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Avro Lancaster Instrument Panel Upgrade Airscale 1:32 In preparation for the release of the huge HK Models Lancaster, we have Airscale providing a replacement instrument panel, which includes each individual panel, levers and shrouds for the throttle quadrant and a set of decals, and knowing Peter's penchant for detail, highly accurate. There are also two small sheets of acetate with exceptional optical quality. The etched steel parts should be painted and finished off to the modellers taste before assembly can begin. For the main instrument panel, engineers panel, navigators and circuit breaker panel the clear acetate sheets should be cut to size, using the panels as a template, the gluing the acetate to the rear of he panel followed by the decal, ensuring the instruments align with the positions on the front of the panel, the etched backing plate is then glued into position completing the assembly. Some of the instrument decals are for the front face of the panels such as the switch covers. For the throttle quadrant, you will need to make slots in the kit part before adding the various levers. The shrouds should be removed from the sheet separately in order to fit the correct to the correct position on the quadrant as there are left and right shrouds in addition to the main shroud for the throttle levers. Conclusion Peter's decal panels and Photo-Etched (PE) instrument bezels have rapidly gained a reputation for quality within our hobby, and Fantasy Printshop have done another fine job of printing his work. The big Lancaster will be a labour of love with as much detail as possible by most modellers who buy it and what better place to start than the cockpit. When I talked to Peter at Telford, he assured me this set will also fit the newly announced 1:32 Lancaster from Wingnut Wings. Review sample courtesy of Peter at

First of all let me say what a pleasure it is to ask questions on this site. I have not been berated for stupid questions or had people argue or call me names. This has to be the nicest forum I belong to and the answers to my questions sofar have been first rate. Thank you everybody. On to the Lancaster, Question 1: The pitot tube seems to change positions, I assume it was moved at some point. It seems to be down by the bomb aimer in early units and then is moved to the longeron just above the bomb bay doors on the port side. It seems to be in one place or the other, but never in both locations. Am I correct on this? The reason I ask is the preproduction shots of the HK kit show it in both locations. Question 2: Reference the radar antenna located on both sides just forward of the cockpit, shaped like an "H". Is this part of the H2S radar or does it have a seperate purpose. I can't seem to find info on this in my internet searches. Also how many aircraft carried it? I don't see many period photos showing it. Question 3: How many aircraft actually carried the H2S radar? In my research, it seems like it was very common, but most of the Lancaster photos from the war don't show it. Thanks again for everyone's help from the misplaced Brit (my parents emigrated to the States when I was 4, I was born in Portishead, Somerset). It is appreciated.

Learnt something today, care of RAAF Facebook page:

With the B-17 STGB fever rising in me I noticed some members were wanting an Avro Lancaster STGB too. Quite quiet on that front since then, so I thought why not think aloud and ask if other members would be interested in one? The first Lancaster STGB took place from January to April in 2011, which means it´ll probably be all of ten years between them, if and when we manage to gather the required number of interested! Since I built my latest Lancaster... that must have been in the 1970´s! Because the then-host of the GB hasn´t been active in the BM forum for almost a year, I hope no-one regards me as a theme-thief by doing this . Back in 2011 not just Lancasters, but also Manchesters and Lincolns, were eligible - but in this case and in our STGB 2.0-era I´d say no to them. "Just" Lancasters EDIT: and Lancastrians EDIT 2: Oh let's let them Manchesters and Lincolns in too Best regards, V-P. Oh, I almost forgot the list: 1) vppelt68 2) MarkSH 3) Colin W 4) Mancunian airman 5) Ozzy 6) Arniec 7) zebra 8 ) franky boy 9) JOCKNEY 10) Paul821 11) CliffB 12) rafalbert 13) Hockeyboy76 14) Romeo Alpha Yankee 15) Redstaff 16) Boman 17) PZGREN 18) dnl42 19) Rob G 20) jrlx 21) Angus Tura 22) theplasticsurgeon 23) nimrod54 24) JohnT 25) BlackAck - thank you!

UPDATE: The original Wingnut Wings project (2018) is now the hands of Border Model (2021) Three new Wingnut Wings kits in development to be announced at the All Japan Model & Hobby Show in Tokyo - 28-30 September 2018. Source: http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/ - ref. 32043 - Avro Lancaster B.Mk.I/III : 1/32 - http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/product?productid=3193 - ref. 32044 - Avro Lancaster B.Mk.III "Dambusters" : 1/32 - http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/product?productid=3194 - ref. 32062 - Halberstadt Cl.II (late) - see Britmodeller thread here: link - Scale: 1/32 - http://www.wingnutwings.com/ww/product?productid=3195 V.P.

Kit manufacture: Revell Scale: 1/72 Type:Lancaster B.III Special "Dambusters" Extras used: Eduard Photoetch interior and Masking set, brass guns, resin wheels, Xtradecals. Paints and colours used: Tamiya Rubber Black, Nato Black and Sea Blue (interior, underside, wheels) Gloss Black (props, undercarriage), Mr Color Dark Earth and Dark Green (RAF WWII). Gloss coat Alclad Aqua Gloss, matt cost Vallejo polyurethane Matt Varnish. Weathering wash Flory's Dark Dirt (top) and a mix of Light Wash and Black for underside. Hi all! So, I've got the Lanc finished, and roughly in time for the Dambusters anniversary! I would love to say that was mu intention, but in truth it was just coincidence. Still, it's nice to be able to commemorate the event with this build. The build thread got hit with Photobucket, and as such got semi-abandoned. The kit is Revell! It's good value for money (especially as I got it second hand) and the external detail is beautiful. However, the fit in places isn't great. It's not a bad kit by any stretch but does require quite a bit of work in places. The engines to wing join was the worst, but some of the glasswork was the most annoying. The kit decals are poor, out of register and not very receptive of decal solutions. I used Xtradecals decal sheet which were absolutely stunning. I didn't seal one side of the code numbers very well so they tore a bit with weathering, but decided to leave it a bit weathered! I used a few AM bits. Eduard interior set (waste of time, you can see nothing!), Resin wheels (forgot the make, a bit of work needed but worth it) and brass guns which are exquisite, ruined only by the chump fitting them! Also worth nothing I stuck all the small bits like activators on early doors to get a better hold. That was a silly idea, they've all gone! So here we go: That's about that! Thank you for checking in 🙂 Val

Back in the day, Saturdays and Sundays had proper tv programs. Saturday tea time was Airwolf, Knightrider, The A Team or Streethawk and Sunday afternoons was war film time, The dirty dozen, Kelly’s hero’s, Where eagles dare, 633 sqn, and my favourite The Dambusters. During my my time at RAF Coningsby, I managed a jolly in BBMFs Dakota, that was a memorable experience, especially when the engine stopped. Luckily we were still on the ground, unluckily it started again and we took off. But one of my favourite memories was refuelling the Lancaster when working weekend shift on tanker pool. Winston Churchill once said "The gratitude of every home in our Island, in our Empire, and indeed throughout the world, except in the abodes of the guilty, goes out to the British airmen who, undaunted by odds, unwearied in their constant challenge and mortal danger, are turning the tide of world war by their prowess and by their devotion. Never in the field of human conflict has so much been owed by so many to so few. All hearts go out to the fighter pilots whose brilliant actions we see with our own eyes day after day, but we must never forget that all the time, night after night, month after month, our bomber squadrons travel far into Germany, find their targets, often under the heaviest fire, often with serious loss, with deliberate, careful discrimination, and inflict shattering blows upon the whole of the technical and war-making structure of the Nazi power. On no part of the Royal Air Force does the weight of the war fall more heavily than on the daylight bombers who will play an invaluable part in the case of invasion and whose unflinching zeal it has been necessary in the meantime on numerous occasions to restrain." 55,573 young men died flying with Bomber Command during World War Two; that’s more than those who serve in the entire RAF today. I aim aim to build Amodels 144 Lancaster, she even has markings similar enough to BBMFs one year.

A 1/144 scale picture/diorama built for a friend. The original Crown Lancaster and Minicraft Dakota. The Lanc and Dak at rest with BBMF crew, re-enactors and veterans looking around. Build thread here -

My first completed model of 2018! And it's not even December! Here is the very fun and very little Meng Kids Lancaster. Obviously inspired by the classic egg planes of the past. This is more of a cartoony or "chibi" style. The inspiration for this build once again came from Andy Moore who has built a couple of these in the past. The model is essentially OOB. The tires supplied are have very square shoulders so those were sanded to round them off. The bottom of each tire was also sanded to give the impression of weight. The three turrets come molded completely clear so I masked and sprayed on some simplified framing. The guns were drilled out and the decals came from Kits-World. I used a mix of 1/72 and 1/144 to fit the non scale nature of this model. There was a little silvering on the larger decals with clear sections but I'm sure that was more my fault as the decals seem to be of very high quality. The decals I used were only fractionally bigger than the markings provided in the kit. But due to the tiny size of the compressed fuselage there was VERY little room for decals of any kind! The aircraft serial number had to be located underneath the horizontal stabilizers. In reality, Ropey (KB772) was a Lancaster Mk.X operated by 419 Squadron, Royal Canadian Air Force. She was built in Canada and flew out of RAF Middleton St George. She survived the war and was brought back to Canada in anticipation of being used in the Pacific. But the war ended with Ropey in Canada and there KB772 would remain until being scrapped in 1947. The bombs were painted OD and given some non historically correct yellow stripes just to add a little visual interest. It really is a tiny little thing. This was a lot of fun and I would absolutely build another. Thanks for looking! -matt

Hello all, Just finished this new tool Airfix Avro Lancaster B.III last night. I did it as ED927, AJ-E, which was lost near Haldern in Germany before hitting its target, no survivors. I quite liked this kit, even though it came with a warped nose on one fuselage half, which was corrected with some hot water. One thing I don't like though, are the wingtip lights and windows on top of the fuselage, Airfix should have done those in clear plastic. Top colours are Humbrol 29 and 163, bottom is a 50/50 mix of Tamiya XF-1 Flat Black and XF-17 Sea Blue. The exhaust streaks were done with pastels. I painted the Upkeep mine in some rusty red color (Revell 83), because from what I've read about it, most were still in their red oxyde primer when they were used. There might be many errors on it, but I don't claim to be an expert on Lancaster, and I mostly just followed the instructions. Thanks for looking, and I hope you like it. Pete

Forgive me if these ideas are old news but have I missed the boat on B-29 or Lancaster STGB or a rotary wing GB?

I forgot to post this in RFI so thought I would squeeze it in before 2017 runs out. The build is HERE so I'm not going to go in to detail but thoroughly enjoyed hacking all that plastic up and sticking great wedges of resin in to stretch the Tamiya Lanc into a Lincoln. Huge thanks go to Chris ( #cngaero) who sold me the set for a very reasonable price. I hope I've done it justice for you It's painted and decalled as RA679 of 12 Sqn based at Binbrook. In 1951, when attempting a 3 engine landing, it overshot the runway and mounted a bank causing the undercarriage to collapse. Happy new year to you all Thanks for looking Neil

Hello all, I’m looking for information on Flying Officer Errol W. Barrow, who served in Bomber Command from 1942. He’s said to have been Navigator on Lancaster’s, squadron as yet unknown. Also was navigator on Sholto Douglas’s personal aircraft in the immediate postwar period. He would also become the first Prime Minister of Barbados. any information would be greatly appreciated, especially on Sholto Douglas personal aircraft. Was it a Dakota, or York, or another type? Tony

Afternoon folks - I'm currently building the Tamiya 1:48 Lancaster and am wondering about the windows along the fuselage. Are these windows blanked out? I ask as the decals on the side of the fuselage cover one or two of the windows and I'm not sure if I should have these windows as windows or blacked over? thanks chris

A friend at work was telling me his primary school teacher was in the Dambuster raid. Top stuff a local bloke in such an important mission. I gonna build his plane. Bought the kit and Eduard Big Ed and blow me down I can't find any reference to a Brian Mattingly DFC on that mission. I came to the conclusion teachers tell S*** Stories to impress the kiddies. The build is going to be fun, never had so much PE to play with. I am on holidays from Fools Paradise and I want a large project to keep me entertained and hopefully this project will end up going well as my last few have not been so satisfying. I have been trying Vallejo paint, I find it very soft and scratch the paint off with my fingernails. A real Gordon Ramsay moment. Box art Thanks for looking Stephen

Hi all. I am currently working on the Airfix new-ish Lancaster kit (dambuster version) and I am wondering what the little tabs on the leading edges of the lower wing parts are for. You can see them quite well in this review. You're not supposed to glue any other parts on them or anything, and they don't correspond with little notches in the top wing parts. I did some searching, and they seem to match those little things next to the nacelles on this Lancaster B.II, and also here. But I don't see them on many others. Anyone got an idea what they are for, and if I should keep them on or sand them off? Thanks.

Can anyone help me with this one? On 20th August 1942, Lancaster R5543 of 61 Squadron was shot down over Northern Spain by Ju88C's of the Zerstorer flight of KuFlGr106 (soon to become V/KG40). I would like to know the Lancaster's individual letter, please?

Some pictures of my new tool Airfix Dambuster done some time back. Did a little updating in the cockpit, belts and such. Drilled out the intakes , added dorsal window from clear acrylic rod, added wing tip lights from acrylic sheet. Overall an enjoyable and great fitting kit. The plastics was really soft that made scribing of the dorsal plug panel line for the removed turret challenging. Hope you enjoy the pics. All the Best! Don

Test for GOOGLE photo sharing https://goo.gl/photos/oQnaGRkB2Y5Gzr5cA https://goo.gl/photos/yRGgHHnEwikSKTRM6

Yesterday, I was watching Raiders of the Lost Ark and it was quite appropriate because today I collected the Holy Grail of Bomber Command modelling, the 48 scale Paragon Manchester conversion! Before I go any further, I can't thank to Dennis (Spitfire) enough for selling it to me without needing a mortgage to afford it, so I intend to do it justice and have it done for Telford. Whilst I'm at it, I'm also doing the Paragon 1/48 Lincoln conversion with an equally big thanks to Chris (Cngaero) who sold that to me for an equally reasonable price, that's 2 Christmas's so far this year and we're only in June! That will be published elsewhere in the future, so I can't show the full progress on that one, but will drop a few photo's in along the way. I recently build the excellent Blackbird Manchester & Lincoln conversions, as you may guess, I'm a big fan of Avro's line of props, but always wanted to do them in 48 scale, I just couldn't get hold of the damn resin! The Lincoln was started a few weeks ago, the resin quality is excellent... The base for both conversions is of course the classic but superb Tamiya Lancaster Now for the Manchester resin.....

Found this book in 'The Works' for £6 - a bargain I thought , not that building a Lancaster is in my current plans, maybe its because they make me feel old, its now 41 years since I got a guided tour of 'CIty of Lincoln' at the 1976 Farnborough Airshow - 2 hrs before the Memorial flight did their display - Health and Safety was not an issue back then, my mum was allowed to sit in the Arrows Red 10 ( the backup plane ) which had an armed ejection seat , the pilot was showing her all the Gnats controls etc , his senior ground crewman was having kittens, those were the days !! Back to the book - interesting stories and some good close ups of the 4 engined workhorse, a nice little addition to my book collection.

Hello, I've been musing myself with making a vac canopy for my model (since the Pavla Vac doesn't fit the Revell 1/72nd kit). I have noticed that some frames are internal, to which the perspex is just screwed-on. Both wartime and restored example walk-arounds seem to confirm this: But then, I found some more (both wartime and restored example) photos, which depict these (and all other) as external: Some drawings clearly show them as internal: While this one shows all frames of the same depth (i.e. external): Soooo.... What's up with that? I thought it might be an early-war / late-war machine difference, but my wartime external photo shows an early machine (as denoted by the small window on the fuselage), while "Just Jane" is restored to a late-war standard (wide props, bigger blisters and everything). Or maybe it had something to do with the astro-dome size? Any opinion is most welcome Regards, Aleksandar

This is reference for a future project. I'm planning on doing the Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster as an Aeronavalé aircraft. I'm going to do the overall Blue finished aircraft. Would the cockpit have been Black (left over from wartime service?) or would the it have been painted Interior Grey-Green when they were refurbished? How about inside the nose. I know you won't see much of the rest of the interior, and the bomb bay will be closed so I'm not worried about that. I've got the really nice Berna decals, I'm thinking of ordering the Belcher Bits Engine Nacelles Set. Someday, if I can find the Eduard set(s) at a price I'm willing to pay, I want to pick them up. Is there anything else that anyone would suggest for such a build? This is (more or less) how I want to do mine, http://s262.photobucket.com/user/Duggy009/media/Avro-Lancaster-French-1.jpg.html Did the French use the USN Dark Blue or something more akin to Oxford Blue? Some B&W photos seem to show something a bit lighter than the USN Blue.

Back in 2014 I entered the Bomber Command Group Build inspired by a recent trip to the Derwent Reservoir to see the two Lancasters fly over the Dam. I made a start but didn't get very far as the bomb aimers blister was scarred by poor moulding and I put it to one side while I contacted Airfix to get a replacement. They got back to me saying they had no spares at the time and they would send me a replacement as soon as they had them in stock. The model ended up on the back burner and last year I decided to chase it up as I had never heard back from Airfix and realised that it had been 2 years since my original request and after chasing it up and getting a replacement the build was finally back on. My motivation has been fuelled further with a couple of book purchases I've recently made and a visit to East Kirkby braving the pouring rain last friday on my bike to make the trip to take part in one of the winter maintenance tours East Kirkby are offering at the moment as it is a unique opportunity to see a Lancaster stripped down to bare metal and see areas of detail you don't see every day such as fuel tank bays and engine nacelles without fairings. Even the H2S Dish! While I was there I also discovered that the Control Column and Throttle Quadrant from Gibson's Lancaster were recovered before was scrapped and are on display in the museum as part of an exhibit. Deciding which colour to paint the interior was another stumbling block. I wasn't sure which areas of the interior to paint black and which parts would have been interior green. I used a but of artistic license and painted some of the interior green that may have been black so that the detail can be seen on the model when looking through the canopy. I painted the interior with Humbrol Matt Black (33) and Interior Green (78) I lightened the Interior Green with some sky in areas to make the detail stand out a bit more in the dark interior and did the same with black by lightening it with 67 and 87. I painted the seats in Humbrol 30 and went over them with some oil paint. The Flight engineers seat was modified so it could be displayed folded up and the Radio Operators and Navigators seats were CMK ones. I used the kit pilots seat. I used the pre-coloured seat belts that came with this set. I also used an Eduard zoom set for the interior as the pre coloured wireless sets and instrument panels really set it off nicely. Also the full interior set was a lot more expensive and I was unsure how much would be seen. After the outside of the fuselage was painted in black primer so I could make sure the areas around the windows were black I glued the windows in with some two part epoxy and filled the gaps with pva to make sure they were secure. Before closing up the fuselage there were a couple of mods I did. Firstly after test fitting I decided to glue a couple of plasticard strips onto the underside of the mid upper turret fairing so it sat flush when it was fitted and the fuselage halves were closed up. I also decided to replace the escape hatches. so they had a clear window. I thought about painting the window gloss black and masking it off but thought as it would have a join line which maybe difficult to eradicate as it was recessed I decided to cut out the hatches and replace them completely. The way I did this was to first cut a hole in a piece of 10 thou plasticard the size of the window. I then trimmed it down so the hatched matched the kit one and the window was in the centre. Once I had the replacement hatches I cut them out of the lit fuselage making sure the openings were slightly smaller than the hatches. The next step is to paint the hatch, add an acetate window and fix it in position. I did some research into the colour of the signal lights on the underside of the aircraft and after I came to the conclusion they were Red, Green, Amber fore to aft I used a technique I've been meaning to try for a while now for the lenses. I used some of the metallic foil confetti you can get for putting in cards of the relevant colours and cut some discs out the size of the lamps with my trusty punch and die set and fixed these in place to the underside of the lamps with Klear then backed with a piece of black plasticard. They look really effective and I'll have to take a pic of the underside with the lights showing to demonstrate as I seem to have forgotten to do this. Once the fuselage had been closed up I could attach the top wings and all the bulkheads in the undercarriage bays as well as reuniting the wing spar with the bits that broke off early in construction. I then painted the inside of the wings using the same technique of the interior green to give the detail a chance of being seen. Note the fit of the bomb bay fairing is not great. The interior was a tight fit and an think it's prevented the fuselage from fully closing up in places which has affected the fit of the bomb bay and fairings. Lower wing with landing light lenses in place using the same technique as the signal lamps. Here we see the Lancaster with the lower wings and engine nacelles in place and the tail dry fitted. The fit of the tail planes is so tight that it can be fitted without glue! The fit of the lower wings was tricky and I think this was again down to the fit of the fuselage halves closing up. I had to do a fair bit of trimming and clean up to get the lower wings to fit as I have had to do with a lot of parts on this model I thought would just fall into place. The panels above the inboard engines are taped into place because the main undercarriage legs are attached to the wing spar and slot in from above through here. Next step for me is to clean up all the seams and the undercarriage parts. I can then paint the undercarriage before fitting and hopefully they won't get damaged during further handling of the model. the fit of the panels is not great so I can't leave them off till the end. I'm enjoying making this kit so far and can see myself making a couple more of these in the future. Thanks for looking, Mark

Hi all! Just wanted to share these pics of a build that I have recently completed. This was a rather unusual build for myself as it wasn't for me; it was sort of a commission build for a friend of mine who was retiring. She was the Office Manager of the church that my wife and I attend, and where I volunteer in the office one day a week. Last year, during a conversation that we had about my RAF service, she happened to tell me about her uncle that had served in the RAF during the 2nd World War. Sadly she had never met him as he was lost on ops on 27/28 July 1943 during Operation Gomorrah, the bombing of Hamburg. With the information she was able to give me, and with a little more research, a plan started to form as to how I would be able to say thank you to this lady for the 12 years of service she had given the church. So fast forward to the beginning of January this year, I acquire all the bits and bobs I need - including the latest Airfix 1/72 BI(FE)/BIII Lancaster and make a start. My target date - 5th Feb which is her last official date as a member of staff of our church. I took my time (a little too much I think) and it was finished on the Thursday before hand! so here you go. I am aware there maybe a couple of flaws, but then again, who isn't critical of their own builds! So here you are: Well I hope you like the pictures - I dont have this in my possession any more but the lady who it was built for, and her husband adore it, and as a representation of the aircraft that her uncle was aboard when he was lost I think I works very well. In this case, it doesn't need heavy weathering, or for it to look like it has been on dozens of ops. It is a memorial and a thank you. Regards John B