And thank you Wayne !
Just had an e-mail from Mike, who has looked at this thread to date. Happy to say he's more than pleased with the work so far (phew, relief!). He's also sent me the Bomb Aimer's 'Bomb Log' pages for MP-L, covering the three or four 'ops' prior to the last flight. This shows what the bomb loads were made up from, for example 1,000 and 500 pound HE bombs, 2,000 pound HE and incendiary cannisters of two types of incendiary and so on. (note that the Halifax could not accommodate the 4,000 pound 'cookie' in the fuselage bomb bay - the aircraft was designed to the original AM Spec requirement, which, when drafted, was based with the biggest bomb then available being 2,000 pounds. The design of the main bomb bay could accept this bomb, and 500 and 1,000 pounders, and of course there were the extra wing root bomb bays. However, unlike the Lancaster, which also had a deeper bomb bay, the Halifax had 'split' bomb bay doors on each side, so could not have 'bulged' doors fitted to cover the 4,000 pound bomb.)
The 'bomb log' has some interesting info - an industrial target attacked a few nights before the last operation was a rail marshalling yard, where the load was entirely HE, made up of 1,000 and 500 pound bombs. The raid two nights before the fatal last 'op' was to Dusseldorf, and the load was 1 x 2,000 pound HE bomb, with the remainder being a mix of the large incendiary, and the smaller, 4 pound incendiary, carried in the standard containers, in both wing root bays and the main, fuselage bay. Based on this, with the final target on the night the aircraft was lost being Karlsruhe, I'm going to surmise that it was classed as 'Industrial', and have the bomb load depicting HE bombs, which will be shown on trolleys, and being loaded into the bays.
I still have some studying to do regarding the topography and immediate geography around the area of 'B' Flight's dispersal points, so that I can model the dispersal pan as accurately and authentically as possible, within reason. Once I've done this, I'll be producing a sketch plan for Mike, to show the layout of the diorama, and I'll post a copy here too.
Meanwhile, I'm off to get a couple of hours snooze, to try to get my sleep pattern back in sync, then it's back to work on the construction of the bomb bay, and the start of some interior detailing.
Thanks again for your extremely complimentary comments, and continued interest, and I'll try to post some pics later tonight.