1:32 scale Lancaster Mk.1 Hachette Partworks

Looking great Gerry. It's nice to catch up with the thread again and even nicer to see you "shove it up" photobucket!!

Eagerly awaiting more mate!

It's about time I made another post on the progress of this build. Since I last posted a whole lot of cleaning-up, filling and sanding and restoring has taken up most of my time. The main advances were closing up the gaps between the wing sections, restoring the knocked-off split flaps and installing the ailerons. But let's start with some newwork on the nose section.





Firstly, the escape hatch door needed to be finalalised and installed to plug that large gap in the floor.





I printed off some homemade decal placards and scratch-built the release ring and bar and added the grab handles from some old PE belts. This was then pushed into position from underneath, with the aid of some lubricant to ensure a tight fit...








...Hopefully resembling the interior of the Lanc... and a final shot taken of the interior as this viewpoint will be lost when the nose is attached to the rest of the fuselage.








I attached the nose at this point because I felt I would get better adhesion on the butt join before I started the skinning process. This, I felt, would also allow me to make for better continuity between the nose skins and those on the rest of the fuselage.


The skins need to be cut to shape from metal sheet using the printed template as a guide. As you can see some of the shapes are going to be tricky to cut accurately especially seven, which contains a window. Also note shape six which I'll come back to.










I started on the port side, as this side will be completely covered in the finished model. Because of the complex contours of the nose, there are five separate panels individually stuck on in this shot.





On the underside, the exterior of the hatch door dictates the fit and position of the surrounding panels. The templates are only an approximate guide as small variations in the build can make them inaccurate. The way to progress is to make accurate tracings, test-fit them around the contours of the nose mark any adjustments on the tracing paper then cut the metal panel to the adjusted size. Check again and trim as necessary. This is time consuming and laborious but is the only way to get it close to right.


This brings me back to panel six which I mentioned earlier. The instructions neglect to mention that a circular aperature is required in port side panel six to allow for the camera lens. This error is corrected about 4-5 issues later but that makes it almost impossible to cut out of the attached panel. Fortunately, I spotted this and here is the corrected panel. I point this out for the benefit of anybody building this kit.





The easiest way to do this was to punch the hole in the metal sheet first – I used a standard paper punch – and position it over the end of the camera lens then work out the shape of the panel with the opening positioned correctly.





Here are the four bottom panels cut, riveted, bent to shape and test-fitted. Note corrected panel six port on top left. Gaps between the panels should close up when presssure is applied during adhesion. Glazing also needs to be applied before these are finally fixed in position.


Lastly, for this section, a view of the starboard skinning, where I am still working on.





The under section beneath longeron A will be skinned but most of the rest will be open to allow access to inside the nose section.

Now I'll just bring you up to date on the rest of the progress I made since the last post.


The trickiest task was closing the gap between the inner and outer wings A.





On the actual Lancaster these are desernible from some angles. Metal strip cut to size was used, then edges filled and sanded and finally, chrome edge tape used to blend the strips in. Hopefully, when painted, they'll be almost invisible – just like on the real thing.





Next, the flaps that had been knocked off were reset, with care taken that the should look evenly deployed on both wings.








The ailerons were hinged and attached before the flaps were reinstalled as it was easier to do it in that sequence.








The more eagle-eyed among you might spot that I drilled hinge access holes on the ailerons' leading edges. These ailerons are fully moveable but will probably cease to be when the trim tab servo rods are attached. The extent of the cutaway on the starboard wing is now apparant in the second photo.


The engine cowling tops (black) that merge into the wings were fitted and gaps filled.






Part of the cowling of the starboard inner engine had been cutaway to display the oil tank and some of the scratch-built engine throttle controls.


So that's really about it for now. I was hoping to have finished the nose skinning before I made this post but it took longer than I thought and, as I'm going away for a couple of weeks, I thought I'd get this away before I left. I'll finish with a couple of overall shots of the state of the build as it stands.









Cheers,


Gerry

Marvellous !

Awesome!

Brilliant Gerry and have a safe trip.

Phenomenonal work Gerry!

Fantastic

Thanks Guys,

We're just waiting to be dropped to the airport. See you again in a couple of weeks.

Sláinte,

Gerry

Great work so far Gerry!

That's just fricken amazing!

WOW..!!

Looking magnificent!

Stunning detail Gerry.

Thanks Guys,

Back from our very enjoyable break in the sun, I spent the last week finishing off the skinning of the nose section that I'd started before going away. Needless to say, this was more time consuming and difficult than I'd anticipated!
(What's new?).


The trickiest bit was getting the sections that contain the small windows to conform to the many curves around the circle that joins to the blister at the front of the fuselage.





Here, on top, is the cut out card template that's marked on to the metal below and cut, allowing a bit extra (marked) to allow for variants when it's actually wrapped around the fuselage. This is essential, based on previous experience.





Here are both starboard and port sides cut to size, shaped and riveted (part of the starboard section will be later cutaway for visual access). Because the windows are glazed with small rectangles of transparent cellulose, I decided earlier on in the build to paint all glazed sections before applying. This is because I felt that it would be easier to loosely mask them when finally painting the entire model. This will hopefully prevent accidentally pushing the glazing, tacked in position on the inside with Glue & Glaze, back inside the completed model.


Now for the bit that gave me most grief!





Getting the fit right and the two sides to join properly on the curve between the nose blister and the platform for the front turret proved a nightmare! All I could do was fit, trim and adjust again and again until I achieved a result that I could accept. Metal work is not my forte! Having done the best I could here's how it looks from both sides.








The windows are glazed at this point and the portside completely skinned. The starboard is partially cutaway to show the inside. Filling and sanding is still needed to blend the individual panels into each other and to the fuselage. I'll tackle that as I move on with some other aspects of the build.





The skinning on the underside is also completed, with the camera window glazed. You can see the camera lens behind (B). The slit window to the front has yet to be glazed and, in contradiction to the instructions, I'm going to apply this on the outside. I've masked a piece of cellulose and painted the surround black. This will be applied as a riveted panel later.


As the nose blister and front turret will obscure the view into the fuselage, a final shot of the interior from the front.




I couldn't, unfortunately, get an angle, or lighting, that showed more of the interior.


As I said, I still need to finish and sand the panel gaps but I hope to do that in conjunction with the next Phase of the build, which is applying the nose blister and building the front turret.





I think I'm going to have to remove the Rivet bumps on the perspex (A), as I'm not adding the infa-red lamps. I'm a bit nervous of tackling this as it's not something that I've done before and I don't want to flatten the curve of the dome. I've not got any back up if this were to go disasterously wrong!


One final thing on the front turret, that Terry or Andy might be able to give me a steer on. I have some good interior references for both the rear turret and mid-upper turret interiors but nothing on the front turret. Is it safe to assume that it is roughly the same in terms of controls etc? Any advice or refs would be a great help.


That's all I have for now but, as usual, I'll post again when I make some progress.


Sláinte,


Gerry

Great stuff Gerry, and I can see that it must have been extremely tricky fitting those panels.
I'd be nervous about trying to remove the rivets for the IR lamps - I think it would damage the blister beyond repair. The circular mounts were often seen without the 'Z Gear' lamps installed, presumably as the later blisters were moulded with the mounts already installed, so I think it would be acceptable to display the 'empty' mounts as circular frames.
From what I remember of the front turret, the gun gimble mounts, and controls, were basically the same as those in the other turrets, although of course the internal support frames were different. The 'seat' was a sling type, similar to the mid upper,and the ammo cans, as you probably know, were mounted either side, protruding below the ring of the turret.
I have a 35mm transparency, but the lighting is so poor, and the contrast so high, that the details can't be seen.
I think I have a B&W 'works' photo of the turret, without the glazing, which shows the arrangement and, if I can find it, I'll post it.
Meanwhile, perhaps Andy has something, or can get something, from the Nanton Lanc.

Wurger, Thank you for your acknowledgement. A question for you as Administrator which you may be able to answer. I've just noticed, going through the thread, that all of the Photobucket photos that were unavailable have now been restored in thumbnail format, and can be individually enlarged. I haven't managed to do more than the most recent posts and I can't find any reference on the Forum to a change of mind by Photobucket. Can you throw any light on this development? I'm very happy but perplexed!

Gerry