WV908

Hi Troy, i’m aware of that and there was a discussion somewhere with HKM about producing the post war treaded tyres too. They said no as the kit is modelled on a wartime Lanc only..... What they’ve actually produced is a postwar / FE Lanc and just missed two crucial details - the mainwheels and Lincoln style rudders. So if you want to build an early / wartime Lanc OOB, you can’t - if you want to build a later war / post war Lanc OOB, guess what? Nope. With how long it took them to get it to market you’d think it would be accurate for something.... For one though i’m happy about the FE radiators and I was replacing the slicks with treads anyway as i’m building PA474 Cheers, WV908

Wheels turned up, compared them to the kit wheels and my face instantly dropped. They are 12mm smaller. An hour of checking references, measuring up relevant items in other scales and and doing calculations. The result? The mosquito wheels work out at 2mm undersize in OD. Big aircraft like this with plenty of detail? Not a problem. Place them in their correct stowed position in the wheel bays - looks just about right to be able to sit inside with the doors shut. The kit wheels? Oh boy. Oh dear oh dear. 9/10mm too big - try and put them in the bays and you have no chance. It astounds me how manufactures still are; A. Too short sighted to provide things like treaded wheels in the first place B. Getting something like mainwheel diameter wrong Ah well. If you want treaded Lanc mainwheels in 1/32, at present go for the Barracuda 1/24 Mossie wheels as they’re close enough and more accurate size wise than the kit’s slicks. Cheers, WV908

I’ve managed to track down the relevant dimensions and discovered that the 1/24 Mosquito mainwheel is 1/10 of an inch smaller in OD compared to a 1/32 Lanc wheel. Similarly the width is 0.05 of an inch under and the rim is 0.2 inches smaller in diameter, but i’ll likely be replacing at least one side of the rim for something more representative of the late Lanc / Shackleton wheel hub anyway. In other words... good enough for me. I’ve purchased the Barracuda wheels so apart from the wheel hubs, there will be a slight re-profiling of the tread edge. Doubtless now i’ve done this some 1/32 Lanc wheels will be released but there you go. Just need a tailwheel and some Lincoln fins now. Cheers, WV908

Hi all, a quick but odd question. Forgetting the size of the actual wheel hub, would a pair of 1/24 treaded mosquito mainwheels be pretty much the correct size for a 1/32 Lanc? I’m asking as there are no treaded Lancaster mainwheels in 1/32. A potentially easier question - can someone measure the width and diameter of a 1/24 mosquito mainwheel for me? Cheers, WV908

Genuinely some of the nicest and most interesting builds i’ve ever seen, especially the Draken / Red Arrow I’d love to see someone tackle a Fireflash in the same-ish scale though! Cheers, WV908

Eventually found it; Cheers, WV908

Hi John, i’ve used both and had no fun Cheers, WV908

Another of my memory failings, a few years ago there was a build topic on an RAN / RAAF / RNZAF (I know...) Vampire or Venom by one of the well know Naval modellers on here. The aircraft which was the focus of the build was a squadron mascot / pet that survived beyond the end of the type and I recall still survives in a certain state to this day. Now, i’m fairly sure it was a RAN Venom but it could be from anywhere ‘down under’ as that is all I remember. Is anyone able to help me find the topic in question as it was a rather long thread with a goldmine of info Cheers, WV908

The flared one is wider at the back than at the front - the front will be the fuselage profile and the rear will be the turret profile. For your chosen airframe you’ll want the flared fairing Cheers, WV908

Hi Adam - only the very early B.I’s had the parallel turret fairing, so unless you are building a very early production Lanc (first few batches) you want the flared fairing. Saying that though, most early B.I’s that survived long enough to have refits gained the flared fairing anyway - prime examples being R5868 and W4783 IIRC, the mod was all to do with airflow deflection issues over the turret There is more info on this on one of the HK Lancaster threads and elsewhere on the site Cheers, WV908

Please do. Modifying, cutting and shutting the flightpath set to fit is not fun, especially if you intend to have the bay doors open and flaps down.... I’ve only picked back up recently on the conversion, puttying and making bits fit. I retained the Conway engine back end as I wish to be able to use the flaps. The whole affair is a sorry cut and shut job of the resin and there’s very little left of the fuselage structure after it’s been hacked out. A not so small amount of resin has also been removed and the bay doors sanded to almost paper thickness at one end to make it all fit. That and i’m also only letting anyone see the topside at present as the underwing profile is completely different at the leading edge Cheers, WV908

Thanks! A few little tweaks and that’s about as close to a BBMF pilot as we can get. I may buy a couple to modify them to suit the rest of the crew - PA474 sometimes has four crammed into the cockpit. Cheers, WV908

Quick question - i’m Building PA474 from the HK kit and it will be in flight so.... I need a crew! Can anyone recommend suitable figures to model the BBMF crew? I ideally just need the two pilots, navigator and someone to fill either the mid or rear turrets. If the pilot figure is also suitable for Spits and Hurris then great as there’ll be one of each escorting her Cheers, WV908

Good lord this thing is huge! Had a pick through the parts last night and i’m extremely impressed. My only gripe with it so far is the lack of any instrument panel decals, so airscale will be getting an order from me. Now to wait for Kitsworld to release their Leader / PA474 Decal set (which they’ve confirmed is coming) and for someone to do treaded mainwheels. The only other aftermarket that I think i’d want for the Lanc is a dedicated crew set and stand. From the parts, I think we can safely say there will be a B.I FE boxing and a tall boy / grand slam boxing in future. Not sure about dam buster though Cheers, WV908

I tend to just go by historical accuracy. If the real aircraft had them, my model gets them.