Hi Guys,
I'm coming back to you a little later that I had hoped. I ran into some unforeseen problems on the Lanc and also, the gentleman below took up more of my time to paint that I first thought.
This was a 1/32 Cockpit Wings Figure of Adolf Galland I had picked up at the Hendon Model Show earlier this year. I had put him aside as not urgent, then my local IPMS Society was invited to exhibit at the Ulster Aviation Society Open Day last Saturday and I thought that this would be an ideal opportunity to include him in my old Matchbox Bf 109E display. So I was working on him and the Lanc simultaneously and I had to put the Lanc to one side to get him finished in time.
The Lanc also had its moments. As you will remember I was working on the wing heater ducts. Next is a shot from the magazine as to how they saw this looking.
This looked very anaemic to me, compared to the few photo references I have for this area, so I hoped I could improve on their finish. First though, I had to build the duct wing covers. I had already decided to complete both port and starboard sides for efficency, although the magazine separates these to much later issues.
Photos 1 2.
Photo 1 shows the basic construction of these parts. Presumably, because of the manufacturing limitations, the ribs come with bottom cross members which have to be cut away and sanded when the cover is assembled and strung.
Photo 2 shows the finished ribs with the bases cut away and metal panels, heater duct inlets and metal end pieces added, ready for painting
I then started on the wiring and cables on the inner wing sections.
Photo 3.
The instructions suggest pre-painting the wooden frame before adding the cables but because I have some reference shots of some of these in green I thought that I'd add the throttle/control cables, from brass rod, before I started stringing and painting. Also, as these are control cables they tend to be straight and under tension, unlike the loose feel in the photo from the magazine. The die cast ducts were constantly dry fitted to make sure that they would fit properly with the cables installed.
It was my intention to have the hinged covers moveable so that they could swing open to reveal the ducts and plumbing inside. The instructions allow for this. Unfortunately this is where the unforeseen problem arose.
Photo 4.
To allow the wing duct covers to open and close flush to the spar I needed to leave 4mm at both the top and bottom of the spar. This, compared to the real Lanc, doesn't look at all accurate as the full spar height is crammed with plumbing in the references I have. Based on my references (the best of which unfortunately don't have the actual ducts fitted) I tried to 'fill out' the plumbing based on actual photos, as in
photo 5.
I think that this looks much more like the real thing but it will be at the expense of being able to close the starboard cover. As it was always my intention to fully skin the port side to show the unbroken line of the Lanc, I have compromised with the plumbing on the port side. I have put in only enough plumbing to allow the cover to open and shut. This gives me the option to show the movable cover closed on that side or, should I think the final model would show better with both covers open, I still could add the extra plumbing at a later date.
Photos 6 7 show how the wings should marry to the fuselage with the covers on
7 posed as they might finally appear.
I also finished stringing and painting the two inner trailing edges, with the black portion being the top inner flap section.
Photo 8.
Finally, a couple of shots of how the competed sections are looking at this point. The sections are joined by cocktail sticks and propped up on paint bottles and coins and I've temporarily positioned all the internal detail that's finished and painted. The scalpel and tweezers are just to give some idea of scale. This model is already too big to photograph in my work room and has to be brought to the kitchen table.
That's where I am to date. I think that the next few issues start on the fully retractable undercarriage. That should be interesting.
Cheers,
Gerry