Avro Anson Mk.I (Special Hobby)
I've had this kit for a few years now, it's time to build it.
Typical short run plastic from several years ago.
The size and shape of the parts conform quite well to my drawings from the Warpaint volume.
I can't wait to mask off all of the windows.
Only aftermarket is the mask set, but I might look for another decal sheet.
Losts of resin, some nice some not. Why 32 cylinder heads when the Annie only has 14?
The tubular framework around the cockpit looks pretty rough. These are the top crossmembers.
Not only a lot of resin flash, but also warped.
Even after cleaning it up, I didn't like the framework.
So I cut it off and glued the sidewalls onto the fuselage.
Always check to see if the clear parts are the right width. It's easier to adjust the fuselage!
I think I can replace the framework with styrene rod. Here is a quick sample I made up, and the original.
A quick attempt at the framework for the port side.
Be very careful cleaning up the beautiful resin cowls.
Special Hobby forgot the day/night indicators for the bomb aimer, so I had to drill some holes.
Some British interior grey/green and a light Future wash. Brings out the detail nicely. At the back of the starboard sidewall is a relief tube.
That's a fire extinguisher up front.
Starting to work on the framework, and the offices for the radioman and the navigator.
It's like building a roll cage for a race car.
Starting to look busy!
The radio operator has a copy of the quick-start guide for the Fiio X5 III high-res music player (really!).
The navigator has a Pub Walk map of London. The pilot just has an instrument panel.
And the rest of the roll cage.
Note the jump seat for the bomb aimer, alonside the pilot.
I like it, and I think it's much nicer than the resin that came with the kit.
None of this will be visible once the canopy and windscreen are added. 🙁
Who says parts aren't numbered in short run kits? You need to use the right ones because...
...you need to have the bulkhead at a slight angle to correct for wing dihedral. Now the gear struts will be nice and straight.
I think this is where they go - at least the struts will emerge from the bottom of the nacelles in the right place.
The struts attach to the ridge on the lower part of the bulkhead.
Hey, it looks like an airplane! Note that I've marked where I have to cut out the landing light.
A couple of Cheetahs.
Special Hobby did a nice job on the fit of the wing roots. Very nice, no filler.
Test fitting the engines...
...and the cowls. Nice.
The postman always brings such nice packages. I like the RCAF version at the top.
Special Hobby provide the landing lights and lens, but make no mention of them in the instructions. Odd.
Notch cut out, and styrene used to close up the hole. I'll probably use clear tape for the lens.
I broke the resin seat support, so I made a new one.
I also had to repair one of the landing gear parts (note the white area).
The landing lights cut to size so they'll fit in the notch.
I had to cut these out by hand because the diecut didn't go all the way through - argh!
I decided on this scheme, after I had finished building the basic kit. Should have picked this sooner, as we shall see!
Gotta love those stripes, eh?
Let's start with some nice RAF Trainer Yellow...
...and then realise that there is NO turret in this scheme! Yikes! I must learn to read the instructions.
I got lucky cutting this out with a razor saw, as I covered up the seams so well I couldn't see where they were.
The part for a spine without a turret fits OK, now we just need to blend it in and repaint.
After filling the seams, primer, and paint you can hardly tell I messed up!
OK, who convinced me to paint stripes on this baby?
Masking took about three hours, but it was fun. Really. I'm not kidding. No, wait...
I have a lot of small touch up to do, but I think it's pretty close.
I painted the black with Gunze Acrysion paint, and it's not as good as Mr. Color or the Aqueous Hobby paints.
My eyes have gone crossed already, just looking at this. Reminds me of a railroad car or something... 🙂
The stickers are on! I had to stack two sets of roundels so the black stripes wouldn't show through.
The rudder balance was added, I hope I don't break it off!
With a little effort, you can still see all the work I did in the cabin.
Canopy framework came out much better than I expected! Especially after the masks were on for so long.
Engines are on! I also used pastels for some very subtle weathering.
The pastels don't photograph well - it looks better in real life.
I tried to highlight the canvas lines with the pastels - use your imagination. 🙂
Cowlings, temperature sensor on the nose, oil coolers, landing lights, gun barrel, exhausts all added.
Not much left to do - props, pitot, aerial mast, aerial wire, loop antenna, landing light lens...and whatever I forgot.
Finished!
Comments
23 19 March 2018, 23:48
Bill GilmanAnd away we go with another project. This time it's the Special Hobby 1:72 kit of the Avro Anson. The kit is miles ahead of the old Airfix offering, but it has its challenges. Especially with the resin framework inside the fuselage (the Anson was mostly wood and canvas). But I think we beat it, have a look at the photos. Cheers, Bill
20 March 2018, 00:11
Alec KGreat project Bill! The cockpit looks fantastic, and I love the detailing. What are the maps made out of?
20 March 2018, 11:22
Bill GilmanThanks mates. The maps were purloined from an Internet search, reduced in CorelDraw and printed out on a Canon inkjet printer on regular old plain paper.
20 March 2018, 14:11
Bill GilmanI've uploaded a few more photos. The progress is a bit slow right now, as we've had a lot of family time, especially for my 63rd birthday. One thing I can say about making it to 63, it sure beats not making it to 63 when you look at my medical history! 🙂
31 March 2018, 22:26
Alec KHappy belated b-day Bill. Hope you are doing well. Nice progress on the Anson 👍
1 April 2018, 01:50
Christian Kellervery nice. Im watching your progress because i have the same in my stash 😉
1 April 2018, 11:23
Bill GilmanSometimes I do the stupidest things. Like that time I built up an entire model with a dorsal turret, only to suddenly discover the markings I wanted to use were for an aircraft with no turret. No, wait, that was this build! What a dolt! Anyway, some quick work with a razor saw and I think we'll be OK. And all this after I left the model where my 2 year old grandson could have a go at it, seeing if it could fly. I fixed all of that damage only to goof up the turret...remind me again why I like modelling. Oh, right, it helps me relax. 🙂
6 May 2018, 23:05
Alec KGood to know I am not the only one who makes mistakes modeling. In this case, I think I would take the easy way out and switch to a different camo... 😄
7 May 2018, 00:32
Bart GoesaertNice sheme.. and luckily you've seen this now, and not after painting the stripes... would be a double bummer...
7 May 2018, 10:00
Bill GilmanWell, the stripes are on. A bit of a chore to do all that masking, but nothing too difficult. It turns out the width of the stripes scaled quite close to the 6mm Tamiya tape, so I just used that. I hope no one notices that they are 0.3mm too wide. I have quite a it of touch up to do, especially around the nacelles and other assorted lumps and bumps. But I think it looks kind of cool, as long as you don't look at it too long - otherwise your eyes go crossed.
3 June 2018, 23:25
Spanjaardexcellent Bill. i love your "quick attempt at the framework"... it would have taken me forever 😄 . really excellent job all around
4 June 2018, 07:31
Bill GilmanThanks, mates. I finally got around to adding the stickers. The roundels from Xtradecal were not opaque enough, and the black stripes were visible through the white section. I ended up stacking two sets of roundels - luckily I had some spares that were the same size and style. I added the rudder balance, blending it in with some filler and then painting. Annie then got a overall flat varnish. The landing gear and tyres went on next, and today I will be removing the canopy masks that have been on for a very long time. I hope they don't give me any trouble.
There is not a lot left to do - add the engines, cowlings, exhausts, props, loop antenna, aerial wire, etc. I don't plan on doing a lot of weathering, as this plane in 1941 (which the markings depict) was relatively new and had most likely just been painted in the training scheme when it was turned over to the Canadians. I'll use pastels, and perhaps some Gunze H95 Smoke Grey for any weathering I do. I have to say, she looks rather smart just the way she is. 🙂
13 June 2018, 13:10
Hanno KleineckeWhat an outstanding paintjob Bill ! Masking these stripes to this perfect symmetry must have been quite a
challenge !
13 June 2018, 20:15
Bill GilmanThanks mates! The masking for the stripes wasn't as bad as it looks. The stripes (and the spaces in-between) are 6mm wide, exactly the same as Tamiya tape. I was able to keep the width between the stripes consistent by using small pieces of tape as a "spacer." For symmetry, the first stripe on each side was put down with the help of a template I made that had the correct angle. I knew I kept that protractor around for something!
I took off the canopy masks, and fortunately everything came off easily and the edges look pretty good. I don't think I need to touch up any. I was a little worried because the masks had been on for quite some time, but no problems. More importantly, you can still see the detail that I added to the cabin, along with the scratch built framework. After the masks were removed I could see that the forward jump seat has come off, and it's making the rattle. Oddly though, I can't see it - I can only hear it. So I guess that's OK then? I've simply modelled the aircraft as it appeared while the jump seat was out for restitching in the maintenance shed.
Engines are next - one of the engine supports needed to have a bit of resin removed in order to slip into the nacelles. The propellers are pretty weak - maybe the weakest part of the entire kit. I'm going to look through my stash, but I don't think I have anything else that I could use. The props are moulded almost flat, with no pitch at all, and there is no twist to the blades either. They look quite odd actually, and not at all like my reference photos. Those photos are from restored aircraft or museum pieces and I don't know if they're the original props. Research hat on...
14 June 2018, 19:55
Bill GilmanCreeping ever so closely to the finish line - I never thought I'd see this day after the time that my grandson put the model through its test flight. And, of course, when the bone-headed modeller (me) built the fuselage with provision for a turret. And breaking the canopy off, etc. I thought I was going to have to admit defeat, but somehow everything looks OK. Should have it finished up in a day or so. Cheers, Bill
27 June 2018, 20:03
Patrick HagelsteinIt looks more than OK! Not knowing all the horrors you've had to go through, I would have thought this was one of Bill's meticulously planned and flawlessly executed builds.
27 June 2018, 21:22
Spanjaardit certainly looks impressive. and seeing all the history behind, even more 🙂
28 June 2018, 06:41
Hanno KleineckeYour grandson obviously either is a good pilot, or his mechanic is very skilled, no sign of a crashlanding !
Beautiful result Bill !
28 June 2018, 10:15
Bill GilmanOK, she's finished for sure now! Perseverance is a wonderful thing. I've added several photos of the finished model - the only unfortunate thing at this point is that the only space for it in my display case is on the bottom shelf. I have to get down on my knees to look at it. At my age, that is no fun at all! Cheers, Bill
1 July 2018, 23:39
Łukasz GlińskiLooking great, you should definitely put it upwards in the display case 👍
2 July 2018, 06:09
CuajeteBeautiful "wasp". Fantastic finish. Congratulations!
Have a stool next to the display case so you can admire your model on the bottom shelf 😉
2 July 2018, 10:38
Gordon SørensenLooks great, Bill! Definately deserves to be higher up in the dispay case!
3 July 2018, 10:11
SJ ElrodLooks like a great kit...well done on the build...it turned out very nice
10 July 2018, 04:08
Bernhard SchrockHow could I overlook this build? As usual a great work especially the very difficult painting job. Chapeau!
10 February, 18:49
Bill GilmanThanks mates. I love it when these old threads get resurrected. Cheers, Bill
10 February, 19:07
Zbynek HonzikBeautiful work, unusual livery and perfect paintwork. Bravo! 👍 It's very pleasing to the eye.
10 February, 19:24
Album info
You think I would have learned by now...
