I was building another one now, I would probably go the whole hog and sand them all off and replace with scribed panel lines. I seem to recall that despite it's age the old Revell/Frog Shack was pretty close in dimension to published plans. It is only really let down by the sparse cockpit and interior detailing and empty wheel bays. It remains the only game in town in 1/72 scale and I think it could stay that way unless Airfix might one day be persuaded to produce a new Shack series but I would say that remains most doubtful. Here's a quick shot of my AEW2 to show what it looks like finished.

canon56-10058b.jpg

Regards

Mark

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I have both the Frog boxing and the Revell re-pop, the Revell kit is going to be used in conjunction with the the Aeroclub AEW conversion that I have, that is when I have the bottle to start it. I have the conversion and the decals which if I were to put them on ebay would fetch a ridiculous amount of money hence the reluctance to start it. The Frog kit will be built as the standard MR version but there is a massive amount of work to sand back the horrendous amount of rivets and do a full re-scribe. I imagine at the time it was done the geezer making the tool for the kit must have thought it was a masterpiece, there has got to be 100's of those little rivets. My advice would be go for it, it will be a lot of monotonous work if you go down the sanding & re-scribe route and you will as said require lots of Wet & Dry and filler but I think it will be worth it! The Chematic kit is readily available and the only difference in the other 2 boxings will be price with the Frog version going for the most. You could always start a thread in the "Wanted" section as I am sure some of the other BM'ers will have one or two tucked away that they can't bothered with. If you do go with the Chematic kit then let me know how you find the decals as I would quite like to do my Frog kit in the all over ESDG with the yellow/black Aden stripes.

There is a link to a current WIP for the Shack (Revell boxing and the Aeroclub AEW conversion) here HTH

Alex

found it cheers

think i would go with a rescribe plan theres a shackleton at coventry airbase which i may do mine in

are decals a problem ?

i have posted before in the wanted ( little response ) it was for a gr1a jag though

think i will put a 'wanted' though

may just go 'evilbay' route

thanks anyway

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I built this around 1968 - some 6 years after an ATC camp at RAF Kinloss where we all got close up and familiar with the breed.

The rivets are over done on the model BUT you can't get rid of them because a smooth Shack never existed. How to sand back just far enough is THE problem for anyone building this kit as an accurate representation. AVRO at Chadderton and Woodford must have entered into a Faustian deal with the rivetters' union when designing the Shack. These close ups show just how prominent they are, even under coats of primer and paint.

SAAF-Avro_Shackleton-002.jpg

4915227909_92943fa349_b.jpg

In 1968 we didn't have the availability of as wide a range of fillers etc., so the other problems we encountered with gaps can easily be dealt with now.

thanks like i said i have access to a 'shack' at cov airbase

thanks for the input

The Chematic release of the kit does at least have decals printed by Techmod. They look quite a bit thinner then the Revell decals, although I haven't actually tried them on mine.

regards,

Will

thanks

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Sorry to hijack the thread somewhat but I built the Revell Shackleton MR.3 with the Aeroclub conversion and decals to represent an 8 Sqn AEW2 about 13 years ago. At the time I remember there was a note inside the Revell boxing advising buyers that the kit did not represent current standards of moulding and that many of the components would have become detached from their sprues! Undaunted I persevered with the conversion and I was generally very happy with the end result. I have to say I reduced the rivets rather than remove them completely. I reckon if I was building another one now, I would probably go the whole hog and sand them all off and replace with scribed panel lines. I seem to recall that despite it's age the old Revell/Frog Shack was pretty close in dimension to published plans. It is only really let down by the sparse cockpit and interior detailing and empty wheel bays. It remains the only game in town in 1/72 scale and I think it could stay that way unless Airfix might one day be persuaded to produce a new Shack series but I would say that remains most doubtful. Here's a quick shot of my AEW2 to show what it looks like finished.

canon56-10058b.jpg

Regards

Mark

dont be sorry

it looks impressive

think im going to do flat and rescribe panel

im not too bothered about detailing as long as it looks ok then im happy

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Sanger do a range of 1/48th Shakeltons if you're interested and up for a challenge!

oh that sounds interesting can you send a link or something please

have you built one

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oh that sounds interesting can you send a link or something please

have you built one

MR1, MR3, MR3, AEW2: http://www.sangereng.fsnet.co.uk/avro_shackleton_mr.htm

I've got the AEW2 and it's pretty good. I've not built a Shakelton, but I did do one of Sanger's Lincolns and it was a straightforward build:

016.jpg

If anything, the Shakleton looks better.

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MR1, MR3, MR3, AEW2: http://www.sangereng.fsnet.co.uk/avro_shackleton_mr.htm

I've got the AEW2 and it's pretty good. I've not built a Shakelton, but I did do one of Sanger's Lincolns and it was a straightforward build:

016.jpg

If anything, the Shakleton looks better.

thank you found it

that lincoln looks good to me

is it a resin kit ?

sorry for dumb questions

at £36 could be a bargain

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thank you found it

that lincoln looks good to me

is it a resin kit ?

sorry for dumb questions

at £36 could be a bargain

No it's vacform with white metal parts such as undercarriage, propellers and some interior.

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No it's vacform with white metal parts such as undercarriage, propellers and some interior.

oh vac form never built one before

are they easy or not to build?

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oh vac form never built one before

are they easy or not to build?

It all depends on the quality of the kit. They can vary from excellent to almost unbuildable!

If you've got a bit of modelling exprience then they are fairly straightforward, and Sanger's latest releases are pretty good in my opinion.

Building vacforms is nothing like putting together Tamiya or Trumpeter's latest release though. Be prepared to do some scratch-building, particularly for the interior blukheads and wheel bays etc. Have a look around on this site as there are a few of us mad enough to build vacforms and post our progress.

In my opinion some of the best vacs around at the moment are either Welsh Models or Dynavector... I cut my teeth on those and have never looked back! Aeroclub also have some lovely kits and are worth a look too.

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I took all of the rivets off mine when I built her in 1984

I'm still unsure how many of the rivets are visible at scale distances so I dont think I missed out anything vital by whipping them off.

Wessexday2081.jpg

Wessexday2010.jpg

I love the old Frog Shackleton.

I am a confessed Frog kit fan anyway so I "might" be a tad biased...

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I took all of the rivets off mine when I built her in 1984

I'm still unsure how many of the rivets are visible at scale distances so I dont think I missed out anything vital by whipping them off.

Wessexday2081.jpg

Wessexday2010.jpg

I love the old Frog Shackleton.

I am a confessed Frog kit fan anyway so I "might" be a tad biased...

I will be happy if mine comes out that well

Decided not to go the vac form route

so evilbay or anyone on here got one

( i cant post a wanted as the goalposts have been moved to 100 posts )

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If anyone wants a close up look around the Coventry Shackleton (WR963), let me know. I'm there every Saturday making sure most - if not all- the rivets on her are present and correct. If you come along on 28th January, we're ground running her too.

As to the kits -

The Chematic (FROG) 1:72 example is pretty good, but the panel lines aren't really that true to the original, and the rivets are a bit over emphasised even by Shackleton standards. Having said that, the shape is pretty much spot on for the MR3, and with the addition of a conversion you can make a good MR2/AEW2 from it. Its just a shame the MR3 kit didn't have the Rolls Royce Vipers added later in its life - seen on all the RAF preserved examples.

As to the 1:48 vac form Shackleton - it'll take a lot of work. The engine cowlings and nacelles bear no resemblance to the real thing in shape or size. Theres no evidence of the air filters under the engine, radiator shutters, or anything like that. The wingtips look a bit odd too, not being symmetrical at all. A good leg up here to avoid some scratch building would be to rob parts from a Tamiya 1:48 lanc if you can for the undercarraige bays - as the internal wing structure and retract system is quite similar.

Also for those considering scratch building an MR2/AEW2 in any size, the Shackleton tailwheels are identical to the Canberra's.

Kind regards,

Rich

Shackleton Preservation Trust

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OOps!

I meant to say Shackleton tailwheels are identical to Canberra nosewheels. Tyres, hubs all the same. The oleo section of the leg is pretty similar too. If I get chance on Saturday I'll take a couple of shots of each to illustrate the similarity!

Regards

Rich

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