Avro Anson Mk.I

Special Hobby, 1/72 scale

Reviewed by Glen Porter

 Special Hobby's 1/72 scale Anson will be available online from Squadron.com
 

A Brief History

Designed and first flown in 1934/35, the Avro 652A was selected by the RAF as their anti-submarine patrol aircraft and named the Anson. Equipping Coastal Command Squadrons from 1935, by 1940 the Anson was being replaced by Hudsons and relegated to training duties. Many went overseas to Australia and other Commonwealth countries for the Commonwealth Air Training Scheme.

The Mk.II and Mk.III were built in Canada using different engines and some were supplied to the USAAF as the AT-20. Avro Anson production lasted until 1952 in a much modified form.

The Model

The only 1/72nd scale Anson to date is the old Airfix kit which had some serious shape problems and lacked detail, particularly in the interior of the cockpit which was quite visible through the extensive glazing.

Classic Airframes came to the rescue in 1/48 scale and now Special Hobby have honoured us in Braille. So far, this is solely the later wartime Mk.I with the steeper raked windscreen, but I have no doubt the pre-war version will appear soon.

And yes, it has been worth the wait.

The model is presented in Special Hobby's mid-grey plastic with satin texture, very fine engraved detail, raised where necessary and excellent treatment of the fabric covered surfaces, there is no flash, sink marks or ejector pin marks on exposed areas. With most of the interior, engines and cowlings in beautifully cast resin and PE, and all the clear parts are injection moulded, this has got to be one of their best. However, remember this model has no alignment pins and being multi-media means it is not intended for the inexperienced modeller.

The “A” sprue carries the two fuselage halves, interior floor, gun turret insert, wheels, props, undercarriage legs plus some parts for later models such as Canadian cowlings and insert for the unarmed trainers instead of the gun turret.

“B” has the three piece wing, horizontal tail planes and two more interior parts.

The clear sprue has the two piece main canopy, two alternative noses, upper and lower part of the gun turret, a landing light and two side windows. The landing light and one of the clear noses are not used in this kit.

The extensive resin includes all the smaller interior parts like side walls and framing, seats, controls, radios, nav table, bomb aimer's instruments, engines with separate cylinders, cowlings and some turret interior parts.

PE includes instrument panel, seat harnesses, prop centres and control actuators.

A few years ago, modelers including myself were complaining that Special Hobby's decals had a red that was far too bright. That is not the case now. These decals by Aviprint are spot-on. Good colours and colour density, perfect register, minimum and very glossy carrier film.

There are markings for three aircraft.

• Anson Mk.I N9732/MK-V from 500 Sqn (County of Kent) RAF, Detling, June 1940. This Anson, along with two others, was involved in shooting down two BF 109s.

• Next is Anson Mk.I N9629/YG-E from 502 Sqn (Ulster) RAF, Aldergrove, June 1940.

• Last but not least, Anson Mk.I N9670 from No.9 FTS (Flying Training School) RAF, September 1939. The first two have Dark Green/Dark Earth uppers and Silver Dope under surface while the third has the same upper colours but Trainer Yellow below.
  
  
  
   

MPM/Special Hobby kits don't come much better than this. Apart from the lack of alignment pins, the plastic in the box is almost as good as that from the likes of Tamiya or Hasagawa. The resin, by CMK has always been good, as is the PE and decals.

To all those experienced Braille Scale Modellers, we too now have a very detailed Avro Anson. Enjoy!

Highly Recommended to experienced modellers.

Thanks to MPM/Special Hobby for the review sample.

Review Text Copyright © 2007 by Glen Porter
Images Copyright © 2007 by Brett Green
Page Created 18 November, 2007
Last updated 24 December, 2007

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