A 1/72 Revell (Frog) Avro Shackleton MR3

[Brigbeale]

15 hours ago, Graham T said:

My Revell Shack AEW3

 

That’s a beautiful Shackleton. I love it😍

 

I just had this crop up on YouTube with motorised engines with 3D printed gearing for the contra-rotating propellers.

 

[Brigbeale]

17 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Good luck with the seams, what are you using for the holes in the tape method ? Is it CA/talc ? Not seen that done before.

Chris

I tried the holed tape method - didn’t work on the test piece.

I settled for simply using superglue with a toothpick placing the lateral rivets across the seams. It’s not perfect but it does add some detail back. Once the top is painted white, it will probably be ok - hopefully. And no I didn’t count the rivets I replaced.

[bigbadbadge]

Thanks.  Ahh yes thought about trying that on a model previously but the glue flattened out so thought the next time I might mix some talc in to thicken a bit.

Chris

 

[Brigbeale]

Just a quick update and to check in in case you’re wondering ‘Where’s he gone?’

 

I’ve been seam filling/sanding the engine cowlings and wing tip tanks.

The tail sitting was sorted by adding another one and a half curtain weights to the rest of the front wheel bay. Two weights were cut in half to make them semi-circles - of which 3 were fitted with white tac to the wheel bay side of the bomb bay front panel.

 

The cockpit canopy was masked off with thin strips of masking tape with Mr Hobby Neo masking solution. The canopy was then fitted.

 

Next up was the painting the propellers. I’ve decided on red/white tips as, to me, they are more in keeping with Shackletons - and the recently added video swayed me.

The tips were painted white initially. Once that was well and truly dry, I marked my 3D printed propeller jig at the where the propeller tips ended. Then 2mm marks were made on the jig 2 & 4mm from the end mark. 2mm strips of masking tape were then cut and placed on the propeller blades where the marks indicated on the jig for masking the white stripe on each blade. The same was done in the reverse side as I made the jig double sided with the pitch going opposite ways on each side. They all looked about even so it must have worked.

Tonight I painted the red onto the blades. I gave them about 1/2 hour to dry and carefully removed the tape. I prefer to remove the tape this way to avoid the tape pulling chunks of extra paint off. 
All of the red/white segments look right. I just need to let the red paint thoroughly dry and re-mask all the blades for the black paint to be applied. 
 

I also need to fettle the engine cowlings to fit onto the nacelles. I’ve already sorted and numbered them to see which one fits best in each location.

 

Edited April 19, 2021 by Brigbeale

[Tornado 01]

Shackleton, and from memory all prop a/c were yellow till a point in the later 60s. Some accidents led them to go down the red/white route (From faded memory)

[Brigbeale]

42 minutes ago, Tornado 01 said:

Shackleton, and from memory all prop a/c were yellow till a point in the later 60s. Some accidents led them to go down the red/white route (From faded memory)

I wouldn't like to contemplate the accidents.

The good old Revell instructions do show both options at Kinloss in 1965 - 120 and 201 Sqns.

According to the instructions, although it may be simplified on Revell's part, both versions have the 'easier to paint' yellow tip option.

To me, the Shackleton models still look more interesting with the red/white tipped propellers though.

 

Edited April 20, 2021 by Brigbeale

[bigbadbadge]

Looking very nice, your method using the jig sped up the prop painting a fair bit.  

Great work 

Chris

 

[Brigbeale]

I’m at the painting stage. 
I started with Tamiya flat black painting the propeller blades and the anti-dassle panel on top of the nose in front of the cockpit and the canopy itself.

I allowed it to fully dry for a day and masked off the anti dazzle panel to allow me to paint the white onto the fuselage roof. The sides were also masked off just below of where I believe the grey would meet the white.

Two coats of white were applied. Once it’s fully dried, I’ll decide if it needs another coat.

I removed the masking tape - partly to see what it looked like and also to stop the tape pulling the paint off.

 

The Shackleton looks better already.

 

I also had to re-fettle no.4 engine as it was angled slightly downward. I simple shave of the top and a 0.5mm strip of styrene card was added to the tab on the bottom.

 

[bigbadbadge]

Oooooooo paint, great to see this going on .  Props look great too.

Chris

[alhenderson]

Nicely done - looking good 👍 propellers look the biz...

[Brigbeale]

There’s not a great deal of change from the last post on the Shackleton.

When I peeled the masking tape from the fuselage, it removed the dried Mr Hobby Neo masking solution, so the side window had to be re-masked with tape - which was fine until 3 of them disappeared inside while I was rubbing the tape to distinguish the edges - obviously not enough cement - Oh well, I’ll have to do liquid windows once it’s painted.

 

I then started masking the white roof on the fuselage up leaving the faintest of white showing for an intentional overlap of the grey and white paints to ensure complete coverage. 
The cockpit was, shall we say, interesting to mask up as I tried to mask the anti glare black paint at the same time.

It didn’t work so I decided it would be easier to leave the black paint un-masked, paint up to and over the edges and then mask the grey off, once it had dried, to re-paint the anti glare paint again. 
Various orifices were stuffed with sponge and tape wrapped around the landing gear. 
I plan to give the model a wipe down tonight, dig out the extras which need to be grey and spray the first coat of Tamiya X-77 IJN grey. 
 

 

[bigbadbadge]

Shame the windows went in , but this is going to look the part once the grey goes on.

Chris

[Brigbeale]

1 hour ago, bigbadbadge said:

Shame the windows went in , but this is going to look the part once the grey goes on.

Chris

As Baldrick would say.... 

 

Whether it works ........

Edited April 24, 2021 by Brigbeale

[Brigbeale]

Success!!

As the clear tail cone hasn’t been fitted yet, I figured if I made a long tool with something tacky on the end, I could possibly refit the windows in their respective holes from the inside.

I had some stiff wire in my shed from a couple of collapsible fabric shopping baskets - which were less hassle to use one the wires had been removed.

I straightened one, bent the end over and added a kink to the end.

A blob of white tac was squished onto the end and a small hump made.

The windows were then placed in the white tac and then the window and its fitment rod was then pushed into the opening at the tail end.

The window was lined up with the aperture and pushed outward, held in place while a generous application of TET was added.

The window was held in place for a few seconds and the tool was slid towards the tail end to slide the tac off the window.

This worked for all 4 windows although I did wonder where the second one had gone when just the tac appeared at the window. It dropped off inside the fuselage but was recovered when I tipped the model up.

Edited April 24, 2021 by Brigbeale

[alhenderson]

Very ingenious! Just goes to show, it can be helpful to leave fully buttoning them up until right at the end ..

 

Al

[bigbadbadge]

OMG that's fantastic,  very creative and a successful result.  Great job.

Chris

[TheyJammedKenny!]

That's a surgeon's hand, for you!  Be careful about TET, though.  It has a fantastic tendency to work its way under masking tape and destroy clear parts.  What kind of masking tape are you using, by the way?  It looks like the kind of stuff you use for house painting, which will lift model paint like nobody's business.  I'm sure you've got it under control, though!  Alex

[Brigbeale]

5 minutes ago, TheyJammedKenny! said:

That's a surgeon's hand, for you!  Be careful about TET, though.  It has a fantastic tendency to work its way under masking tape and destroy clear parts.  What kind of masking tape are you using, by the way?  It looks like the kind of stuff you use for house painting, which will lift model paint like nobody's business.  I'm sure you've got it under control, though!  Alex

It would be good training for keyhole surgery.

The affected windows didn’t have any masking tape on them - I’m thinking of using the masking solution on the refitted windows.

The tape is - unfortunately - the last of a roll of household tape. Both the local model shop and Hobbycraft were out of masking tape. I’m hoping this will be ok though as it sticks when pressed down, but give it 10 minutes and it’s pulling away from the painted surface. I took a cautious look under one bit of tape and there wasn’t a spot of white paint on the underside. It was de-tacked a bit first by sticking it to my cutting mat and then applying it to the fuselage.

[Brigbeale]

This evening’s modelling saw me masking off the  refitted windows, bomb aimer’s window and the underwing lights. I also rechecked the masking tape to make sure it was secure. All of the parts to be painted Grey were gathered and fitted on cocktail sticks/cotton tip buds. 
I’ve given the Shackleton two coats of the aforementioned Tamiya XF-77 IJN Grey to simulate the EDSG which I assume is the right colour - which I found on another thread on Britmodeller from an internet search. In some photos I’ve seen they look more of a blue grey colour. 
The masking tape was removed and didn’t peel any white paint off the previously painted fuselage roof. 
The wing tip tanks and forward propeller boss were painted with an acrylic red paint I picked up in a pound shop. I tested it in a piece of white styrene card first and it turned out fine. Again I’ll check the red parts once they’ve dried overnight to see if another coat is required.

 

 

 

 

[bigbadbadge]

That does look lovely  now with the grey on . Great work 

Chris

[Brigbeale]

An update on last night’s activities - not a great deal to write about but enough for the Shackleton to take a bit more shape.

The exhausts were painted with a mix of Gun Metal/Dark Earth. Hmmm. It doesn’t look quite right so I’ll search for the proper colour for used exhausts and repaint them.

The propeller blades were set into their spinners and overspray paint cleaned off the shafts. The red acrylic paint is easily damaged so will need touching up before clear coating for decals. 

The vertical stabilisers were added to the tail wings and braced with Revell square paint pots over night. They were quite a tight fit anyway, but I just wanted to make sure they didn’t set at a weird angle.

And finally, I painted the tyres with Revell Anthracite, which needed a bit of rescuing as it had gone very thick in the bottom of the pot by adding some home mix airbrush thinner and stirring/shaking the h*ll out of it. I could have waited and bought a new pot today, but where’s the fun in that.

 

Oh, I nearly forgot, over the weekend, I repainted the flat Black anti glare panel on the nose.

 

I dry fitted the wheels, propellers and engines this morning. I’m happy with the progress so far.

 

[Martian]

Although we now have the shiny, new Revell MR3, you are proving that there is still plenty of life in this old FROG mold. I may even go and get one for myself.

 

Martian 👽

[stevehnz]

That is looking brilliant. I'm really enjoying this.

Steve.

[bigbadbadge]

Oh yes coming on very well now  and looking great.  Cracking job.

 

Chris

[TheyJammedKenny!]

Beautiful.  Do let us know what you decide regarding the exhausts' color.  I'm mulling this myself on a current project.  As for the white / EDSG demarcation, it appears nice and sharp, but there may be areas where post-glosscoat use of white strip decal might help to further define.