Hi Guys, I'm back - after a longer gap than I'd originally hoped. I'm trying to balance three projects at the moment and unfortunately something had to suffer. But the good news is that I've managed to get some more visually interesting work done on the Lanc, in parallel with some boring unseen work – repairs, stringing etc. The further good news is; I think I've reached the half way mark on this build, allowing for a lot of out of sequence building that I've already completed. Hopefully, by the end of September I should be able to get a clear run at it again and hope to make rapid progress on the remainder of the build.
The two pieces I'm posting are back to the recommended sequence of the build. The first completes the dinghy stowage hatch for the starboard wing, and incorporates the first piece of metal skinning for the wing.
The first shot is what's supplied: the skin for the wing section; the hatch exterior and inner frame. The actual wing section had been built and painted earlier.
The next shows the hatch riveted and assembled along with the riveting of the skin. The thickness of the metal has created some problems, as the pressure I've had to apply to the riveting wheel to get the rivets to show through the thickness of the metal skin has caused the rivet wheel to 'skid' and create double indentations. My solution has been just to lightly mark the rivet positions with the wheel and impress each individual rivet with the stylus shown. It's time consuming but the result is better, I hope. But I'm going to have to do this for the entire exterior!
Next, the inside of the hatch door and skin got a coat of primer, then painted in interior green with the section over the flaps, in black. Some light weathering has been applied.
The dinghies came as blocks of cast metal that just needed painting to pick out the detail. First they were primed then airbrushed with shades of yellow to suggest creasing. The inflation cylinder was painted and a spare decal added to the dial. I wasn't sure whether the stripes were painted on or were retaining straps.
The type J dinghy and bottle in position in the wing and the extra equipment stowed on the hatch door.
Here the skin is loosely positioned over the wing structure, with the hatch open. The instructions call for the skin to be attached to the frame at this point but I don't want to commit to that until I decide whether there will be any cut away on the panel.
The hatch should be removable so it can be either seen open or closed. I'll probably pose it open. These also show how this section relates to the overall wing structure.
The next issue I tackled was the construction of the flap or worm jack. I had some good references for this.
And here's the magazine's version. This comes as five slotted strips glued together laterally across the width and a brass 'screw'. Then the top is filed to create the rounded shape. This is then supposed to be riveted and painted, directly on the wooden finish. Compared to the reference it still looks totally wrong, being too low with too much of the screw visible. Having some spare metal skin available I thought I could improve it with a little time and effort. First I added an extra layer to the base (the brown layer) and after a bit of cutting, riveting and shaping the metal and adding plastic strip, I think it's more believable looking now, particularly when painted.
That's as far as I've got. Having test fitted the jack, I think the magazine is indicating the wrong position for it. I need to check that carefully and check its position against the alignment of the flap hinge rods, to make sure they line up.
Having seen it in position though, I'm struck how cluttered that part of the fuselage was. With the main spars and the flap screw, it became a real obstacle course for the crew.
This got me thinking about the emergency exit procedures for the crew in the event of the aircraft being shot down and the crew forced to bale out. The spars were an obvious obstacle. Was the expectation that the five crew forward of the spars use the escape hatch in the nose? How about the mid-upper and tail gunners? Was the entrance door an option for their escape or was that discouraged because of the danger of being hit by the tail plane? I'm sure Terry or Ian might be able to throw some light on the official directions the crews were given, if any.
I'll leave it at that for the moment and post again when I make some more progress.
Gerry