elger

yes - 460 Squadron were RAAF

Rivets... rivets... rivets... (in progress) The process is actually very satisfying. Very zen... one line at a time. Measure, cut, soak, apply. Measure, cut, soak, apply. Measure, cut, soak, apply...

love it!

Hi all, I've been considering building a P-47D-1-RE (flying out of Debden in the autumn of 1943) using the Trumpeter kit. The P-47 is not a type I know a lot about, and I have been reading up on some of the quirks of the Trumpeter kit (which is otherwise excellent, I gather), but can anyone knowledgeable give me some pointers as to what the D-1-RE's specific features were compared to what Trumpeter offers? There are some optional parts for the engine, for example. - Elger

update: after posting the images above I decided I couldn't live with it so I bit the bullet and removed the canopy. Managed to remove the last of the polishing compound properly, and more importantly, managed to touch up that weird smudge on the turtle deck. The paint had dissolved, in fact. Went to the attic and looked through my spare parts box, and even found the leftover PE set from when I built a Mk.II Lancaster and I had neglected to fit the window handles on that, so I lucked out there as well. (Although as I pointed out to my wife, it does not bode well for my scale modeling hoarding tendencies. But as she pointed out, I only hoard very small things ;)) A slight delay, but the end result will be better!

The fuselage is officially together and has reached the point where I can start adding the Archer rivets. Although I tried to take even more care than usual with the main canopy, I made my first 'big' mistake of the project here. The fit of the canopy is not great, so I wanted to seal it and fill the gaps underneath. I used some black Mr. Surfacer for this, and I carefully removed some of the excess with Mr. Leveling Thinner. I had used some masking tape to protect the clear parts, but when I removed that I noticed a little light smudge on the lower edge of the right hand side of rear canopy, down at the bottom behind the side window. The process with the Mr Surfacer also left a little residue on the canopy side window which I easily removed with a bit of polishing, but some of the polishing compound somehow seeped into the canopy as well, leaving a residue of that on the inside on the front bit of the canopy. I then decided to remove and open up the side panel to inspect the damage and try to fix these problems. I managed to remove most of the polishing compound on the front with a paint brush, but best that I can tell the light smudge on the lower edge of the rear part is actually the kit's plastic showing through. Somehow perhaps some of the Leveling Thinner seeped through and dissolved the paint. I think that trying to remove the canopy all together might just make things worse, so I will leave it as it is. Also, in the process of removing the side window panel temporarily, I must have knocked off the little PE handle that was on the window on the inside and that disappeared. At a distance it's hardly noticeable, and I'm hoping that the canopy framing will hide some of it, but I am annoyed about it. Oh well, next up: riveting!

Eduard PE for the Lancaster's business section: At just over 3 months now, O for Oscar is showing a keen interest in all this. Here I am explaining to him that I'm actually not sure why some PE parts didn't fit entirely correctly; Eduard might have screwed up, or perhaps it was down to the poor fit of the Airfix kit... Up next: filling/sanding last remaining items, masking the clear parts, and then riveting the fuselage. Thanks for looking!

After gluing the fuselage halves together the project slowed down because I had a lot of trouble coming up with how to proceed with the turtle deck area underneath the canopy. I wanted to add the protective cover, as well as the armored glass plate that's missing from most Lancaster models. I cut this piece from clear plastic recycled from some packaging material. I carefully matched the shape of the canopy as well as I could. For the protective cover I used Mr Dissolved Putty, although in hindsight I might have had better results with epoxy putty. When these things were fitted, I added the rivets of the area. With those in place, I masked off the various components and painted the area Dark Green. I weathered it a bit with some watercolour pencils. Based on the photos of G-George I added the blistered canopy sides. These parts fit quite poorly and required a little bit of careful filing. I also added some PE bits from the Eduard set. Next up, the bombardier's blister and then the bomb bay. Thanks for looking!

thanks!

My way out is to imagine the model as ready to be boarded, or with the crew just having left the aircraft for some reason just before takeoff. Maybe a navigator got out his maps, but for some reason left the aircraft behind. Like what happens in the movie Memphis Belle, when there is a weather delay. Or the rapture has happened (The same goes for guns, protective covers for the wheels, covers for turrets, access doors either open or closed, throttle levers left up or down... it's an infinite exercise).

Hello all, Working on an early (ish) Lancaster, lost in January 1943 and I think it was equipped with the early course setting bomb sight, rather than the Mk. XIV which I think was fitted to Lancasters later on. The reason for thinking this is because the aircraft I'm building was fitted with the brackets discussed in this thread: My question is: is there a diagram or a clear photo that shows how the bomb sight was mounted in relation to these V shaped brackets?

Yes - thanks. I've glued the fuselage together later today and the fit isn't great so there's going to be quite a bit of sanding so I'll get round to that area at some point as well. Must add rivets there too!

Finished the interior. Went for entirely interior green since W4308 was an early airframe: Had a bit of spillage with the wash on the floor at the back, but that won't be visible once the model is finished: I scratchbuilt the hand rail leading to the Observer's station: Thanks for looking!

short answer, in line with the ones above: no. Despite obvious lineage and looking somewhat similar, they are entirely different aircraft. Which is a shame because I would love a new tool 217 in 1/72!

Finished adding details to the interior. Kit bits, parts from two Eduard sets (one for the Airfix Lancaster, one for the Hasegawa), and some scratch built things. Added Archer rivets to the floor instead of using the Eduard photoetch part because those pieces tend to interfere with the fit of kits (at least with me). Painting this next. Thanks for looking!