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Airfix Lancaster III EE136 WS-R 'Spirit of Russia' 9 Sqn, 1943


Simon

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Hello again everyone

 

Having wrestled the Airfix Lancaster II into submission, I'm starting on their Lancaster III. Forewarned being forearmed, it should be a little less of a struggle this time round. Added to which I've already got a lot of the detailling stuff done and ready to drop in. I'll be doing it as EE136 WS-R 'Spirit of Russia' of 9 Squadron, one of the 'Ton Up' Lancs. On the night of September 5th 1943, it was on an Op to Mannheim, its 22nd mission. It encountered an enemy night fighter near the target, and the combat report reads as follows:

 

5/6 September 1943, Mannheim. 23.32, 20,000 ft.

Lancaster ‘R’ Captain P/O/McCubbin

E/A sighted by R.G. (Sgt. Elliott) following Lancaster. Pilot informed and Lancaster commenced to corkscrew. E/A closed on Lancaster from port quarter and R.G. opened up with a long burst at a range of 400 yards. E/A continued on a course to attack and broke away to port quarter after firing a long burst. M.U. (Sgt. Houbert) fired a few round only before being hit and took no further part in the combat. More attacks ensued making five in all, firing long bursts in each attack and the Lancaster’s R.G. also firing long bursts. During the final attack the E/A burst into flames as shots from the rear turret hit him. He dived beneath the starboard wing, obviously on fire. This was confirmed by the flight engineer and bomb aimer. This E/A is claimed as destroyed.

No searchlights or flares were seen to be connected with this attack. The Lancaster suffered considerable damage, with bullet holes being too numerous to count.

M.U. Gunner – 20 rounds

Rear Gunner – 3,000 rounds

The rear gunner was F/Sgt. James Lindsay Elliott, of Amble, Northumberland, who was awarded the D.F.M., his award being gazetted on May 19th 1944.

 

To make life a little easier, I've got the Xtradecal sheet which includes markings for EE136, a set of Eduard paint masks and their Lancaster III interior etch set, plus some Quickboost intakes and gun barrels.

 

I'd managed to get a lot of the cockpit done at the same time as the Lancaster II, so here are a couple of photos:

 

Lancaster-III-01

 

Lancaster-III-14

 

I've also replicated the detailing for the turrets that I'd done for the Lancaster II, having made two of everything the first time round:

 

Front turret:

 

Lancaster-III-17

 

Upper turret:

 

Lancaster-III-15

 

Lancaster-III-16

 

and the rear turret:

 

Lancaster-III-13

 

All much the same as the Lancaster II so far. More soon....

 

Cheers

 

Simon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited by Simon
typo
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I have a copy of 'Ton Up Lancs' by Norman Franks, and the entry for EE136 states:

 

"Given the Squadron codes of WS, its individual letter became 'R'. There was a good deal of pro-Russian feeling in the mid-war years, no doubt encouraged by our war leaders, Russia being our only European ally fighting from its own motherland. This was evidenced too in Bomber Command which had several bombers named with Russian themes."

 

Simon

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  • 2 weeks later...

A quick update - apologies for the delay, but D.I.Y. projects have got in the way. I just think of them as 1/1 scale modelling, so not to much of a change. :)

 

I've been busy finishing off the fuselage interior, before buttoning it all up. Here's the computer for the Mk. XIV bombsight, with a scratchbuilt frame for the Eduard etch part:

 

Lancaster-III-19

 

And here it is in situ, with the strike camera and bomb aimer's parachute stowage:

 

Lancaster-III-20

 

I've also added the mount for the bombsight itself, and the fuselage was then all glued up, filled and sanded (thank you Airfix...:doh:).

 

Next up I replaced the kit's (pretty rubbish) upper escape hatches on the fuselage - this is something I'd already done on the Airfix Lancaster II. Firstly, I'd sanded off the kit's representations of the hatches before the fuselage had been glued together:

 

Lancaster-III-26

 

I drilled out the centre circular sections - which should be glazed, not solid, and then made some replacements from clear plastic sheet so they can have the glazed sections, using some Eduard masks from another kit (1/72 He-111, I think), and glued them in place:

 

Lancaster-III-21

 

Lancaster-III-22

 

Needs a little tidying up, but should be okay under a coat of primer.

 

Meanwhile, the wings have been all glued up. Like the Lanc II build, I'd separated the parts of the wing spars that make the front and rear of the mainwheel bays so the wings can be done as a complete unit before adding them to the fuselage, rather than the way Airfix recommends in the instructions. Here's the ones from the Lancaster II build, to show what I mean:

 

Lancaster-II-12

 

It means the fuselage and wings can be completed separately, making life a little easier. With the undercarriage bays already done and painted, the wings have had the engine nacelles added. Fit was a little 'relaxed' shall we say, but nothing that can't be fixed with smidge of filler:

 

Lancaster-III-24

 

Lancaster-III-25

 

More soon...

 

Cheers


Simon

 

 

 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hello again

 

Back with an update. Not much work been done for the last few weeks, with work and D.I.Y. projects getting in the way, but some progress to report at last.

 

I've got the main undercarriage all done, as the main undercarriage legs need to be dropped into the wings before they can all be finished. After checking references for other Lancasters around the sane serial number, it seems the main undercarriage legs were not just black. Here's the various elements all painted up:

 

Lancaster-III-38

 

It's not easy to tell from the photo, but I used Tamiya's Titanium Steel for the legs - it's got a slightly gold tinge to it, and Revell semi-matt black, which has a slight sheen. The mainwheel legs were then dropped in the wings and glued in place:

 

Lancaster-III-37

 

I'm sure soemone at Airfix thought this was a good idea, but it's a right clart on - it makes the undercarriage legs vulnerable to damage while the wings are painted and makes it complicated to mask them off while doing so. It also involves the fitting of panels over the tops of the engines, including the outer engine nacelles. I guess it means more commonality with their Lancaster II, but as I found out when I made that, fit of the parts is slightly iffy - here's one of the outer engines:

 

Lancaster-III-35

 

Sigh...:doh:

 

Speaking of ill-fitting parts, I'm doing the bomb bay doors closed. Seemed a good idea at the time, however the bay doors were badly twisted, as can be seen when I test-fitted them at an earlier stage:

 

Lancaster-III-10

 

Now I'm ready to fit them , they don't seem to fit well at all. The front section is fine:

 

Lancaster-III-31

 

but the rear has a pronounced step - in the words of Nat King Cole, That Ain't Right:

 

Lancaster-III-34

 

I did wonder if I'd got them back to front (:doh:), but not the case. Not sure what to do about that - some fettling required somehow. I did however come up with a cunning plan for giving the centre of the bomb bay doors a little more support while trying to fit them:

 

Lancaster-III-32

 

I taped them together, then added a section of ballpoint pen, cut to size and taped in place - it helps them keep their shape while I try to bully gently persuade them into place. Otherwise they have a mind of their own. :swear:

 

Would be much easier if they'd just supplied a single part for the option of closed bomb bay doors. :shrug:

 

More soon....

 

Cheers


Simon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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8 hours ago, Simon said:

Now I'm ready to fit them , they don't seem to fit well at all. The front section is fine:

 

Lancaster-III-31

 

but the rear has a pronounced step - in the words of Nat King Cole, That Ain't Right:

 

Lancaster-III-34

 

I did wonder if I'd got them back to front (:doh:), but not the case. Not sure what to do about that - some fettling required somehow. I did however come up with a cunning plan for giving the centre of the bomb bay doors a little more support while trying to fit them:

 

 

 

 

Would be much easier if they'd just supplied a single part for the option of closed bomb bay doors. :shrug:

 

More soon....

 

Cheers


Simon

 

Clearly, they are afraid of making it too easy on us. ;)

 

It looks like some careful sanding along the hinge line should settle it in. What I would be most worried about when I do mine would be that panel just behind the engine. I guess it could be fitted with a shim on one side to fill the gap. Still, for a new mold kit, that looks like something that would be more likely to be found on the old Matchbox kit.

 

Oh well, you shall overcome!!

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So, a little progress to report. The upper sections of the engine cowlings have been attached, and the fit is a little 'relaxed' (I seem have a running theme with the Airfix Lancasters here). It's easily sorted with smidge of filler and a coat of primer, though:

 

Lancaster-III-41

 

Lancaster-III-40

 

I've also done the wing lights for the trailing edge. This Lancaster had the set of three faired in lights:

 

Lancaster-III-51

 

and test-fitted:

 

Lancaster-III-52

 

Need some fettling, but should be okay.

 

Meanwhile, back to the bomb bay doors...and I had a cunning plan. I measure the width of the bomb bay, drew two parallel lines on a piece of white card at this distance, and taped the fusleage doors together:

 

Lancaster-III-42

 

I then ran some liquid glue along the inside of them, and put some braces across the inside to keep them the right distance apart:

 

Lancaster-III-44

 

Lancaster-III-43

 

They had to be held togther by hand for about ten minutes or so until the glued took hold, but I think it's worked okay. Here they are test-fitted to the fuselage:

 

Firstly, the front section, which fits fine:

 

Lancaster-III-45

 

and the rear section, still with a step:

 

Lancaster-III-46

 

and after some judicious sanding, they fit a lot better:

 

Lancaster-III-48

 

They are much easier to handle now they're a complete unit.

 

More soon...

 

Cheers

 

Simon

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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So, another quick update. The fuselage and wings are now all done, after I'd added some Quickboost intakes for the engines, which are miles better than the kit's items:

 

Lancaster-III-53

 

Now they were on, time for some painting. All the main assemblies were primed using Halfords grey primer, and pre-shaded:

 

Lancaster-III-54

 

Lancaster-III-55

 

Lancaster-III-56

 

And then given their Dark Earth coat - Xtracrylix in this case:

 

Lancaster-III-58

 

Once that was dried, out with the Blu-Tack and masking up for the Dark Green:

 

Lancaster-III-59

 

As I've found out a couple of times before, when removing the Blu-Tack, it had left a mark - here on the port tail-planes:

 

Lancaster-III-61

 

First time it happened my first reaction was panic, and I tried to wash it off. While doing that I noticed that wetting it made the marks disappear, so I thoguht I'd try a coat of gloss varnish. Bob's yer Ma's brother:

 

Lancaster-III-62

 

So, once that was sorted I masked the various bits again, so I could get the black undersides done. They had been pre-shaded as per the upper surfaces, then I airbrushed some thinly diluted Xtracrylix Night Black, to give some tones to the undersides:

 

Lancaster-III-65

 

Next up will be masking the walkways and trestle markings and airbrushing them - I much prefer to do that than use the decals.

 

More soon,

 

Simon

 

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On 28/11/2017 at 5:18 PM, Simon said:

As I've found out a couple of times before, when removing the Blu-Tack, it had left a mark - here on the port tail-planes:

 

Lancaster-III-61

 

First time it happened my first reaction was panic, and I tried to wash it off. While doing that I noticed that wetting it made the marks disappear, so I thoguht I'd try a coat of gloss varnish. Bob's yer Ma's brother:

 

If glossing removes the mark left by the Blu-Tack will it protect the base colour from the Blu-Tack marks if you use Gloss before masking?

 

Gondor

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15 hours ago, Gondor44 said:

If glossing removes the mark left by the Blu-Tack will it protect the base colour from the Blu-Tack marks if you use Gloss before masking?

 

Gondor

I did think that after I'd done it - :doh: However, I'd have added a coat of gloss once both colours are on anyway, to help the decals application, so no problem.

 

I might try on a scrap bit next time, and see if it works.

 

Simon

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So, another quick update. I've got the walkways and trestle markings airbrushed on:

 

Lancaster-III-69

 

 

Lancaster-III-68

 

Once they'd been done, it was time to start on the weathering on the wings. I've used a combination of pastel and paints - not looking too bad, but maybe some more work needed:

 

Lancaster-III-67

 

Lancaster-III-66

 

BTW these are Xtradecal roundels on the wings - the kit's roundels both tore when I was trying to persuade them to bed down on the panel lines on the wings.

 

More soon...

 

Simon

 

 

 

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Good to see you've only got 3 exhaust stains on top of the wing, the outermost exhaust flowed under the wing due to its diheadral. Dont forget white /light grey exhaust stains  underneath. I only know this because  i did the BBMF tour

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  • 1 month later...

Hello again. Over a month since my last update, but work, Christmas and the inevitable winter cold have kept me away from the workbench. I'm back to (almost) fighting fitness, so time to crack on with the Lancaster...meanwhile I purchased a copy of this book about EE136, which is a very interesting read:

 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/More-Luck-Lancaster-Operations-Killed/dp/1473897661

 

As mentioned in post #1, I'm portraying EE136 as it would have appeared on its 22nd Op, so i'll keep the weathering on the 'understated' side I think. After a bit of digging, I found some references for 9 Sqn Lancasters around that period. They were painted with non-standard code sizes - 40" for the large Squadron codes, and smaller, 28" codes for the individual letter. So, theese had to chopped up from larger Xtradecal codes, which was a right pain in the proverbials. However:

 

Lancaster-III-74

 

This also meant that the mission markings on the nose would need to be reduced, so after more research:

 

Lancaster-III-72

 

Before I fitted the wings, I finished off the undercarriage:

 

Lancaster-III-71

 

So, once the wings were on, and the decals done, I had the chance to finish off the cockpit and bomb aimers station:

 

Lancaster-III-73

 

Lancaster-III-70

 

The turrets are now almost done and ready to be added, and the vertical tails need adding, and that's EE136 just about done.

 

I have also been working on a display base for EE136. I had a look at what remains of R.A.F. Bardney on Google Earth, and there are a couple of the old 'frying pan' dispersal stands still extant. After doing some measurements on GE, I've Photoshopped a concrete frying pan stand, printed it out and spraymounted in onto some 5mm foam board:

 

Lancaster-III-76

 

The grass is Woodland Scenics RG5144 Summer Grass, cut roughly to shape. I've also been busy with a couple of vehicles and maintenance bits and bobs for the base, as well as pulling together some figures to add some atmosphere. How difficult is it to buy convincing 1/72 R.A.F. ground crew...? The Airfix ones are pretty long in the tooth these days, and the Revell ones are rare as hen's teeth (to mix metaphores). Anyway, I have some alternatives, which should be here shortly, so more soon...

 

Cheers

 

Simon

 

 

 

 

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  • 2 months later...

Blimey, it's more than 2 months since my last update :doh:. Apologies, but I have been getting on with it, just haven't got round to posting the photos.

 

So, first up, as I mentioned in my previous post, I'd been hunting round for some alternatives for R.A.F. ground crew figures. Here is a set of railway figures from Bachmann:

 

Lancaster-III-81

 

They're not 100% perfect, and are painted oddly in glossy enamel which I couldn't remove, but after a repaint and a replacement head from Dan Taylor Models:

 

Lancaster-III-82

 

This chap is from the CMK Czech Air Force set, again with a new head from Dan Taylor Models:

 

 

Lancaster-III-83

 

I've also done a few odds and ends for the diorama:

 

Lancaster-III-80

 

And finally for today, the turrets were all completed and installed, so the Lancaster is all done. Gun barrels are from Quickboost:

 

Lancaster-III-77

 

Lancaster-III-78

 

Lancaster-III-79

 

The next update will be about the various bits and bobs for the base and diorama, so more soon...

 

Cheers


Simon

 

 

 

 

 

 

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50 minutes ago, Procopius said:

Those Quickboost barrels are a huge improvement over the kit parts.

They are indeed much, much better. I've used them on an Italeri Stirling and a couple of Lancasters, and they're just perfect.

 

Simon

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