1:32 scale Lancaster Mk.1 Hachette Partworks
- Thread starter Gerry
- Start date
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Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Excellent, really looks the biz. Looking forward to seeing the completed, painted turret.
Crimea_River
Marshal
With Terry. Great details Gerry and I'm glad the references were of some use.
fubar57
General
Beauty
Great work so far Gerry!
- Thread starter
- #1,386
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Thank you all for your posts and generous commendations.
Well, I can now bring you another update on the progress of the rear turret. Painting is completed and final assembly has begun.
For anyone who's not familiar with how the rear turret looks, I have here three of my own reference shots that may answer the question: "why did he do it that way?"
These give a good overall view of the turret equipment but they were supplemented with some excellent detail shots supplied both by Andy (CrimeaRiver) and by Terry (Airframes) that were immensely helpful.
Everything was given a coat of Matt Black before detail painting and assembly.
This first montage shows the basic stages of assembly, as a lot of this detail is masked when the turret is fully assembled.
1. The hydraulic arms were picked out in aluminium.
2. My pastiche of the ammo feeder mechanism was positioned
3. The gunner's painted dashboard was installed, hiding the ammo assembly.
The guns could be mounted at this point, held in position by two separate axels between the inner and outer gun support frames. After that, the rest of the equipment was installed: the fire control yolk; the gunner's oxygen hose; the seat and belts; various wires and the diagonal bracing poles on either side of the seat.
The next few shots are a walk around the completed assembly.
That, I reckon is about as much as I could squeeze into the space but obviously not as much as is in the full size version. I deliberately haven't attached the overhanging ammo chute ends until I see how they'll fit when the canopy is in place.
However as bits were drying, I had some time to start work on repairing the broken canopy.
I was able to use one of the spare base sets to reconstruct this on and the separate bits could be held in place with strips of double-sided tape while glue was setting. First, one of the centre pieces had the central Perspex removed with a razor saw, leaving only the frame on both sides. Next, the central piece of the unbroken arch was removed and both sides glued to the centre pieces.
That's as far as I managed to get and I'm thinking that I need to paint the frames before proceeding. The intention is to finish the centre span with a single strip of acetate. The rear of the turret then needs surgery, as I'm hoping to leave new doors at least partially open. We'll just have to wait and see if that's possible.
Should be able to make a bit more progress over the next week or so.
Gerry
Well, I can now bring you another update on the progress of the rear turret. Painting is completed and final assembly has begun.
For anyone who's not familiar with how the rear turret looks, I have here three of my own reference shots that may answer the question: "why did he do it that way?"
These give a good overall view of the turret equipment but they were supplemented with some excellent detail shots supplied both by Andy (CrimeaRiver) and by Terry (Airframes) that were immensely helpful.
Everything was given a coat of Matt Black before detail painting and assembly.
This first montage shows the basic stages of assembly, as a lot of this detail is masked when the turret is fully assembled.
1. The hydraulic arms were picked out in aluminium.
2. My pastiche of the ammo feeder mechanism was positioned
3. The gunner's painted dashboard was installed, hiding the ammo assembly.
The guns could be mounted at this point, held in position by two separate axels between the inner and outer gun support frames. After that, the rest of the equipment was installed: the fire control yolk; the gunner's oxygen hose; the seat and belts; various wires and the diagonal bracing poles on either side of the seat.
The next few shots are a walk around the completed assembly.
That, I reckon is about as much as I could squeeze into the space but obviously not as much as is in the full size version. I deliberately haven't attached the overhanging ammo chute ends until I see how they'll fit when the canopy is in place.
However as bits were drying, I had some time to start work on repairing the broken canopy.
I was able to use one of the spare base sets to reconstruct this on and the separate bits could be held in place with strips of double-sided tape while glue was setting. First, one of the centre pieces had the central Perspex removed with a razor saw, leaving only the frame on both sides. Next, the central piece of the unbroken arch was removed and both sides glued to the centre pieces.
That's as far as I managed to get and I'm thinking that I need to paint the frames before proceeding. The intention is to finish the centre span with a single strip of acetate. The rear of the turret then needs surgery, as I'm hoping to leave new doors at least partially open. We'll just have to wait and see if that's possible.
Should be able to make a bit more progress over the next week or so.
Gerry
fubar57
General
Impressive
Incredible, wish i had 10% of the dedication and 1% of the skill Gerry
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
Great work Gerry, really looks the part.
Crimea_River
Marshal
Looks fabulous Gerry.
Excellent work so far Gerry!
- Thread starter
- #1,393
Gerry
Staff Sergeant
Thanks once again guys and I'm now in a position to bring you the completed rear turret.
As you'll remember, I still had to work on repairing the turret canopy. This was more complicated than I'd originally thought and brought me slap bang against the law of unintended consequences!
First I had to do some work on the two sections of the canopy I had started on in my previous post.
These needed the two small angled top windows, above, added. I decided that it would be easier to paint all sections first rather than leaving the painting 'til the turret was complete. This was definitely the right decision in this case.
In the parts supplied, these pieces were solid but I assumed that, if I followed those as a template, I could make windows out of sheet acetate and that would be that. Unfortunately, this didn't work. The fit was appalling with gaps on all sides. In the end I had to split the angled section from the upright side wall and measure and trim until I got a good fit and then sealed any small gaps and reattached to the side sections with Glue 'n' Glaze.
The next task was to attach these to the assembled turret platform.
Here they are attached and this is where the law of unintended consequences kicked in. I had anticipated that the extra layers on the gun mount support frames might cause problems but not as much as they actually did. As you can see in the photo above, they are OK at the bottom but are forcing the two halves apart further up. The centre glazing should be approx 10mm wide all the way but here it's 13 – 14 mm wide at the top curve.
Another unforeseen consequence was caused by the backward-sloping small windows. These impeded the gunsight support arms and have stopped the gun mounts from deflecting downwards, past horizontal.
But now I needed to solve the problem of the centre section glazing.
I clamped the two sides together using a clamp cushioned by wooden pieces, so I wouldn't crack anything. This was successful for as long as the clamp was holding - but would spring back as soon as the clamp released.
I had originally thought that I could have positioned a piece of sheet acetate between the centre frames using Glue 'n' Glaze but the bond wouldn't be strong enough to hold everything together. My solution was to cut a new section of acetate for the centre section, so that it overlapped the frames, for support. Then I carefully set about using superglue to secure it but without fogging the acetate. I added tiny dots of glue at about 5 mm distance all the way up both frames to where it curved backwards, then carefully positioned the acetate and anchored it with the small pegs until that straight section had cured (overnight). Next day I repeated the procedure for the top curved section and, when dry, trimmed the excess acetate with a very sharp craft knife.
In the gaps, while waiting for things to set or dry, I had also done some work on the turret solid rear section.
As I had a spare back, I decided to do a partially open and a closed version, with the possibility of swapping them around, if they could be secured easily. This unfortunately proved unviable. The stresses on the main section of the turret had distorted the join somewhat and the rear section itself needed clamping to fit tightly and superglue to secure it. So I had to make a choice…
…So, let's cut to the chase and here's a walk around the finished product.
What I did here was to add painted strips of masking tape to give new central frames and disguise the join and, of course, scratch-built spent ammo chutes have been added to the base.
Continuing around…
… I'm sure you've already guessed which version of the turret I decided on!
Well, that's how it's turned out and just to finish off, here's a few final shots with the turret in position.
So this leaves only one more sub build – the exposed starboard outer engine.
I'll get cracking on that as soon as I can and hopefully finally complete the build before Christmas – but don't all hold your breaths…
Sláinte,
Gerry
As you'll remember, I still had to work on repairing the turret canopy. This was more complicated than I'd originally thought and brought me slap bang against the law of unintended consequences!
First I had to do some work on the two sections of the canopy I had started on in my previous post.
These needed the two small angled top windows, above, added. I decided that it would be easier to paint all sections first rather than leaving the painting 'til the turret was complete. This was definitely the right decision in this case.
In the parts supplied, these pieces were solid but I assumed that, if I followed those as a template, I could make windows out of sheet acetate and that would be that. Unfortunately, this didn't work. The fit was appalling with gaps on all sides. In the end I had to split the angled section from the upright side wall and measure and trim until I got a good fit and then sealed any small gaps and reattached to the side sections with Glue 'n' Glaze.
The next task was to attach these to the assembled turret platform.
Here they are attached and this is where the law of unintended consequences kicked in. I had anticipated that the extra layers on the gun mount support frames might cause problems but not as much as they actually did. As you can see in the photo above, they are OK at the bottom but are forcing the two halves apart further up. The centre glazing should be approx 10mm wide all the way but here it's 13 – 14 mm wide at the top curve.
Another unforeseen consequence was caused by the backward-sloping small windows. These impeded the gunsight support arms and have stopped the gun mounts from deflecting downwards, past horizontal.
But now I needed to solve the problem of the centre section glazing.
I clamped the two sides together using a clamp cushioned by wooden pieces, so I wouldn't crack anything. This was successful for as long as the clamp was holding - but would spring back as soon as the clamp released.
I had originally thought that I could have positioned a piece of sheet acetate between the centre frames using Glue 'n' Glaze but the bond wouldn't be strong enough to hold everything together. My solution was to cut a new section of acetate for the centre section, so that it overlapped the frames, for support. Then I carefully set about using superglue to secure it but without fogging the acetate. I added tiny dots of glue at about 5 mm distance all the way up both frames to where it curved backwards, then carefully positioned the acetate and anchored it with the small pegs until that straight section had cured (overnight). Next day I repeated the procedure for the top curved section and, when dry, trimmed the excess acetate with a very sharp craft knife.
In the gaps, while waiting for things to set or dry, I had also done some work on the turret solid rear section.
As I had a spare back, I decided to do a partially open and a closed version, with the possibility of swapping them around, if they could be secured easily. This unfortunately proved unviable. The stresses on the main section of the turret had distorted the join somewhat and the rear section itself needed clamping to fit tightly and superglue to secure it. So I had to make a choice…
…So, let's cut to the chase and here's a walk around the finished product.
What I did here was to add painted strips of masking tape to give new central frames and disguise the join and, of course, scratch-built spent ammo chutes have been added to the base.
Continuing around…
… I'm sure you've already guessed which version of the turret I decided on!
Well, that's how it's turned out and just to finish off, here's a few final shots with the turret in position.
So this leaves only one more sub build – the exposed starboard outer engine.
I'll get cracking on that as soon as I can and hopefully finally complete the build before Christmas – but don't all hold your breaths…
Sláinte,
Gerry
fubar57
General
Sweet
Airframes
Benevolens Magister
great job there Gerry, really looks the biz.
Great work so far Gerry!
Looks incredible
Crimea_River
Marshal
I agree with all. I'm always wary of gluing parts that are under stress but it looks like you mastered it. BTW, I believe that acetate does not fog with CA.
