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Airfix Shackleton MR3...


heloman1

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So three years on since the release of the Shackleton MR2, anyone know what has happened to the MR3? Personally I don't want one but the guys down here at he bottom of Africa are gagging for it's release.

 

Colin

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Not sure Airfix ever stated that they were going to do an MR.3, but Revell have, and some of the parts in their AEW kit would back that up.

However still no sign - and I'm gagging for one as well!

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1 hour ago, heloman1 said:

So three years on since the release of the Shackleton MR2, anyone know what has happened to the MR3? Personally I don't want one but the guys down here at he bottom of Africa are gagging for it's release.

 

Colin

Did Airfix promise an MR.3? My understanding is that the way the kit is set up there is no easy way to get any other variants out of it other than the MR.2 and AEW.2 that have already been released. 

 

The Revell kit, on the other hand, was clearly designed with the MR.3 in mind. not only does it have the separate nose, but the wings are more MR.3 than MR.2.

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The way Airfix designed the sprues for the Mk. 2s suggests than a follow-up Mk. 3 wasn’t/isn’t high up their priorities list.  Common parts (interior, tail surfaces, engines, props, antennae) are spread all over the existing sprues: to get an MR. 3 from that lot would require at least two additional large sprues for wings, fuselage, bomb doors, undercarriage and doors plus at least one smaller one for new transparencies.  The cost of these would probably add another £10 to the retail price of each kit and leave modellers with a large pile of airframe spares.

 

All is not lost however: Airfix have had access to original material from AVRO to enable them to produce the Mk. 2 kits so, hopefully, they noted anything pertaining to the Mk. 3 and filed it for future reference (either that or the design team are looking for an excuse to go to the SPT at Coventry and maybe get to play with WR963 again whilst conducting further research).

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Weren't Revell going to do an MR.3 as the parts break down looked that way for tooling??

As for Airfix, their AEW.2 due in December or thereabouts

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An MR.3 is at or near the top of the list for kits I'd love to see and it did seem that the parts breakdown on the Revell kit pointed the way towards an eventual new-mould MR.3. Let's hope so!

 

Regards,

 

Learstang

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KraftI could be wrong but I don't believe Revell ever comitted themselves to a Shackleton MR.3. People looking at the AEW.2 kit commented that the parts breakdown looked as if Revee had allowed themselves the option of releasing an MR.3 but this was never confirmed officiaaly. And going by the way that Revell Shackletons were being offloaded at ModelKraft this year for £20.00 or less by traders, I don't think it's been a great seller.

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Given the upheaval Revell have just undergone, if they have tooling for the MR3 mapped out, it might be a quick and comparatively cheap way of producing a large 'new' kit rather than rely on re boxings. They would need some distinctive box art to distance it from the AEW2, where I think both Airfix and Revell kits could have suffered from being released  so close to each other. 

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The main fuselage windows on the Revell AEW.2 kit are correct for Shackleton MR.2 Phase IIIs and AEW.2s

The MR.3 (all MR.3s) clue that shows up is the one small window just ahead of the stb'd tailplane.

 

It will be a real shame if Revell don't release this, it is the Shackleton that I am most looking forward to building, especially in Phase III guise.

Edited by 71chally
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10 hours ago, PhoenixII said:

:hmmm:so, 71chally.............do I sumise correctly.........you like eight turning and two burnin? :whistle:

I always think of the 3/III as the el' sportife model!  It just looked right to me, with the tip tanks, clear cockpit canopy, trike u/c and a couple Viper jets strapped on to the back of the outboard Griffins.  Used to be treated to some great stories from Shack pilots about the fun and peculiarities of them.

 

I'm too young to remember them in service though, but I do just remember seeing that other mixed power 'turnin n burnin' combo, an Aeronavale Neptune.

 

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  • 8 months later...

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