Avro Shackleton Airliner

[McColm]

Hi,
Just as the Air Ministry converted Britishheavy bomber aircraft into transporters and airliners such as the;
Shorts Stirling
Lancaster
Halifax
Wellington

I was thinking along the lines of taking a Avro Shackleton Mk3 and adding the Merlin engines from a Revell Lancaster MkI/MkIII instead of the Griffons. A Speedpack could replace the bomb bay. The forward observation housing in the nose section to be cut out and made flat. The dipping sonar removed and blanked over. The rear glazed section could be painted to resemble a solid cone.

1/72 Avro Carlton  Inflight Refueling Tanker
I've used the fuselage from a Frog 1/72 Avro Shackleton and added the wings, engines and landing gear from an Airfix Super Constellation. The forward landing gear has been blanked over as I lost the landing doors from the Frog kit and I've used the tail wheel from the Lancaster kit. The Bomb bay doors were glued in the open position as I was building a maritime patrol version when I started this project, but I've added the closed doors of the weapons bay from the Airfix BAe Nimrod to form a long range tank in the belly of the fuselage. The rear of the tank was blanked off with plastikard, in the front I found a small round stand base and cut this down to size. The refueling tanks come from a David J Perkings resin C-130 set and the propellors are from the Lancaster set (the do not use section). The dipping sonar has been repostioned under the nose section and the hole filled in.

[The Wooksta!]

The closest you'd get to a Shackleton airliner is a Tudor, which used Lincoln wings and engines married to a new pressurised airliner fuselage.  Some Tudors had the Shackleton style extended inner nacelles aft of the trailing edge.

Shacks were used as airliners, sort of, ferrying troops in the middle east.

I do have plans for a Tudor/Shack mash up, using the Frog/Novo/Revell wings with the fuselage and tail surfaces of the Magna Ashton.  I've done some dry fitting and it'll work.  The Ashton bits then go on teh Shack for a jet engined version.

[Captain Canada]

Sounds like a plan ! A shack would look cool with a speedpack, especially with the nose gear.

[McColm]

I got the idea from a copy of Aeroplane Collectors' Archive "Early Post-war British Airliners" Cutaways and archive images.
The series covers:
British Bombers of World War 2
British Fighters of World War 2
Great Brish Flying Boats from 1930- to the end of the flying boat era
Great British Flying Boats from the 1900s to the 1930s

[McColm]

I've been experimenting with the Shackleton nose, trying to loose the observation window by cutting and sanding flat. A piece of plasticard works to fill the gap. Cargo doors can be scrubbed on the fuselage doors or cut out and reglued. I'll source some interior photos or scratch build my own. The engines could be moved further away from the fuselage to cut down the noise.

[Captain Canada]

Let's see some progress pics ?

[McColm]

Sorry Captain,
Until I find a room of my own to call home. I can't start any Whiffs. The collection has been sold to pay for my rent arrears and spare parts are down at the recycling center. I'm sleeping in someone's spare boxroom until I can pay a deposite on rented accommodation.
All future Whiffs will be starting from scratch, should be before Christmas.