Crimea_River
Marshal
Wonderful work Gerry. The only question I think I can answer correctly is that the axes would be bare steel, not red.
1:32 scale Lancaster Mk.1 Hachette Partworks
- Thread starter Gerry
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- Thread starter
- #762
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Thanks Wurger, Wayne, Gnomey, David and Andy. And Andy thanks for your confirmation on the axes. I had seen some of these for sale on ebay and gathered that the bare metal was authentic.
Pbehn, I have only come across 3 completed kits since I started this project. One was the completed kit on display at a Show in Germany, I think. The second was a build thread on The Diecast Aviation Forum by a chap going by the username "Old 'un". Very sadly, this person died before he could complete the build. And finally a very fine build by 'Dougie B' also appeared as part of the "Old 'un" thread. This can also be seen in more detail on Flickr under Lee Douglas Brown. They're the only ones I know of. I'll post some further comments in my reply to Sancer.
Cheers,
Gerry
Pbehn, I have only come across 3 completed kits since I started this project. One was the completed kit on display at a Show in Germany, I think. The second was a build thread on The Diecast Aviation Forum by a chap going by the username "Old 'un". Very sadly, this person died before he could complete the build. And finally a very fine build by 'Dougie B' also appeared as part of the "Old 'un" thread. This can also be seen in more detail on Flickr under Lee Douglas Brown. They're the only ones I know of. I'll post some further comments in my reply to Sancer.
Cheers,
Gerry
- Thread starter
- #763
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Gerry I have a few questions:
Already finished receiving weekly shipments? If not how many left?
How long before March 2013 started to receive shipments?
To give an idea of what you have in your hands, tell us how much assembly you with respect to material that you've received?
Sancer, I'll try to answer your questions as briefly as I can. I had received all the issues before I started building in March 2013. There were 126 issues in all, one per week - that's 2 years and 6 months approx, so I guess the first issue arrived around September 2010. I think the final issue arrived in February 2013. I decided to wait for the full set because I had no way of knowing exactly what was going to be supplied. It would have been really helpful if a list of contents had been published but it never was, so I needed to wait to see what I needed to add to the build. I have followed a build that was built as the issues arrived - the "Old 'Un" as mentioned above but he was forced into making corrections as the wrong instructions were given in some instances. By waiting for somebody else to find the mistakes, I think I saved myself a lot of trouble and time.
I think I'm just over half way through the build. It's hard to say because a lot of the work on the main cabin and the bomb aimer's position was done out of sequence from later issues of the magazine, just so I could feel I was making real progress. Realistically, There's at least another 12 months, at least, before it's completed. Hope to be still around to see it finished! Hope that helps.
Sláinte,
Gerry
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Gerry, I've been having problems with the forum running slow, and lots of 'Page Not Found' messages. I sent you an e-mail with info on the axes, First Aid kits etc.
SANCER
Senior Master Sergeant
Gerry, I really appreciate the time you took to respond. Over here in Mexico there are several issues that you can get by subscribing or purchasing weekly or monthly directly to the specialist shop or a newsstand. You get from collections of jazz history, until about assembling a computer ... but I have not heard of a modeling project. 
I am sure we will have wonderful teachings, tips and time to continue enjoying your work.
We will continue enjoying and sharing the time you needed.
On here I'll be watching what brings to us your big plane.
Good luck and best wishes.
Sláinte,
Luis Carlos
SANCER
I am sure we will have wonderful teachings, tips and time to continue enjoying your work.
We will continue enjoying and sharing the time you needed.
On here I'll be watching what brings to us your big plane.
Good luck and best wishes.
Sláinte,
Luis Carlos
SANCER
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- Thread starter
- #766
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Thanks Terry and Luis Carlos (Sancer).
Terry I've sent a reply to your e-mail.
Luis Carlos, There is a tradition here that these 'part-works' are usually launched in September, as they think that people are looking for something to do in the dark evenings of winter! Hachette http://www.hachettepartworks.com seems to offer different subjects to different markets. For example they launched A 1/32 scale all metal Stuka to some countries in continental Europe but this was not available either in the UK or Ireland. This year's subject is a U-Boat which is currently available. You should check out their website, as they may have some models you could subscribe to from Mexico.
Gerry
Terry I've sent a reply to your e-mail.
Luis Carlos, There is a tradition here that these 'part-works' are usually launched in September, as they think that people are looking for something to do in the dark evenings of winter! Hachette http://www.hachettepartworks.com seems to offer different subjects to different markets. For example they launched A 1/32 scale all metal Stuka to some countries in continental Europe but this was not available either in the UK or Ireland. This year's subject is a U-Boat which is currently available. You should check out their website, as they may have some models you could subscribe to from Mexico.
Gerry
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SANCER
Senior Master Sergeant
Very interesting your suggestion Gerry, I will review the site, that would be another option to acquire something of utility or pleasure.
Thanks for your answer and I do not lose follow of your workbench.
Un fuerte abrazo.
SANCER
Thanks for your answer and I do not lose follow of your workbench.
Un fuerte abrazo.
SANCER
- Thread starter
- #769
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Hi again,
Thought I'd better make another post as it's been a couple of weeks since my last outing. I'm trying to keep a bit of momentum going on this build along with a couple of other projects I have on.
In the meantime thanks to Sancer and Javlin for looking in.
I haven't exactly been sitting on my hands, but a lot of the work in the issues I'm currently tackling is still adding stringers and riveting and preparing skins. At this point, the instructions are telling me to paint the internal sides and store them carefully for later installation! So, not a lot of great photos opportunities there.
One thing I need some clarification on though, is the skinning of the ailerons and elevators. My understanding was that the ailerons and elevators were fabric covered on service Lancasters. Was this changed to metal skins at any stage during the war? The magazine has both with riveted metal skins. Were any other control surfaces fabric covered?
There are also some reasonable shots, in The Haynes manual, of the rear turret of the BBMF Lancaster, showing part of the elevators that are so smooth (no indication of fabric stretching over the ribs) that it seems that this Lanc may now have metal skinned elevators, but I'm happy to be corrected if I'm mistaken.
Now back to something I can show pictures of.
Here I decided to make that extra effort on the previously assembled port inner flap. I wanted to simulate the corrugated reinforcing panels as shown by both Airframes and Lucky13 in posts 748 750 on page 50. My LHS also stocks a large selection of model railway accessories so I was hopeful I could get something to simulate the effect.
Sure enough, they had a good selection of Evergreen sheet styrene. I found some 'metal cladding' with 1mm slats. The only disadvantage was that the sheets are a little thick at 1mm. I had to cut the sections individually to fit the existing spaces between the ribs. This was complicated by the fact that the spaces weren't rectangular but have angled sides, so careful measuring and marking was required. If I can thin the styrene sheet sufficiently, I would try to position a single strip of styrene, in place of the stringers perhaps, on the remaining sections of flaps, when I come to do them. I have also decided to return the flaps to interior green.
There were also some interior bits I could assemble and paint.
Two metal ammo containers, with hinged lids were assembled. Also supplied were 2 strips of .303 bullets to go into the boxes but I also have the option of using pre-painted PE ammo strips, from a previous build. The shelf and stowage box are for insertion in the rear port section, next to the rear turret.
(I see from my notes that there are two further ammo boxes, along with the long ammo tracks to be assembled and installed about 10 issues further along).
The next thing was to assemble the 2nd Merlin engine.
I assembled the parts to be painted black, leaving the bare metal parts to be added later, closer to installation. There is also a problem that's been flagged, of a poor fit to the nacelles, so final assembly will be left till then, when I can see where the problem lies. Both engines were then painted.
Finally, with the exception of the engines, I only had time to give the newly assembled parts a coat of primer, prior to final painting.
Once painted, these can be installed, along with another parachute and the various bags and tools from the previous assemblies. I'm going to have to step away from my workbench for about 10 days but, when back, I should be able to show some more progress on the interior installation.
That's it for now.
Cheers,
Gerry
Thought I'd better make another post as it's been a couple of weeks since my last outing. I'm trying to keep a bit of momentum going on this build along with a couple of other projects I have on.
In the meantime thanks to Sancer and Javlin for looking in.
I haven't exactly been sitting on my hands, but a lot of the work in the issues I'm currently tackling is still adding stringers and riveting and preparing skins. At this point, the instructions are telling me to paint the internal sides and store them carefully for later installation! So, not a lot of great photos opportunities there.
One thing I need some clarification on though, is the skinning of the ailerons and elevators. My understanding was that the ailerons and elevators were fabric covered on service Lancasters. Was this changed to metal skins at any stage during the war? The magazine has both with riveted metal skins. Were any other control surfaces fabric covered?
There are also some reasonable shots, in The Haynes manual, of the rear turret of the BBMF Lancaster, showing part of the elevators that are so smooth (no indication of fabric stretching over the ribs) that it seems that this Lanc may now have metal skinned elevators, but I'm happy to be corrected if I'm mistaken.
Now back to something I can show pictures of.
Here I decided to make that extra effort on the previously assembled port inner flap. I wanted to simulate the corrugated reinforcing panels as shown by both Airframes and Lucky13 in posts 748 750 on page 50. My LHS also stocks a large selection of model railway accessories so I was hopeful I could get something to simulate the effect.
Sure enough, they had a good selection of Evergreen sheet styrene. I found some 'metal cladding' with 1mm slats. The only disadvantage was that the sheets are a little thick at 1mm. I had to cut the sections individually to fit the existing spaces between the ribs. This was complicated by the fact that the spaces weren't rectangular but have angled sides, so careful measuring and marking was required. If I can thin the styrene sheet sufficiently, I would try to position a single strip of styrene, in place of the stringers perhaps, on the remaining sections of flaps, when I come to do them. I have also decided to return the flaps to interior green.
There were also some interior bits I could assemble and paint.
Two metal ammo containers, with hinged lids were assembled. Also supplied were 2 strips of .303 bullets to go into the boxes but I also have the option of using pre-painted PE ammo strips, from a previous build. The shelf and stowage box are for insertion in the rear port section, next to the rear turret.
(I see from my notes that there are two further ammo boxes, along with the long ammo tracks to be assembled and installed about 10 issues further along).
The next thing was to assemble the 2nd Merlin engine.
I assembled the parts to be painted black, leaving the bare metal parts to be added later, closer to installation. There is also a problem that's been flagged, of a poor fit to the nacelles, so final assembly will be left till then, when I can see where the problem lies. Both engines were then painted.
Finally, with the exception of the engines, I only had time to give the newly assembled parts a coat of primer, prior to final painting.
Once painted, these can be installed, along with another parachute and the various bags and tools from the previous assemblies. I'm going to have to step away from my workbench for about 10 days but, when back, I should be able to show some more progress on the interior installation.
That's it for now.
Cheers,
Gerry
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great stuff Gerry.
As far as I know, all control surfaces were metal-skinned. I'll double check over the weekend and let you know - in a bit of a rush at the moment, getting ready for tomorrow's visit to Cosford.
As far as I know, all control surfaces were metal-skinned. I'll double check over the weekend and let you know - in a bit of a rush at the moment, getting ready for tomorrow's visit to Cosford.
Great work so far Gerry!
Crimea_River
Marshal
Great work Gerry.
Lucky13
Forum Mascot
Outstanding work as always Gerry!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
My mistake - appears that elevators and ailerons were fabric-covered, with flaps and rudders metal skinned.
- Thread starter
- #776
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Thanks everyone. Terry, hope you had an enjoyable time at Cosford. Thanks for confirming my research. Always good to get a considered second opinion. Further searching shows the BBMF Lancaster is now flying with metal skinned elevators, this is probably how the Magazine got it wrong. It's possibly down to post-war advances in lighter alloys.
Gerry
Terry, hope you had an enjoyable time at Cosford. Thanks for confirming my research. Always good to get a considered second opinion. Further searching shows the BBMF Lancaster is now flying with metal skinned elevators, this is probably how the Magazine got it wrong. It's possibly down to post-war advances in lighter alloys. Gerry
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Yes, I'd have to do further research, but I think they changed to alloy skin in late production, and I believe the Lincoln (what would have been the Lancaster MkIV) had metal-skinned control surfaces.
The BBMF Lanc already has Lincoln rudders, and a Lincoln tail wheel, so no surprise if the elevators were swapped out too at some stage.
And, of course, there's always the trap of looking at what's used on restored, airworthy aircraft, of any type, in the cause of safety, convenience, cost, comfort and reliability/economy. A certain well-known model manufacturer has very recently fallen into that particular trap, with the release of a 1/32nd scale Spitfire MkIIa ... ahem !
The BBMF Lanc already has Lincoln rudders, and a Lincoln tail wheel, so no surprise if the elevators were swapped out too at some stage.
And, of course, there's always the trap of looking at what's used on restored, airworthy aircraft, of any type, in the cause of safety, convenience, cost, comfort and reliability/economy. A certain well-known model manufacturer has very recently fallen into that particular trap, with the release of a 1/32nd scale Spitfire MkIIa ... ahem !
- Thread starter
- #778
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Hi everyone. I've been concentrating on getting the skinning up to date and that's taken me longer than I thought and has thrown up some unexpected problems. The first major piece of skinning is on the port outer wing. I should also say that the days are now so short that most of my building and all photography is done with artificial light or flash.
Here three skins are supplied to cover the wing area between the two main spars, as marked. I would have thought that it would have been easier to supply this as one piece. It is also important to get the orientation right, otherwise they won't fit properly. Also, I'm not sure that these follow the panel lines of the actual aircraft.
The three pieces were carefully taped together for marking as riveted panels. This was really difficult to get right, as some of the stringers don't span the full wing and it took a couple of attempts to get it right. It's not helped by the fact that the inner panel joins don't follow the stringers but cut across some of them. The other problem is attaching them firmly to the reduced surface area of the ribs and stringers. I used contact adhesive for this, as superglue would dry before half the wing was coated.
This is the result. It certainly shows stressed metal, but still shows the panel line joins. It was particularly hard to get a good contact when the joins were between stringers. As this wing is going to be fully skinned, I'm not too fussy about painting it all in interior green.
Had some problems with the contact adhesive as it is very viscous, strings almost immediately and lifts enamel paint off the inner surfaces. This is going to be a problem when the inner surfaces are visible on the finished model. Just wondering if anyone can recommend a thinner, non-stringing contact adhesive?
Still following the build sequence, the port and starboard inner wing trailing edge sections were skinned on top and the port, on the underside. No major concerns here except to leave a 1mm overhang on one side. You'll note that the flap interiors are now finished in interior green.
Next, the port inner flap was painted interior green and skinned, as in this montage of top and bottom.
Having confirmed that the elevators were fabric covered, I set about finding a good reference. The best I came up with is this diagram from the Lancaster Manual. This is marked Crown copyright, so there's a chance I'll end my days in the Tower of London! The skeleton for the elevator was assembled in post 754, page 51.
The drawings indicate that the fabric panels were joined and anchored to the ribs by strengthening strips of tape, so I thought I'd try to simulate that look.
I used the two metal shaped skins supplied for top and bottom because they were pre-shaped to curve around the leading edge. Then I added 0.7mm masking strips to mark the strips. This I felt would blend in after a couple of coats of primer and after surface painting, should almost disappear.
That's the skinning up to date and I could now add the pieces I had assembled in the last couple of posts.
First I added the two stowage bags in the rear fuselage, next to the crew door. I decided to add the canvas bag covers, made from masking tape, as I wasn't sure what these bags would contain.
In the crew rest section, between the wings, a second escape axe and an oxygen bottle holder were added and, further along, the torch and screwdriver are just visible.
A further parachute was added near the flap screw…
and a shelf and storage box added to the rear section, by the rear turret. The crawl board was given a surface of non-slip material (fine wet dry).
That's the build right up to date. Don't know that I'm going to get much more done now until after Christmas. Will post again as soon as I have something to show.
Gerry
Here three skins are supplied to cover the wing area between the two main spars, as marked. I would have thought that it would have been easier to supply this as one piece. It is also important to get the orientation right, otherwise they won't fit properly. Also, I'm not sure that these follow the panel lines of the actual aircraft.
The three pieces were carefully taped together for marking as riveted panels. This was really difficult to get right, as some of the stringers don't span the full wing and it took a couple of attempts to get it right. It's not helped by the fact that the inner panel joins don't follow the stringers but cut across some of them. The other problem is attaching them firmly to the reduced surface area of the ribs and stringers. I used contact adhesive for this, as superglue would dry before half the wing was coated.
This is the result. It certainly shows stressed metal, but still shows the panel line joins. It was particularly hard to get a good contact when the joins were between stringers. As this wing is going to be fully skinned, I'm not too fussy about painting it all in interior green.
Had some problems with the contact adhesive as it is very viscous, strings almost immediately and lifts enamel paint off the inner surfaces. This is going to be a problem when the inner surfaces are visible on the finished model. Just wondering if anyone can recommend a thinner, non-stringing contact adhesive?
Still following the build sequence, the port and starboard inner wing trailing edge sections were skinned on top and the port, on the underside. No major concerns here except to leave a 1mm overhang on one side. You'll note that the flap interiors are now finished in interior green.
Next, the port inner flap was painted interior green and skinned, as in this montage of top and bottom.
Having confirmed that the elevators were fabric covered, I set about finding a good reference. The best I came up with is this diagram from the Lancaster Manual. This is marked Crown copyright, so there's a chance I'll end my days in the Tower of London! The skeleton for the elevator was assembled in post 754, page 51.
The drawings indicate that the fabric panels were joined and anchored to the ribs by strengthening strips of tape, so I thought I'd try to simulate that look.
I used the two metal shaped skins supplied for top and bottom because they were pre-shaped to curve around the leading edge. Then I added 0.7mm masking strips to mark the strips. This I felt would blend in after a couple of coats of primer and after surface painting, should almost disappear.
That's the skinning up to date and I could now add the pieces I had assembled in the last couple of posts.
First I added the two stowage bags in the rear fuselage, next to the crew door. I decided to add the canvas bag covers, made from masking tape, as I wasn't sure what these bags would contain.
In the crew rest section, between the wings, a second escape axe and an oxygen bottle holder were added and, further along, the torch and screwdriver are just visible.
A further parachute was added near the flap screw…
and a shelf and storage box added to the rear section, by the rear turret. The crawl board was given a surface of non-slip material (fine wet dry).
That's the build right up to date. Don't know that I'm going to get much more done now until after Christmas. Will post again as soon as I have something to show.
Gerry
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SANCER
Senior Master Sergeant
Que bárbaro Gerry, it is amazing what you are accomplishing!!
Congratulations and still pending.
Saludos amigo.
Luis Carlos
SANCER
Congratulations and still pending.
Saludos amigo.
Luis Carlos
SANCER
