Chaotic Mike

It looks like it was designed before the invention of the curve!

Well, that's astonishingly realistic!

Whatever happened to this build? It started out as a thing of rare beauty... Mike

Finished! It's in RFI here...

Thanks. Gawd knows where I'll keep it, though... It dwarfs the Hobby Boss Black Widow that is its nearest competitor!

Thank you. Actually the kit's engineering made it fairly simple. As I've said earlier, the fit tolerances are quite tight but a sneaky advantage of the opaque/transparent approach is that it isn't necessary to develop a perfect join between the two halves. Underneath, where I painted the transparent half to match the opaque it is more critical, but handily it is on the underside, where few will ever venture!

Well for those men (and it's always men...!) who like to compare sizes, I thought I'd park a 1/72 Wurger on it, simply because I have one in the man cave. The mat its sitting on is (I think) A2.

The panel is Airscale's after market addition. I learned a lot about my capacity for patience whilst assembling it... twice...

Thanks! The freehand method was a lot faster than masking, and also didn't leave tacky goo behind that required clean up. Masking the transparencies (no Eduard pre-teens masks for the me; they weren't available at the time!) was a strangely enjoyable experience. Go figure!

I'll see if I can get one with a classic 1/72 spit, a bit later. Mike

Well, it certainly isn't small!

Well, it's been a rollercoaster for the last 15 months or so. I never said I was quick... Presented for your delectation is HKM's Great Big Lancaster. Build log is here. I decided to do an approximation of R5868 as she is now in Hendon, so that means the groovy two-tone squadron codes, paddle blade propellers (handily, they come as an option with the kit) and some extra radar kit over and above what the version of R5868 the box builds is equipped with. Again, the parts are in the box; I augmented them by removing the moulded antennae and replaced them with wire. Things to note - it is engineered to extremely tight tolerances, such that paint makes a difference. Once the wings go on, certainly the one associated with the transparent fuselage side ain't coming off again, so if you have any ideas about removing them for storage, be warned! I thought I would indulge myself in spiffing it up a bit, supplying copious amounts of entirely fictitious wiring looms and pipes within the fuselage and engine bays. You get 4 engines OOB; they are a bit skinny but hey-ho, I wasn't in the mood to acquire 4 Tamiya Spits or ZM Mustangs just for the engines! Painting the internal framing was an act of insanity, but if you want to do it I recommend *not* masking and then painting the frames - just freehand the frames and polish off the edges with a wooden toothpick or similar, the transparent plastic is surprisingly robust. The front section was done with masking, the rear was free handed and then cleaned up. I experimented with one of the spare opaque fuselage halves with cutting out the panels to leave the framing... I wouldn't do that, if I were you! Paints were Tamiya for the camouflage, a mixture of Tamiya and LifeColor acrylics for the black areas. The codes and insignia were custom masks made for me, I have a few spares if peeps are interested in buying some. The Goering quote proved to be just too spindly, so it, along with the walkway stencil writing, are just about the only decals I used. Camouflage masks were from Top Notch. Right, on with the show... A couple of overviews, left and right sides: Some close ups of various bits: And finally, these two: I think I'll take the summer off, until the Special Hobby Whirlwind finally appears. Although the ICM Gladiator looks like fun... It'll certainly be smaller! Laters, taters! Mike

It took me two goes to make the Airscale panel. It's good when done though!

Here you go... Enjoy?

Hi, good luck! I'm about a couple of days away from finishing R5868 roughly as she is in Hendon. Basically it's superbly moulded but the tolerances in places are extremely tight.. I am dreading putting the wings on, without reopening the fuselage! Bomb doors are a total mare... Mike