Lancaster W4964

[Danny]

Here are some photo's of my latest project Lucky Lancaster number 13 for me

That's the bulk of the cockpit complete Revell's instructions tell you to use a decal on the piltot's seat but I found that the moulded straps, plus some spares I had leftover from an Airwaves Lancaster detail set were good enough so I've used these and used the decals on the wireless operator's seat instead

So far I'm impressed with the interior of the Revell kit. Much better than the Hasegawa one

I'll keep this thread updated as I go but my Lancaster's usually take about a year to build

Danny

Edited September 13, 2009 by Danny

[Danny]

UPDATE 29/05/09

about the lack of updates on this project everyone. I've had some distractions over the last couple of months

 here's the latest;-

Fuselage starting to look Lancaster(ish)

Close up of H₂S radome. I've come accross a picture of another 9 Sqn. Lancaster that had been modified to carry the Tallboy bomb and retained both the mid-upper turret and H₂S so I've decided to do the same.

Cockpit area. Unfortunately I've now found a photo that shows the aircraft didn't have the two aerials either side of the cockpit and the aircraft had the earlier style pitot probe (under the bomb aimer's blister)

Close up of the cockput area. The canopy isn't glued in place yet because the Fairy in me wants to add a DF aerial (I know, I should get out more! )

The port side blister in the kit was snapped so I've bodged an Airfix item in it's place. I'm not entirely happy with the fit though, as it's slightly larger than the stbd side

The stbd inner didn't seem to fit very well and required a lot of filler....

...on both sides.

Port side was much better though

The undercarriage is coming together. I'm not impressed with the wings, however, as the panel lines don't seem (right to me)

I'm not entirely convinced about the kit's wheels so I was planning to use a set of Airfix items (below in this picture) but then I thought about using some Pavla wheels I had tucked away (on the peg). Unfortunaletly both of these are two narrow to fit the Revell undercarriage so I may yet use the kit items. Also on the peg though, is an Airfix tailwheel that I've cut away the strut and intend to use in place of the kit's poor item.

Painting of the fins.

Front turret coming together. Another disapointment though as the clear part doesn't have the horizontal framing Easy to fix with a bit of decal (I hope!) but still frustrating.

So there it is! I was really impressed with the interior of this kit but as I've progressed the wings and wheels seem to let it down for me Has anyone tried asking Revell if they will provide the interior parts for fitting into an Airfix kit?

Danny

Edited December 18, 2022 by Danny

[ollieholmes]

Bad luck on failing the interview, im sure someone will give you a chance though. I look forward to seing more progress on this model.

[Miggers]

Good work Danny.

A few tips for you.

1/Mainwheels

To get the Airfix mains to fit(miles better than the kit's)get your hands on a cotton bud.

Cut the ends off and you'll find they have a hollow tube.

Superglue thin slivers(about 1mm wide)to the Airfix hub centres and you'll find the wheels will fit the Revell legs.

Once painted they merely look just like the axle.

2/Tail wheel.

To get the Revell one to represent the correct anti-shimmy type is a five minute job.

Take the two wheel halves and carefully scrape a 45-ish degree angle around the tyre's mating surface edge

so that you get a "V" groove when you hold 'em together(like a V groove belt pulley).

Glue the two halves together and let 'em set.

Finally run a round rat tail file around the groove you've created to tidy it up and to create the

slight "U" profile the anti-shimmy tyre has.

The nacelles do need a bit of fettling(outers fitted better than inners on mine),but you should be able to get a near perfect fit.

Don't forget to paint in the three coloured ident lights under the rear end of the H2S cover.

That's why the backend was left clear.

Mark

Edited May 30, 2009 by Miggers

[Danny]

Miggers said:

Don't forget to paint in the three coloured ident lights under the rear end of the H2S cover.

That's why the backend was left clear.

Mark

Thanks for the tips Mark

Do you have any pictures, or could point me in the direction of some, for the ident lights though please? I've wondered why the rear of the cover was left clear and never knew there were ident lights there. It's too late for this model but I'd like to add them to future projects though.

Update 16/06/09

I had some time off late week and was going to post these on Sunday but  I didn't feel like posting much at the time

Close up of cockpit area after I'd removed the incorrect pitot probe and antenna and fitted the correct pitot probe and a DF aerial behind the cockpit. Is it just me or does the earlier style pitot probe seem a little large?

Couple of photos showing the main components ready for painting.

 

Danny

Edited December 18, 2022 by Danny

[Danny]

Final Update 13/09/09

I managed to get away over the Bank Holiday and finished a couple of projects so here's the final stages of this one

Fuselage painted and ready for decals. I'm afriad I didn't do very well with the bomb bay doors I damaged one taking it off the casting block, then damaged the other while sanding it after fitting it to the fuselage I was very careful with the rest of the sanding which is why the doors are a little rough at the joins.

Wheels and tail assemblies. I took Miggers' advice and used a cotton bud to make larger hubs (Thanks Miggers! )

Starboard Wing. This highlights the incorrect wing panels (which are the same 'style' on the tail assemblies) which, for me, really lets down the kit. Also, there is no panel for the dinghy.

The undersurfaces of the wings are better, and I like the undercarriage although the door struts seem a little large I think?

Decalling the nose. I noticed a mistake once this had dried (typically!! ) Revell instruct you to use a longer "STEADY HERE" marking around the nose. When I checked a photo of the W4964's nose I noticed that the "Still Going Strong" legend is clearly above the "STEADY HERE" meaning that the shorter decal from "HW-Z²" should be used instead. I tried to cut the decal back, but as I'd placed 'STEADY HERE' before the nose art I couldn't move it I thought the nose would look more odd with "STEADY HERE" twice than with just the one incorrectly placed one so I've chosen to live with it for now

Decalling complete, props fitted to wings and final assembly nearly ready! After I fitted the props I noticed that the plastic one the spinners shows through so I touched them up with black before fitting the wings. The decals I used on the radio Rx/Tx came off so I took the warning and used Micro Set and Sol for the rest of the decals and it seemed to work well for me

Final touches - what sort of fairy would I be if I forgot the aerials?!

Ready for Inspection Photos here

Overall I'm a little disappointed with this kit It started off surperbly with the interior which is more accurate than the Hasegawa kit. I never expected the kit to be perfect, and the small mistakes (turret framing, wheels, etc) would be easy to live but with the wing and tail panels really let down the look of the finished model. The wings are also perfectly straight, making the model look slightly odd when sat next to Airfix, Corgi or Hasegawa Lancasters.

Personally, this kit hasn't knocked off the Airfix kit as my first choice, and is just beaten by the Hasegawa kit because, although double the price, the finished Hasegawa kit simply looks better I think.

Lancaster 14's already started - watch this space!!

Danny

Edited September 13, 2009 by Danny