Kwakou61 Posted March 12, 2012 Share Posted March 12, 2012 Excellent work Tom! How are you going to do the windows? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christof Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Fantastic work. How big does the model work out at when completed? Christof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Fantastic work. How big does the model work out at when completed?Christof 30 inch span, 22 inch length. And Tom, I'm quite fascinated with your build. I'll print everything, as my own Shackleton AEW2 is on the bench... Have you got pictures of the tail wheel well ? Cheers, Sébastien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 Excellent work Tom!How are you going to do the windows? Thank you. The windows will be done with clear sheet. Once I've inserted a frame, I'll cut them to shape and hold them in place with white glue. The blisters on the rear fuselage are supplied in the kit which is a bonus. One problem I do have is the cockpit glazing. The kit transparencies do not have the rear most window as it seems it is based on a later mark, so these too will have to be made from clear sheet. At least they are flat which helps! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 30 inch span, 22 inch length.And Tom, I'm quite fascinated with your build. I'll print everything, as my own Shackleton AEW2 is on the bench... Have you got pictures of the tail wheel well ? Cheers, Sébastien I haven't got that far yet so haven't researched it so far. However, there is a link earlier on in this threat to a preserved Shackleton which has a wealth of pictures... I'm hoping to find some in there! When I've done mine I'll post some pictures so you can have a look. How far have you got with yours? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richw_82 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 If you can't find any tailwheel bay pictures, I'll get the camera out on Saturday and take a few shots under WR963's bum.. The tailwheel bay is not often photographed as there's only about 18" between the bay doors and the ground, and the towbar is in usually in the way at one end, and the tailwheels themselves at the other. Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Looking great Tom. Would you do this for your first kit? I'm still toying with what to do this year. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastien Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) How far have you got with yours? I've looked at the plastic sheets... Not much more. I haven't found any pic of the wheel well in Rich's album (I printed most of the pics there). Edited March 13, 2012 by Sebastien Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 If you can't find any tailwheel bay pictures, I'll get the camera out on Saturday and take a few shots under WR963's bum.. The tailwheel bay is not often photographed as there's only about 18" between the bay doors and the ground, and the towbar is in usually in the way at one end, and the tailwheels themselves at the other. Rich That would be grand Rich - cheers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 Looking great Tom. Would you do this for your first kit? I'm still toying with what to do this year. Thanks Radleigh. As a first vac I'd probably say no... however looking at some of your work on here I'd say it wouldn't be OTT for you. However, I 'cut my teeth' on vacs from Koster, Welsh Models and Dynavector; their moldings are very good indeed and in my experience, the fit of these kits is excellent. Sanger are by no means terrible, but they do require more work than the previously mentioned. My advice would be to get hold of any old vacforms and practise the cutting out and sanding to shape, so if you screw up it doesn't matter! When you've got the hang of it, then invest in one you'd like to make a half decent job of. Again, when you're happy with that move on to the more challenging kits such as Sanger, ID and if you're really brave (or mad, or both!) Combat Models vacs. Be prepared to some scratch building and generally sanding and filler is a must. But above all don't let vacforms but you off a subject; they are great fun, they will really challenge you, and when you've got one finished there really is a sense of achievement. And one last thing... vacs generally take quite a while so I always have a run of the mill injection molded kit going at the same time. It keeps you sane and stops you getting bogged down on one kit for too long. If you are really keen to give a vac a go, pm me and I'll see if I can sort you out with a half-decent kit to get you started. I haven't found any pic of the wheel well in Rich's album (I printed most of the pics there). I think our resident 'Mr Shackleton' is going to help us with this over the weekend! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Hi Guys, great work so far Tom. I'm following this one closely. Does anyone know if Sanger or anyone else does the metal parts seperately? I have a fellow club member in Mossel Bay (South Africa) who has MR3 kit without the metal parts. I see Sangers site is down at present. Any haelp is as always greatfully recieved. Colin on the Africa Station Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 13, 2012 Author Share Posted March 13, 2012 Hi Guys, great work so far Tom. I'm following this one closely. Does anyone know if Sanger or anyone else does the metal parts seperately? I have a fellow club member in Mossel Bay (South Africa) who has MR3 kit without the metal parts. I see Sangers site is down at present. Any haelp is as always greatfully recieved. Colin on the Africa Station Hi Colin, On the kit instructions it does say that if you require any extra parts to contact Sanger directly, so therefore I imagine you could get the white metal separately. I imagine it's just a case of waiting for his website to come back on line. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kwakou61 Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 Thanks Tom for the explantion! You will manage for sure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted March 13, 2012 Share Posted March 13, 2012 (edited) The real MR.2 tailwheel assembly is identical to that of a Canberra's nosewheel. John If you can't find any tailwheel bay pictures, I'll get the camera out on Saturday and take a few shots under WR963's bum.. The tailwheel bay is not often photographed as there's only about 18" between the bay doors and the ground, and the towbar is in usually in the way at one end, and the tailwheels themselves at the other. Rich Edited March 13, 2012 by John Aero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richw_82 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 The bottom of the leg, the axle and the wheels are identical, but without the mudguards. I'll find out how much difference there is on Saturday as I'll crawl under one of the Canberra's that are parked near us... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
heloman1 Posted March 14, 2012 Share Posted March 14, 2012 Hi Colin,On the kit instructions it does say that if you require any extra parts to contact Sanger directly, so therefore I imagine you could get the white metal separately. I imagine it's just a case of waiting for his website to come back on line. Tom Hi Tom, Many thanks for your speedy reply, I'll pass the word along. I'm enjoying you build pics, thanks for posting them. Colin on the Africa Station Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
John Aero Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) I was just playing in the workshop today. some spare blades on my Spitfire 1/48 contra prop. The max spinner dia is 15.1mm. I just stuck some pieces of Contrail tube into the blade seats and popped in some handy L and R blades. John Edited March 15, 2012 by John Aero Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
christof Posted March 15, 2012 Share Posted March 15, 2012 (edited) 30 inch span, 22 inch length.And Tom, I'm quite fascinated with your build. I'll print everything, as my own Shackleton AEW2 is on the bench... Have you got pictures of the tail wheel well ? Cheers, Sébastien Thanks. That works out at one seriously big beastie. But I do like Shackletons ever since I saw one fly low along a beach in Cornwall when I was 15. Christof Edited March 17, 2012 by christof Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 I was just playing in the workshop today. some spare blades on my Spitfire 1/48 contra prop. The max spinner dia is 15.1mm. I just stuck some pieces of Contrail tube into the blade seats and popped in some handy L and R blades.John I think I'm going to have to do something similar as the vacform spinners I have to work with are going to be a nightmare! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 17, 2012 Author Share Posted March 17, 2012 I've been busy on the fuselage and interior this week. First of all I built an internal structure by using pictures of the real aircraft and other people's builds of Shackletons. Sanger helpfully provide plans for bulkheads, but everything has had to be scratch-built using various thinknesses of plastic sheet. I haven't gone too mad with internal details as most of it will never be seen and finding pictures of an AEW2 interior have been very hard to come by! Here is the basic internal structure before painting or detailing - as on the real aircraft the floor will form the roof of the bomb-bay: Next I added some detail and paint: I've used a little poetic license on the interior behind the cockpit - pictures of MR1s, MR2s and MR3s are plentiful but the AEW2 proved elusive. From pictures of the Shackleton interiors I did have it appears the engineer sits behind the co-pilot, and there appears to be another desk behind the pilot with some instrumentation so I've 'had a guess'. Considering very little will be seen it doesn't concern me too much, but at least it'll look 'busy' if one peers through the rear cockpit window. Again, everything here has been scratch-built with plastic card and bits and bobs from the spares box. The more eagle eyed amongst you may spot some modified Monogram B-17 pilots' seats... Once the interior was done I did a final few test fits to make sure everything lined up nicely when the halves were joined. The edges of the fuselage halves were then lined with thin card to strengthen the join, and window frames inserted to the windows I cut out earlier. A wheel-well for the tail wheel was made from plastic card. The rear area of the fuselage was then given a coat of grey primer to keep it looking nice and dark inside. I also cut out the apertures for the wings as this is much easier whilst the fuselage havles are separate: Finally, with the interior carefully aligned, the fuselage halves were glued together: Once the glue has dried properly I'll be able to add some filler and get everything blended in nicely. Further details in the main cockpit will be added at a later date. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Radleigh Posted March 17, 2012 Share Posted March 17, 2012 Looks great Tom, Look forward to the next installment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richw_82 Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 Tom, I posted interior pictures here: http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...40&start=40 Cockpit interior is matt black, the instrument panels are grey, then interior from the bulkhead behind the pilots is a beige/grey kind of colour. Here's some tailwheel shots, as asked for earlier. You can see the gear door mechanism, and also the thin bar that goes up inside the aircraft so you can manually centre it (using the "hernia bar"). The tailwheels have a lockout that stops them retracting unless they are centred - and there is no tailwheel steering it is free castoring. and this is the Canberra for comparisonn - As you can see, the basic oleo and leg is the same, but the retract mechanism is different. Its also a narrower bay, which made photography difficult. Kind regards, Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nik W Posted March 18, 2012 Share Posted March 18, 2012 This really is coming on! A vacform kit is something I've never tried before, but looking at this, the amount of scratch-building involved looks awesome and like a really good challenge! Keep up the good work though, this is looking really good! Nik Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tomprobert Posted March 19, 2012 Author Share Posted March 19, 2012 Tom, I posted interior pictures here:http://www.britmodeller.com/forums/index.p...40&start=40 Cockpit interior is matt black, the instrument panels are grey, then interior from the bulkhead behind the pilots is a beige/grey kind of colour. Here's some tailwheel shots, as asked for earlier. You can see the gear door mechanism, and also the thin bar that goes up inside the aircraft so you can manually centre it (using the "hernia bar"). The tailwheels have a lockout that stops them retracting unless they are centred - and there is no tailwheel steering it is free castoring. Kind regards, Rich Hi Rich, Thanks for the link... I missed those before. It's a bit late to change mine now, but it appears I wasn't too far out - and besides now it's together I can barely see any of the interior anyway - b******s! And the tail wheel photos are most useful - many thanks. Is the AEW2 interior the same as the MR2 then? I thought as it was a later version it may have been updated? I read in a book on the Shackleton that there were many internal changes when they did the AEW2 version to help with the centre of gravity in counteracting the radome. Excuse my ignorance... but I'm not by any means a Shackleton expert... although I may be by the time this project is done! Tom This really is coming on! A vacform kit is something I've never tried before, but looking at this, the amount of scratch-building involved looks awesome and like a really good challenge! Do it! You'll love it and will never look back! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
richw_82 Posted March 20, 2012 Share Posted March 20, 2012 Tom, The AEW2 was a converted MR2 Phase 3. Many MR2 parts are still there, but cut, partially removed or plated over. Its this that has convinced us we can convert our aircraft back the other way... Regards the interior : There were a lot of internal changes; though most of it was related to sonics/acoustic kit being removed and replaced by the radar scopes. The layout of the seating and equipment cabins down the fuselage is broadly similar. The pilot/copilot/engineers stations all remained pretty much unchanged - there are a few minor variations for some switches and minor instruments. The nose turret came out in its entirety, with only the seat left in. The oxygen supply bottles were fitted in its place, instead of being in a removable crate as on the MR2. Further back, the ASV radar was removed including its scanner 'dustbin' and all the rams that moved it. Similarly right under the tail, the two retractable cameras were removed and the doors were sealed shut. Kind regards Rich Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now