1:32 scale Lancaster Mk.1 Hachette Partworks

Lovely work as usual Gerry!

Hi Guys,

I've been bit distracted since my last post with childminding and Christmas prep and haven't made the sort of progress I had hoped, or indeed got on the forum much. However, now that the Big Day has been and gone, I've started back in and now that we're in lockdown - again - I hope to get back into the swing of things.

TonyT, thank you for the the link to the BBMF. There are some very clear refs there but I just have to be careful that, because these are modern engines, the pipe runs and colour codes are accurate for the 1940s.

Evan , nice to see you dropping in again. Are you still in Carrick? It would be nice to meet for a pint again but who knows when that might be because of the rolling lockdowns. Still, let's keep in touch.

I hope everybody had a peaceful and enjoyable Christmas and Very Happy New Year in 2021.

Áth bhlian faoi mhaise daoibh go léir
(Happy New Year to all)

Gerry

Sláinte mhaith Gerry

What he said !
Looking forward to the next installment Gerry, and have a great New Year.

Looking forward to more in 21 Gerry.

Thanks Herman and thanks everyone for your 'likes' - and your patience!

Gerry

Well, as I thought, once Christmas has passed and we've entered another lockdown here, progress has been made in finishing the exposed engine.

I've taken some photos of the engine to date. I much prefer to shoot in natural light but unfortunately, at this time of year, we have very poor light on most days so most of what follows was shot with flash – with the exception of shot 1- and I feel that this always makes everything look very harsh and contrasty




I had started to dress the cradle with plumbing and wiring but soon realized that I needed the engine in position to make sure everything was going to fit. So, here the engine is in place with the basic plumbing awaiting painting and final connections.

I'd love to say that I know the function of every one of these pipes and wires but, in most instances, I hadn't a notion. What I've tried to do is make the engine look as busy as my references for the real engines. I'm confident though that, if asked, Why is that pipe there? I could find a photo and say That's why.

I did indulge myself a little with the amount I put in but, even then, there's lots I didn't. I could easily have spent another couple of weeks at it and you probably wouldn't have spotted any difference.




The trickiest bit of all was fitting the radiator and connector pipe to the coolant tank, on the engine. To do this I had to carefully invert the aircraft to access the underside of the engine. The engine, when upright, is held to the cradle by four small brackets, pretty much as it is in real life, but, in this case with only a spot of cyanoacrylate on each. So first, I needed to add some supporting bars underneath to reinforce it. Then I could get on with detailing the engine's underside.

The next task was to extend the leg of the coolant tank to attach to the copper pipe that attaches to the radiator. The coolant tanks were too short so I had to add some length using Milliput, wrapped around brass wire, then painted. This allowed the connecting pipe to be fitted at the correct angle.




This shows the radiator connection more clearly and also the addition of scratch-built engine extinguishers either side of the oil tank behind the firewall. Also, a wire I had noticed adrift on the firewall (previous) was repositioned.

Then both sides and engine top had final detail added and all connections were completed in addition to the radiator being finally positioned.












I think that's it for this section of the build. What's left is simple positioning of the propellers and spinners and a cover to be added to the cabin air intake, in an open position, on the inner wing.



After that, it's just checking everything for any retouching required and any small adjustments necessary.

I do have one question though. PO-S at Hendon has cable cutters on the wings. I intend to add them to my model also. Is there any record of these working to save any allied aircraft during the war?

I'll post again as I complete the final few jobs.


Regards,

Gerry

Great looking power plant Gerry. Sorry I don't have any info on the cable cutters.

Literally looks like you could start them up! Qell done!

I can hear the starter engage, the first thumps and the crackle of that V12.......
Music I tell yah, Music!

Stunning work, mate!

Excellent work Gerry, that really looks the biz !!
Re the cable cutters, I vaguely remember reading one account where they worked as intended, but I can't remember where, why etc, or which book it was in.

Thanks all for your ever-positive comments and likes.

It was a relief to get finished what was the last major sub-build of the project and also because it was time consuming and fiddly.

I hope everyone is keeping well and looking forward to better times - and builds - in 2021.

Gerry

Excellent work so far Gerry!

Incredible stuff

Simply beautiful detailing!

Thanks, once again Guys, for your continued interest and generous comments. And nice to see you again Darryl.

Well, I've spent the last couple of weeks putting the last few finishing touches to this build and here's what was done. The first thing tackled was making up some scratch-built cable cutters for the wing leading edges. These were very small and fiddly and I couldn't locate anything from the spares boxes that would have worked even with adaptation.





I ended up using three stacked lengths of 0.30 mm plastic rod on 1.5 mm width plastic strip. The reason for the stacking was to leave the gap on the lower layer to simulate the niche where the cable was trapped. The dotted lines indicate my cutting points but, to be fair, in this size it was very much approximate for me. There were eight cable cutters on each wing, one double and seven singles. The double is on the far right of the photo.





Here are seven of the cutters in position on the starboard wing. Four are on the newly positioned cabin air intake cover on the inner wing, two between the engines and two more outboard of the outer engine. I felt that they wouldn't be as visible if I included the full span of the wing in the shot. I painted these a metallic iron to give them some prominence, although a lot of them were painted black in reality.





I next made and added the lower cowling support frame to the exposed engine. This consisted of two metal curved and drilled bars – one on either side – and the circular disk, made from plastic card, at the front. I needed this, as the spinners supplied are hollow at the back. This is not apparent when they are butted up to the front of the cowlings on the other engines, but it would have been visible on this one.





And finally the props and spinners were fixed into position. These are still capable of rotating and, pleasingly, fit rather snugly. There's also a better view here of the open cabin air intake cover with the cable cutters in situ.


Really that's the build completed. These photos are a mix of some taken in natural light and some with flash. I'm holding off on taking some overall views of the finished model in the hope that I can get some consistent natural light in the next few days, when I can shoot on a clear background and get some clean shots.


So bear with me 'til then and that should bring this extended build to a well anticipated conclusion.



Gerry