1/72 Avro Anson

[CliffB]

My contribution will be an Airfix Avro Anson 1.

As many of you will know, the Anson was a landmark aircraft for the RAF - being both its first monoplane and its first aircraft with a retractable under-carriage. On 5th September 1939, it also became the first RAF aircraft to attack a German U-boat.

The Airfix kit dates from 1962 (although mine is a 1998 release) and one of the three decal options is for a No. 217 Squadron aircraft (MW-Y), as it was in 1940 while on loan to No. 321 Squadron.

No. 321 was one of the two 'Free Dutch' squadrons within RAF Coastal Command and operated from RAF Carew Cheriton, in Pembrokeshire.

Looking forward to this GB.

Cliff

[Ian M]

Not proclaiming to be an expert in the field or of the Anson BUT...

It was not the first Low wing mono and first with retractable UC in the RAF. It was the RAAF. Might just be a typo on your part, but I thought I would just point it out.

Also, the sub that it bombed, You sure that was not the Snapper. I seam to recall reading that it got a few light bulbs broken when it got accidently bombed by an Anson from coastal command.

Shortly after that incident it was re-assigned as a trainer.

Ian M

[Prenton]

Cliff

It's not the very best kit....

There are problems with a seam line on the cowlings that is quite a job to clear without messing up the protruding streamlined thingys, and more significantly a serious problem joining the fuselages, with the result that one side is higher than the other, and the windows and canopy will not go in properly. (I think one is a bit warped.)

Best of luck with this one! I tried it a year ago and managed the cowlings (with a lot of filler), but had to go for a Falcon replacement for the roof/side/canopy.

There is the Special Hobby version, but that also has its problems.

Anyhow, I will be watching with interest. Hope that you have better luck than I did!

Regards,

Prenton

[jRatz]

I believe it is correct to say that the Anson was the first monoplane with retract gear in the RAF.

Edited December 29, 2010 by JohnRatzenberger

[Richard M]

So novel that a horn had to be fitted to remind the pilot to lower the undercarriage. The advantage of the semi-retracted wheels was that in the event of a wheels up landing, the aircraft would generally coast along on the exposed wheels and just shred the props with minimal damage to the aircraft, apparently as one senior RAF officer experienced.

[Ian M]

I believe it is correct to say that the Anson was the first monoplane with retract gear in the RAF.

On further digging I believe you are correct in saying it is correct!!!

my mistake sorry.

Ian M

[CliffB]

Hi guys

I'm afraid that all of my knowledge comes from kit instructions and Wikipedia, so I'm pleased to see that (on this occassion at least), they are OK.

Prenton, I'd noticed the warped fuselage halves but hadn't noticed the cowling issue - I see what you mean now . Funnily enough I'd assumed that the kit's injection moulded transparencies might actually be easier to force fit/bond together than the Falcon vac-formed ones, so I'm interested to hear that you got on OK with the Falcon ones.

I can't decide whether to go OOB, or to splash out on some aftermarket stuff (it very quickly becomes very expensive if you're not careful and I'm not sure whether the kit itself can really justify it). I see that Flightpath do a PE detail set though (£12), and I do like a bit of PE!

I probably won't be starting for a weeks yet, so plenty of time to decide.

Cheers

Cliff

[Richard M]

The Flightpath Anson etch set is a work of art, right down to the dividers and rulers for the navigators plotting table. It also includes very nice details for dropping the flaps. If you are thinking of getting it I would definitely invest in the Falcon canopy set to go with it so you can actually see the interior detail.

[CliffB]

The Flightpath Anson etch set is a work of art, right down to the dividers and rulers for the navigators plotting table.

How can I resist the Flightpath set now?!! It sounds great Richard and I'll take your advice on the Falcon transparency too.

I almost didn't enter this Anson into the GB - an afterthought really - but now I'm starting to get quite enthusiastic !

Cliff

[Richard M]

I think I've got a scan of the Flightpath instructions somewhere if you're interested in having a look, along with some pictures of the etch. I'll have a look throught the hard drives to dig them out. I actually used the Flightpath set as inspiration on an Anson build, replicating a lot of the detail using plastic card rather than the etch as the reference photo'd provided in the instructions were so good;

http://airfixtributeforum.myfastforum.org/...714-0-asc-0.php

Found some of them (clickable thumbs to full images);

Best

Rich

Edited December 29, 2010 by Richard M

[CliffB]

Thanks Rich - that's really useful stuff. Your build looks great

Did you end up using a Falcon canopy on another Anson?

Cliff

[Richard M]

Part started on one, none completed so far. The canopy is part of the Falcon Set No.8 RAF Bombers WWII (Part 1), I'm not sure if you can get it seperately from Squadron. It's a one piece unit running from the just before the windscreen up to the turret including all the side glazing, so gets rid of the problem of the poor fitting roof parts of the kit, there's also a turret included.

http://www.falconmodels.co.nz/clearvax/set08.html

Aeroclub also does a vac set, which is just a direct replacement for the windscreen part and turret.

[CliffB]

Thanks Rich

I can now see why the Falcon part is such a good idea...

Cliff

[jRatz]

I don't know how far you want to get into your Anson, but the Airfix kit has a couple other flaws -- easily corrected.

Shortly after production started, several changes were made -- the "upright" windscreen was "slanted" to solve a leak issue and the long ailerons were shortened to allow the flaps to be made wider. The Airfix kit unfortunately has the unlikely combination of slanted windscreen and long ailerons. Proper width for the ailerons is about 9 ribs from the tip end. It is fairly easy to do that, then fill and rescribe the flaps out to the shorter aileron.

The other, a sanding exercise, is that the Anson wings & tail were fabric-covered ply -- the rib detail is totally wrong even if it weren't so badly exaggerated.

[stevehnz]

There is an Anson being restored near to where I live. I've been fortunate enough to be able to visit it a couple of times. It is being restored with the early windscreen which interestingly enough is as depicted on the Airfix box art. Sadly the kit has the later glazing. I think the earlier is more elegant but apparently leaked like a sieve.

Steve.

[CliffB]

Many thanks for the continuing tips on how to improve the Airfix kit. Please keep them coming!

One question I have is the colour of the under-surfaces. The kit instructions say sky, but elsewhere I've seen pale grey or aluminium (my personal favourite), quoted. Any thoughts on this please?

Thanks

Cliff

[garryrussell]

The slanted windscreen as shown on the box was the earlier

The upright windscreen as in the kit is the later and was how most Ansons were built

Garry

[jRatz]

The slanted windscreen as shown on the box was the earlier

The upright windscreen as in the kit is the later and was how most Ansons were built

Garry

You are absolutely correct and my post earlier was reversed -- I do not know how I could have made that error and I apologize to all.

It should have read: Shortly after production started, several changes were made -- the "slanted" windscreen was made upright to solve a leak issue and the long ailerons were shortened to allow the flaps to be made wider. The Airfix kit unfortunately has the unlikely combination of upright windscreen and long ailerons.

[CliffB]

My Flightpath PE set and Falcon canopies arrived on Wednesday and I've just had a chance to look at them in some detail.

The quality appears to be absolutely superb. While I'm used to this with PE, the clarity and finish on the Falcon canopies is far above what I've seen before from vacforms. I just hope that all the bits fit as they should!

My only concern at present is that the PE provides some great external window framing and I'm not sure how this will work with the moulded Falcon framing. Have any of you done this?

Thanks

Cliff

[CliffB]

I finally got to make a start on the Anson this afternoon and thought that I should get the stressful bit over straight away, by trying to fit the Falcon canopy.

Here are the bits before surgery:

As Prenton and Richard M mentioned above, the Falcon part actually replaces much more than just the canopy and so requires that the roof be cut off the Airfix kit, as well as a section of the forward fuselage (you can see why I was getting stressed!).

Anyway, the good news is that the surgery was successful with both the patient and surgeon in good spirits....

The fit of the Falcon part is superb, the only problem being the slightly vague instructions (I know, 'a bad workman etc. etc'!), which led to me intially trying to fit the new canopy a couple of mm further forward than it actually had to go. You can see the gap in front of the canopy that was left when I moved it back to its correct position. In the scheme of things though, the gap should be an easy fix.

I shall sleep well tonight .

Cliff

[Prenton]

Cliff

Nice job cutting out that vac form. Yes, I had to do a bit of filling in at the front too - but the Falcon replacement is SOOOOO much better than trying to get the Airfix roof to fit.

Dunno about the PE set - I did the internal framing from plastic rod, and scratch built the interior myself. The only bit that really has to go on the exterior, as far as I know, is the windscreen wipers, which you can do with stretched sprue and a few bits of plastic card. If you look at the Alan Hall book, the wipers are quite prominent.

However, I found that cutting the Falcon turret was not at all easy, and in the end made a mess of it and had to go back to the much thicker Airfix one. (Don't forget the small trench behind the turret, which the gun sat in when not in use...)

Best of luck with this one.

Prenton

[Murdo]

[Deacon]

Well done sir.

Deacon

[CliffB]

An update on today's progress.

In order use the Flightpath PE within the cockpit, all the kit's moulded features needed to be removed. I then lined the walls with thin plastic card to give a fair finish and to conceal the mess where the wings attach.

As you can see I've assembled the fuselage, having first fitted the PE internal framework (a bit 2D, but much easier than scratch-building from rod). The photo shows things immediately after gluing, so no sanding yet of the fuselage joint. I have to say the fit of the two fuselage halves was brilliant, they just clipped together - pretty good for a fifty-year old (both the kit and me).

The Falcon canopy set does not include the rear cabin windows, so I decided to use the kit items. They don't look too bad and are at least resilient. The also help to obscure the view of the base of the turret which is pure Airfix OOB. Although there's loads of stuff on the PE fret there is absolutely nothing for the turret (also no seat belts) - seems odd.

Cheers

Cliff

[CliffB]

A couple more quick photos to share...

Firstly, I've started to add some of the PE external framing to the fuselage and it's looking far more convincing than the flimsy internal structure does.

Secondly, I've also started to assemble the wings and just had to capture this before it disappeared from view forever....

Hopefully some of you will appreciate this last photo, even though most of you are probably not that sad!

Cheers

Cliff