Czech Master Resin 1/72 Avro Type 685 York   By Jim Schubert

History

The Type 685 York was an in-house, private-venture project undertaken by Avro. The first flight was on July 5, 1942 from Ringway Airport at Manchester. The RAF was immediately interested and asked that the prototype's Rolls-Royce Merlin Vee-12s be replaced with Bristol Hercules radials. During flight testing of this configuration the RAF complained of directional instability so a fixed central fin was added, which eliminated the problem. The RAF chose not to proceed with Hercules power but for some, unknown, reason Avro retained the central fin.

The delivery of 208 Yorks to the RAF began in 1943 and 50 civil Yorks went to B.O.A.C. in 1944. All were delivered in Dark Earth and Dark Green over Black camouflage. The B.O.A.C. planes had overly large gray civil registrations outlined in silver atop the camouflage; the fuselage registrations were underlined with a red, white and blue flash. The B.O.A.C. planes also carried RAF fin flashes but no other national insignia.

In normal airline service the York was configured for 24 passengers and a crew of five: pilot, co-pilot, radio operator, navigator and steward. In freighter service a load-master was carried instead of a steward. As the Yorks passed on from RAF and B.O.AC. service they were bought up by second-tier private operators and generally reconfigured for up to 65 passengers. The last were generally retired in the 1960s. Dan-Air of Lasham, Sussex was the last operator of the type.

The York's finest hour was, undoubtedly, during the 1948/49 Berlin Airlift when 35 RAF Yorks and three chartered from private operator Skyways flew 61% of all the British tonnage carried during that ordeal for the loss of two planes and crews; one RAF and one Skyways.

The Kit

We have a first! A CMR kit in a big, very stout box with a computer rendered profile atop it from our Publisher, Chris Banyai-Riepl. A conversion kit is singularly appropriate as the actual York was a conversion from the Lancaster. The York is a big 'un; the 13" (375mm) fuselage is 1 3/4 " (44mm) longer than the donor Lancaster. CMR note that this conversion is intended for use with the Airfix Lancaster kit. I'm sure, however, that it can be mated with the Hasegawa Lancaster (released last week at the IPMS/USA Nationals in Atlanta) without much difficulty. That would save you having to sand all the raised panel lines and tennis ball size rivets from the Airfix wings, tail and nacelles. You might also consider mating this kit with the Matchbox Lancaster; I wouldn't.

The kit gives you the (very impressive) fuselage, a fully detailed front office, the outboard fin/rudder assemblies, the central fin, four broad-chord props, spinners, tires, separate inner/outer wheels, an optional cargo door, new exhausts, control surface mass balances, optional tail wheels, an RDF football and two very clear vac canopies; altogether 84 parts comprise the kit, of which half are individual windows! The graphic instructions show the windows being installed from outside. I don't think this will work as both the windows and the window holes are straight-sided cylinders so if you wait until after painting to install the windows there's nothing to keep them from going right through and being lost forever inside the fuselage.

I reckon you'll just have to install them after the fuselage interior is painted, before the halves are joined, and use liquid mask on each window. Tedious. Oh and you might as well paint the inside black as there's no cabin interior detail and even if there was, it couldn't be see through those, many, tiny round windows. The only graphic reference I found for the York's interior is the James Clark cutaway done for Aeroplane, reproduced in the book Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways ( see References below). This shows that you should insert sight-blocking bulkheads into the fuselage fore and aft of the wing and aft of the cargo door outline.

As usual, with current CMR production, the castings are flawless.

The decals are beautiful; printed in good color and in perfect register. My only beef is with the choice of subjects and that is, of course, a very personal matter. CMR provide colors and markings for three airplanes in five guises:

1. Two very slightly different markings for Endeavor, MW140, of the RAF as the personal plane of the Governor General of Australia in 1945/7.

2. Two significantly different markings for G-ANTK of Dan-Air as it was when in Dan-Air Service and as it is now restored at Duxford.

3. G-AGJA of B.O.A.C. as it was camouflaged in early 1944. I would like to have seen one, or both, of the post war airliner schemes used by B.O.A.C. but that's just me - I'm a piecenik.

Conclusion

Do I like it? Yes! Very much. To the extent that immediately it arrived, I phoned my local plastic connection, Emil Minerich of Skyways Model Shop in Seattle, to order an Airfix Lanc. Now, however, that I know the Hasegawa kit is out, I think I'll cancel the Airfix order and get it instead. I think I'll do B.O.A.C.'s G-AGOE, Medway, as she was in bare metal in 1946 and do the markings - except for the Union Jack - by hand. By the way, the B.O.A.C. Yorks were in their "M" class, all having names starting with the letter "M"; thus Medway, Mandalay, Malvern, Marville, &c.

One question remains. Having done the York, will Messrs. CMR now do a Lancastrian? Seems the obvious thing to do.

References

1. Profile #168 is, after all these years, still the best one-source reference on this subject.

2. Classic World War II Aircraft Cutaways: Bill Gunston, Osprey, 1995, UK, ISBN 1-855325268.

3. The Internet: For the first time I tried the Internet for research (I'm a Luddite). I Googled "Avro York" and got 549 entries! Tedious work but there were some gems amongst the dross.