Shackleton MR Mk. 3 - 1/72nd FROG/Eastern Express

[xvtonker]

Tim,

You've done it again!

Having studied the photos again you're dead right there is a small "V" cut in the main flaps in line with the rear of the Viper nacelle jet pipes. I have to admit I had completely missed that one. Well it's time to break out the Razor Saw, sh*t I've just glued the wings together an all! Better to spot it now I suppose.

On close scrutiny it looks like there are quite a few laches on those outer nacelles as well as alot of rivets (break out the Tamiya rivet wheel tool time) and the red paint on the jet intakes only goes part the way back to the face of the jet engines.

Also I have noticed that there are thin yellow lines UNDERNEATH the tailplane emplanage, why on earth would they be there I wonder?

Cheers

Ian

I'll try and get some work done on the model over the next few days

Could the lines under the tailplanes be trellis position markings?

XVTonker

[Tornado 01]

Radar and xvtonker

Yes I believe they are the positioning guides for the tressle or airframe lifting point/jack points.

Going backwards slightly and thread drifting, I have to wait a few days a get some Microsol/set to try and do the kits mentioned above as the Model Alliance decals don't want to adhere on the airframes I have painted with the successor of Klear

So what does everyone think of Pledge Multi Surface Wax.?

As that is what I put on the kits mentioned above.

Tim S

[Dave Swindell]

Could the lines under the tailplanes be trellis position markings?

XVTonker

Avro may have had plans for positioning climbing roses, but I suspect the yellow lines are more likely for positioning support trestles

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

So Ian did you get this one finished yet?

[Radar]

No, but did some work on her yesterday, managed to get the split flaps at the rear of the Viper jet engines, I'll post some piccies later. I've caught up in the Shack build fever here on Britmodeller!

[Radar]

Blimey where did the last 7 months go? Well as promised here are some progress pics, the main flaps are now split to accommodate the Viper exhaust.

Thanks for looking

Ian

[tonyot]

That looks great Ian and well done with the jet engines,...that was a brave move!

Cheers

Tony

[Learstang]

Nice job on the Vipers!

Regards,

Jason

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Arhhh, I am afraid that workspace it way too tidy Ian. You need to do something about it, like start another 3 or 4 kits

[rafalbert]

That is phenomenal Ian! A long way from a shabby old room near the laundrette Roll on the AEW Shack...

[perdu]

Looks really good, I think I may end up with another of these to build as Frog intended since my last one was intended to become an AEW2

The Shackleton like pretty good with the newer wings and tip tanks

As the others say, making the jet engines is a lovely addition

nice

[Radar]

Hey Ray,

The shed is not as tidy as it looks. The unfinished models were just out of shot, do mean shelf queens like these-

I have more Boeings under construction than Seattle!

Cheers

Ian

[Radar]

Wow has it really been four years! Unfortunately due to several reasons my Shackleton MR.Mk.3 Phase 3 model has been on the shelf of doom since my last post on this thread. It has suffered abuse and various "accidents" and knocks on the shelf and been ignored.  well the time has come to finish the job.  It appears that Revell are going to produce a new Mk.3 some time this year so I thought it was time to get this one completed.

 

So the first step was to attach the wings and fill the gaps at the roots and then get the props painted and that is where we are now.  With a Revell AEW Mk.2 also around 50% complete the aim is to get them both ready for paint at around the same time .  Here's what she looks like now.

 

[Learstang]

It's great to see you back at work on this one! Where did you see that Revell are going to release a new MR.3? It's not unexpected, it fact due to the sprue parts breakdown on their MR.2 it seemed inevitable, but I haven't read anything about this, yet.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

[Rabbit Leader]

1 hour ago, Learstang said:

It's great to see you back at work on this one! Where did you see that Revell are going to release a new MR.3? It's not unexpected, it fact due to the sprue parts breakdown on their MR.2 it seemed inevitable, but I haven't read anything about this, yet.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

Jason - see post #19 in the thread below. 

Cheers.. Dave 

 

 

[Learstang]

Many thanks for that, Dave! Now how did I miss that? A new-mould Shackleton MR.3 is number 2 on my wish list (number 1, as always, is a 1/72nd scale injection-moulded early Tu-95 Bear). I do indeed hope it is a new-mould, and not just an update of the old Frog kit. We shall see.

 

Best Regards,

 

Jason

Edited April 10, 2019 by Learstang

[Tom R]

Good to see this resurrected - I hope you get it finished!

[Radar]

Work has been proceeding at some pace over the past week.  Firstly I took the masking tape off the white roof areas as to see what kind of condition the paint was in after these past years in storage.  Sure enough the glue in the masking tape had damaged the gloss paint, so after some very gentle sanding with some polishing sticks I re-sprayed the white wit Tamiya Gloss White X-22.

 

 

Next the U/C bays were resprayed inside with gloss white as were the flap internals that also had to be rubbed down , as the white primer had bubbled!

 

The leading edge anti icing panels were sprayed with a darkend Tamiya aluminium and the inboard leading edge spoilers added from strips of plastic card.

 

 

Wing trailing edge fuel dump pipes were then added from scrap stretch sprue.  My partially completed Revel 1/72 AEW Mk. 2 came in very useful here for this sort of added detail that is common to both marks. I have also tried to emulate the tip tank lights on the front of the tanks.  I thought I would try cutting an aluminium foil lens and then tried the CA glue trick of letting large drips dry on the front and then sand the glue down and polish to a clear lens cover.  But I failed miserably the glue forming horrible bubbly globules that eventually puled the lens off.  So as I had press formed several acetate radomes for this kit to replicate the side windows on the rear fuselage I decided to cut down two of those and PVA glue them to the from of the tanks.  Then try and build up the area with layers of Mr Surfacer. I'm still working on this and still have to fit various fuel caps and breathers to the tanks.

 

After blue tacking the flaps in place temporarily and masking the main u/c bays I realised that the nose bay doors had vanished ! The perils of leaving a model abandoned for several years!  So I had to spend time fabricating some new ones.

 

 

So after masking the white areas yet again fixing the two pitot tubes under both wings and the 6 other aerials under there it was time for some final grey primer. When I was happy with this I pre-shaded the panel lines with Tamiya matt black.  At this stage my Chinese made tank equipped compressor died on me so I had to steal the Wife's little pulse compressor she uses for spraying her cakes.  I'm dead if she finds out so no-one tell her!

 

 

Yeah I know it doesn't look super neat but its the effect I'm after. My intention was to only lightly cover the grey with GS Dark Sea Grey as not to over do the grey.

 

 

 

[Radar]

I've just realised the picture 3 above ids the result after the DSG coat, never mind here's another angle.

 

 

Well, I thought I was cooking with gas this afternoon with this one. I gloss coated the whole model with Humbrol Gloss coat ready for decalling.  I unmasked all the small windows and then PVA glued the two domed side windows in, they fit perfectly. So I thought, what the hell lets put a few decals on.

Over the years I have guarded jealously a full set of Aeroclub Shackleton decals.  I bought them around 15 years ago from the Newark model show and paid a small fortune for them.  Over the years I gave the "Dougal" serials and nose art away to another Britmodeller but have looked after them carefully. Firstly I tried some of the yellow original Eastern Express wing walkway decals.  they were fine no problems with a bit of Humbrol Decal Fix they settled lovely. So I thought I'd try the Aeroclub upper wing roundels, disaster, they broke up terribly in the water and were totally unusable.  See that hammer in the picture, I was very very close to smashing this thing to bits I was so pi***d off.  As you can also see in the picture I scoured my spares box and I have nothing that was suitable.  Ironically last week I sent a very old friend who lives down south a complete Novo Shackleton MR.3 Kit complete with a full sheet of Eastern Express decals! 

 

 

So I tidied up and left the shed at this stage.  What to do now? Simon my friend is sending me some spare roundels he has, I'm just hoping them are the right size.  My worry now is the red serials sheet of decals I think I am going to have to spray them with varnish to hold them together in water.  Does anyone have any ideas on what varnish to use please? 

 

Sometimes perhaps old models are best left on the shelf of doom and the new Revell release of this aircraft later this year would have been a better option.  But I am so close to completion now it would be churlish to give up at this stage I suppose.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[perdu]

I use Tamiya Aerosol varnishes to stiffen the sinews of old transfers TS-80 I recall is the matt one

 

It dries thin and clear and seems OK if I use three or four layers to add strength

 

This is awful for you, I hope you can get it sorted

 

I've a soft spot for the Old Frog Shack, won a class at the IPMS Nats with one back in the day

Good luck with it

 

I will search my old Modeldecals sheets to see if I have any roundels that would help you, might be the right size in the Canberra T4

[stevehnz]

@Radar I bought a set of these to go with my two Frog Shackletons, some insurance seemed like a good idea.

https://m.ebay.ie/itm/1-72-Shackleton-MR-3-Decals-from-the-Modelcraft-Kit-No-Guide-/192785362981?_mwBanner=1&_rdt=1

They appeared OK & nicely in register, some liquid decal film is good insurance on suspect decals though.

Steve.

[Radar]

Some more progress. Everything is now on the model except the small yellow star aerial on the nose and the struts for the Viper intake doors. I'm leaving those till the very end after final glossing so they don't get broken off. The wing decals arrived from my  mate in Bexhill so I decided to try some more decaling.  I varnished (liberally) the Aerclub decals that I intended to use especially the red and white serials.  I started with the "B" on the nose, still the flaming things broke up, it took ages putting them back together.

 

 

Then the wing roundels, were applied, the white was pretty transparent so I had to double them up.  Not ideal but necessary.

 

 

The fuselage roundels went on nicely as did the RAF titles. 

 

I then attempted the under-wing serials, again they broke up terribly and had to be bodged somewhat.  The more this model annoys me the more I think I should have waited for Revell's new Shackleton MR. 3 Phase 3 kit being released later this year. I going to finish the Revell AEW Shack I have partially built after this one, just for some "shake n bake" therapy.

 

Next job is the rest of the wing walk yellow lines but it will take me a few days to work myself up to doing them!

 

Thanks for looking

Ian

[Lord Riot]

Looks absolutely stunning! I might have to dip back into 1/72 and do my Airfix MR2 soon. 

 

 

[AdrianMF]

Sorry to hear the decals are giving you such grief. If it's any consolation it does look terrific, dodgy decals or not.

 

Regards,

Adrian

[Radar]

I managed to spend a lot of time in the shed over the weekend working on the Shackleton MR.3.  Here's the results:

 

Yes after all that weight in the nose and an extra 10 grams she ended up a tail sitter! Hence the clear acrylic tail prop.  I tried to hide it under the tail plane but only partially succeeded. The wing walk decals were a nightmare and took hours to get them any where near right.

 

Next I applied all the under wing serials, warning stencils and rescue arrows. Fortunately I am aiming to finish this model as the actual aircraft appeared after a rub down and repaint applied by the volunteers at the Newark Air Museum in recent years before the dreaded filigree staining took hold.

 

I guess I'm going to call this one done now as I want to get on and finish building the Revel AEW Mk. 2 version I have on the stocks. I'm hoping that it is going to be a much easier build and the decals will play ball.

 

Thanks for looking.

 

Ian