**** DONE: - 1/72 Avro Lancaster BII - Aircraft Nose Art GB.

[pattle]

Well I have been rooted to the spot this evening working on this Lancaster kit. The kit has been going together quite nicely, all the parts are nice and crisply moulded which has meant that I have not had an awkward time sanding bits down just to get them to fit together. The cockpit has quite a lot of detail and even includes a map in transfer form to put on the navs table, there are also transfers for the various instrument panels. I am not really a believer in spending to much time on cockpits as after the canopy goes on they are rarely seen again, but with this kit it is easy to get a descent looking cockpit without any real time or bother. The small windows in the bomb aimers compartment are

fiddly but can be fitted ok without hours of trouble. The style of the kit reminds me of the new Revell Halifax, which has made me wonder if Airfix and Revell are using the same person or company to design their new kits.

 

[woody]

Off to a good start Kev.

 

[Airframes]

Good stuff so far Kev. Don't know what the instruction sheet calls for, but everything forward of the main spar was normally black.

 

[Wayne Little]

Good work so far...

 

[Rogi]

Nice

 

[pattle]

Good stuff so far Kev. Don't know what the instruction sheet calls for, but everything forward of the main spar was normally black.

Yes I am nearly certain that pretty much everything was painted black indoors on Lancaster B II's as well, I think the B II came out after it became policy to paint the insides of night bombers black? The instructions say to paint the floor forward of the pilots seat black, and the insides of the fuselage forward of the instrument panel also black with the remaining areas of the crew compartments interior green. Most museum Lancasters are interior green inside but I think this to be largely inaccurate, I decided to follow the instructions though just so the crew compartments would be more visible.
The painting instructions also have the exhaust collector rings as humbrol antique brass which would be a descent colour if given a black wash to make it look like rust, but I am just about as sure as I can be that in actual fact the collector rings were painted black by this point of the war.
Also I am pretty confident that there were three supporting spoke things across the front of the engine and not four as in the kit, and that the escape hatches on top the fuselage had windows in them. I won't bother with altering the engine spokes as its not worth the trouble of changing them, but after I have checked on the escape hatches I can put windows in myself without much trouble.

 

[Airframes]

The interior of all Marks of Lanc was Grey Green from the tail to the main spar. From the W/Op station forward was black. Early Lancs were originall grey green throughout but, if they survived long enough, the forward section was re-painted.
I've been in three Lancs, and they were all black up front, and I also asked former Lanc aircrew, who confirmed this. The B.MkII, being a 'mid-production' type, would have left the factory with black front end. This was SOP for night bombers, and can even be seen on the RAF Museum's Wellington, even though that served up to post war as a trainer, with the intention being to reduce glare and thereby reduce detection risk, and also to minimise distraction for the pilot, particularly if caught in search lights.

 

[pattle]

The interior of all Marks of Lanc was Grey Green from the tail to the main spar. From the W/Op station forward was black. Early Lancs were originall grey green throughout but, if they survived long enough, the forward section was re-painted.
I've been in three Lancs, and they were all black up front, and I also asked former Lanc aircrew, who confirmed this. The B.MkII, being a 'mid-production' type, would have left the factory with black front end. This was SOP for night bombers, and can even be seen on the RAF Museum's Wellington, even though that served up to post war as a trainer, with the intention being to reduce glare and thereby reduce detection risk, and also to minimise distraction for the pilot, particularly if caught in search lights.

I haven't been in any, I was only going by the pictures on google.

 

[T Bolt]

Really nice start there Kev. That kit looks to be a big improvement over the old Airfix one I have in my stash.

 

[pattle]

Really nice start there Kev. That kit looks to be a big improvement over the old Airfix one I have in my stash.

The new tool Airfix kits are pretty good and also value for money, I would hate to see my beloved Airfix putting out rubbish new kits.
I still remember the first Airfix Lancaster kit I built in the 1970's, the parts fitted together really badly (especially the engine nacelles) and it was low on detail, but to a 10 year old boy it was about the most wonderful thing that I had ever seen.
Some of the old Airfix kits from years back were pretty rough while others were pretty good for their day, but they all still look beautiful to me. The new tool kits are of course way better than the kits I first started making 35 years ago, but there is another side of me that would like to get hold of every single old Airfix kit that was on the market in the 1970's and build them all as best as I can straight out the box, I wouldn't expect them to look as realistic as the new models of course, I would just be building them as a homage to Airfix and it's distinctive style. As much as I love the old kits it is great to see the current day Airfix bringing out these modern kits and breathing new life into the old brand.

 

[Gnomey]

Good work so far!

 

[T Bolt]

.....I still remember the first Airfix Lancaster kit I built in the 1970's, the parts fitted together really badly (especially the engine nacelles) and it was low on detail, but to a 10 year old boy it was about the most wonderful thing that I had ever seen.

That sounds like the one I made when I was a kid. The incarnation of the Lancaster before the older one I have in my stash now. I remember seeing it in the Airfix catalog at the hobby shop and the shop owner cording it special for me. Don't remember what it cost but I do remember it taking up quite a lot of my birthday money back then. I made quite a few of the smaller Airfix kits in the blister packs back then but only remember doing two to the big ones, the Lancaster and the Catalina.

 

[pattle]

That sounds like the one I made when I was a kid. The incarnation of the Lancaster before the older one I have in my stash now. I remember seeing it in the Airfix catalog at the hobby shop and the shop owner cording it special for me. Don't remember what it cost but I do remember it taking up quite a lot of my birthday money back then. I made quite a few of the smaller Airfix kits in the blister packs back then but only remember doing two to the big ones, the Lancaster and the Catalina.

I expect the Lancaster you have in your stash has the same box art as the original, a Lancaster coming into land with one engine on fire. I have one of these in my stash also, not a bad kit but I'm not sure what to do with it now that something much better has come out, I am thinking of making it with coastal command markings.

 

[Vic Balshaw]

I'm just catching up on the past couple of months activity so welcome to the GB world Kev, it's good to have you join us. Your progress so far looks good though in that scale and with the size of the model I often wonder if the internal detail is worth the effort.

 

[pattle]

I agree, for what you can see of it I don't think internal detail generally is worth a lot of effort in 1.72, all I have done here really is make the inside look passable. Having said that I now wish I had painted the whole crew compartment black inside as airframes said, I thought it would look better green but it doesn't look convincing, to late now.

 

[pattle]

Just put the wings on, it's mostly going together fine with no problems. I decided to go for the bomb doors closed option as I wanted to show how the bulged bomb doors changed the outline of the aircraft, it is worth mentioning that this kit comes without bombs and that Airfix advise buying there bomber re-supply set if bombs are required. I would normally build a kit with open bomb doors, but then once finished I would probably never turn the model upside down to look at them again.

 

[Wurger]

Looking very good.

 

[Crimea_River]

I agree. Impressive kit by Airfix,

 

[Airframes]

Yep, I agree with all.

 

[Wayne Little]

Not bad at all!