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1/72 - Avro Shackleton AEW.2 & MR.3 by Revell - AEW.2 released - AiM MR.3 conversion set


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I will of course have to reserve complete judgment until I receive my Revell AEW.2 (which I shall be purchasing just as soon as it's available), but that all looks very nice indeed.

Regards,

Jason

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The gentleman on the stand expected December /January release at abour £35. Certainly looked good and I will have to decide betwen waitng for the Airfix one and getting one - proably go with the quality of the decals to make the final decision.

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I am posting here on my brother's login sat in the hotel in Telford. Well I've spent a lot of time today examining both the Airfix and Revell Shack kits and to be honest Revell have played a blinder! Their AEW Mk.2 is OUTSTANDING, admittedly the sprues on show are the test shots and the Revell Bossman on the stand (purple jumper) ststed the following:

A _ The reason for lack of gen and low profile on their Shack is that they have been heavily committed with the Star Wars kits and their Shacks molds are on the way to the manufacturer the kits should be back in Europe and ready to go on sale Jan/Feb 2016 and maybe a bit cheaper than the catalogue price.

B. The fuselage has been done with the seperate nose so they can do other versions possibly a Mk1 and T Mk.4 or even a Mk.3! Clever.

C. There is not a lot of rear compartment detal, just ribs by the rear door,the Airfix consoles are wasted anyway as yo cannot see them.

D. The aircraft they measured up was the St. Mawgan gate guard.

E. There is a gap on the transparencies sprue for nose glasing and turret glazing.

F. The surface detail on the Revell kit has to be seen to be believed it is beautiful,well done Revell.

G.The only snag I saw on the built model was that it was not shiny enough as they were high gloss in service but that is a matter of preference.

H. The Airfix stall guys were very reticent about a release date for their AEW version saying quote "if ever", i wonder if he had seen the Revell offering.

All this said well done to both firms for both doing a Shack, and thank you.

Cheers

Ian Shaw

[email protected]

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I have to say that I bought the Airfix Shack based on Revell's unpredictable form, most notably the Merlin Halifax. But having seen the Revell kit today all I can say is, Wow!! Stunning work.

Even if it turns out not to be 100% accurate, which no kit is, it definately captures the look and feel of the Shackleton very well.

Matt.

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I will now post on my own behalf and having seen both in the flesh even with minor alleged inaccurices the Revell kit looks more impressive in every way.The Airfix effort just looks clunky and heavy handed in comparrison and I,as in most modellers would go for the Revell kit because it just looks better in every way, all you had to do is look around at the piles of discounted Airfix Shacks on sale at Telford and I think you have your awnser.

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I doubt they are discounted because of a kit that might be better that isn't even available yet, isn't it more likely that all resellers have stocked up on Airfix Shacks and are trying to unload them? I don't know what the discounted rate was of course, it seems to go for around 35 quid online.

Surface detail looks lovely in those photos, a lot more definition than the Airfix kit, and that didn't look half bad. It'll be interesting to see how it shapes up once it's available.

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The Shackleton is one of the few military aircraft I could be encouraged to buy. Looking at the pictures of the Revell kit with its surface detail which appears to be of the finest and highest quality, and in spite of some inaccuracies (that may or may not be there - won't know until it's in our hands and compared to whatever plans, gate guards, deserted wrecks, official documents now in your possession) it really seems to knock Airfixs clunky effort into second place.

I do hope it is well within what 99.9999% of modellers consider accurate enough to be acceptable. Decal misplacement aside (and let's be honest who hasn't put a decal slightly out of place) it looks very acceptable.

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Just to point out guys the Revell man did say that the sprues and presumably the built up model were from test shots and improvements have been made to the masters so accurassy issues may have already been addressed by Revell.

Secondly I was disappointed at the Airfix staff's reticence to talk about a release date for their AEW version.

Please don't get me wrong I am a massive Airfix fan I even joined their club on their stand yesterday.

Ian

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Interesting to note: Revell's kit accurately depicts the exhaust scoops on the nacelles; Airfix completely missed this (presumably a compromise to depict both exhaust styles), so that is at least one accuracy point in Revell's favor.

Just to point out guys the Revell man did say that the sprues and presumably the built up model were from test shots and improvements have been made to the masters so accurassy issues may have already been addressed by Revell.

That's not really the way things work, though. The major purpose of a test shot, apart from simply signing off that the contracted work meets spec, is to optimize the tooling for production: make sure the plastic is flowing properly, set pressures, flow rates and cooling cycles, tweak ejector pin pressure to eliminate damage*, etc. The parts themselves will be pretty much set; alterations to the tooling will generally be limited to tweaking sprue gates or small tweaks to mating surfaces.

It is technically possible that there will be noticeable alterations to the parts, but it's really, really unlikely, not least because it'd be a major blow to the budget. Unless something is egregiously wrong, where the decision is made that it would be a bigger economic blow to leave things as-is than it would be to fix them (Trumpeter Wildcat), what you see is pretty much what you get.

*There are a couple of good pictures in the 1/72 Iskra thread showing this. It's a built-up test shot, and you can see where the plastic has been stressed and bent from the ejector pins pushing too hard/too soon.

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It looks darn good.

Clearly it is going to annoy a number of people but I'd say it looks better than the Airfix one that has joined my stash.

Love the modular design that may give us an MR3 in due course!

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I will now post on my own behalf and having seen both in the flesh even with minor alleged inaccurices the Revell kit looks more impressive in every way.The Airfix effort just looks clunky and heavy handed in comparrison and I,as in most modellers would go for the Revell kit because it just looks better in every way

I totally agree. I have waited years for a good Shackleton. Build wise i was a bit unimpressed with the airfix one. Poor fit and poor quality on some of my parts. Yes the Revell kit just seems to have a little bit more finesse.

Edited by gunpowder17
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Look better or look like the real thing? Much as I love the Shackleton, its not a pretty aircraft so Revell making her less of a chunky monkey does it no favours. The rivet detail is great, but wrong. I'm bemused as to how this site can obsess over panel lines on Spitfires - but when Revell decide to draw fuel tank bay access panels where there are none on the real thing; and litter it with aerials that don't exist and no-one seems to care.

I have the Airfix one, I'll get the Revell one; my plan being a side by side build matching both to manufacturing drawings and the real thing.

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Im one of those modellers who doesn't care too much about minor innacuracies. I like the look of the Revell one better than the Airfix one simple as. With respect Rich you seem to have a bit of a vendetta against the Revell one.

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I normally don't like 1/72 scale rivets that much, but they surely befit the Shack. I'll build just one, so I would go one way or the other - and a few inaccurate but fixable details don't detract from the superb overall look of this model. Well done Revell.

(Sorry Airfix, but you're already getting so much of my cash! :coolio: )

Jay

Edited by Mountain goat
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Don't know much about the Shack at all but the Revell kit did look nice. A bit complicated with the way the body was done but this would allow for different marks I would guess. But did anyone else spot that the decal of the numbers on the tail said 56 while the picture of the real aircraft was 65. I asked one of the guys on the stand about it and he said that these were the final decals. So a bit of cutting required to get it as per the picture. Not a problem but a bit careless in the proof reading. Other wise looks lovely.

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Don't know much about the Shack at all but the Revell kit did look nice. A bit complicated with the way the body was done but this would allow for different marks I would guess. But did anyone else spot that the decal of the numbers on the tail said 56 while the picture of the real aircraft was 65. I asked one of the guys on the stand about it and he said that these were the final decals. So a bit of cutting required to get it as per the picture. Not a problem but a bit careless in the proof reading. Other wise looks lovely.

It depend on what aircraft the kit decals are for. WL756 and WR965 were both AEW.2s.

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