jarkmodels

Thank you!. I was trying to make the stressed skin effect onto those surfaces by using some greyish washes and very contrasted black paint in the centre of the panels. Not sure if I succeeded with the effect but I do like the dark black colour.

Thank you!...me neither this was my first encounter with a stinky kit! Thanks! yeah didn't like the kit at all....sorry. Thanks for the info regarding Skellingthorpe. 😉 Thank you very much! Thank you Chris, good luck with your one, hopefully your building experience is better than mine. Thank you! 👍

LaurieS, that is a fantastic diorama and fantastic photos!. Beautiful work

Thank you Sat69. 👍 Thanks, Happy you like it. 😀 Thank you Terry. Yeah the weathering was a tricky call. Most of the historical photos show beat up planes, with some stains and de-coloration. Whereas the couple existing ones today are very pristine and very glossy. And I went more towards the weathered approach. 😉 Thank you very much Binbrook87. After posting my comments regarding the kit I was a bit concerned people will take it the wrong way. But I think you are right, I reckon is important to let others know about personal experience with a particular kit. Good or bad. To me, as important as how accurate, is how well engineered a kit is and how smooth the overall building process is. Let's not forget this is a hobby and we are meant to have a good time! I also understand sometime we are not going to found a particular subject done by our preferred brands ( Tamiya, Eduard, ArmaHobby, to name a few) but in this case we are not talking about a dodgy or an unknown plane but the mighty LANCASTER! which is why I was so mad...anyways I hope you have a smooth ride with your Revell kit!. thanks again cheers

Thank you Marc, I'm happy you liked it and I agree, the Lancaster is a beautiful aircraft. 😉 Mike, thank you very much for your comment! I really appreciate 😀 Hi Keith, thanks. This particular kit is a 2018 reboxed of the 2012 new tool...so it's really not old, just mediocre. And AU$78 is roughly $43 pounds... cheers

Thank you!. I have heard of SMS but never tried them. Will do one day 😉 Thank you!. yeah sorry about my rant, sounded awful but I really did not enjoy the build. Happy you like it 👍 Thanks very much!..I don't think I've ever seen one in person. I've watched many videos and it looks amazing. Thanks! I wanted to give a bit a variation in the main two tones...lots of airbrush work and then the washes and oils... Thank you 😀

Thanks mate! good to see a fellow Aussie here! 😉 There are many different places where you can find AMMO and AK products, many of which for some reason are down in Melbourne. My favourite is BNA, but I'd recommend you to do an online search and you'll find what you are looking for. cheers

I have finally finished my Lancaster. But before I present the photos I would like to make a couple of comments in regards to the Airfix Kit. I don’t think is news to anyone to say this kit is quite mediocre. Throughout the building, I’ve constantly find myself fighting to it rather than enjoining the process. From the get-go, there was something weird about it. As soon as I opened the box an awful stench came out of it! it really stinks. Not sure if all Airfix kits are like this or only my box, but it was so bad that I have to put it far from my workbench. Second, called me spoiled, but I’m used to nice quality instructions from Eduard or Tamiya, this one instead, is very poor, with many wrong call outs and mistake and with no logic at all. Another frustrating thing was the soft plastic. In particular, when glueing small parts they just melt!…And what about the warped pieces and bad fit? …Seriously!. It really bothers me that this kit cost $78 dollars here in Australia. To put it in context, you can buy a fantastic Eduard Profipack (with PE and mask) in 1/48th scale for $48 to $52 Australian dollars. This is simply not right!. Airfix has been around almost longer than any other company and they still can’t produce something decent! ( I know for some their Hellcat in 1/24 is “amazing”, but I don’t do that big scales, so I don’t know) What annoys me the most is the fact that this is the Avro Lancaster! One of the most iconic, if not THE most iconic bomber (sorry B17’s fanboys 😜 (I like it too)) of WWII and there are no good alternatives. I’ve heard worst things about the Hasegawa and Revell 1/72nd kits and the Tamiya 1/48th is almost 40 years old!. The only hope was the Wingnut Wings 1/32, but that would never happen now, and for many of us it is way too big anyways… (the HK Models 1/32nd is good, but not close at all to the sample model presented by WW) …Ok, enough of my rant. Sorry about that 🙄. Now to the photos. I've tried to improved the simple surface detail by adding some missing panel lines and rivets. Thanks to elger, Simon Dyer and warhawk for providing me with the drawings! I’ve replaced the plastic wheels with the resin set from Eduard and I’ve used AK real colour lacquer RAF Dark Green and RAF Dark Earth as well as some AMMO washes, filters and oils to give a little of colour variation and weathering. I hope you guys like it and any comments are welcome. Mickey the Moocher QR-M EE176 of A Flight, No. 61 Squadron. Stationed at Skellingthorpe One of less than a dozen to have survived over one hundred bombing missions in active WW2. And one more with some size context 😉 cheers Jorge

Thank you guys! 👍

Hello my friend! I'm super happy you liked the Hellcat! I know weathering can be intimidating because we are all afraid of ruining our precious work, but the only way to go beyond it is to jump into the pool! You can't make an omelet without braking some eggs. 😉 cheers jorge Hu supersonic, thank you very much! 😄 cheers

Thank you very much Mike, I really appreciate your comment. 😄👍

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Thank you 👍 Muchas gracias Miguel 😉 Thanks Terry!, glad you like the weathering...it was a lot of fun doing it 😄 Thanks! yeah I've tried to achieve realism...I personally prefer to tell a story, and to show the use of the aircraft in harsh conditions in the middle of a war with the weathering. I'm not too keen on shiny new aircraft, with not a single blemish, cause they look a bit toyish to me.

Thank you! I'm very happy with the weathering results too. I found very difficult to know when to stop and not to overdo, although that is a very subjective matter and they are many opinions as they are people 😉 Thank you 👍. It is a relatively big aircraft even in 1/72nd, and very easy to handle. In fact, lately, I'm getting more used to work in 1/72nd and I found 1/48th to be too big with some subjects. If I have to choose I will probably go for 1/72nd!

That looks beautiful mate! I just finished one too 😄! . Love this colour scheme, very interested and different to the usual ones. Beautiful work. cheers jorge

Looks amazing. Such a cool looking aircraft. I want one 😄! Beautiful work. jorge

Beautiful Diorama! Love the Zero! Congrats Matt. jorge

Hi George, You did a fantastic job. I have the same kit and I'm also disappointed. I'm having a tough time with it, bad fit, no logical engineering and build sequence, flimsy landing gear, bad plastic, scarce detail, thick canopy and the list goes on and on...I actually put it aside before going completely nuts. At the end, I hope to be able to do something resembling your beautiful work. cheers Jorge

Hi there, it's been a while since my last post. This is my first Hellcat. Many years ago, I've purchased an 1/48 Eduard kit, but since Ive recently got into 1/72 I decided to build the smaller brother first 😉 to add to my "little birds" collection. I wanted to push the weathering as much as possible, so I took the opportunity to explore different techniques and products. I've also did a bit of scratch in the landing gear and added all rivets. Been a Hellcat was screaming for a Cat Mouth scheme, so I've chosen to depicted as flown by Gordon Arthur Stanley. Born on July 13th, 1921, in Seattle, Washington state, shot down 8 enemy airplanes in the course of World War Two, all achieved flying with VF-27. His unit became famous thanks to its unique marking - cat mouth and eyes, painted by Robert Burnell on all noses of the Hellcats. Unfortunately most of the aircrafts with this camo were destroyed on October 24th, 1944, during the Battle of Leyte Gulf. They ended up at the bottom of the ocean together with Light Aircraft Carrier Princeton sunk by the single bomb launched from the D4Y Suisei (Judy) dive-bomber. Afterwards VF-27 operated from the board of CVL-22 Independence, however without the cat-mouth and eyes markings. ENS Gordon Arthur Stanley, VF-27, USS Princeton (CVL-23), October 1944 Cheers Jorge

That would be fantastic, thank you very much for your help.! I’ve send you my email already 😉 cheers Jorge

Hi Si, Thank you for all your post and taking the time to send me that info! I really appreciate your efforts. ! At the end, I think the drawings I've got from Elger's link are more than sufficient as a reference to do the riveting. Spending that much (plus shipping) for a book I'm not sure will give me more info may not be a good idea. Also, yeah, I had no idea they are restoring NX611 to flying condition, That is amazing! always good to see a beauty like this coming back to the air! . The one that I'm building though, is QR-M (EE176) "Mickey the Moocher" Only problem so far is dealing with this terrible Airfix kit! ...seriously awful fit, zero engineering, and truly bad plastic!...probably the worst quality kit I've build in many years... How on earth Airfix got away to charge AU$ 76!!! ?(when you can get any Eduard 1/48th profipack kit for AU$50???)... anyways, enough of my rant, and I hope the end result will be good. cheers and thank you Simon!

Got it!. thank you very much for this info. Will try to look for the one I'm building. In the meantime, and in case any of you don't have this already, I leave you this LINK with a fantastic virtual tour and detailed photographs of this Avro Lancaster Bomber "Just Jane" (NX611) cheers Jorge

Thank you luftmodels for your words! As I was saying in your Zero post, at times it was difficult to keep going when I was struggling to see any progress but at the end it was worth it! Again, thank you very much 👍 Jorge

Thank you so much luftmodels! I very happy you like it (having seen your amazing work in progress with the Zero) Nothing to be sorry about!, but I should thank you for the recommendation, cause nothing better than a good book! I'll do a search to see if I can get them. cheers mate!

Guys, I have another question regarding the Lancaster B.III, sorry for my ignorance, but apart for watching a couple of documentaries I know nothing and I'm still waiting for a book to arrive. Did the B.III have windows on either side of the fuselage or not? The airfix kit comes with them but, from some drawings and photos I've seen they shouldn't be there...meaning I will have to fill them all...🤔