Avro Shackleton AEW.2 - 1:72 Revell

[Paul A H]

Avro Shackleton AEW.2

1:72 Revell

The Avro Shackleton was a long-range maritime patrol, Ant-Submarine Warfare (ASW) and Airborne Early Warning (AEW) aircraft developed by Avro from the Lincoln (with a few elements borrowed from the Tudor), which in turn was developed from the wartime Lancaster bomber. Powered by four Rolls Royce Griffon engines driving contra-rotating propellers, the Shackleton possessed far greater range than its forebears, enabling it to stay airborne for over 14 hours, despite it's higher gross weight. In AEW guise, the Shackleton borrowed the AN/APS-20 radar from the recently retired Fairey Gannet in order to provide much-needed cover over the North Sea and Northern Atlantic. Although intended as an interim measure to fill the gap before the Nimrod AEW.3 was able to enter service, the Shackleton was forced to soldier on until 1991 and the introduction of the Boeing E3 Sentry.

Revell's Shackleton caused more than a few eyebrows to be raised when it was announced last year, not least because Airfix had already announced their own Shackleton (albeit in MR.2 guise) shortly beforehand. Given that modellers had waited over 40 years for a new kit of the Old Grey Lady, the proverbial two coming along at once was most unexpected. Now, following some occasionally heated debate on various modelling forums about the relative merits of each kit, we finally have a copy of Revell's example for review. Inside the large end-opening box are 193 parts are spread over eight sprues. Seven of these are moulded in pale grey plastic with the eight sprue holding the kits clear plastic parts. The mouldings look excellent, with fine, engraved panel lines and rivets and plenty of crisply rendered detail. Sprue attachment points are reasonably fine. I haven't seen Revell produce a kit with surface detail as good as this since their Tornado back in the late 1990s. Overall this has the look and feel of a truly state of the art kit.

As always, construction starts with the cockpit. Whilst it doesn't feature full interior like the Airfix kit, Im pleased to report that Revell have done a good job of representing the inside of the Shackleton. The cockpit itself features nicely detailed seats (with separately moulded armrests) and control yokes, while the detail on parts such as the instrument panel is exquisite. The rear crew stations, aft of the bomb bay, are also nicely represented. Crew seats are moulded separately and there is plenty of moulded detail. You can even finish the model with the rear door open in order to show off a little more of the inside. The fuselage itself is broken down into front and rear sections, suggesting alternative version may appear in the future. Just like their recent Halifax and B-17 kits, the Shackleton features a double wing spare fixed to the roof of the bomb bay which, just like the real thing, lends a lot of structural strength to the model. Before sealing the fuselage halves together, don't forget to fix the small fuselage windows in place beforehand. While we're on the subject of clear parts, those provided with the kit are rather good, being both very clear and nicely moulded. The bomb bay is split and can be finished in the open position if required, but Revell provide nothing to put in there.

The huge wings are split into upper and lower halves, with separately moulded ailerons and landing flaps. Once assembled, they simply slide onto the wing spars to form a nice, strong join. The rudders and elevators are all moulded separately too, so bonus marks go to Revell for including this useful extra feature. The engine nacelles are nicely represented, with the main landing gear bays sandwiched inside the inner engine pods. The landing gear is absolutely fine, but you can now get hold of replacement resin wheels courtesy of Eduard. If, on the other hand, you want to hang your Shackleton from the ceiling, you can close the landing gear bays up completely and save yourself the trouble of painting the wheels. Aside from adding a host of aerials and other small details, all that remains to do is assemble and paint the propellers. This is no mean feat, and if I were you I'd probably tackle this sub-assembly first as it is bound to be quite fiddly.

Marking options are included for two aircraft:

• Avro Shackleton AEW.2 WL756, No.8 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Lossiemouth, 1973; and
• Avro Shackleton AEW.2 WL795, No.8 Squadron, Royal Air Force, Lossiemouth, 1981; and

Both aircraft are finished in overall Extra Dark Sea Grey. The decals themselves have been produced to a very high standard. They appear to be perfectly in register, detail is very sharp and they look nice and thin on the sheet.

Conclusion

It's hard to believe we've been blessed with two modern toolings of the Shackleton within the last year,and it's interesting to see the different approaches that Airfix and Revell have taken to the subject. While the Airfix kit has the reputation for being the more accurate of the two, the Revell kit appears to be free from what most would consider to be major clangers. The Airfix kit also features a full interior, which may or may not be a waste of plastic depending on your view of such things, in contrast to the Revell's good-but-not-complete version. Revell wins hands down when it comes to surface detail though, with its beautifully rendered panel line and rivet detail making the Airfix kit look a little stodgy by comparison. Overall a very pleasing effort from Revell - highly recommended.

Revell model kits are available from all good toy and model retailers. For further information visit or

[Radar]

Good review Paul,

I have purchased this kit and agree with what you say especially regrading the surface detail. I have now seen both the Airfix and Revell kits built side by side at the Peterborough model show and I reckon the Revell kit looks the more convincing of the two. I feel that Revell did the right thing thoughnot including all the invisible crew station detail. Especially as the Airfix crew stations are based on and AEW Mk. 2 when they actually box the model as an MR Mk.2, strange decision as they are not now likely to issue a conversion set (as they did for the Valiant PR version) for the AEW version as Revell have beat them to it!

[rholland]

Thank you Paul, helpful review. I received my kit today and am very impressed. One small point, were the AEW2s not overall DSG rather than EDSG? Not a criticism, just seeking clarification.

Richard in NZ

[71chally]

Yes AEWs were Dark Sea Grey all over. The MR Shacks in grey with white roofs and earlier all over grey schemes were also Dark Sea Grey.

This is a fantastic kit, not just because of the tooling and finish, but also the way it builds.

[tempestfan]

As the ability to extract at least two physically different boxings from the base mould was a prerequisite for picking the variant they would tool, I'd expect them to come along with an MR.2 boxing including load for the weapons bay in two to three years time. With hindsight, it may have been better to accept the relatively small differences of the basic and Phase 3 MR.3, but then they had invested too much effort at the time Airfix announced theirs to bin it and start from scratch.

[Whitewolf]

Very good review! I have the Revell boxing and despite minor criticisms levelled at it is reckon it's better than the Airfix offering. Through rivet detail really does make a difference and a bit of scratch building  (using a friends airfix kit as a guide) can produce some extra interior detail.

 

[Lord Riot]

I say chaps, before tackling this kit, please can someone give me tips how to spray it all without getting paint on the myriad transparencies along the fuselage? 

 

I was thinking of sticking blobs of blu-tack over them, moulded to the right shape, but would that risk pushing them in to rattle around inside!? 

 

Otherwise it’d be a long and fiddly job cutting out so many little bits of masking tape - is there an easier option!? 

[Procopius]

15 minutes ago, Lord Riot said:

I say chaps, before tackling this kit, please can someone give me tips how to spray it all without getting paint on the myriad transparencies along the fuselage? 

 

I was thinking of sticking blobs of blu-tack over them, moulded to the right shape, but would that risk pushing them in to rattle around inside!? 

 

Otherwise it’d be a long and fiddly job cutting out so many little bits of masking tape - is there an easier option!? 

You could buy an Eduard paint mask for it. The masking tape bits are pre-cut.

[Lord Riot]

26 minutes ago, Procopius said:

You could buy an Eduard paint mask for it. The masking tape bits are pre-cut.

Sounds great, thanks! Quite pricey on their website though! 😮 I guess eBay is our friend here.

[Beefy]

Creative Models have some good prices for the Eduard Photo etch for the Revell Shackleton. I use them all the time and highly recommend them for price and fast delivery. You do have to pay postage for the PE if it's under £30.00 but at least it's another option for you .

 

http://www.creativemodels.co.uk/advanced_search_result.php?keywords=shackleton+&oscsid=01688b77a8677feade5ffa219396051e&x=14&y=6

[GordonM]

Maskol?

[Jo NZ]

On 10/25/2016 at 01:40, Stealthman said:

Very good review! I have the Revell boxing and despite minor criticisms levelled at it is reckon it's better than the Airfix offering. Through rivet detail really does make a difference and a bit of scratch building  (using a friends airfix kit as a guide) can produce some extra interior detail.

 

Ah yes, the rivets are the key. The Shack has often been described as 200,000 rivets flying in close formation...

The rest is just panels.

[PhantomBigStu]

the rivets are great, until you find you have to do some sanding/filling......