Fifty thousand rivetts and all that!

[Pen-Pusher]

There has been much excitement over the release of the Avro Shackleton MK.2 in recent months and judging by the reviews of those lucky few who have obtained one so far, all indicate we will not be disappointed!! All this euphoria however brings me to a long-debated dilemma - just how much detail should we wish for or be expected to incorporate into our humble offerings - especially it is to remain hidden by the completed model? I remember 'butchering' an old Frog Shack Mk.3 by opening up one side to show my crudely built interior and in particular the seat where I slept during endless patrols; but with this new issue from Airfix we have a beautifully detailed interior (See photo 1), decals/transfers/stickers and all, designed to sate most appetites; but which will be consigned to almost complete obscurity when that final application of liquid poly secures the fuselage halves for all time. Oh yes, I know there will be many who will 'open' areas of the fuselage or illuminate interiors (there wasn't much) for the ardent admirer but as few of us are likely to build more than one 'Growler' - is that level of surgery really what we want? (Where is the transparent fuselage option Airfix?) Even in a single seat a/c (See photo 2), small vehicle, ship or tank I guess the modeller is faced with this same choice? Ah well, another sleepless night worrying....!

PS. The 'eagle eyed' amongst you will have noticed the Engineer's seat is facing backwards!! Obviously the designer of this kit knew something about Shack people! I know many an engineer who preferred NOT to look at his instruments and by this nonchalant positioning of his seat, hope to convince the rest of us everything was going to be okay.....!

[attachment deleted by admin]

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Kiteman]

I agree with your comments. I think that you need to ask yourself, what do I want to build?, If the answer to the question is " a perfect replica of the aircraft in minature then you need to go to town on the detail. If the answer is a model representation of the aircraft then who cares about what you cant see! There are enough people that get extremely anal about detail, hidden or not, but for me I constantly remind myself that this is just a Hobby, it`s just a piece of plastic, and the fun is in putting it together and painting it to my own satisfaction.
After all the mouldings are not exact to scale anyway otherwise you would see half of the detail that they put in there anyway. Modeling is all about compromise and we should not get too drawn in getting upset about the finest of Details, finish, colour or whatever.
Lets simply have fun doing what we do and if someone else likes what we have build then that is a billy bonus!

[Pen-Pusher]

Well said Kiteman! As a reward here's an 'unusual' shack? WG557 was used for development work on fusing systems for nuclear weapons and later for underwater data transmission trials by the Royal Navy - hence the striking colour scheme. Contrary to rumours, she was not engaged on catapult trials!!

On 'differing colours' my old squadron (37) in Aden had a special dispensation to extend the white fuselage top down to just below the cockpit line in an effort to combat the extreme heat (Can't say I noticed the difference).

[attachment deleted by admin]

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Wizzel]

I like to think of myself as a modeller, even if of only moderate skill, rather than an assembler so whilst I accept the passion - obsession even - some people have of really going to town and cramming in every possible aftermarket part into a kit, I struggle to understand this "need" to spend many times the value of the kit on this exercise.  Ready painted etched brass?  Coloured masks for the glazing?  Weighted tyres?  Vac formed canopies?  At the end of it all, you may as well buy a Corgi die cast toy and have done with it.  The appeal for me is working with what comes in the box and maybe adding or improving a few bits with my own hand - including painting the canopy frames.

Now I'm all for highly detailed kits such as the Airfix new tools they are putting out, despite most of it being sealed away in the fuselage - and it seems somehow different to not having decks, cabins, heads and galleys in models of ships (the difficulty of representing these in standard ship scales aside) - because to use a well known phrase; "I know it's there" and that alone makes it a pleasurable part of the process.  Even with all that detail, the value for money is excellent, so why not have it.  In the case of older or cheaper kits where there is nowt much more than a flat bit of plastic for a floor and an "L" shaped bit for a seat, I enjoy building the interior, using a bit of stretched sprue and plasti-card or putty to embellish what would otherwise have been a fairly bare and hollow shell. 

There is the odd occasion where I have purchased an aftermarket part but that is confined to areas where I wish to model a particular type of kit by converting it and where no such kit already exists (to my knowledge at least).  An example of this would be the 1/72 Mosquito Highball aircraft but this is a completely different thing.

By coincidence, the theme of the November newsletter supports this thread so it will be interesting to see if we get any more views on the subject, either on or off line.

[Pen-Pusher]

A final word on this kit. The model on display at Earl's Court and Nuremburg in January was this one - showing the AEW configuration with canons...?(Photo 1) - not the current Mark 2. I believe Airfix may be considering a conversion kit - either that Revell sneaked their promised offering on to the table during the night? On a more serious note and again on detail. From the 'piccies' I've seen, the bomb-bay doors have a plethora of reinforcement strips running vertically (Photo 2). It may be my failing memory but this former 'wet-ops' man doesn't remember these on any mark of Shackleton - though they may have been fitted post-AEW refit?

[attachment deleted by admin]

[attachment deleted by admin]

[Bigkev]

Hi Pen-Pusher,

Just got my latest Airfix Mag, with the Shackleton kit build, which I think your internal detail photo comes from..........
Looks a very nice kit, in fact just ordered one hope to have it by early next week.
Revell are releasing the AEW as you point out, I think the 'piccie' relates to the 'marketing dept.',  with possible concepts from this tooling, and as we both know the AEW didn't have nose guns!!! (from all my references anyway)

Regarding the re-enforcing strips on bomb bays, I bow to your intimate knowledge of the machine, I'll just see how they look in the flesh and decide what looks right to me, unless I have proof otherwise.

50,000 rivets, here I come!
Bigkev   

PS. Should I start my 'Shack' Mk.3? or wait?

[Pen-Pusher]

WAIT.... Definitely WAIT!!!

[Bigkev]

Hi Pen-Pusher,

WAITING AS INSTRUCTED........................................!!!

Putting loft ladders away now.

Bigkev

[Pen-Pusher]

More 'duff-gen' - They were a mod after skin cracks around the ribs on the bomb bay doors in the propeller area, and started appearing around the time of the Phase 3 updates. That means for the earlier MK2 / MK2 Phase 2 'wet 'n' dry' will be required!!

[Bigkev]

Hi Pen-Pusher,

Thanks for the 'Gen', I've just bought some new Wet'n'Dry so it looks like it was meant to be..............

Fate, eh?

Bigkev