1/72 FROG Avro Shackleton MR 3

[adey m]

The first time that I saw photos of the Shackleton MR3 s was when I was at Primary School in the late 1960s. These were in aviation and RAF magazines that my father would bring home from the NCO's mess at RAF Bawdsey where my dad served.

It was here that I also started building FROG models which I bought from the village Post Office, and I noticed that the Shackleton was illustrated on the side of the kit boxes as one of those made by FROG.

 

The village Post Office did not sell the big kits, so it was during a shopping trip to Woodbridge that I first saw a FROG Shackleton on sale in a toy and model shop on the High Street. I so wanted one but for some reason it would be a few years before I did get one.

 

 

The fabulous and exciting box front of the FROG Shackleton as I remember it. The Air-Sea Rescue title on the box always seemed a bit out of context considering what it has just done to that submarine. I suppose they would have needed rescueing after.

 

My father took me to the air show and open day at USAF Bentwaters in 1970 and during the display it was announced that a Shackleton was on its way. I was so excited to see a Shackleton for real. Unfortunately it did one fly by at quite a height and that was it, the only time that I would ever see a Mark 3 flying.

 

 

And this is the actual photo that my dad took.

 

 

And here is a magazine I have kept from October 1970 still with the coffee stains from the Mess at RAF Bawdsey with a Mark 3 in beautiful colour on the front cover.

 

Christmas 1973 and I asked my dad if I could have a FROG Shackleton. They were getting hard to find by then but he found me one with in a squashed box and a few broken parts inside. But I was so excited, at last I had one.

 

 

And here I am on Christmas Day with my FROG Shackleton.

 

I built it pretty quickly and not very well unfortunately. I left the wings and tailplanes unglued so they just slotted on and came off for storage.

 

 

The rear of the box showing the typical FROG full colour painting guide for the two versions.

 

A number of years later I decided to pull the fuselage apart, scratchbuild an interior and rebuild and repaint it.

 

 

Here we have a drawing I made of the interior of my Shackleton before I closed it up.

 

 

A photo taken sometime in the early 1990s. It depicts a Phase 1 aircraft armed with nose cannon. Hand painted fuselage lettering and numbers.

 

 

On display in flying mode on our club table at Bridlington Spa. I made a stand from MDF that slotted into the open weapons bay.

 

 

Then I repainted her in the overall sea grey scheme that she first entered service in at RAF Aldergrove in 1958. Scratchbuilt ground equipment.

 

 

 

Depicted as a new aircraft in 1958.

 

 

And as she is now after another repaint.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On its dollies ready to be slid sideways into the T2 hangar for servicing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

On display on our Club table in recent years

 

 

She has appeared at many displays over the years.

 

 

The sort of photo that inspired me, a Shackleton MR3 Phase 3 in its natural element.

 

I hope you have enjoyed me sharing my 46 year old Shackleton with you.

 

adey

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 1, 2019 by adey m

[janneman36]

Love to see that this kit is allready 46 years old and still soldiers on , respect for that and well done 👍

 

cheers, Jan

[stringbag]

Great back story Adey. I'll bet there are very few of us that can still claim to have the same model on display for such a long time.

 

Chris.

[Natter]

The newer Shackleton kits may be masterpieces of engineering and detail, but yours is every bit as impressive for its really nice paint job and incredible longevity.

 

On a personal note names like Woodbridge and Bawdsey bring back some good memories; I spent seven years serving at Wattisham between '95 and '09.

[Meatbox8]

Love your models, stories and photography, Adey.  A great looking Shackleton and I'm amazed it has lasted so long.  Everything I built in the 70s got trashed long ago - not that any of them would have been worth keeping mind you.  Just about to paint my own one after a very long build.  I sanded off the rivets and re-scribed, this being my first major re-scribing effort.  I also had to scratch build one of the main undercarriage structures as it was missing from the kit, with a few other smaller parts.  Once I've finished I'll probably end up buying the new Revell kit!

[stevej60]

Beautiful work Adey,great to see her!

[Mancunian airman]

I can still feel those rivets as I finished mine al those years ago . . . . .

Great to see it in fine fettle after all those years, must say something about your modelling skills ??

[Madmaks]

Thank you for sharing! The history of the model adds so much more contextually to the build and seeing it evolve is awesome.

[Mohawk]

Never built the Frog Shackleton,as Frog kits were rare in my neck of the woods,we had Airfix and Matchbox.Indeed the only Frog kits I have built have been in the last few years.To still have a kit all these years is a marvel and it is still looking good.Thanks for sharing.

Mohawk

[VG 33]

Very nice build with this antic kit.

Patrick

[Horatio Gruntfuttock]

A fascinating story - love the repaints and the old images, or real photos, from the past. Your sign writing skills are wonderful - well done

[Jackson Duvalier]

Earlier today I had a Hazardous Duty mission and when I went to Ye Olde Paintbrush jar pulled out an old friend I'd quite forgotten. Full Proustian-madeleine moment of recognition ensued re. where I was and which mate was with me at the time and that hobby shop and what was on the radio when I bought it.  Didn't have the heart to smear Mr. Surfacer around with it anymore, might have it mounted instead.

 

I was happy to retrace your steps down memory lane with Happy Plane, Adey.  Especially that interior diagram. 

[Adam Poultney]

Very nice! Good to see a model with such a long history. Maybe you should do one of the nice modern Airfix or Revell ones to go alongside this model?

[FatFlyHalf]

Very environmentally conscious of you. 

Made from 100% recycled plastic!

 

 

[Evalman]

The Frog Shack brings back many happy memories and I was totally thrilled when I received one for Christmas in the mid 1970s. 

 

Incidentally the rail tracks to slide a Shack into the hangar sideways are still evident at St Mawgan.

 

 

[Mig88]

Simply fantastic!!

 

Miguel

[Mancunian airman]

37 minutes ago, Evalman said:

The Frog Shack brings back many happy memories and I was totally thrilled when I received one for Christmas in the mid 1970s. 

 

Incidentally the rail tracks to slide a Shack into the hangar sideways are still evident at St Mawgan.

 

 

Those rail tracks were first introduced at RAF Kelstern in 1944 when the flew a Lincoln bomber to the airfield and tested the idea of placing the Lincoln in sideways.

 

Sems the idea was taken up as I never realised that it was used for the Shackleton.

Many thanks for sharing the photo, duly saved 👍

[russ c]

Great looking Shackleton, great save of the old build

[echen]

Beautiful.

You can see why they were described as 1,000,000 rivets flying in close formation!

[Kampartiger]

Impressive list of overhauls done on the Shackleton.Yours lasted longer than the actual XF701 i think and it's great to hold onto something that your father had bought for you so many years ago.Not too many of us are that fortunate.

[adey m]

9 hours ago, Adam Poultney said:

Very nice! Good to see a model with such a long history. Maybe you should do one of the nice modern Airfix or Revell ones to go alongside this model?

Thank you Adam, but as the song goes " love the one you're with "

 

regards, adey

[adey m]

8 hours ago, Evalman said:

The Frog Shack brings back many happy memories and I was totally thrilled when I received one for Christmas in the mid 1970s. 

 

Incidentally the rail tracks to slide a Shack into the hangar sideways are still evident at St Mawgan.

 

 

Thanks Evalman, I have not seen the tracks close up like this before. I can see them on Google Earth here and I can also make them out at that other large Shackleton base Ballykelly in Northern Ireland.

 

There is colour film footage which I have seen which was filmed at St Mawgan in the 1960s, one sequence shows a MR3 taxiing out and in the background is a MR3 sideways in a T2 hangar.

 

regards, adey

[RMCS]

Lovley 

[ForestFan]

Superb! Certainly got your monies worth!

[Abandoned Project]

Wow! That's older (and in better shape) than me! 

Edited September 27, 2019 by Abandoned Project