1:144 Anigrand Vickers Windsor

[ajmm]

Today I finished the Anigrand Vickers Windsor, something I started back in February while in exile. 

 

 

 

Windsor

The Windsor has an incredibly complex history of design and redesign as the parameters of Bomber Command's needs shifted during the course of the war. Initially it was planned as a successor to the Wellington; then it was designed as a high-altitude Warwick; finally in 1942 it found a role as a successor to the Lancaster. It had a long design-life, in part because its designer, Barnes Wallis, was supposed to be working on this while he was in fact working out how to breach the Ruhr Dams. The aircraft was fast (300 mph) and could fly at 24,000 feet with 8 tonnes of bombs. 

 

 

Geodetic construction meant that it was light but very strong, although difficulties of marrying geodetic construction and the demands of high-altitude flights further complicated the design. Fabric, as used on Wellington bombers, ballooned at altitude, ruined the aerodynamics and was feared not strong enough - eventually it was decided to use a steel-weave fabric with flush metal formers on the exterior to give the skin tensile strength. This is what gives the aircraft its distinctive and unusual ribbed appearance (more on that in the build). 

 

 

Three prototypes were built and tested at Brooklands, but VJ day came before testing was complete and with the war's end so ended the Air Ministry's interest in the project. I sense it was always something of a lost cause for Vickers, with upgrades on the Lancaster proving effective and a successor (the Lincoln) in the pipeline. This is the last Windsor (NK136), designated the Vickers Type 461. It had 20mm cannon barbettes fitted to the outer engine nacelles, directed from the unarmed position in the tail. It also differs from the earlier two prototypes in the larger radiator housings for its RollsRoyce Merlin 85s.

 

 

Kit
Anigrand can be hit and it can be miss. Although I am grudgingly happy with it now, it was an ordeal getting it here. In large part this was self-inflicted. I made the possibly rash decision to scribe all the formers onto the otherwise plain surface of the Windsor's fuselage and wings, cue: lots of time spent with a Tamiya scriber and shares in DymoTape soar. Unnecessary to some, but to me one of the distinctive features of this aircraft is that longitudinal panelling, so it had to be done or I would be copping out and no matter where I hid the completed article on my shelf, it would still invoke guilty twinges and whisper "coward" to me.

 

 

 

 

The issue that will always bug me, I'm afraid, is the colour scheme. This, it must be said, is largely my fault and unrelated to the kit. The kit says to paint this grey and green which I took to be RAF Ocean Grey and Dark Green. I went with these upper colours, and yellow underbelly. However, having completed it, I can find little evidence for it being grey/green and suspect that it should be in the standard RAF Bomber scheme of Dark Earth/Dark Green like Lancasters and so on. There is no conclusive evidence for NK136 (some of the Windsor prototypes were definitely earth/green), but the only suggestion that the grey/green scheme was used on this aircraft comes from colorised photos. Oh well. As the jury is out, I've made my peace on this. I certainly couldn't face repainting it all. But at least if you try to build this kit then you might be at least aware of this as a potential issue. 

 

 

Add to this my issues with matt varnish of a few days ago (white blotches and streaks) and that I noticed while decalling I had painted the yellow incorrectly (the yellow line on the fuselage under the wings should go up to the wings themselves), and you can appreciate my relief to have this on the done pile.

 

 

The Last Word

Finally some shots with the equally long build/correct of the Anigrand Halifax Mk.I. It's definitely a big old thing…

 

 

 

 

By the way, has anyone any experience with the S&M kit? Not that I'm looking for another, just intrigued to know if the extra cost of that resolves some of my gripes.

Thanks for looking!

[celt]

A wonderful build of a long forgotten aircraft that did not make the grade.Well tidy mun.

[jeaton01]

I am impressed that all four wheels rest on the ground.  Well done.  It was obviously a difficult project to bring to completion.

[Kevin Callahan]

I'm going to be "that guy" and say that we really need one in 1:72. 

Edited December 15, 2016 by Kevin Callahan

[Notty]

That's a cracking looking build of an aircraft I never knew existed until today!  Fascinating story as well, thank you

[cngaero]

Very impressive and rarely seen.

I must admit that I like this a lot.

Looking at the main undercarriage arrangement of four separate units, it must have been a handful to taxi.

 

 

[cngaero]

1 hour ago, Kevin Callahan said:

I'm going to be "that guy" and say that we really need one in 1:72. 

Contrail did a vacform kit in 1/72 many moons ago.

[invidia]

Great built. Odd looking plane with all that undercarriage must have been fun on the ground. 

[Alpha Delta 210]

Lovely build of an aircraft that until now, I knew absolutely nothing about - thank you!

[Alpha Delta 210]

Lovely build of an aircraft that until now, I knew absolutely nothing about - thank you!

[BigReg]

Superb Windsor. I too had the Anigrand Halifax but binned it the shape of the nose is truly awful. I still have the Airspede Halifax from 30 years ago, a much better representation.

Regards

David

[polo1112]

Very impressive.

Great job and great result !!!

[ajmm]

Thank you for the very kind comments everyone!

 

4 hours ago, BigReg said:

I too had the Anigrand Halifax but binned it the shape of the nose is truly awful. I still have the Airspede Halifax from 30 years ago, a much better representation.

 

I'm very envious David! Have tried to get my hands on one of those Airspeed ones but alas. As you can see, I have not exactly succeeded in resolving the Halifax nasal issues - I think I got the asymmetry ok and scribed endless panel lines/opened numerous windows, but then the canopy glazing ruins that (I have no urge to vacform a new one). I thought it was all looking passable until I put the turret glazing on . The temptation to bin it did occur but having got this far I'm soldiering on with it and it will hide at the back of my Bomber Command collection!

[dancho]

I'd certainly never heard of this aircraft--in fact I thought it was a fantasy at first. Certainly out there. Your model is beautiful.

[Dave Fleming]

9 hours ago, Kevin Callahan said:

I'm going to be "that guy" and say that we really need one in 1:72. 

 

I have the old Elliot/Bristol Models vac in the stash - always pondered joining it up with resin Lincoln engines. It seems to still be available from Sanger

 

http://www.sangereng.co.uk/vickers_windsor_1.htm

[F-32]

Very cool, never seen one built before

[Kevin Callahan]

23 hours ago, cngaero said:

Contrail did a vacform kit in 1/72 many moons ago.

 

Actually, I did know of the vac kit, and even made a desultory effort to buy one a couple of decades back. But thankfully I never found one, given that it is very unlikely that I would ever build a four-engined vac. 

[pheonix]

That is a really good model - the more so as it was such a struggle to complete. If you had not pointed out some of the problems I doubt whether most people would have known! Congratulations on an excellent build of a little known type.

 

P

[John_W]

Nice build.

It's a curious beast.

[bryanm]

Very nice - I didn't know this kit existed.

 

Barnes Wallis was a brilliant engineer, but he did get involved with dead end technologies - airships, geodetic construction, the bouncing bomb, enormous conventional bombs - even swing wings have had their day.  But what a legacy for history!