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This looks complicated. The Special Hobby 1:72 Avro Anson Mk I (late version) - And we're done. Gosh.


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I've been staring at this for a few years now. I even got the box onto the bench a couple of times in the past but then I lost my nerve and back into the stash it disappeared again.

 

I'd always found the amount of resin pretty scary - that combined no locating tabs, pins, grooves, holes, etc etc.

 

So now, here we are, and I'm determined to make a go of this. Yes. Really.

 

I've done some research into how the kit builds – the WIP thread by @Navy Bird I found particularly helpful.

 

Some pics then of what's in the box.

 

Two sprues of styrene. I was grateful that the lower wing half is in one piece so there's no butt join to deal with - although not so lucky with the horizontal tail.

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There's no detail on the inside of the fuselage - that's all provided by resin bits. On the right of this sprue are options for the turret area - either with or blanked off.

There's also smooth cowlings which are marked not for use with the bumpy versions supplied as resin parts instead.

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Transparencies look good and seem nice and thin. The upper fuselage is supplied as a transparency with the window areas to be masked off. Looks like there's a missing circular piece.

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This is some of the resin with parts for cockpit interior and engine. There are spare sets of cylinders with one set of eight for each engine being larger - I think it would be easy to fit the wrong ones.

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And more resin. The large parts are the cockpit side walls with the interior tubing showing above the sill (probably not the right word). The back to back triangle is the interior tubing for the roof. I'll have to be really really careful with all those. And more bits for the interior plus a few external - I can see a DF loop I think.

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Decals look good. I haven't decided on the scheme yet. My first idea was a non-starter as this is the 'late version' with the more upright windscreen and the plane I had in mind was an early with the noticeable sloping windscreen (Avro changed that because it leaked when it rained!). There's a small p.e. fret with seat belts, fronts for the propeller hubs (neat), instrument panel and some triangles - I guess I'll find out what those are later. Finally there's a piece of 'film' as part of the instrument panel sandwich. 

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Special Hobby instructions. Huge amounts of detail and arrows pointing in vague directions.

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Thankfully I have some reference material to help make some sense of what I'm supposed to be doing.  These Warpaint references are great and a very useful article from FlyPast on the restored warbird in NZ.

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Which has stuff like this. Now that interior image is really helpful.

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And finally, for this post, something next to the bench as an encouragement.

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That's it for now. I'm off to read the instructions a few times and then lie down.

 

back soon

Mark

 

Edited by Mark Harmsworth
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Gotta love Annie. I'm glad to see you having a go at this kit. It certainly wasn't the easiest Special Hobby kit I've built, but at the end of the day it was a lot of fun. The resin framework for the tubing inside the fuselage was the biggest issue with my kit, as the resin was warped and the casting wasn't the best. As you know from my WIP, I replaced that with styrene tubing of the same diameter. For me, that was much easier than trying to "un-warp" the resin bits. It will be interesting to see how you make out. Have you decided on a scheme yet?

 

Cheers,

Bill

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15 hours ago, bigbadbadge said:

Lovely choice, love the Annie,  I am sure you will be fine with all the resin bits, just take it steady and you'll enjoy it.

Thanks. Yes me too. I remember building the Airfix Annie a few decades ago. Nostalgia.

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I've dealt with kits with a few resin pieces before, hence my moderate confidence - just not one where the resin outnumbers the styrene 😟  

 

A year or two back I bought a set of p.e. razor saws which I think are going to see plenty of action.

These from Tamiya:

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14 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

The resin framework for the tubing inside the fuselage was the biggest issue with my kit, as the resin was warped and the casting wasn't the best.

I saw that in your build and was very impressed with your solution of building your own framework. The tubing on mine seems fairly straight although, as you also noted, the back is the part visible from the outside and that looks very untidy. Lots of gentle cleaning up and hoping stuff doesn't break.

 

14 hours ago, Navy Bird said:

Have you decided on a scheme yet?

Still looking but I've decide I'll build a turreted version so that gives me a bit more time. Although I was very taken with your scheme of a giant wasp!

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4 hours ago, galgos said:

The “triangles” on the pe fret are the aileron actuators…..good luck with those, they are a challenge in 1/48 scale.

Thanks. They are teeny aren't they - think I'll leave them to last. And hope I can attach them - assuming I make it that far 😉

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13 hours ago, billn53 said:

Wow! I’ve built a couple Special Hobby kits and they were indeed, shall I say, “special”. But this one eclipses them all.

According to Scalemates this was a new tool in 2007 which doesn't sound that long ago to me - but then I think about it and realise that's fifteen years ago. I gather that their more recent releases don't necessarily require several lifetimes of modelling experience. I've just had a look at my stash list and have a few SH kits there - all of which I tend to regard as something of a challenge - and there's one, the Beaufort, which may lose out to the Airfix one which I also have. 

 

I've started on the resin preparation for the Anson and so far I'm enjoying the challenge - and I haven't broken anything. Yet.

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I’ve built two of the Classic Airframes (pre-dated SH) 1/48 Ansons; challenging for sure but great fun and very rewarding. Take care with the positioning and securing of the main undercarriage legs, the instructions are rather vague and could easily lead to the plane having the wrong “stance”. A reference which I hope will be useful, scroll down towards the bottom:

 


Max 

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2 hours ago, galgos said:

Take care with the positioning and securing of the main undercarriage legs, the instructions are rather vague and could easily lead to the plane having the wrong “stance”. A reference which I hope will be useful, scroll down towards the bottom:

Just had a look at the SH u/c instructions and yes - that would require a fair bit of guesswork. Thanks a lot for those images - very helpful and stored away.

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4 hours ago, europapete said:

Flightpath make a very nice PE set in 1/72 for the Anson.

I've seen that at Hannants. It's designed for the Airfix kit but I guess much of it could be persuaded to fit. The reason I didn't go for it is that there seems to be a lot of detail already provided by SH in the kit in resin and p.e. 

 

Unless you're thinking of something specific?

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Gosh, that resin is delicate but so far I've not broken anything. Which is quite a result with some very careful cleanup happening. The detail on some of these parts is lovely.

 

My weapons for this bit:

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First up I decided to tackle the cockpit side walls. They are the large parts in the top of this image.

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I removed them from the casting block much easier than I expected with a few passes of the knife. Then several sessions removing the flash and attempting to make the tubular framework look tubular. It is noticeably flat and lumpy on the back - which will be visible through the canopy.

 

I then had to attach them to the fuselage sides. The resin is flat and the fuselage is very curved. This is the second session of clamping to encourage the resin to do something it really didn't want to.

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While that was hopefully working I cleaned up a few small pieces. This is me playing with the seats and one of the equipment shelves.

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The grey bench-like features I gather are the wing spars and seem to divide the cockpit into the three sections for pilot, navigator, radio operator I think.

 

There's a fourth seat which is a pull down one attached to the side wall. That just shows on the right in this image from the NZ restoration. The kit part is hidden somewhere in a pile of resin at the moment.

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I then bravely removed the clamps for the second time and had this.

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Pleased with that - I like the way the resin fits round those windows.

 

I then decided to be particularly brave and attach the floor and the rear bulkhead - @Navy Bird described finding a keystone in a build like this. Where some parts could fit in a number of places but there's one part that can only fit in it's proper place and then you know where some of the other bits go. The rear cabin bulkhead seems to be a keystone part so off I went with clamps and various glues trying to attach floor and bulhead to one fuselage side.

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I was very conscious of remembering which side I was gluing as I switched the fuselage upside down and rightway up several times. 

 

Well, that was fine. And I got this.

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There's a small gap between side and floor but that's manageable and I was feeling pretty pleased with myself.

 

But (you just knew that was coming I bet) . . . . it is the wrong side. Much of the interior detail I have to attach to the floor and the left side - not the right.

 

Oh bother. Time for a cuppa and some creative thinking. 

 

Back soon.

Mark

 

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Hi Mark, no, nothing specific. This build is the first time I have seen the SH kit in detail and I used the Flightpath set in my Airfix build years ago. There are a lot of exterior details in the set, oil coolers u/c details, exterior window and cabin door frames etc as well as the interior parts. I am sure that fit would not be an issue. I have cross kitted many PE and resin sets over the years and usually only had to do minor tweeks. Regards, Pete in RI

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Also, the rear most window on the starboard side is actually the crew access door.  The Flightpath set also has the wing flaps and bays, tailwheel details, control horns, antenna fittings, landing lamp frame, windshield de-icer frame, etc. 

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9 minutes ago, Ed Russell said:

The Flightpath set id very comprehensive.


It is. I bought it thinking it may supplement some external details on my attempt at the SH Anson. The interior stuff is useful, although the instrument panel - far superior to the SH one - won’t fit the SH kit. The navigator gets some tiny instruments to play with, too, like a protractor. :frantic: I think you can forget about using the internal and external frames, for the same reason the IP doesn’t fit.

 

I am guilty of overthinking my build. It’s back on the shelf of doom while I sort out in my head what exactly I’m trying to do with it!

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That’s a pity about the floor Mark…makes a complicated build a bit more complicated but I would imagine a sharp scalpel might achieve the desired outcome! Alternatively hack it off and scratch build a new one….not too “complicated”. 
Max 

PS I have a pretty good supply of Anson references if you need anything…might be able to help out. 

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17 hours ago, TEXANTOMCAT said:

the Airfix is just too old so I picked this up- realised it was beyond me and moved it on. 

To be honest I was tempted by that approach a few times but now I'm grateful I kept it. The kit is a nice challenge after some of my recent builds and, as a small part of that challenge, have I mentioned that none of the parts are numbered? I'm ending up walking away from the bench a bit more than normal - but I guess I sort of expected that.

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2 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

The interior stuff is useful, although the instrument panel - far superior to the SH one - won’t fit the SH kit.

Good to know, thanks. I'm collecting the instrument panel parts at the moment. Twelve pieces I think. Twelve! Some of which I can barely see without my visor so not sure that all will make it to the finish.

 

2 hours ago, Heather Kay said:

I am guilty of overthinking my build. It’s back on the shelf of doom while I sort out in my head what exactly I’m trying to do with it!

I'd sort of guessed that as I'd seen your build thread which had sort of stopped with a lovely image of a train 🙂

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2 hours ago, galgos said:

That’s a pity about the floor Mark…makes a complicated build a bit more complicated but I would imagine a sharp scalpel might achieve the desired outcome! Alternatively hack it off and scratch build a new one….not too “complicated”. 

Having walked away from it  -and tried not to think about it too much - I think I might be ok-ish.  The cockpit itself is fairly wide without the roof and when the left side is attached I'm fairly sure I can fit most of the parts ok from the top with delicate fiddling and fettling (not sure what that means but it sounds appropriate). I'll need to work out a painting plan before I dive in though.

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I'm having a shot at understanding the instructions (crazy idea I know) and there's something that I'd like some advice on from the collective mind if possible.

 

Step 7 has an option of drilling two small holes in the right forward fuselage underside. This:

3AdXZ2cl.jpg

 

I can't find anything further on that might fit into those holes. I've had a look in the Warpaint reference but drawn a blank. The holes would be underneath the cockpit floor and are marked on the outside as circular panels.  Perhaps lights?

 

Any help appreciated.

 

 

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Those “windows” for want of a better term were probably associated with the Anson’s use as a light bomber and later bomb-aimer trainer. I know they used to do aerial photography of ground areas (I have some examples) which again relates to navigation/bomb-aiming. That’s why not all Ansons had them, depends on their intended role. I’d err on the side of not drilling out! 
Max 

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