Crimea_River
Marshal
Thanks for the update Gerry!
1:32 scale Lancaster Mk.1 Hachette Partworks
- Thread starter Gerry
- Start date
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great stuff Gerry, and that interior really does look the biz !
Those 1/32nd scale figures can be had from Master Box, but they're a set of fighter pilots and ground crew described as 'WW2 Period' - with a bit of work, the pilot figures could be adapted to bomber crew, and the set is around £9, which seems pretty good value for money, compared to individual, resin figures.
There is much more variety available in 1/35th scale figures, but despite what some may say, the size difference is noticeable.
The Airfix 'Multi-Pose' sets mentioned earlier are possibly the best alternative, as they are easy to 'work', and can be adapted to suit requirements with the addition of the required clothing and equipment etc.
Those 1/32nd scale figures can be had from Master Box, but they're a set of fighter pilots and ground crew described as 'WW2 Period' - with a bit of work, the pilot figures could be adapted to bomber crew, and the set is around £9, which seems pretty good value for money, compared to individual, resin figures.
There is much more variety available in 1/35th scale figures, but despite what some may say, the size difference is noticeable.
The Airfix 'Multi-Pose' sets mentioned earlier are possibly the best alternative, as they are easy to 'work', and can be adapted to suit requirements with the addition of the required clothing and equipment etc.
Excellent work so far Gerry!
Skinvet
Recruit
Has this thread come to an end?
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
No, Gerry will be back with more when he has more time.
SANCER
Senior Master Sergeant
... pending your progress Gerry; A greeting and in due course you will give us news of your Lanc.
Saludos a Irlanda desde México!!
Saludos a Irlanda desde México!!
Tony Hill
Tech Sergeant
Great work as always Gerry! Waiting to see what is next when you have the time!
- Thread starter
- #969
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Hello again everyone and A Happy New Year to all. As we're now into 2017 and what with New Year resolutions and everything, I thought that it was time I resumed this thread. There is a reason why I stopped working on this project that I'll explain that as we go along. But first, my thanks to Terry (Airframes) for keeping a watch on the thread whilst I was away.
I'm sure those of you who dropped in since April last are aware that I haven't been posting since then and again thanks to all who posted expressions of concern and support in the meantime. The simple explanation is that I had a setback with the build and, those of you of a nervous disposition should look away now! I had a bit of a disaster with the Lanc in May. Prior to that I had combined the rearmost three sections of the fuselage - up to the rear spar - with the interior fully detailed and the port side largely skinned. I had put it away before going away on holiday. Just to remind you, this is a shot of how far I had got with it before I went away but without the port side skinning, as I had intended to shoot that when I returned.
On my return, ready to progress it, I managed to drop it, from waist/chest height on to a carpeted floor. Well, the interior exploded like shrapnel because of the weight of the cast metal parts knocking nearly everything inside into a pile of parts. I estimate that I knocked off about 75% of the interior fittings in those three sections, including the ammo boxes and tracks, flares and the scratch-built support cradle for the mid-upper turret. Very little was actually broken but previously joined sections, such as the ammo tracks, had separated. Ironically enough, there was hardly any damage done to the exterior except that I had broken off the rear turret ring and some of the bomb bay ribs in the unprotected lower part of the forward section. I can only assume that the skins I had added and the contact glue prevented these sections splitting.
I have to admit that this really knocked my enthusiasm for continuing with the build. I seriously considered abandoning it but eventually decided that maybe putting it aside for a few weeks, before assessing the possibility of repairing it might be a better thought. I wasn't eager to share this with the forum while I put it in pause, but I did inform a couple of members through PMs (conversations ?), while I decided what to do. After leaving it untouched for a week or so I decided that I couldn't face tackling the problem immediately and decided to get involved in a couple of Group Builds with my local club thinking I would return to it in three months or so. In fact, it was more like six!
I started seriously considering how I might progress the build again around the end of October, when I had got our club's Nationals out of the way. Unfortunately there was no way that I could access the interior without major surgery. So, gritting my teeth, I had to de-skin the assembly, cut away sections of the port side to gain access to the interiors and as best I could, reassemble and reposition everything from ammo boxes and tracks, flares panels and everything else onto the fuselage walls of the three sections. Here's just a couple of photos of the work in progress. I won't labour it but it was tricky and needed a lot of deft tweezer action. I've also covered the interior structure assembly in detail earlier in the thread.
As you see I managed to do reasonably straight cuts which I hope will be invisible when reattached. Probably the trickiest bit in this section was repositioning and aligning the ammo tracks and boxes but I eventually got them to a state that I was happy with. I could only tackle this work in short bursts so that's one reason why it's taken so long.
To cut a long story short, I eventually got all three sections of the interior remounted and closed up but haven't re-skinned them yet – most of the original skins were destroyed in removing them, along with a lot of stringers. I'm still really annoyed with myself for creating the extra work and I'm very aware of the compromises I've had to make but I think that once it's properly skinned the repairs won't be too obvious.
Finally, I tackled the rear turret ring. This had broken into four pieces and I only found three of them. I managed to reassemble those into the original shape but reckoned that I needed a reinforcing plate that I cut out of 1mm Plastic card with a cutting compass. It also makes the repair look a lot tidier.
You can see here some of the damage caused by removing the skins, with the paint and primer from the skins remaining on the formers and stringers, all of which will need cleaning off before the new skins are added. The broken bomb bay ribs will be tackled when I get to that section of the build.
To finish this section of the update, here are two photos of the 3-section interior. The first is of the interior taken before the disaster, the second of the repaired sections. There is a tool chest added in the second shot but I've omitted the mid upper turret for a better view of the interior.
I'll finish here and in the next few days post some other bits and pieces of the build that I've started in on since May.
Gerry
P.S. Evan, if you're looking in, I replied to your Christmas message in the IPMS Conversation, for reasons that are explained in the message, if you haven't already spotted it.
G.
I'm sure those of you who dropped in since April last are aware that I haven't been posting since then and again thanks to all who posted expressions of concern and support in the meantime. The simple explanation is that I had a setback with the build and, those of you of a nervous disposition should look away now! I had a bit of a disaster with the Lanc in May. Prior to that I had combined the rearmost three sections of the fuselage - up to the rear spar - with the interior fully detailed and the port side largely skinned. I had put it away before going away on holiday. Just to remind you, this is a shot of how far I had got with it before I went away but without the port side skinning, as I had intended to shoot that when I returned.
On my return, ready to progress it, I managed to drop it, from waist/chest height on to a carpeted floor. Well, the interior exploded like shrapnel because of the weight of the cast metal parts knocking nearly everything inside into a pile of parts. I estimate that I knocked off about 75% of the interior fittings in those three sections, including the ammo boxes and tracks, flares and the scratch-built support cradle for the mid-upper turret. Very little was actually broken but previously joined sections, such as the ammo tracks, had separated. Ironically enough, there was hardly any damage done to the exterior except that I had broken off the rear turret ring and some of the bomb bay ribs in the unprotected lower part of the forward section. I can only assume that the skins I had added and the contact glue prevented these sections splitting.
I have to admit that this really knocked my enthusiasm for continuing with the build. I seriously considered abandoning it but eventually decided that maybe putting it aside for a few weeks, before assessing the possibility of repairing it might be a better thought. I wasn't eager to share this with the forum while I put it in pause, but I did inform a couple of members through PMs (conversations ?), while I decided what to do. After leaving it untouched for a week or so I decided that I couldn't face tackling the problem immediately and decided to get involved in a couple of Group Builds with my local club thinking I would return to it in three months or so. In fact, it was more like six!
I started seriously considering how I might progress the build again around the end of October, when I had got our club's Nationals out of the way. Unfortunately there was no way that I could access the interior without major surgery. So, gritting my teeth, I had to de-skin the assembly, cut away sections of the port side to gain access to the interiors and as best I could, reassemble and reposition everything from ammo boxes and tracks, flares panels and everything else onto the fuselage walls of the three sections. Here's just a couple of photos of the work in progress. I won't labour it but it was tricky and needed a lot of deft tweezer action. I've also covered the interior structure assembly in detail earlier in the thread.
As you see I managed to do reasonably straight cuts which I hope will be invisible when reattached. Probably the trickiest bit in this section was repositioning and aligning the ammo tracks and boxes but I eventually got them to a state that I was happy with. I could only tackle this work in short bursts so that's one reason why it's taken so long.
To cut a long story short, I eventually got all three sections of the interior remounted and closed up but haven't re-skinned them yet – most of the original skins were destroyed in removing them, along with a lot of stringers. I'm still really annoyed with myself for creating the extra work and I'm very aware of the compromises I've had to make but I think that once it's properly skinned the repairs won't be too obvious.
Finally, I tackled the rear turret ring. This had broken into four pieces and I only found three of them. I managed to reassemble those into the original shape but reckoned that I needed a reinforcing plate that I cut out of 1mm Plastic card with a cutting compass. It also makes the repair look a lot tidier.
You can see here some of the damage caused by removing the skins, with the paint and primer from the skins remaining on the formers and stringers, all of which will need cleaning off before the new skins are added. The broken bomb bay ribs will be tackled when I get to that section of the build.
To finish this section of the update, here are two photos of the 3-section interior. The first is of the interior taken before the disaster, the second of the repaired sections. There is a tool chest added in the second shot but I've omitted the mid upper turret for a better view of the interior.
I'll finish here and in the next few days post some other bits and pieces of the build that I've started in on since May.
Gerry
P.S. Evan, if you're looking in, I replied to your Christmas message in the IPMS Conversation, for reasons that are explained in the message, if you haven't already spotted it.
G.
fubar57
General
Welcome back Gerry and a Happy New Year to you. First off.....YIKES!!!! I'm sure something like that would have disheartened the majority of us. Glad you persevered.
vikingBerserker
Lieutenant General
Ouch! Still stunning work!
Lucky13
Forum Mascot
Welcome back Gerry and Happy New Year! Sorry to hear about your wee mishap and glad that you decided to save her and carry on!
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great to have you back Gerry, and a marvellous job on the re-build so far.
Crimea_River
Marshal
Very happy that you decided to continue with this amazing project Gerry. Careful with the moves next time!
Not ideal Gerry! Great to see you back at it and superb work as always!
Good Lord!
- Thread starter
- #978
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
This post should bring me up-to-date on the build so far. Thanks to all for your considerate remarks and warm welcome back. I did feel guilty for being away so long, without explanation.
I actually found it hard to remember where I'd left off and had to go back over a good few issues of the mag to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything but have started gently progressing again. I had already started detailing one of the inboard sections of the split flaps that in the real aircraft would have connected to the large worm screw visible to the fore of the interior shots in my previous post. I know that I previously posted a shot of this to the thread. However, when I test fitted it, I found that I had located the control rod too far aft and it didn't line up with the worm screw. I stripped it out, repositioned it and added the slender link rods that operate the flaps. This was then used as the guide for the remaining inner and outer split flaps for the correct positioning.
The first photo is of the port and starboard inner flap sections. Photo two, the port outer wing flaps and photo three, the starboard outer wing .
As you see these await refining, painting and in some places skinning. I like to paint in batches as it's less trouble cleaning airbrushes etc. Next up is the real thing , S-Sugar at Hendon showing the split flap arrangement which I'm trying to emulate.
Next I skinned the hinged wing nosings that cover the heating intakes on both forward inner wing sections. These were supplied with the intake apertures already cut out but had to be carefully rolled and bent to fit the shape of the curved structure beneath and then glued securely in place. I've noticed that in later instructions for skinning I have to cut various opening for windows etc, myself. That should be fun!
And that brings me more or less up to date. I have still to re-skin the fuselage sections but they need painting and riveting before I do that. I've also started modifying the starboard outer engine mount. I'm hoping to have this exposed but need to remove a heavy wooden bracket that secures the firewall to the engine frame which isn't on the real aircraft. Hopefully, more about that in my next post.
Sláinte,
Gerry
I actually found it hard to remember where I'd left off and had to go back over a good few issues of the mag to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything but have started gently progressing again. I had already started detailing one of the inboard sections of the split flaps that in the real aircraft would have connected to the large worm screw visible to the fore of the interior shots in my previous post. I know that I previously posted a shot of this to the thread. However, when I test fitted it, I found that I had located the control rod too far aft and it didn't line up with the worm screw. I stripped it out, repositioned it and added the slender link rods that operate the flaps. This was then used as the guide for the remaining inner and outer split flaps for the correct positioning.
The first photo is of the port and starboard inner flap sections. Photo two, the port outer wing flaps and photo three, the starboard outer wing .
As you see these await refining, painting and in some places skinning. I like to paint in batches as it's less trouble cleaning airbrushes etc. Next up is the real thing , S-Sugar at Hendon showing the split flap arrangement which I'm trying to emulate.
Next I skinned the hinged wing nosings that cover the heating intakes on both forward inner wing sections. These were supplied with the intake apertures already cut out but had to be carefully rolled and bent to fit the shape of the curved structure beneath and then glued securely in place. I've noticed that in later instructions for skinning I have to cut various opening for windows etc, myself. That should be fun!
And that brings me more or less up to date. I have still to re-skin the fuselage sections but they need painting and riveting before I do that. I've also started modifying the starboard outer engine mount. I'm hoping to have this exposed but need to remove a heavy wooden bracket that secures the firewall to the engine frame which isn't on the real aircraft. Hopefully, more about that in my next post.
Sláinte,
Gerry
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great work Gerry.
