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The elephant in the room - Airfix 1:72 Shack MR2


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I'd had it in my head for a while that I'd like to do a Shackleton as a bit of a departure from the cold war jets that I've done lately and have in the stash.  Have shied away from it because its big - biggest thing I'll have done since being a teenager, plus I have absolutely no idea where its going to go when I'm finished.  Its easy enough to hide away Spitfires, Phantoms and Tornados around the house without much notice being paid, but this is a whole other ball game!  My old man grew up around Ballykelly watching these beasts and has a soft spot for them, so he might adopt it for me in due course 🙂  

 

Last November I found myself face to face with one in the local model shop when I popped in for some paint or something equally trivial.  Suffice to say, I came out with a bigger bag than I was anticipating!  And it felt good!  I left like the teenage kid coming out the model shop in Dundee clutching his latest acquisition 😂

 

Having done a couple of spits over Christmas just to keep my eye in, I've decided this is next.  Its been sitting on the bench waiting to be started for a few weeks now, but I keep finding other things to do.  Maybe the size of the thing is intimidating me?  I found a build thread from @Vulcanicity the other week who has just started the same kit.  He opened the whole can of worms of the various phase updates for Shackletons - I had been aware of these but had not realised the extent of the external differences.  Thankfully, he's doing the same era as me so has done some of the hard work which I am going to shamelessly borrow 🙂  I may not go as far, though, I'm not really up for moving windows around - bit beyond my skill set that one.  

 

I sat down last night, saw the whites of the Shacks eyes and made a start.  Yep - I put together the pilot's seats 🙂  Got to start somewhere, right?  

 

So here we are:

 

 

IMG_20210212_164555

 

I've got the 204 sqn serials and markings from Xtradecal X72-235 courtesy of @AliGauld and then the Revell MR.3 sheet from @xvtonker.  The latter will give me the yellow overwing walkway stencils that were used on UK based Shacks.  Thank you very much gentlemen - it is very much appreciated!

 

And that's about it for now, less time writing WIP and more time modelling, I think!!

 

Cheers,

Al.

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Another Shackleton, it's like Christmas again ............

 

I would have loved to have been around Ballykelly during the 1960s, to have seen and heard Shackletons every day but also experienced maritime aircraft from other nations visiting such as Argus, Neptune, Catalina, Orion and Atlantic  ....... paradise

 

The different Phases that Shackletons went through is quite challenging to understand anyway, so just enjoy.

 

adey

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16 hours ago, alhenderson said:

the teenage kid coming out the model shop in Dundee clutching his latest acquisition

A trip to Brian Sherriff's was something of a treat!

 

I have many soft spots, and one of them is for Shackletons. I'll tag along if I may.

Q.      Ex teenage kid. 

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6 hours ago, Dr. Quack said:

A trip to Brian Sherriff's was something of a treat!

 

I have many soft spots, and one of them is for Shackletons. I'll tag along if I may.

Q.      Ex teenage kid. 

Brian Sheriff's.. bet that was the one I went to! All I can remember is it was opposite the shopping centre (whose name I've also forgotten) and was like an Alladin's cave! I distinctly remember gawping at the Japanese kits in envy and then moving on to the Matchbox/Italeri/Airfix section cos that was all my pocket money would stretch to 😁

 

Al.

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8 hours ago, adey m said:

Another Shackleton, it's like Christmas again ............

 

I would have loved to have been around Ballykelly during the 1960s, to have seen and heard Shackletons every day but also experienced maritime aircraft from other nations visiting such as Argus, Neptune, Catalina, Orion, ....... paradise

 

The different Phases that Shackletons went through is quite challenging to understand anyway, so just enjoy.

 

adey

Must have been awesome seeing and hearing them all. Not sure the locals would have agreed, though 😁

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Eek - I've got an audience! Let's hope I don't get stage fright 😁 first challenge is the entire colours.

 

Airfix would have you paint the insides in a combination of cream and brown of some sort. But it appears (thanks @Vulcanicity) that colour scheme came along later with the Phase III upgrade. Mine's a phase II so looks like it needs to be the proverbial black hole of Calcutta in there!  I'm not the best at interior detail but even so like there to be done varying colours in there to show I've made an effort, but this one is literally all black. I found a picture of the cockpit showing the pilot start cushions to be back, so I don't even get to paint the brown!  I was going to use satin black in some places and matt in others, but my satin black has gone off, so matt all the way 🤷‍♂️ Maybe I'll use some varnish to differentiate bits..

 

Looking ahead (a *long* way ahead) I'm thinking I'll need to spray this as brush painting it will be a challenge. I don't want to get involved in airbrushes - I know the finish would be way better etc but needing somewhere better ventilated to do it other than the spare room is putting me off..

 

I think I can get a rattle can of dark sea grey but I have a question over the white. I bought a Tamiya can of TS-26 Pure White a while back for an A-4 and I wasn't that impressed with the finish. Are there better options? I also noted at the time there were different types of white - perhaps Pure White is too stark for this use? Want to make sure I get a nice finish..

 

Enough ramblings for now...

 

AL

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Time for a quick update before knuckling down to work.  Not made huge amounts of progress, the sheer amount of interior is quite daunting for someone who's used to fighters!  That, and my brain won't let me just paint the whole thing black and be done with it.  The interior colour scheme suggested by Airfix is, I believe, for a Phase III machine, this is a Phase II so everything is pretty much black apparently.  Good luck finding any pictures to prove or disprove that theory!  

 

I've gone for yellow scopes to give some colour to the insides and dry brushed some light grey over the dials and floor.  Also dry brushed some dark earth on the floor as well.  Those ejector marks on the seats are awful - just noticed them!  Might have to sort them out, although not sure they're going to be visible.

 

IMG_20210218_085254

 

More black in the front office with some dry brushing to give the appearance of some weathering.  At least this will be seen.

 

IMG_20210218_085308

 

And the whole thing.  

 

IMG_20210218_085352

 

I did a dry fit of the fuselage with this lot in place, so far so good.  Its tight under the nose and will need some clamping.  My clamps are too small so going to need to find some more.  Few more bulkheads to do yet so there's still opportunities for the dreaded gaps to start appearing.  Enjoying it so far (that's the important thing, right!) but I don't think this is going to be a quick build 🙂

 

Al.

 

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15 minutes ago, Spitfire 123 said:

Looking good so far, love the seats especially. I am a huge fan of the cockpit weathering! 👍👍👍

Riley

Thanks!  I'm actually really pleased how that came out - and it was just simple old dry brushing!  

 

Al.

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Nice start. I would sort out those ejector pin marks for two reasons. Firstly: they are annoying you and will most likely continue to do so for evermore and Secondly: it is good practice to loose them if there is even the remotest chance they may be seen. I always do this as it gets me into the habit of loosing them which in turn, guards against the day when they are seen on a model when one didn't think they would be.

 

 

Helpful of Mars 👽

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1 hour ago, Martian said:

Nice start. I would sort out those ejector pin marks for two reasons. Firstly: they are annoying you and will most likely continue to do so for evermore and Secondly: it is good practice to loose them if there is even the remotest chance they may be seen. I always do this as it gets me into the habit of loosing them which in turn, guards against the day when they are seen on a model when one didn't think they would be.

 

 

Helpful of Mars 👽

 

You are, of course, correct.  The most annoying outcome will be when the back of one of those seats is facing one of the emergency exits and that ejector mark ends up being the *only* bit of the interior you can actually see!

 

Al.

 

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21 minutes ago, Steve Coombs said:

Dunno about your build, but on the MR2 I'm slowly putting together, the marks on the back of the seats were simply thin rings of plastic that came off and cleaned up nicely without leaving a depression.

Mine are indentations which I've put a little bit of filler into. Little bit of sanding stick action and we should be good 🤞

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Right-oh another brief update.  After last week's posting I promptly removed the ejector pin marks from the back of the crew seats, as well as a couple on the floor of the interior.  Have also painted the fuselage sides.  This colour scheme is entirely imaginary - the instructions call for the grey and green on the sides so I did, despite the fact that the Airfix colours are based on the Phase III.  I just couldn't bring myself to paint *more* black inside!  It's not going to matter much as its going to be so dark in there.  I might leave the rear crew door open so as to allow some views inside, we'll see.

 

IMG_20210223_152607

 

The fit of the fuselage halves is still pretty good.  When I put the radar consoles in place they were ever so slightly too long and pushed on the canopy bulkhead which put the fit of the fuselage sides off a bit.  I filed the sides of the console section back again, making the fit more "relaxed" which has helped.  Its great having those wing spars to aid in the positioning of the interior - makes it very hard to get that bit wrong.

 

I've also started drilling out the little holes in whatever the thing is at the rear of the interior.  Again, probably never to be seen, but its good practise with the drill if nothing else.  Also having a go at making seat belts out of foil and tape.  First try at these, we'll see what they look like.  Probably should have thought about that prior to gluing the pilot seats in place!  Never mind...

 

Still in a quandry about painting.  Might have to brush the whole thing as getting hold of a Dark Sea Grey rattle can is proving challenging....

 

Al.

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32 minutes ago, Ed 209 said:

I havint built the airfix one but have built revels mk 3 and aew i painted them with humbrol spray can 27 and once varnished it looked pretty good

Was the model shop Brian sherifs

Thanks for that, I'll keep an eye out for that colour in a can as well. Don't like buying things as small as paints online, would much rather get into the local model shop for a nose around. Maybe I'll get my chance in the coming weeks 🤞

 

I believe the model shop in Dundee was Brian Sheriff's in the Cowgate.

 

Al.

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13 minutes ago, Ed 209 said:

Yes I was that giddy kid also almost as good as a trip to strathalen to see Zebedee

What a great place Strathallan was! Didn't go nearly often enough 😔 and then there was the Gannet at Errol..

 

Al

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