Over the years on this forum, there have been numerous topics such as "..what would I like to build.." or "what is your favourite twin.." or "Aircraft that are seldom modelled.." and quite often the Avro Anson is mentioned. It was not a type I had paid much attention to but around the middle of 2012, a New Zealand enthusiast finished 10 years work and flew a MK1 Anson and gained a world-wide pat on the back for having got flying a rare bird from WW2.

I saw a centre-fold picture in the 'Classic Wings magazine and I was hooked I was almost finished on a 1/12 scale He111 and suddenly had a new type jump to the top of my must-build list (rapidly becoming a bucket list ) So off I went on a search for information, plans, other models etc. Surprisingly there are few models out there that show up on the web. The best I found was huge (84" - 1/8 scale) and a tempting plan was the 36" Towner FF Cox PeeWee powered model. Both looked like good plans but I finally bit the bullet and purchased the Duncan Hutson plan from Traplet Australia - ex stock! It was huge, fairly detailed and looked accurate - just what I wanted......more later.

Pat

Neat! If this is the build thread, I'll be following.

I bought the remains of a full size one from a farmer in Canterbury for the sum of 10 pounds in 1967. It eventually ended up with restorer in Auckland (who also has an Oxford)
Anyway. more to the point here a some shots of it on the farm showing the structure.As one of the last to fly with the RNZAF it had been fitted with Cheetah 10s and Oxford cowls.

Amazing Kiwi! I imagine Bill Reid (owner of the restored Mk1) would have loved to get that much for 10 quid
I have a much less personal affinity with the type - I was born and grew up in New Plymouth when the Ansons of the Recconaissance Training School were based there. Obviously I knew nothing about them as a 2-3 year old

I assume from the photos, your one had wooden wings etc? If so could you tell if there was any fabric doped over them?

Great pictures - thanks for that - I particularly like the one of the exposed UC legs!

Cheers - Pat

Pat,

What engines does the Plan call for? must be zenoah sized.

I will be following along as well.

George

The plan is by Duncan Hutson - a fairly well known UK designer, now retired from the model kit business - his plans have been taken up by Traplet. They are a bit daunting but not TOO difficult. The lack of build notes results in some head scratching and I have no idea if the design was ever published in a magazine or not so I'll do my best! Another photo shows part of the landing gear mechanism - a large sail-winch servo driving shafts out to the nacelles via universal couplings to drive the wheel lift mechanisms through 180 deg. This may get some revision!

I believe I have all the published books on the type including the pilot's notes and the rather useful maintenance manual. Also very useful is Hutson's book on building scale model aircraft - not as good as Gordon Whiteheads but it deals with his methods and has some of the Anson model in it.

My intention, if I start this project, is to model an aircraft from the NZ Reccon. Training school - virtually identical to the British versions of Mk1s.

I really enjoy the collecting and researching phase of the project, the history, flying accounts and general background stuff.

Pat

Originally Posted by GeorgeG97322

Pat,

What engines does the Plan call for? must be zenoah sized.

I will be following along as well.

George

Wait for it George - two .32 sized two strokes! This is a non-aerobatic, low performance machine - ideal for electric conversion! One of the reasons I was keen on Hutson's plan

Pat

My father flew in Ansons in WW2 - he was mostly in Rhodesia. I've often fancied having a go at building Duncan's Annie, so it'll be interesting to follow your build and see how you tackle the difficult bits (u/c).

Originally Posted by maltone

Another photo shows part of the landing gear mechanism - a large sail-winch servo driving shafts out to the nacelles via universal couplings to drive the wheel lift mechanisms through 180 deg. This may get some revision!

Pat

Can you slow the servo enough to replicate the pilot cranking the U/C handle a million times???

Looks like a great project!

Rich

Gordon - it'll be a bit of a learning experience for me too!

Rich, from most of what I read, the pilot got some other poor lackey to wind the UC up and down. The restored one I saw at the air show had a later hydraulic system - cheating

Pat

Pat,

By sheer co-incidence, one of my clubmates (here in the UK) has also purchased this very plan with a view to making it a major project, although I believe he wants to put a matched pair of small 4-strokes in it.

I'll send him the link to this thread.

tim

Tim - I'd better do something to make it worth your mate looking - and a major project it sure is. Construction is a bit weird in places - mostly because of the cabin area being highly visible and offering almost no strength to the fuselage. Should be fun. Maybe you could keep me tuned as to how he's progressing ?

Pat

OK, so I didn't just buy the plan. The local Traplet distributer in Sydney said that they are now stocking locally, not only plans but kits of FG and clear moulded parts and the laser-cut wood kits And as a Christmas special - at a substantial discount. I'd always though the UK magazines wood-packs a bit expensive but with the OZ dollar being strong AND a discount, it was a no brainer! So after a lot of confusion due to Xmas mail and parcel post delays, I have all the 'extras' Traplet offered. I had and still have a few reservations about laser cut parts for hand drawn plans as often the fit is not as good as a totally CAD product but when the wood arrived, I felt $150 for over 50 sheets of ply and balsa parts would save me some knife work
Cowls were available in both smooth and 'bumped' to suit different engined Ansons - I chose the bumps as they have more character and suit the aircraft I want to model.
So I guess I had better build having spent the money! But not just yet.....

Pat

WOW! Sounds like an outstanding deal to me.

Larry

To me the best parts are the vacu-formed cowls and canopies. Making each of the blisters on the cowl would be a lot of work. Looks like the cowls even have rivit bumps too.

150 sounds steep, but 3 per sheet sounds really good. Yeah, save a lot of cutting. Still kind of hard to realize the size of it.

George