1:48 Avro Anson

Building this for my late Grandfather, as a tribute. He inspired me with his occasional story or two about his wartime service, yet remained surprisingly secretive about a lot of things. Even my father never knew a lot about what he did, however, we do know he was in Scotland at RAF Figtown, working as a radio engineer on Avro Ansons based there. We believe he would have been on 1(O) ATU, in horrendous conditions and tough terrain. We will never know the true extent of what he experienced and never will now. My plan is to add extra detail to this, perhaps including a lone member of groundcrew beside her... perhaps a 1:48 Austin Tilly beside her too, or as suggested by Seamus, a dog, a la every diorama ever made! Anyway, photos to follow!

Welcome aboard Matt

Love to see this one progress soon!

Thanks James! Pleasure to be here!

For those of you who aren't aware of what is in the box, here are a few taster shots!








More to follow!

Unusual choice of aicraft Matt, its good to see these types being made over the tea and medals stuff and nice that its got a family connection too.

I normally do go in for the tea and medals types!!! I am cracking on with this one- home alone this morning, so out with the tape and primer- all resin parts are now primed and ready to chuck paint at, and have glazed the nose, main fuselage windows and the doors. All that leaves is the turret and canopy then I can get down to some serious interior green flinging. I am toying with the idea of exposing part of a cowling to show off the resin engine as this is a beautiful bit of resin, so I will probably need to get the plasticard and fine wire out to add some more interesting bits... depends on how adventurous I feel nearer the time. No photos as yet- haven't made nearly enough progress to warrant that one!!!

As of end of play today, here are the seats, and the forward facing machine gun all painted up. They are not as heavily weathered as this picture makes them look, however!



And here is a shot of the side walls too, to give you an idea of the quality of the resin casting in this kit



The side walls are not finished by a long shot- they will need a good few hours of detailing... Thank you for looking!

Great start, the detail looks first class but I don't envy you on the the masking that lies ahead with the glazing.

Cheers Scott, I am actually just under half way through that so far- fuselage, doors and nose glazing are done, 'JUST' the turret and cockpit glazing to go... that's the tricky bits! Need a bit of dutch courage for that one...

Looks good Matt,

The inside would benefit from a light wash with Burnt Umber in the recesses to get the detail pinging!

looks like a lovely kit - and what a great start.

On the wash JAmes, I have been wondering about using a burnt umber one on one of my kits - what sort do you use?

matt

Hi all,

thank you for your comments- much appreciated! As for progress, have been ill over the last few days, so instead of braving the outside world, have been keeping my sanity up by working on this. Have started interior assembly, and have got to a brick wall, as I need more detailing parts before I can think of closing her up. I have gone fairly heavy on the interior weathering, as being a training bird, would have been used and abused pretty heavily. Gives it that well used and well loved feel which I am after. I have got to get a 1:48 map for the navigator's table, and will get a 1:48 magazine to stick on the wireless op's table, just to add a bit of interest to this area. Due to the amount of glass on this one, lots of the interior will be on show, so I will be adding cabling, aerial wires and so on just to make it a little more realistic. I will raid the spares box and see what else I have to chuck at this one too. I gave it a pastel wash to add depth, and used tamiya eye shadow set B to add wear and tear.





In terms of scale, here's how the interior stacks up next to my FGR.2

Certainly looking the part, good detail and weathering in there, but as you say it still needs some little extras to make it look busy. For things like maps etc I just cut little squares of paper then fold them over to create the look of folded maps and folders, How about a Flying jacket draped over the back of the seat and flying helmet on the table?

Hi Scott,

Good ideas- have just hollowed out an airman from the spares box's head, and heated it to bend the side flaps outwards. This is now placed on top of the wireless ops table, and has knocked all of his notes all over the floor, in the form of masking tape pieces festooned all over the crew area! Added the table leg for the nav position, and the dials in front of the nav's seat. Next step, wires from the controls, and aerial wire to be put in and cut at a later date.

Matt

Hi all,

close of play, have put some more touches to this one- have made the wireless op's area a pretty messy place to be, with a flying hat that has been dumped on there, sending his paperwork all over the shop, and the bit I am most proud of is a scratchbuilt enamel mug of tea on the nav's table. Drilled out the end of one of the swordfish rockets, handle made from photo etched brass, painted with white enamel, and filled the middle of this with RAF desert pink, to replicate tea.



Here is the fresh brew, heavily cropped!

Today's update- have not done much on this today, as I have been still ill, however, have closed the internals up, which was no mean feat, and finished the masking on the glazing, and the turret. I have, however, found out a bit more of my Grandfather's service in the RAF, and have discovered that at Christmas 1944, he was serving at RAF Bishops Court in County Down, Ireland. I have found out that one of the regular sorties carried out from here was a navigation exercise whereby the crew would fly out to Blackpool, and would bomb, by use of an infra-red camera, the post office! Crews were forbidden to fly around the tower, however, due to oversights from unexperienced crew members, several pilots got the privilege of spending 2 weeks in the glasshouse, thanks to cameras left on record!

Loving the little extras you're putting into this one.

Interesting story as well.

looking good mate

Think you ought to do a shoot with that spook though, looks a cracker

scotthldr wrote:Loving the little extras you're putting into this one.

Interesting story as well.

I also heard on People's War that often the tun-dish in the back was often missing the down-tube, so if the crew needed to 'relieve themselves' during a sortie, the SOP was to open the door, lean out and complete the job...

All of these stories are making this build so much more real. I am throwing everything I have got at this one, which is meaning my future purchase list is growing too... I hope that it makes the old guy proud... Next additions are Austin Tilly, RAF bike set and RAF personnel set.

Thanks Dan- the Toom is an old build- one of the last ones I made before stopping temporarily.

Here is a shot of her, just to sabotage my own thread!!!



Cheers for looking!

Coming on really nicely Matt.

Looking forward to seeing more soon

Hopefully more by the end of the week- back at work tomorrow!

Brilliant work on the little items, mug, map and helmet. They really
do add character to this section of the a/c.

Lovely work so far Matt.

Ab

Wakey wakey Matt Any progress to report on this one?

hi guys! Sorry for lack of updates- put down the airbrush in favour of a big hairy stick to decorate a nursery- that is done now, however, the Anson is not- I have not got her all closed up, assembled the main wings and have got to attach them. more work happened this week, in the form of detailing the engines- I now have two Armstrong-Siddeley Cheetahs painted, weathered and covered with oil stains ready to bung in her. I will update in due course. I have also started a 1:72 Mustang IV as a model to suspend from the nursery ceiling,and Charlie has a 1:72 Spitfire I on the go (Yes, my better half is getting into model making!!!) Proper update in due course!

Good man.

Ab

Was wondering where you disappeared to, but glad to see it was for a good cause although it's taken you 8 weeks to paint a room what did you use a No3 Sable brush