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Birthday Lancaster: Airfix 1/72 Dambusters B. III (Special)


SimonL

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Kind friends of mine gifted me this for my birthday just before Christmas, so I decided it would be this year's 'Christmas build". Hopefully, compared to usual, I will actually finish it before I go back to work towards the end of January.

I have had an interest in the Dams Raid ever since reading Paul Brickhill's book during a wet week in Betws-y-Coed as a young lad. Later on when my father was posted to Soest we lived in a flat in Korbecke, just a short walk from the Korbecke Bridge across one arm of the Mohnesee. I believe this was where Gibson turned to head up the lake towards the dam.

Anyway, the obligatory box top shot:

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and the sprue (thats a lot of plastic!):

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So straight to work, on the insides:

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I decided to cut the spars close to the undercarriage "cells" so that I could complete the wings separate from the fuselage. Plenty of spar left to just slip the wings on.

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Cockpit almost complete:

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Insides washed with a bit of water colour and then dry brushed to give a bit of depth:

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Great start Simon - looking good. I have one of these in my stash with a 'Dambuster Tornado' so I'll be watching with interest! Do let us know if you have any problems.

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Thanks. Its a Happy New Year from down under.

Dry fit of the wings - looking good:

2167BEFC-CF3E-48E0-B603-8F96B2758AF1_zps

Cockpit glued into place:

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Engine nacelles and fuselage glued:

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Bit of filler needed on the the fuselage seams. I took the opportunity to drill out the hatches on the top as well:

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After a bit of sanding, on goes the camouflage colours on the top of the fuselage:

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And then black on the undersides:

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All painting is by brush with Tamiya acrylics.

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Thanks for the kind comments.

Fair bit of progress today.

First outer engine nacelles attached, just a smidgen of filler will be needed I think;

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Inner engine nacelles ready to be attached:

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Assorted bits'n'bobs:

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Fuselage gloss coated (with an Australian Future substitute), and decals applied. I was a bit nervous of this as I have had issues with decals silvering over black paint before, however once a coat of gloss coat had been applied over the decals they looked just fine.

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Great progress and a very nice paint work, i would be glad to get this with my airbrush half as precise.

It seems the Airfix Lancaster is a very nice kit.

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Looks fantastic so far. It looks a lot more detailed than the Airfix Lancaster I built a number of years ago.

How are you going to display it?

Keep it up

Ozzy

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Not sure Ozzy. It was a special gift, so I may splash out on a display case of some kind. It will probably end up at work in the office. I intend to have it " bombed up" though.

Sounds good. I once saw one as a child, before airfix made this kit, in a light box going over a dam, it looked fantastic.

Ozzy

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Not much done today. Busy picking up the parts for my sons new gaming PC that he designed for himself (a friend who understands these things is putting it together tonight - my lad is one very excited 12 year old!).

So just added part of then undercarriage and the inner engine nacelles. I had read this was a tricky part to fit, and so it appeared although with a bit of wrangling I think i have kept the requirements for filling to a minimum.

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While I was waiting I got the main wheels painted, washed and matt-coated.

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Not a lot .....maybe..... but, as I always say - progress is progress - especially when it's of this quality.

Hope your son is pleased with his PC!

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Many thanks. Even less done today - lots of downloading of updates for the PC. Its quite a monster (and the lad will be happy once he gets his mitts on it.)

Attached the bomb dropping machinery to the bomb bay.

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Sanded the wings with a focus on where the nacelles were attached. First coat of paint on upper side of wings revealed just a few places where a smear of filler was needed.

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Couldn't resist it, a dry fit of the wings and tail.

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Well not finished Sunday Bernd :-) Just too hot today (high 30's celsius - looks like being over 40 tomorrow).

Painted the upper side of the wings. Just a bit of touching up needed later.

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Well, maybe not finished but the fast progess as well the quality of the paintwork is impressive !

The weather is here quite warm for early January with temperatures well above the zero mark.

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After a few days off, back into it.

Finished off painting the undersides of the wings:

E346BF94-CEB9-44A8-BBE6-233E834561D0_zps

Then gloss coating followed by decals. They had a tendency to want to fold up on themselves but eventually I managed to coax them into place. I then painted over with some Tamiya Acrylic thinner, which seems to work well at making the decals "suck" down into all the panel lines and then another coat of gloss to protect them.

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I the fitted the tail, which was a VERY tight fit. It ended up splitting the rear fuselage, so some carefully re-gluing, filling, sanding and repainting was required. Once I had recovered my equanimity I moved onto "dirtying" up the airframe with a sludge wash of watercolours (Reeves tubed water colours that my daughter bunged my way) in soapy water. I used a mix of Ivory Black and Burnt Umber which I daubed on to the panel lines on the upper side of the wings and fuselage. Once it had dried I just used some damp(ish) kitchen towel to wipe away the excess. I think it has come out OK, not too stark. I then sealed the watercolour in with a coat of Humbrol Mattcote.

54F8BAC4-C55C-4243-83DB-EDC91BDD7AA8_zps

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Excellent progress Simon. Shame about the problem with the tail being tight but good you've mentioned it on here so others will be aware in future. Your paintwork and finishing looks good from where I'm sitting!

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