**** DONE: 1/72 Lancaster Mk.III - Heavy Hitters II GB

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Couple more shots out the nose for ya:

Bomb Aimer Panel.jpg

Bomb Aimer Position Fwd.jpg
 
Thanks for that Andy......... a great help.

For space reasons I am simplifying the mount for the sight with a plate from under the chest rest. Just has to be to get the sight inner.

As far as the panel on the side, I am relying on the PE for it. I have mounted the PE to a styrene plate, as I have for most of them.

Pics late tonight or in the morning.
 
Just noticed on your kit Bill, that there appears to be a solid 'wall', moulded as part of the fuselage halves, between the cockpit and the nose compartment. Might be worth cutting out the area below the instrument panel on the starboard side, as this was the access to the bomb aimer's compartment (and the emergency exit!). Looking from the cockpit, the nose compartment can be seen, and looking up from the ground, through the nose blister, the starboard side of the cockpit can be seen.
The twin hand-rails, normally painted yellow, were fairly prominent too.
 
Just noticed on your kit Bill, that there appears to be a solid 'wall', moulded as part of the fuselage halves, between the cockpit and the nose compartment. Might be worth cutting out the area below the instrument panel on the starboard side, as this was the access to the bomb aimer's compartment (and the emergency exit!). Looking from the cockpit, the nose compartment can be seen, and looking up from the ground, through the nose blister, the starboard side of the cockpit can be seen.
The twin hand-rails, normally painted yellow, were fairly prominent too.

Timely heads up on this. I saw the yellow handrail but was not sure if it was a production install. Had overlooked the cutaway bulkhead and will check it out for size and shape. I am almost ready to button up the halves. Some pictures of the progress for today.
 

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Some fine progress Bill!

Great info there Terry, but would the Yellow rail colour be correct? Seem to remember a comment in 'Lancaster' by Neville Franklin and Gerald Scarborough, that the rails were painted Black in wartime service, but Yellow post war for visual aid (like the often mistaken Spitfire crowbars, based on post-war examples - painted Red post-war for same reason, but originally Aluminium or Interior Green in wartime service...)
 
It's looking good Bill.
Evan - yes, they could be black, although I have seen wartime photos (in B&W) showing what appears to be black, and also a light colour, most probably yellow. I've also seen some wartime colour film footage, where the vertical tubular supports between the radio op and nav stations were in yellow, I presume to be visible to the crew in the dark, and would therefore assume that the hand rails were yellow also. I've also seen those 'tubes' in what appears to be (again in B&W shots) the Cockpit Grey Green, but might be yellow.
The yellow colour is a post war 'safety' colour, used on rails, handles, hatch edges etc, with red for 'emergency' equipment, such as fire extinguishers, axes, crow bars etc. The red was definitely post war only, and, for example, in WW2, fire extinguishers were bare metal (brass) or mid green, but there is evidence for the yellow hand rails.
Bottom line - yellow, black, or grey green would all be acceptable.
 
Thanks again Terry. I've had a look for the rail and found a pretty definitive photo so will make it up today. Looking for a good photo of the access to the BA area and will correct that as well. I may go for the green on it, as well as the poles at the table. Just 11 more days to work with two hands!!! Damn.
 
Well I searched and found a couple of builders who put handrails in with 3 bars and two steps down into the BA area.

Now there was A step, a glycol tank used for a step down. Now having been involved with designing and building stairs and handrails, the normal dimension from the point of the step vertical to the top of handrail is 31", there is not enough room to stand upright going down the stairs, no less 31" rail height which is 16mm in scale. So I has done what looked more correct to me. I did the same for these bars, drilled a hole thru the plastic for more strength in gluing, it is done. Clean-up and paint and button up soon.
 

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Good stuff Bill, and you're right - impossible to stand up in the compartment. In fact, one can only just kneel, if behind the turret ring!
There were in fact two diagonal hand rails, one high, and one low, welded to a vertical support. I've attached the pic again, this time a slightly darker version.
On the port side of the compartment is the bomb sight computer, slaved to the type of site you've modelled (pic also attached), and behind this, out of shot and against the bomb bay front bulkhead, was the strike camera housing. The 'window' for this is prominent, offset on the port, outer underside of the fuselage
The leather (or 'leatherette) covered mattress lies over the escape hatch and, again out of shot, below the edge of the cockpit floor, is the glycol tank supplying the twin windscreen de-icers, which had a sheet metal step over the top. Not shown here are the ammunition cans, which hung down below the turret ring, one either side, and I should have a pic somewhere, if you need it.
 

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