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


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A small moment of satisfaction last night as I made my first ever seat belts 🎉 Some Tamiya tape over tin foil and more tin foil for buckles.  Simple really!  Should have done it before I glued the seats in, might not be able to get lap belts in there as its a bit crowded..  They actually look quite wide on that picture now I look at it - although they look OK in real life (well they did, we'll see next time I go upstairs!).

 

IMG_20210224_084517

 

Al.

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Coming along nicely always enjoy watching people build there shackaltons.

I was quite little when strathalen was open and don't remember much apart from Zebedee.

Hopefully one day do the conversion to the airfix kit

 

 

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Another weekend almost over.  Not much progress to report, domestic painting having taken somewhat of a priority 😞  I did, however, take the main internal structure out to the garage to spray the bomb bay white as brush painting it proved too painful!  Also fitted one piece of the internal structure to the rear left hand side fuselage.  It was the box with all the holes in it, not sure what it actually is. The upshot of one, or both, of these is that I am now discovering about the tight tolerances of the fit.  Last week the fuselage fitted together absolutely fine.  Now there are gaps on the bottom around the rear bulkhead and to the front of the bomb bay.  I wonder if adding that internal thing to the fuselage has changed the profile slightly and worsened the fit - I did have to clamp it in place to get it to fit..

 

 

IMG_20210228_163802

 

I think the problem is with the rear bulkhead so I am hoping that I can sand it down and improve the fit at the back.  Not sure yet what the problem is with the front.  Both can be addressed with filler, but I'd rather try and improve the fit first.

 

In the meantime my dad has furnished me with a whole bunch of pictures from Aldergrove and Ballykelly over the years, meaning a lot of shacks!  Including these of WR964 with 204 sqn.  Dates range from 1961 to 1966.  I think the ones on the left are her as a Phase I (or prior to Phase II, anyway) and the right is Phase II.  

 

IMG_20210228_162944

 

Also added shoulder harnesses to the front gunner seat, might do lap belts for this as its more accessible than the pilot seats.

 

IMG_20210228_163840

 

Hopefully I can get the fuselage joined this week at some point.  Bought a tin of dark sea grey in preparation for painting, given up trying to find a spray can.  Which means I'm probably going to be brush painting the whole thing 😬

 

Al.

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Its been a frustrating few days trying to get the fuselage to fit.  Lots of sanding (and even some scalpel action!) has seen the fit of the fuselage improve around the bomb bay, which is good.  Was really struggling around the cockpit when one of the interior parts that goes into the nose section came off.  Out of interest, I tried a fit of the fus without that and it was a *lot* better.  Would rather have a good join than some interior detail that's not going to be seen, so I left that bit out.  The offending panel can be seen lying on the nearest fus section below.

 

IMG_20210307_104950

  

Last look at the rear crew section, unlikely to ever be seen again!  That said, glad I put the effort in, and it looks half decent..

 

IMG_20210307_183908

 

And finally buttoned up.  Am glueing the fuselage in sections from front to back to avoid me having to wrestle the whole thing at once - still the back third to do, but it doesn't need much persuasion.  Might have to break open my newly acquired Tamiya Extra Thin for that as I can't get the Revell Contacta nozzle in there.

 

IMG_20210308_084947

 

Also bought some Vallejo Model Color white for the top of the fuselage.  Same some recommendations for it on Twitter - hoping that and a white primer will give me a decent finish for the roof.  Went to use it on the landing gear doors last night and was surprised to find it was in a dropper bottle - seems odd for paint designed to be brush painted.  I'm supposed to decant it into another container to paint from?

 

Well, with the interior done, hopefully I can start to make some more progress here.  She looks like a Shack!  Although, having looked at a RFI for a Revell AEW.2 the other day I note that this doesn't have any rivets!!  A Shack without rivets?  Like fish without chips, surely?? 🙂

 

Al.

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Dropper bottle, for airbrush painting, you may battle with the thin paint. Why not go for Tamiya of Humbrol aerosol cans? They will give you a far better finish especially in this scale. If you go the aerosol route, warm the cans in warm water before spraying, you will get better coverage.

 

Colin

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52 minutes ago, heloman1 said:

Dropper bottle, for airbrush painting, you may battle with the thin paint. Why not go for Tamiya of Humbrol aerosol cans? They will give you a far better finish especially in this scale. If you go the aerosol route, warm the cans in warm water before spraying, you will get better coverage.

 

Colin

I was under the impression that the Model Color range (as opposed the Model Air range) was designed for brush painting, hence I bought it.  Is that not the case?  I have a Tamiya spray can of white and have not been that impressed with its coverage.  Although to be fair I've only used it on bare plastic or on a grey primer.  I now have some white primer so I guess that might be a better bet - and thanks for the hint about warming the cans.  My last attempt at spraying white was in the garage in February so everything was possibly colder than it ought to have been. 

 

I need to find some plastic to practise on, but I built my two paint mule spitfires at Christmas...

 

Al.

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34 minutes ago, vectorzero said:

Watching this one with great interest. My father was in 210 squadron. I have the Shackleton in the stash waiting for the day when the skills are good enough to justify creating a tribute to him. 

They are very enigmatic machines - I always had a soft spot for them (although I only ever saw the AEW.2 in real life), but I'm finding myself getting more and more interested.  Maybe its because they are also from a fascinating time in British history..  To think we once had 3 bases in the UK alone operating Shacks (plus Luqa and Singapore) and now we have 9 P-8s!  Different times, I know, but still...

 

I think these things are like having children - you are never truly ready, you just decide one day to get on with it 🙂  That's what I did, could have done a couple more smaller things to get more experience but decided to dive straight in.  Its only plastic, after all - how hard can it be??  And yes, you can remind me of that quote when it all gets really frustrating later on 🤣

 

Al.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Progress has been slow lately.  Have been working on sanding down and repainting our staircase.  After several hours of that last thing I wanted was more sanding of the shack seams!  In an effort to make progress and do something other than sanding I painted the props.  Didn't fancy the decals provided for the tips so I hand painted them.  Only required 96 little strips of tape for masking 🤣

 

IMG_20210323_071909

 

The revelation here was that I used white primer for the first time.  Well worth it, those white stripes are by far the best white finish I have had since I restarted modelling the other year.  Hoping that I can now get a decent finish for the white fuselage top when I eventually get that far.

 

The fuselage seams are getting there - lot of filling, sanding and repeating.  The top escape hatch is particularly challenging as it doesn't seem to be flush.  Not sure how I didn't notice that when dry fitting.

 

IMG_20210323_071725

 

Also fitted the nose, it wasn't a great fit, it seemed slightly too wide for the fuselage so I had to sand back the edges.  Also ended up with some gaps, although nothing too major.  Just more sanding... 😞  The tailplanes, on the other hand, fitted together beautifully.  Although I might regret putting them on before I had fully finished sanding as she's quite unwieldly now.  Still, its nice to see her starting to look like a Shack..

 

Had a panic at the weekend when I thought I had lost all the transparencies.  Of course, I hadn't - they were still on the sprue and in the bag - losing that lot would have been impressive!  But it prompted me to do a bit of a tidy up so put the various reference things on the wall rather than cluttering up the desk.  Gave me a small moment of satisfaction.  Need a pin board, really..

 

IMG_20210320_092628

 

Anyhow, that's about it for now.  Hopefully I can start to get up a head of steam with the worst of the staircase over with.

 

Thanks for looking!

 

Al.

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21 hours ago, alhenderson said:

 

The revelation here was that I used white primer for the first time.  Well worth it, those white stripes are by far the best white finish I have had since I restarted modelling the other year

The propellers look great, what sort of primer did you use? I like the workbench setup too, a pinboard would be a very good idea. 👍

Riley

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44 minutes ago, Spitfire 123 said:

The propellers look great, what sort of primer did you use? I like the workbench setup too, a pinboard woukd be a very good idea. 👍

Riley

I used Tamiya white primer from a rattle can. I also have grey primer which I used last time I tried to get a white finish on anything, it wasn't nearly as good as this. Also used Vallejo white here which may also have helped, although I think the primer was the big difference.

 

Workbench is getting very crowded with this build - had only needed to accommodate fighters up until now 🤣

 

Al.

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13 hours ago, alhenderson said:

Progress has been slow lately.  Have been working on sanding down and repainting our staircase.  After several hours of that last thing I wanted was more sanding of the shack seams!  In an effort to make progress and do something other than sanding I painted the props.  Didn't fancy the decals provided for the tips so I hand painted them.  Only required 96 little strips of tape for masking 🤣

I managed to get that down to 48!
Spray the tips white. Mask what will be the white stripe with 2mm tape.
Spray the tips red. Mask the tips with 6mm tape.

Spray everything else black. Remove all the tape and admire the work/curse paint runs/touch up as required,
I didn't manage to find out if the stripes are 4 inches or 6 inches wide in real life, which would be 1.7 mm and change or 2.1mm and a tad on the model, so 2mm is close enough for government work, and I have a good supply of 2mm and 6mm tape!

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7 minutes ago, Steve Coombs said:

I managed to get that down to 48!
Spray the tips white. Mask what will be the white stripe with 2mm tape.
Spray the tips red. Mask the tips with 6mm tape.

Spray everything else black. Remove all the tape and admire the work/curse paint runs/touch up as required,
I didn't manage to find out if the stripes are 4 inches or 6 inches wide in real life, which would be 1.7 mm and change or 2.1mm and a tad on the model, so 2mm is close enough for government work, and I have a good supply of 2mm and 6mm tape!

Likewise I used whatever tape I had to hand for the width of the stripes. It was close enough to the width of the decal stripes 😁

 

Al

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12 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Looks good so far! If you are going to brush paint it, I would suggest making sure you have a nice wide flat brush (12mm or more) and prepare yourself to do multiple thin coats...

 

Regards,

Adrian

Thanks for the hint. I will indeed be brush painting.  Have some brand new flat brushes ready and waiting 😁

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Sorry for the unnecessary advice. To quote Punch magazine from 1873:

 

Teach not a parent’s mother to extract
The embryo juices of an egg by suction;
That good old lady can the feat enact
Quite irrespective of your kind instruction

 

Looking forward to paint!

 

Regards,

Adrian

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21 minutes ago, AdrianMF said:

Sorry for the unnecessary advice. To quote Punch magazine from 1873:

 

Teach not a parent’s mother to extract
The embryo juices of an egg by suction;
That good old lady can the feat enact
Quite irrespective of your kind instruction

 

Looking forward to paint!

 

Regards,

Adrian

No need to apologise - all advice gratefully received!  Its so hard to judge who knows what on a forum.  Something you think is blindingly obvious might not have occurred to someone else.  I think paint may be some way off yet - progress is slow.  Although I did skip about 20 steps in the instructions last night by virtue of not wanting to put all the windows in before painting 🙂

 

Al.

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1 minute ago, Ed 209 said:

All looks good painting the prop tips was the bit I put off till I couldn't put it off any longer 

Then I discovered I had got the stipes in the wrong order on my aew

I actually quite enjoyed it, although I think I under estimated the scale of the work when there are 8 props!  Was a pleasant change from sanding and filling.  Did have to double and triple check the order of red and white, mind 🤣

 

Al.

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When I built the aew my eyes worked and my tremer wasn't so bad but by the time I made the MK3 it gave me the Willy's

 can't wait to see yours finished 

mite even spurt me on to my 3rd shack

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