After years of only having the old Frog kit in plastic, or vac-forms to work with Airfix add the Shackleton to their catalogue with this all-new tooling
Inside the big box you will find a single clear sprue (separately bagged) and eight in the usual light grey-coloured plastic. Surface detail is via engraved panel lines, a few raised details and a number of access panels, but no rivets, which is a bit odd with a type notorious as "60,000 rivets in close formation"!. Airfix have opted to add quite a bit of interior detail, in fact the first 27 stages deal with just that, and about 90% of it you will never see again once the fuselage halves are closed - still, we know its there, right. The bomb bay can be posed open or closed, with optional parts needed for each layout. The nose cannon are installed in one of the decals options, but not the other, so there is an alternative nose cap to deal with this. You also have alternative parts to deal with the B17 mid-upper turret, which again is only fitted to the first decal option. Stage 41 has you gluing the overhead console into the canopy, which is going to be a bit beyond the less experienced modellers, and a recipe for disaster (Gator Glue to the rescue). The wings are held via nice sturdy spar stubs and the wheel wells have excellent detail, including a separate oil tank. You have options for the louvred or fully shrouded exhausts, again because these apply to the two decal options. The split flaps are separate, so you can have these up or down, with ribs moulded inside the upper wing halves (these may be a bit too basic for some). The tyres are 'weighted' and feature a diamond-block tread pattern. Torpedoes and depth charges are included for the bomb bay should you pose it open and the inner and outer skins of the bomb doors are separate parts. The ventral radar 'dustbin' can be shown lowered or retracted, the former for a model in-flight, the latter for it on the ground. Landing lights, formation lights and wing tip lights are all separate and in clear plastic - well done Airfix. The big 'telegraph pole insulator' is a two-piece item and the mid-upper B17 turret has the cupola in front and rear halves, just like the real thing. The propellers build up as front and rear sections, but the sprues attach to the edge of each blade, so its going to be pretty tedious tidying these up without damaging the blade profile. The final detail is the crew access ladder in the starboard rear fuselage side
Inside the big box you will find a single clear sprue (separately bagged) and eight in the usual light grey-coloured plastic. Surface detail is via engraved panel lines, a few raised details and a number of access panels, but no rivets, which is a bit odd with a type notorious as "60,000 rivets in close formation"!. Airfix have opted to add quite a bit of interior detail, in fact the first 27 stages deal with just that, and about 90% of it you will never see again once the fuselage halves are closed - still, we know its there, right. The bomb bay can be posed open or closed, with optional parts needed for each layout. The nose cannon are installed in one of the decals options, but not the other, so there is an alternative nose cap to deal with this. You also have alternative parts to deal with the B17 mid-upper turret, which again is only fitted to the first decal option. Stage 41 has you gluing the overhead console into the canopy, which is going to be a bit beyond the less experienced modellers, and a recipe for disaster (Gator Glue to the rescue). The wings are held via nice sturdy spar stubs and the wheel wells have excellent detail, including a separate oil tank. You have options for the louvred or fully shrouded exhausts, again because these apply to the two decal options. The split flaps are separate, so you can have these up or down, with ribs moulded inside the upper wing halves (these may be a bit too basic for some). The tyres are 'weighted' and feature a diamond-block tread pattern. Torpedoes and depth charges are included for the bomb bay should you pose it open and the inner and outer skins of the bomb doors are separate parts. The ventral radar 'dustbin' can be shown lowered or retracted, the former for a model in-flight, the latter for it on the ground. Landing lights, formation lights and wing tip lights are all separate and in clear plastic - well done Airfix. The big 'telegraph pole insulator' is a two-piece item and the mid-upper B17 turret has the cupola in front and rear halves, just like the real thing. The propellers build up as front and rear sections, but the sprues attach to the edge of each blade, so its going to be pretty tedious tidying these up without damaging the blade profile. The final detail is the crew access ladder in the starboard rear fuselage side