1/32nd scale Avro Shackleton - scratchbuild project

[GusMac]

Nice to see your progress Tom. The nacelle looks very convincing. Now you can compare notes with Cees as to how to finish the front end of the engines! 

[Wingco57]

Hi Tom,

I understand what you mean. These projects can get under your skin. It's a matter of motivation ( or the lack thereof). The first outboard nacelle has at least been started so another step towards the fun part. Hang in there.

Cees

[ThomasProbert]

Afternoon all 

 

With the school holidays upon us and me entering retirement for the summer, I thought it time to get this project back on to the bench...

 

 

As you can see, it doesn't fit all that well!

 

I'd got to the stage of completing one outboard engine nacelle, so decided to get the other one done. This began by adding a series of strips (or planks) cut from plastic card and slowly adding them to the framework of the nacelle I'd made earlier:

 

 

These were then built up over a couple of evenings until the basic shape of the nacelle was formed:

 

 

With the glue allowed to harden for a week, I then coated the nacelle in a generous helping of car body filler:

 

 

This was then sanded back and a coat of filler-primer applied, before this too was then sanded and polished to leave a beautifully smooth finish to the nacelle:

 

 

After a serious sanding session, some light refreshment is called for 

 

 

I wasn't completely happy with the leading edges of the wings, so I also took the opportunity to re-profile them:

 

 

I then primed and polished up the 3D printed 'power-eggs' and test fitted them to the firewalls - thankfully my careful measuring and planning paid off, and although they're not quite a Tamiya fit, they fitted pretty well:

 

 

After the power-eggs were glued to the firewalls, it was a simple job to blend them in with filler and then give the wings a primer coat of grey - here the engine fronts are just taped in place as I still need to make the radiators and oil coolers before the fronts can be permanently attached:

 

 

 

And so now a major milestone has been reached, about 18 months after starting this build, and the airframe is now complete:

 

 

Underside:

 

 

And here she is with a 1/72nd scale Revell Shackleton as a useful size comparison:

 

 

So now I can concentrate on the detailing of the model - the cockpit and flightdeck may well be the next task as the upper fuselage still needs blending in. The extreme rear of the fuselage needs some tweaks too, but the main construction is now over and I'm pleased to have reached this point in the project - it's all down hill from now on!

 

All the best,

 

Tom

[DocRob]

This is a truely big bird and an even so huge project. You have my deep respect for the courageous effort to start this and stay with it. I wouldn't now how to handle that beast. It seem nearly the size like an adault Albatros. Nice works on the wings an nacelles. Enjoy your refreshment after lots of dust from sanding, but a screwcap wine, tss, tss, tss .

Cheers Rob

[Wingco57]

Magnificent, that thing is huge compared to your workbench (or you must have a very small bench). I bet you have surprised yourself too.

Looking forward to see the cockpit interior getting worked on.

Keep it up.

Cheers

Cees

[mgbgtv8steve]

Fantastic work! Really looking forward to seeing the end result.

 

Steve S.

[ThomasProbert]

Evening all 

 

I've dusted this off in time for a trip to Telford and decided to tackle the rudders over the last couple of weeks. You'll have to excuse the terrible photography as I haven't had the time to get the proper camera set up so I've been snapping away with my camera phone in the dark winter evenings...

 

I carefully removed the fins from the stabilsers and using the set of plans I have, cut the shape of the rudder from plastic card. As the real thing is an aerofoil shape, I cut what would become the leading edges from sprue, and mated these to the rudder hinge line:

 

 

 

Next up was to add some thicker plastic card to the forward third of the rudders to aid with the thicker forward part of the structure:

 

 

The thicker forward sections and aerofoil shape were then made up and blended together with filler:

 

 

They were then primed with filler-primer, sanded sooth with some micromesh, and then I scribed the basic panel detail on to them. The riveting will have to wait as I can't find my riveting tool anywhere at the moment:

 

 

The rudders now fit nice and snugly to the fins themselves, which have now been reattached to the stabilisers:

 

 

And here she is sitting pretty on the kitchen table and ready for a trip to Telford next weekend:

 

 

As you can see I have also started playing around with the propellers, but more of that next time:

 

 

I'll hopefully catch some of you at the Nationals - the Shackleton will be on IPMS West Kent so do pop over and say hello!

 

Tom

[Wingco57]

Hi Tom,

Good to see you back on this one. That's a simple but very effective way of representing the rudders. That's what I like the most about scratchbuild projects such as these. How to solve problems and every modeller does it in a different way.

Amazing how this Shack is shaping up. Props look very nice too.

See you at Telford!

Cheers

Cees

[coolboxx]

Amazing skills, and I thought my tiffy was big. 

[joeg]

That is an incredible piece oft art and an awesome big model!! Your techniques are inspiring!

Cheers Joachim

[Wingco57]

Saw it at Telford and it's even bigger than I had imagined. But it looks fantastic.

Cees

[shark64]

so impressive

[ThomasProbert]

Afternoon all 

It's been a while since I've done anything on this long-term build, but decided to get it back out for a bit of TLC and decided to jump straight back in and tackle something that I'd been needing to correct...

When building the fuselage what seems like years ago I had somehow managed to make the extreme rear fuselage (where the rear observation glazing mates) completely the wrong shape. In my example, you can see I've made the fuselage sides curved, and the upper and lower fuselage too curved as well:

IMG_1859 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

...when compared to the real thing - taken at the Charlwood museum - which shows flat sides and top:

Tail Glazing by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

So, using some better plans as well as the good old Mk1 eyeball, I made a new shape for the rear fuselage:

IMG_1861 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

...which when offered up already improves the look:

IMG_1860 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

The difference has now been built up with filler, and slowly a much better-shaped rear fuselage is beginning to emerge:

IMG_1868 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Still plenty of shaping and blending to do, but I'm much happier with this now.

I've also began inserting the framing into the cockpit as these will be needed to support the glazing when the time comes:

IMG_1867 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

I'm enjoying being back on this - let's see how long the motivation lasts!

All the best,

Tom

[GusMac]

Great to see this back underway!

[Fidd88]

An absolutely fascinating build to follow, thanks for posting this. The planking is particularly clever.

[ThomasProbert]

10 hours ago, GusMac said:

Great to see this back underway!

55 minutes ago, Fidd88 said:

An absolutely fascinating build to follow, thanks for posting this. The planking is particularly clever.

Cheers, guys. It’s been a while since I worked on this but the creative juices are flowing again currently so full steam ahead!

Tom

[ThomasProbert]

I've been steadily shaping the rear end today - quite pleased with the new look and I think a big improvement over my original effort:

S1030208 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

I've also begun making the master mold for the plexiglass tail cone - this will be bulked out and shaped with Milliput in due course:

S1030200 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Good to be making some progress on this again 

Take care all,

Tom

 

[Wingco57]

That’s a massive improvement Tom.

good to see you working on this magnificent project again.

[ThomasProbert]

19 hours ago, Wingco57 said:

That’s a massive improvement Tom.

good to see you working on this magnificent project again.

Thanks, Cees - very kind. 
 

I’ve sent you a PM via LSP about some Lancaster bomb doors - I’m in need of a favour!

Tom

[ThomasProbert]

Howdy folks 

I hope everyone is managing to stay healthy and out of the way of this ghastly virus - I've been making the most of my time at home and have made the elevators for the big Shackleton.

Scratch-building this sort of thing is really straightforward, and can be covered in the following steps:

Step 1:

Using scaled plans, cut yourself four elevator shapes (two left and two right) from plastic card. O.25mm is about the right thickness:

IMG_1877 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Step 2:

Again, using plans to guide me, the main panel lines are scribed on. This is done before further construction as it's far easier to scribe on to flat plastic card than when it's on the airframe:

IMG_1879 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Step 3:

Rivets are added:

IMG_1883 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Pressing on to the soft cutting mat has actually left a nice oil-canning effect - bonus!

IMG_1885 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Step 4:

Using off-cuts of sprue, the leading edges of the elevators are made and attached to the hingeline:

IMG_1886 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Step 5:

Top and bottom 'skins' are then sandwiched together:

IMG_1888 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Step 6:

The leading edges and end plates are then blended with Milliput:

IMG_1891 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Step 7:

Fit your latest creations to the stabilisers:

IMG_1893 by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

And there we have it! Well - not quite. Still some fettling to do with the hinges and they also need priming. Unfortunately the local Halfords is closed due to the virus and I've run out of primer, so that'll have to wait. 

Stay safe people and thanks as ever for stopping by.

Tom

[GusMac]

Nice little tutorial Tom. Easy way to do it without them becoming too heavy.

[Wingco57]

Simple but effective, that's how I like it.

Oh and Tom, I got those parts for you.

Cees

[ThomasProbert]

8 hours ago, Wingco57 said:

Simple but effective, that's how I like it.

Oh and Tom, I got those parts for you.

Cees

Amazing - thanks, Cees. It’ll certainly give me a good starting point for the weapons bay doors. Much appreciated!

Tom

[ThomasProbert]

Evening all,

Making the most of self-isolation, I've made a start on the cockpit interior. I absolutely Detest (with a capital D) making cockpits - I find it tedious enough painting kit cockpits so scratch-building them is even worse. I've been putting it off as long as possible with this build, but it's got to the stage where I can't put it off any longer.

I thought I'd start with the instrument panel and get that out of the way first. I'll say now that this is far from a perfect replica of a Shackleton MkII instrument panel, but the overall effect is close enough for my liking.

The initial job is to make the panel itself and this was done using plastic card. I made some basic rudder pedals beneath from more plastic strip and card. The individual panel sections - in this case the Shackleton seems to have two centre panels (lower one larger and the upper one slightly smaller) and then a panel with the primary flight instruments for each the pilot and co-pilot - were made next and offered up to the main panel for sizing. When the shapes and sizes were correct, I then set about using Airscale's excellent instrument bezel sets to start bringing the whole thing to life:

 Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

The whole panel then got a spraying of matt black, with a drybrush of dark grey to bring out some of the details:

Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

Next was adding instrument decals - again the excellent Airscale sets to the rescue here:

Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

A clear gloss varnish was added to the instrument faces to represent the glass, and some light weathering added on the rudder pedals before it was fitted to the forward bulkhead:

Untitled by Thomas Probert, on Flickr

The macro photography makes it look a lot rougher than it actually is, and I'm quite pleased with the outcome so far. Obviously lots more to do, but as I'm currently in the swing of making instrument panels and the like, I may have a go at the Flight Engineer's panel next. Stay tuned...

Tom

[Wingco57]

Wow, I equally hate doing cockpits but in your case you could have fooled me. That looks nice.