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Avro Shackleton MR.3 WR982, at Gatwick Aviation Museum, pics mine.

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.

Hello, I've been musing myself with making a vac canopy for my model (since the Pavla Vac doesn't fit the Revell 1/72nd kit). I have noticed that some frames are internal, to which the perspex is just screwed-on. Both wartime and restored example walk-arounds seem to confirm this: But then, I found some more (both wartime and restored example) photos, which depict these (and all other) as external: Some drawings clearly show them as internal: While this one shows all frames of the same depth (i.e. external): Soooo.... What's up with that? I thought it might be an early-war / late-war machine difference, but my wartime external photo shows an early machine (as denoted by the small window on the fuselage), while "Just Jane" is restored to a late-war standard (wide props, bigger blisters and everything). Or maybe it had something to do with the astro-dome size? Any opinion is most welcome Regards, Aleksandar

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

I want to show another of it finished aircraft. This project was similarly complete in 2016 One from "V" bomber serie AVRO VX-777 in 1:96 By "Lindberg". I invite to look. Pleasant impressions. (UKR): "Шануймося, бо ми того варті"

Hi all, This will be my first WIP on Britmodeller. My model of choice is the Airfix 1:72 Avro Vulcan. I worked on the restoration of Vulcan XM603 at Woodford over the summer and so I want to build a keepsake. I'll be using the three PE kits from White Ensign: Interior (PE7255A), Exterior (PE7255B), Bomb Bay (PE7255C). My plan is to recreate how it would have looked when it left the factory. Thanks for looking! Mike

Good afternoon all! Finally. Finally I have completed this build, as I am sure many of you know the old Airfix Vulcan kit is in need of a re-tool and in its current state it requires A LOT of work! So, shall we begin? Kit: -Airfix Avro Vuclan 1:72 Aftermarket: -White Ensign Model (WEM) Interior -WEM Bomb Bay -WEM Exterior (airbrakes, landing gear PE inserts) -Freightdog Exhausts Scratchuilt Items: -ECM bay -Interior of canopy (although I forgot to photograph this, it has a bulkhead built in with some texturing added to the interior) Paints: -Vallejo Model Air (the majority of paints were mixed to obtain the required colours) Weathering: -Vallejo panel wash -AK Interactive engine oil wash *Edit: Decals: -Freightdog- RAF Neptunes and Avro Vulcans WIP here, if you want: Click Here Picture time! (Don't worry I do not support the politics of East Germany! I just have obsession with Cold War history! ) Thanks for stopping by! Kind regards, Sam

HK Models 1/32nd Avro Manchester after the Lancaster? See on the table. Sources: https://www.facebook.com/hkmmodels/posts/1762400990676185 https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10210601505371790&set=a.1590767327043.79557.1171661098&type=3&theater V.P.

Here’s my second RFI on Britmodeller, and my second model since taking up the hobby again. A 25 Year Falklands Anniversary boxing of the venerable Airfix 1/72 Avro Vulcan finished as XH558. Have been working on it for ages – I didn’t really appreciate what a big bugger it was until it started to come together – it was entertaining trying to shoe-horn it into my extractor booth! The tool is 80’s vintage, dating back to just after the Falklands War and it’s really showing its age with nasty raised panel lines and more flash than Gordon! Also the fit of the wings was the worst I’d experienced, taking an awful lot of filling and sanding. I discovered Deluxe Materials Perfect Plastic Putty and happily ditched my nasty smelly Squadron White Putty. I syringed in the new filler with one of their Pin Point Syringe thingys and then smoothed it with a wet finger or paintbrush – hardly needed sanding. Pity I’d already sanded off most of the surface detail by then getting rid of the blobs of rock hard Squadron! Airfix really should do a new tool for this aviation icon. Loads more firsts for me with this build: First airbrush camo and so first time with yards of white-tac worms and Tamiya tape. I had to choose the largest surface area for a 1/72 model and both sides in camo for my first try. Should have tried a Spitfire first! First resin – Freightdog tail pipes – see below. And isn’t resin dust horrible! First panel line rescribing – again, I had to pick this model! More little bits of scratch building rectifying mistakes or lost bits. More confident weathering I’m quite a fan of Vulcans so have lots of reference materials. The VTTS’ own books were the most useful with hundreds of great images along with the Haynes Manual and Aviation Classics magbook. Postings on this forum were also a great assistance. Finishing off a 1/72 Airfix Control Tower next as part of a diorama build and then onto the Dambusters Lanc! So happy looking and thanks to anyone who cares to comment! Laying down the camo Time to play dirty! Flory Grime all over my pride & joy, sloshing into my laboriously scribed panel lines. And underneath, with loads of nasty raised lines ... The Grime wash gave the model a nice 'used' look. I know they keep XH558 nice & clean but you can't disguise the wear & fading of a rather elderly airframe. I finished it with a gloss topcoat as it always seems to be gleaming in the pictures! Didn’t have much fun with the decals. I don’t know what vintage they were in my 2007 25 year Falklands anniversary box, but they pretty much all suffered from silvering around the edges that no amount of MicroSol/Set could cure. Irritatingly some of the decals broke up on handling even after a coat of Humbrol Clear so there was a bit of patching needed. From photos, I noticed that there was some discolouration around the front cockpit windows so I tried to replicate that. You can just see the face of the co-pilot through the side window! Only noticed quite late in the day that there are two small side windows for the other crew shown as a recessed circle. Had I noticed earlier, I would have drilled them out & shoved some clear plastic in. I think I read somewhere that there’s a Deluxe Materials product you can brush on from the inside to imitate glass – would have been perfect for here. The numerous hours spent rescribing the panels lines on the top surface were worth it in the end. I wonder what that white/silvery panel along the spine at the top is for? Not sure what the odd shaped discoloured panel at the bottom of the tail fin is for – I saw it removed in a picture when they were doing servicing. Any ideas? I tried to replicate the fading seen on today’s airframe. For the rivet counters amongst you, I followed the instructions from my 2007 pre VTTS kit which told me to put the pod on the side of the taper behind the tail fin. Not sure what it is or what it’s for, but subsequently I saw from photos that XH558 doesn’t have it. Rather than prise it off and have more filling to do, I’ve left it as a tribute to other Vulcans and even adorned it with the appropriate decal! It also told me to paint the air intake interiors white so had the joys of trying to paint them in camo once assembled. The Freightdog Models tail pipes. I bought them after I’d assembled the wings to the fuselage but soon realised that they should have put in during assembly so my first experience of resin was a bit scary! Lots of sawing, hacking, sanding, filling, sanding etc. But I’m really happy with the result – much better than the originals. I retro-fitted some extra nose weight just in front of the bomb bay after fitting the resin tail pipes as per the Freightdog instructions but it’s still a bit tail happy & will tilt back with a bit of a nudge! I scratch built a sort of coffin with one half of a Blue Steel missile, filled it with lead shot and glued it under the front wheel well. It’s not quite forward enough and also partially melted the roof of the well! Couldn’t face the idea of rescribing the under-surfaces – would have taken me weeks! Apart from giving the surface a nice ‘used’ patina, hardly any of the grime wash stayed on the raised panel lines. The bomb bay was a big disappointment on this model – the doors were really thin & flimsy. I built some ribs out of sprue which helped but in the end they were held in place with filler more than anything else! After it was all sealed up I found that you can get after market bomb bay detailing – will save that for my next Vulcan build! Would have loved to have added some extra detail to the wheel wells – will save that for a subsequent build! Just a bit of dirty goo for this one. Thanks for looking!

Azmodel is to re-release with new decals it's 1/72nd Avro 621 Tutor Mk.1 kit - ref AZ7549 Sources: http://modelweb.modelforum.cz/2016/10/28/novinky-az-model-listopad-2016/ https://www.scalemates.com/kits/1016047-az-model-az7549-avro-621-tutor-mk-i V.P.

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

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

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

Pics of XM573 taken by Darwin at the SAC museum in Nebraska

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.

Avro 621 Tutor, pics thanks to Mark Mills.

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

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!

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

Avro 504K, pics thanks to Mark Mills, for which he keeps the copyright.

I picked this up at Telford with the view of adding something of a rarity to the bomber Command Sig display. At £47 it certainly aint cheap, but I'm more than pleased with what you get in the box. It's designed to use the Airfix B.II kit as a donor and having a review kit spare, this is what will be used. I've taken some pictures below of what's in the box. Quality of the moulding is superb and from speaking to Glenn at Blackbird who is planning to follow up with a Manchester conversion and possibly more from the Bomber Command armoury, the future is looking quite promising where some of the gaps that the absence of Paragon designs has created. The only issues I have observed is that you only appear to get the earlier H2S radome which is the same as found on the Lanc and already available in the B.II kit. Many Lincolns were later equipped with a Mk.IV H2S set which was noticeable because of the dome being much larger so it would of been good to get this part included to provide all options. If you want to do an aircraft with the 20mm cannon turret, you will have to scratch build the two cannon as they aren't included either although the clear part is. As I've not yet decided on the aircraft I'm not sure if the lack of Mk.IV H2S will be an issue. So, some pictures of the resin: This part is for the Australian Mk.31 with the longer, uglier nose! Resin clear pieces - much better than vac form parts once dipped in Kleer As usual, I'll be learning about the Lincoln along the way, so looking for guidance and inspiration from the experts out there! I read the Warpaint booklet recently to get more familiar before I start. I quite fancy doing RF476 which fortunately uses the earlier H2S as it had an interesting combat record as demonstrated from its bomb tally on the nose, but I haven't seen any decals for it. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. Thanks

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 .

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

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