1/72nd Avro York, No 51 Sqn, 1948

[DaveyGair]

Sometimes I have these lapses in sanity, but having watched a fair few films on the internet about the Berlin Airlift, and always having an affection for the Avro York, I thought I would attempt Mach2's boxing of their Avro York of said era.

Now, this is my first Mach2 kit and after reading a few bits and pieces about these kits on here and other forums, I knew what to expect on opening the box. I hadn't ever had a look at one of their kits before, but it was still a bit of a shock what was inside. let's have a look shall we?

 

Flimsy lid with really nicely rendered (computer generated?) box art.

 

 

Single page of instructions, not so bad as it is fairly obvious where the major parts go, colour drawings on the other side, only a single side view for each option.

 

 

 

Decals, which had a printing fault through them, but a quick e-mail to Didier had a new set sent which were much better......

 

 

..…. on inspecting the parts, one of the inboard engine nacelles was badly deformed, but a replacement was sent with the decals.

 

 

Two large sprues of grainy, off white plastic hold the major and minor parts, and one clear sprue for the cockpit and fuselage windows.  There are a lot of ejector pin marks, a bit of shrinkage and warping, and cloudiness of the clear parts. This will be pictured as we go along the build.

 

 

 

I got hold of a copy of Warpaint series no. 98 on the York.  The dimensions published in here, and elsewhere show the overall length should be just under 332.5mm and the wingspan just under 432mm in 1/72nd scale. I do look at drawings and sometimes check dimensions but am generally not that bothered about a few mm's here and there.  The drawings in the book were about spot on to the dimensions, so, offering up the fuselage halves showed it is a good 7-8mm short.  The depth seems good as does the width, but something has gone wrong near the front somewhere, the spacing of the windows is ok from the underwing door to the rear, the large cargo hatch is more or less in the right place compared to the underwing door.  I'm not sure if I'll attempt to rectify this, we'll see during the build.

I know the part is placed on the prototype drawing but the production one is the same profile.

 

 

The next two photo's show the relative positions of the doors, the part wasn't moved, just the camera (I'm no expert photographer by the way!)

 

 

The wings look pretty well proportioned, to the drawings anyway.

The central fin is OK in shape but badly moulded.

 

 

 

I'm sure this is where the fuselage length has gone wrong.

 

 

Looks Ok when you move it forward but the rear is short.

 

 

Some shots of the roughness and warpage of the fuselage halves, a lot of work to do here it seems.

 

 

 

I just going to say that this is not a shot at Didier, who I believe is a one-man band and owner of Mach2 and I think should be applauded for attempting to release subjects not generally available. I'd be interested to hear if anyone who has a Mach2 kit can confirm this pretty much the standard for these, or are some better than others?

Anyway, this may take a while to get going, I have a couple of other projects to finish first.

Hints and tips, and comments much appreciated.

Onwards and upwards!

 

Davey.

[Ivor Ramsden]

It's about par for a Mach2 kit. They take work, but that's part of the fun of real modelling. I agree with your praise for Didier producing these obscure subjects.

[DaveyGair]

31 minutes ago, Ivor Ramsden said:

It's about par for a Mach2 kit. They take work, but that's part of the fun of real modelling. I agree with your praise for Didier producing these obscure subjects.

 

I normally don't end up having much fun doing 'real modelling' 🙄, but I finished a High Planes Beaufighter last year, so this'll be on the same lines, just.... bigger.

 

Forgot to put in a photo of the replaced decal sheet, cheers Didier.

 

 

 

Davey.

[dogsbody]

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. You definitely have brass ones for trying this. I will be watching this build to see how you do it.

 

 

Chris

[Tomoshenko]

Interesting subject matter. Nothing like a challenge as they say. Do you intend to correct the discrepancies? Will you be adding extra details or will it be OOB? I mean OOB in a manner of speaking giving the cleaning up required.

[Jonners]

When I clicked the 'Like' icon it was for your choice of subject and definitely not for the kit moulding! Having said that, I agree that we should be grateful for the subject and, I suppose, if Mach 2 kits are considered as cottage-industry products that require a bit of modelling skill then so be it. Watching with interest.

 

Not that I've attempted a Mach 2 kit yet, mind...

 

Jon

[Procopius]

10 hours ago, DaveyGair said:

I just going to say that this is not a shot at Didier, who I believe is a one-man band and owner of Mach2 and I think should be applauded for attempting to release subjects not generally available. I'd be interested to hear if anyone who has a Mach2 kit can confirm this pretty much the standard for these, or are some better than others?

About seven years ago I built a Mach 2 TBM-3W, and I remember it being not great, but not quite this bad.

[clive_t]

I'm all for lapses in sanity such as this! I only became aware of the existence of this aircraft very recently, having watched the documentary about the memoirs  of Walter Thompson,, Churchill's bodyguard. It appears that this type of aircraft was used to transport Churchill and his staff to the many meetings in the US, Africa and the Middle East. I had a mind to get one of these kits to try and reproduce it, but the size of it means I have nowhere to put it afterwards! 

 

So, watching you put this together will be the next best thing for me

 

[DaveyGair]

14 hours ago, dogsbody said:

You're a better man than I am, Gunga Din. You definitely have brass ones for trying this. I will be watching this build to see how you do it.

 

 

Chris

 

It may all end in tears (and on the shelf!), but I'll give it a go. No doubt the MikroMir kit will appear while I'm on with this!

 

 

13 hours ago, Tomoshenko said:

Interesting subject matter. Nothing like a challenge as they say. Do you intend to correct the discrepancies? Will you be adding extra details or will it be OOB? I mean OOB in a manner of speaking giving the cleaning up required.

 

I was thinking of opening the cargo doors to do a little diorama of loading/unloading something, but it may just end OOB with improved or added details.

As to the fuselage length, I feel I should at least have a think of how, and where, to add the discrepancy. Watch this space, as they say.

 

Thanks for the encouragement everyone, seems I have an audience so I'll have to show at least SOME enthusiasm!

 

Davey.

[Mr T]

I shall watch this with interest as I am tempted by one of these. I suspect MikroMir might do a tifier job, but it has gone very quiet on that front off late.