stever219

Solotuerk you've just about got it: the rear cabin floor slopes up to give more width at cabin floor level, allowing for more seats there, and more volume in the rear hold without affecting the good aerodynamic form of the rear fuselage. I'd forgotten that Air Inter had operated 330s; I wonder if any of them are still flying. I think most, if not all of them, went to Air France.

I've just found an image of PX275, wearing white codes GO:F, and PX217 with no unit markings if that's any help. Both sport two-colour roundels (fuselage and upper wing surfaces) and fin flashes. You could do one of the prototypes, RR515 and '519IIRC, with Dark Green and Ocean Grey upper surfaces, Yellow undersides and "Type C" upper wing roundels. I'd treat the profile that Dave has posted with caution: the upper cowling panels were Medium Sea Grey and the demarcation between this and the PRU Blue followed the panel edge above and behind the exhausts. Hornet F. Mk. Is also did not carry bombs or rockets, being regarded purely as interceptor fighters.

I think you've probably been clobbered by Royal Snail's "handling or clearance charge", as have many others. The subject has been done to death on this and other sites, particularly among the shining whits on Sniperscale. I don't know what the kit cost you in Great British Pounds but it won't attract Customs duty at the UK border; VAT is chargeable and is worked out on the cost of the kit plus the cost of getting it to that border plus the (non-existent in this case) duty. Royal Snail then come along and, without your agreement, "arrange" Customs clearance and that is where the bulk of your £11.45 has gone.

Thanks Laurent. '664 was a mid-late production aeroplane and was refurbished post-WWII for service with l'Aeronavale in the Far East so could have been built with fabric-skinned elevators which were replaced with metal-skinned examples during her overhaul. Did she come to you with all of her paperwork (flying & maintenance records? If so they might show her build standard and any modifications made during her service life.

Hadn't spotted that!😖

Please have a shufti at page 381 which contains a technical description of the elevators: there is an annotated drawing a couple of pages further on. The fact that no mention is made of alloy-skinned elevators suggests that the scanned document is of wartime origin and has not been updated to reflect later modification states or build standards. Although not credited in my original post my reference is, I hope, impeccable: a chapter in "Lancaster at War 2" written by Sandy Jack who was "there at the time". I certainly don't dispute that KB899, NX611 and PA474 presently sport alloy-skinned elevators, but the one useable (relating to this discussion) photo of R5868 that I've found on the 'net strongly suggests that she still has fabric-covered elevators. This aeroplane was overhauled between service with 83 and 467 Squadrons, so mid-war, and despite having the rear fuselage windows either plated or painted over, or the entire rear fuselage replaced (apparently entirely possible) she retained her original type of elevator covering. As she flew little, if at all, post-war I suspect that it was not considered worth updating her when in-service aeroplanes would derive more benefit from the modification.

I'd love to come out to play with you at Telford, but none of my Coastal Command models are presently fit to be seen and/or are inaccessible. Added to that I haven't got any transport and the present Mrs Stever219 has other plans for me that weekend. Have a good show though, and post some pictures of the stand for us to enjoy.

Sorry Harvs, I'd not spotted the seam, but thank you for your warning for when mine does eventually emerge.

Something else that Airfix "missed" is that most Lancasters had fabric-covered elevators, not metal skinned (look at the elevator on the 101 Squadron aeroplane in the photo above). This was a contributory factor in the only(?) production test-flying accident involving the type. During the high speed dive part of the flight the fuel dump pipe doors under the wing centre section tore off and struck the elevators, tearing the fabric. The airstream then unravelled the weave of the fabric, reducing elevator effectiveness to the point where recovery from the dive became impossible. The crew of four died in the ensuing crash. As a temporary "fix" two additional ribs were inserted between each of the standard alloy ribs: the fabric was laced to these in an effort to restrict any future tears to a smaller area of fabric, thereby hopefully obviating a repeat of this accident. I've an idea that metal-skinned elevators came in with the Lincoln and were retro-fitted to Lancasters remaining in service as and when the opportunity arose.

As the real aeroplane was built in proper feet n inches your use of them for the model is entirely appropriate: none of that namby-pamby foreign decimal stuff here, thank you! Apart from that it looks like you're doing very well with this kit, but I've got to resist starting on mine 'til I've shifted some of the EEC Pile of Doom mountain that I've accrued over too long.

Sorry it's a bit late for your first one but how about attaching the engine support struts to the fuselage top (and/or upper centre section) with PVA (or blu-tack?) whilst you build up the nacelle? Hopefully that should ease any alignment issues. If not I'll get back under my rock while you jump on it.

A very nice result there. I also like the two blokes sitting in the back, and your rather battered-looking chocks. My Airfix Dak is presently stalled as the wing root joint needs some major sorting out and the fuselage crown seam has split, again!😖 Yours might just be the inspiration I need to dust it off and try to get it finished.

Flying boats had to come out of the water at some point for servicing, repainting or whatever so seeing yours parked on grass isn't so inappropriate. I do like the look of your Stranraer, superglue lakes notwithstanding.

Give the "lighter shade in the middle of each panel" treatment a miss: aeroplanes do not weather like that (nor will you find dark smudges along every panel joint). An alternative approach would be to apply a coat of satin black to represent Smooth Night and then to apply a coat of matt black to represent RDM2A Special Night. Once this has dried you can then gently abrade ares where wear has occurred and reveal the Smooth Night underneath. (In some cases a very fine abrasive will put a slight sheen on a matt paint finish, so put your paint mule to work and give it a try.). Mixing some very dark grey in with your matt black and applying this mixture in areas where heavier than average wear occurs might also help to break up the overall blackness of the model.

You're right, I should. Small missiles sounds like a very good starting point: bombs and radomes can be useful too. I haven't checked the Walkaround page on here, but Canberra Kid's website (sorry, can't post a link) has plenty of material for us to play with.