1:32 scale Lancaster Mk.1 Hachette Partworks

Merry Christmas Gerry! Looking forward to the next update on the build.

A-Fricken-Men!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Happy Holidays Gerry and all the best for the new year. Thanks to Andy's photos I finally remembered to Google the purpose of the mass balances.

Geo

Merry christmas to you too Gerry, and with all: really looking forward to seeing your next progress here!

Dear Gerry, I hope you spent a nice Christmas, and as a comment on the forum friends , we are aware that we follow surprising with your Lanc. in 2015.

Happy New Year and thanks for sharing your work.

Feliz y próspero año 2015!!

Luis Carlos
SANCER

Hi again. It's taken me a bit longer than I'd hoped to get back into this build since the holidays. However I haven't been totally idle. Since then, I took the opportunity to do an audit of the remaining issues with a view to finishing the internal detailling of the fuselage sections.

With this in mind, I pulled all of the remaining parts for the insides and worked out what else needs to be scratch-built to complete this part of the build. Initially, I want to complete sections 5 6 of the fuselage, with section 6 being the rearmost section.



Section 6 is almost complete but section 5 needs almost complete detailling. Here are just some of the parts for these sections.



A. the metal doors assembled that isolate the rear gunner from the rest of the aircraft. Photo shows front and back. Handles will be added after painting.

B. Hydraulic resevoirs and pumps for section 5, which houses the dorsal turret.

C. Portable oxygen bottles and fire extingusher (modern?)

D. Trio of emergency air bottles and mounting brackets. Will eventually be placed inside the starboard wing next to the undercarriage bay.

Finally, the crew ladder, assembled with working hinged feet and hooks added on top.

To complete the detailling I realised that I needed some hand-held extinguishers, extra oxygen bottles with mesh holders and another hydraulic tank.



These were scratch-built from sprue, plastic rod, brass and lead wires, mesh and shaped wood with foil bands.

I started assembly with section 6 and the metal doors.



The montage shows them painted front and back , with handles added.

The tricky bit was installing them without having to cut the adjoining frames. After many test attempts, I finally succeeded in getting them in the right position. Unfortunately they are not working doors so I had to choose between open or shut. I went for shut, as they get lost when folded back. Here they are as seen from the rear turret and from the crew entry door. On the 2nd shot you can see the crew ladder top left. This is hung on brackets for the moment but will eventually be used outside the aircraft.





The next task was to assemble and paint 4 grab rails for the rear section. The plastic rod supplied was far too thick to fit the brackets and I had to substitute thinner rod.



These were easier to fit, being closer to the end fuselage frame and I'll end with a couple of shots of them in position.





The rest of the parts are at various stages of painting and when done, I'll get on to installing them along with some other major installations, such as the ammo tracks.

I've realised that I'm rapidly coming up to the 2nd anniversary of starting this build and am determined to get it finished this year, with the caveat that I can't let it get totally in the way of some other kits I want to build as well. We'll just have to see how it pans out.

Will post again when I've made more progress.

Sláinte,

Gerry

Beautiful Gerry.
That shot down the fuselage to the entry door looks very realistic.

I agree with Terry.

Great work so far Gerry!

Thanks Terry, Wurger and Gnomey. Getting those close up shots are really a matter of luck, especially with auto focus.

Cheers,

Gerry

Great work Gerry, hope all is OK at home, most cameras allow you to turn off autofocus, in any case with digital just take loads and choose the best. I once took an unforgetable pic of a guys sheepdog, I dined out on it for years, the dogs owner didnt see the 100 rejected images.

Fantastic work as always Gerry. So, it has me wondering what was the logic behind having doors in the access way to the rear gunner.

Great stuff Gerry.

Geo

As far as I know, the doors were to prevent slipstream 'draught' whipping up the fuselage, and/or possibly causing a vaccum behind the turret, although I believe that, in many cases, they were left open anyway !

Thanks Terry. Maybe a bit more useful than a screen door on a sub but not much.

There must have been some back draft, as the early Lancs didn't have the deflector around the rear turret, which became standard later. From what I remember reading somewhere, and from tid bits from former crews, the doors were supposed to be closed, but some crews preferred to have them open, just in case.

Thanks pbehn, Andy, Geo and Terry. Interesting info on the doors. I originally thought that they might have had some purpose in protecting the main fuselage from fighter attack from the rear but obviously they weren't armoured?

Gerry

I had heard, a long time ago, that they were armoured, as were, supposedly, the doors near the rest bunk. However, the only armour on a Lanc was the pilot's seat-back armour.
The center section doors, if fitted, were normally left open anyway, in case of emergency, but from what I've learned over the years, few Lancs had them. Perhaps early Lancs did have them, and perhaps they were armoured, as shown in cut-away drawings, but I'm guessing experience dictated that they were either removed, propped open, or not fitted in the first place.
The rear doors I've seen in the three Lancs I've been in weren't armoured.

Actually might have some lying around in the Nanton Museum. Will have a peek just for giggles.

Gerry wonderful work, those doors, fire extinguishers and other details are amazing !!

Congratulations on such a beautiful job. And ... wait what follows !!

Un abrazo y saludos

SANCER