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  1. Hi Everyone, I've only just got into modelling and this I would call my first real build. I did a Euro fighter from Airfix first but it was more just to see if I enjoyed it, which I did, so I'm going to try and do justice to this historic plane. Here's my progress so far... Any help or advice is gratefully received!
  2. Hello everyone, I live about a 10 minute car ride from the Möhne dam, so naturally I had to build a dambuster. I did, about 15 years ago, the Revell one (others hard to get here). Not the newer version that happened to turn up in stores a few months after, but the decade-old animal with no interior (just like with my B-17). I did some upgrading, without any AM parts but strickly selfmade. Well, almost, I got a spare pilot seat from my pal who had a new "normal" Lanc, and I peeked into his instructions for building an interior. The crew was on board, although the only visible thing of the radioman was a piece of yellow lifvest through the window. After that, I moved several times, and the model disappeared in a box. About 2 weeks ago, I got to, well, upgrade my show-cupboard, suddenly had lots of empty room, and while looking for things to place there stumbeled upon the Lancaster. By accident I got the idea for a display... and here it is. A plank with half a plastic chopstick. Horribly silvered decals. So be it. No time to upgrade, didn't want to wait half a year for the full anniversary. ) No, you haven't had a pint too many... one focus on the pilot and flight engineer, the other on the maps of the navigator. The cockpit hood (is that correct with such a big thing?) had come loose during storage, and in an unfortunate accident the radioman went AWOL. I got him of course, but there's no way to get him sit at his post again. I decided to do Gibson's plane. Starting with the wooden stand, I wasn't sure if I had a good idea or if it'd turn out absolutely hideous. Actually, I'm rather pleased with it. What do you think? RRRROOOAAAAARRRRing across the water towards the dam... That's all (for now, might redo some things, like the prop discs), Johnny Tip out. (No mention of the codeword for success? ... No.)
  3. Does anybody out there know, which type of Sutton harness was used on the Lancaster bomber's pilot seat? Are there also any aftermarket belts for the other crew stations available? I'd like to use paper ones (HGW, RB) in my future 1/32 project.
  4. AVRO Manchester in RAF Service Photo Archive Number 23 ISBN: 9781908757364 Wingleader Publications AVRO designed the two-engined Manchester as their response to an Air Ministry requirement that was issued in answer to the clouds of war that were gathering over Europe, and the prototype first flew just a few scant months before War was declared following Germany’s failure to withdrawn their invading army from Poland. The first Manchesters entered service after the “phony war” was over, and hostilities had been ongoing for a year, and while it wasn’t everything that it had been hoped to be, its crew did their best with what they had available, putting up with the powerful but unreliable Rolls-Royce Vulture engine that had to be de-tuned in an attempt to improve its reliability, although with little benefit. The Manchester laid the groundwork for the Lancaster however, as it was designed with ease of manufacture, maintenance and repair in mind, which made the upcoming four-engined Manchester B.III a less daunting task. The more operations that the Manchester undertook, the more the type’s shortcomings came to the fore, although some of these were resolved. The first grounding of the entire fleet was due to engine bearing failure, with the second due to control anomalies and flutter, plus other problems too numerous to mention. Production was halted at just over 200 airframes toward the end of 1941, as the Manchester B.III, which was now called Lancaster, was showing promise, and re-engined with the trusty Merlin engine in place of the troublesome Vulture, it wasn’t particularly missed, although the prototype Lanc showed its origins in its fuselage design and tail, the central fin lingering only as far as the prototype, thankfully. The AVRO Lancaster became the mainstay of Britain’s Bomber Command once it reached service, pushing out the inferior Stirling and mediocre Halifax, burying the memory of the disappointing Manchester to become the workhorse that was the Lancaster, which seemed able to transport any bomb load offered to it from sea mines to specialist bouncing bombs and the Grand Slam earthquake bombs that were used to great effect toward the end of the war. The Book Printed in landscape format to match the rest of the Photo Archive volumes, this twenty-third book in the series is written by Peter Allam, whose name may be familiar if you have read their Lancaster series, as knowing about all things Lancaster requires the aircraft’s heritage to be understood first. Consisting of a genuine 72 numbered pages and more photos and information printed on the insides of the covers, it is printed on a satin stock in colour, although the colour is only see on the annotation and the profile pages that are spread amongst the book with copious notes to assist the modeller in building their next model. Covering the Manchester from start to finish, it illustrates the raft of the amendments and upgrades that the type went through to improve its performance, some of which would be important due to their reuse in the Lancaster later. In some ways, the Manchester was a first attempt at creating a truly versatile heavy bomber, even though it was never intended to be a “heavy” at outset, and its development headaches helped short-circuit the development of the Lancaster, shortening the gestation and bug-hunting that was inevitable with any major aviation project of its time, and still is to a great extent. Some of the photos are staged of course, but there are also a large number of candid shots, some interesting in-flight shots, and a few of battle-damaged aircraft that are doing a creditable impression of a colander. A few more aircraft are shown lying flopped in a field or runway after issues during take-off or landing, and one of a Manchester that was forced to crash-land at the sea’s edge on the way back from a mission, although the full crew survived that one to end the war as POWs. The photos of the crew or pilots who were later lost in other raids are saddening, seeing the smiling faces of these brave young men that were understandably unaware of their impending fate. Conclusion A visually impressive book with plenty of reading material into the bargain that will have you coming back to it again and again, although finding a kit of the Manchester in almost any scale is an achievement in itself, a fact that isn’t lost on the editor Mark Postlethwaite in his introduction on the inside front cover. Highly recommended. Review sample courtesy of
  5. PM-M Built a couple of years ago. Made it so that Engines #1 & #2 had removable cowlings by making the Merlin exhaust stacks removable. Now that I am using Imgur with some success Links BCC. Thought i'd share these images:
  6. Built this over a period of just over 2 months, a 1/72 Airfix Lancaster Dambuster. My first impression of this plane when I cut out the wings and fuselage was the wings have big surface area relative to the narrow fuselage. It didn’t help that the recess lines are only a few on the wing top, and deep and wide for 1/72 scale. Some work done on this plane includes; - filled and scribed rivets on the wings and fuselage. It was worth the time and effort to do this. Those who build this Airfix Lancaster can see what the visual difference between a scribed rivets and kit recessed lines wings. - hollowed out the front of the 8 air scoops by the side of the engines. - wanted to put in 2 transparent rod for the lights as well as act as support. Didn’t make it because the acrylic rods are not strong enough to support the flying plane. Instead, I have to put a single tube at the back of the fuselage to receive a 6mm acrylic rod. - tried some painting and weathering techniques. - first use of elastic rigging lines for the comms line on the plane. Highly recommended. Flying low into Germany This is the link to the in progress post Operation Chastise
  7. This build has been on and off for the last two and a half years. Appropriately enough I finished it now, exactly 80 years after the famous dams raid the night between 16th and 17th of May 1943. The build was relatively trouble free, just a lot of filling and sanding to blend everything together as well as a quite labour intensive masking job for all the clear parts. A masking set would have been a clever investment. Feel free to comment and critique Isak
  8. If you fancy a rummage through Wingleader's Lancaster Volume 3 (Photo Archive 18), then Model Nerd on Youtube has done a super detailed half hour review. No detail ignored! Check it out at:
  9. Hi all, The latest Dambuster boxing from Airfix… Cheers Guy
  10. It's some time that I joined a GB, but there is a kit in my stash that meets all the requirements to enter. Just to say it also meets my, self imposed, rule of only building models with a North Essex / South Suffolk theme. Picture, background and new title to follow. This will be a slow build.
  11. Newly completed the 1976 vintage Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster B1 Special with Grandslam Bomb. Had quite a few issues with this kit which surprised me with it being a Tamiya although I've never made an old Tmiya til now. The main issues being with poor fit of parts requiring lots of filler. Also didnt help with the vintage black plastic not really interested in being glued and staying glued. (didnt seem to melt together like modern plastic/glue) Shes a big bird being 1/48 and a nice change being in daylight bomber scheme instead of the normal black. As always thanks for your comments and suggestions/tips. So here she is. PD133 YZ-P of 617 Sqn 1945 RAF Woodhall Spa.
  12. The bench is cleared for a commission build of a 1/32 HK Avro Lancaster Type 464 in Operation Chastise mode. Have to be honest, the box picture is more exciting than the opening of the box. The well documented poor HK packing was evident but everything was thankfully in one piece. Two nice instruction books, one for the standard MkI/III build and another with the special bits for the Dambuster build. Also a nice little extra a little book called "Rad Shutters Auto" by Stuart Reid, a former BBMF pilot. Nice little touch. The failings of this kit are well documented but, I love a challenge and it was the only option really. My client wanted a Dambuster aircraft and, of course, the Border model is a ferrari against a ford in their base state but there are no Border Lancs about at the moment and God knows when or if a 617 squadron one will come along. With lots of work, reshaping, scratch building, tons of research, ( I'm about 30 hours of research in already and still only sorting out cockpit layout, there's a brilliant kit to be built. The floor for the pilot's seat has to go, it's way too high and misshapen. Pilots seat is very poor but a resin one from Resin 2 Detail is in the post and the IP is frankly, disgusting for a £300+ kit. Thank the Lord for Peter and Airscale. Their IP arrived today and, as ever, it's superb. Also got one of his new branch out of seatbelts for the pilot's seat, they look more RB than HGW. I'll get that made up tomorrow. The eyes will suffer for that one! Spot the deliberate mistake BTW? I've gone and ordered the Sutton harness in 1/24 instead of 1/32 Still, it'll be fine for the new spitfire in the autumn So today, the horrid box construction that the pilots seat sits on has gone, I'll reuse some of it for height but it needs a total reshaping before that. The engineers panel has been filed smooth ready for the Airscale PE plate. I've removed the two little star shaped knobs first though for further use. Go in through the back with a ball cutter and they just pop out. Thanks to Nigel at Nigel's modelling bench for that one. Used it on the Hellcat too. I've made up the pilot's seat too just to get a feel for the fit and hardness of the plastic although I won't be using it. That's about it for now, got a trip to Lincoln at the weekend and maybe a detour to look at a Lancaster.........
  13. Avro Lancaster B Mk. I (Serial No. R5727), built in the UK and flown to Victory Aircraft in Malton, Ontario, in August 1942 to serve as a pattern for the other Lancasters to be built in Canada. The fabrication drawings had been delivered in January, 1942. R5727 became the first of the type to conduct a transatlantic crossing. The first Canadian-built Lancaster was a Mk. X (Serial No. KB700), aka “The Ruhr Express” coming off the line a year after R5727 arrived in Canada.
  14. Lancaster NF920 "Easy Elsie" During operation Obviate over Norway 1944, the 617 squadron Lancaster NF920 "Easy Elsie" was damaged by german anti-air defences. She limped eastwards into Sweden and made an emergency landing outside the village of Porjus. There she remains today. In 2012, I went there to look at the remains. Several years later, my wife gave me the Hasegawa Lancaster kit, and I knew I had to build Elsie. The research proved quite challenging. There remains very little documentation of Elsie, but with the help of my good friend Jared Hooper, I managed to put together what she might have looked like before she ended up on the ground in northern Sweden. The link below shows some of my pictures of Elsies remains, the finished model, and some build photos. Photo album of Lancaster NF920 "Easy Elsie" Best regards! /Claes
  15. Hi everyone, With the summer months coming up, I thought that now might be a good time to have a go at commencing a long term project- modelling a 1:72 Lancaster and doing it justice. The aim is to model ED412 (EM-Q) of 207 squadron as it was prior to its final mission- piloted by Pilot Officer Horace Badge (at the age of 20). Having grown up with a picture of "uncle Horace" on the fireplace, my dad started researching our family's history and came across a number of records online which revealed a few details about the final mission and his earlier service career. Unfortunately the Badge crew were lost on the 13th of July 1943 (more information about the events of that mission can be found here). More recently I have started looking for associated documents and in recent years it seems that a great deal more documentation has become available, including: -Air movement form 78 (link), showing the various movements of the aircraft between squadrons and maintenance units -I haven't yet searched through the accident record cards (link) or the loss cards (link) but I suspect one of them will relate to ED412 -The payload of the aircraft on its final mission: a 4000lbs "Cookie" and 204 (Edit: 240) incendiary bombs (link) ("More than 700 kilos of incendiary bombs"- Link) -The aircraft may have been fitted with a "GEE" radio navigation system (link) From these documents I can ascertain that this particular Lancaster was: -Assigned the code "EM-Q" and was flown by 207 Squadron from RAF Langar -A Mk1 Lancaster with Merlin XX engines -Carried a "Cookie" and incendiary bombs as its final payload -------------------------------- So, the questions that I'd appreciate some help with: *(Green + bold = information added from replies below) 1: Roundel/code colours With the "EM-Q" code on the side of the fuselage, would this be red or grey? And what type of roundels would have been used? (Example variations are illustrated on this site (link)) --> Red (potentially XX*X or X*XX; ED413 shows XX*X style on port side) --> C1 type roundels 2: Dispersal area With the dispersal areas at RAF Langar in 1943, would it be appropriate to model the aircraft on a typical "Frying pan" dispersal area? (for example: link) --> Yes 3: Paint colours When it comes to painting the camouflage, my go-to choice of paint is Vallejo Model Air- does anyone happen to know or have experience of the most appropriate colours to go for, for the brown and green tones? --> Complicated area, I'll look further into it --> Comprehensive information in replies below courtesy of @Casey 4: Photos of ED412 itself? One particular Swiss forum thread about ED412 (linked here) contains two pictures of Lancasters: Is there any way to ascertain whether these photos do indeed show ED412? 5: Modelling flaps down? When parked on the dispersal area, prior to engine start, would the Lancaster's flaps be extended or retracted? --> Flaps extended 6: To model an exposed engine or not? Presumably an engine's cowling would have been replaced way before any armament was loaded onto the aircraft? Part of me wants to add the visual interest of an exposed and detailed Merlin XX engine, yet I also appreciate that this might not be entirely realistic/representative. --> Unlikely but not impossible 7: Mission markings/nose art I am assuming, with no reference photos nor written evidence, that ED412 didn't display any nose art. However, would "mission markings/tallies" be expected on this particular Lancaster? --> Without sources, presence of bomb tallies is open to interpretation. Forum post (link here) suggests 8 missions of ED412 prior to loss. Edit: Additional information from replies below -ED412 same batch as Lancasters for 617sqn- Operation Chastise- would have had fuselage windows (corroborated here) -Likely needle-nosed propellors -Likely short nose blister --------------------------------------- It would be nice to complete this project around the 13th of July but naturally it will take as long as it takes to model this aircraft, as a tribute to great uncle Horace and the rest of his crew, and do it justice. Many thanks, and best wishes, Sam
  16. Ok so here goes. This is my very first post so please be gentle. I am currently working on a 1/72 Lancaster. This is my first major build since getting back into the hobby. I have only just started using Flickr so only have the 1 photo of my progress so far. After this photo was taken I have removed the remaining masking tape from the propeller blades and whilst gluing the turrets on managed to put a ‘gluey’ finger on the left of the nose which I haven’t fixed yet. I only tend to get out to the modelling shed once or twice a week so progress is very, very slow. Hopefully I will remember to take pictures as I progress further as the aim is to do a diorama with the Bomber Re-Supply set and RAF personnel. I have found some great tips on here and hopefully plan to show off my future builds- which are no way up to the standard of most here but I’m enjoying myself and thought it’s about time to share with the group.
  17. Good afternoon, and I do apologise because I've looked until I'm blue in the face for something I'm sure I've seen here, and thought I'd bookmarked. I'm trying to find a picture, or description, of the formation lights in the rear of the Lancaster wingtips. I think I've seen a picture of these, but annoyingly the walkarounds I've looked at don't seem to show wingtips! I'd be very grateful for any advice, or even pictures if you can help? I do like to add these, as well as the nav lights in my otherwise mundane old kits. Very kind.....
  18. The workbench has had a few things grace it over the last few months, but modellers block has got in the way. This has been on there for about a month now and I made some progress on it today. I've started with the wings using the Belcher engines and there will be interior etch going in to spruce up the cockpit and turrets. I wanted to do an early Lanc so decided to do Admiral Prune, Guy Gibsons W4118. I couldn't find any decals so will be using generic decals and made my own nose art using an image I found on the webpage below as a starting point so the credit needs to go to them: Admiral Prune – Bomber Command Museum of Canada From there, I built it up in MS Powerpoint, the only software I know my way around with ease, probably not the most conventional route, but in small scale, it will be fine...I hope! And the real machine here... The Tamiya Lanc has raised panel lines so they are getting rescribed. There is other raised detail on the wings such as the tape over the wing spar joins. This is far too thick for scale accuracy but I'm leaving them as they are. 3 of the 4 Bencher engines are glued on now and one wing is pretty much finished with the other wing in progress. There's a bit of extra detail in the gear bays too such as oil tank and longitudinal stringers. The starboard wing in progress. It's been rescribed but yet to have rivets added Cheers Neil
  19. Hi all, after some trouble I finished making this "old" but always interesting kit ... I hope you enjoy my work 🙂 The WIP can be found here: by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr by Rodolfo Masti, su Flickr
  20. Battle of Britain Memorial Flight 1:72 Airfix (A50182) The BBMF is an RAF Flight dedicated to preserving the history of the RAF. The flight based at RAF Coningsby comprises one Avro Lancaster, six Supermarine Spitfires and two Hawker Hurricanes. As well as these aircraft they have a Douglas Dakota and two de Havilland Chipmunks for training. The flight take part in many airshows and flypasrts for different events each year. The Kits Here Airfix are re-boxing their excellent new tool Lancaster B.III (A08013A), Spitfire PR.XIX (A02017), and Spitfire Mk.I/Mk.IIa (A02010). Aslo included in the box is one of their black multi aircraft stand so the 3 models can be displayed together in flight. Lancaster. This is the new tool kit from 2012, the kit is a modern tooling with good detail and engraved panel lines. Spitfire PR.XIX This is the new tool kit from 2009, the kit is a modern tooling with good detail and engraved panel lines. Spitfire Mk.I/Mk.IIa This is the new tool kit from 2010, the kit is a modern tooling with good detail and engraved panel lines. Decals The sheet is a new one for this, this is produced by Cartograf so that guarantees all will be good. Markings provided are for; Lancaster - 2019 Season. Port Side AR-L Leader W505 No.460 Sqn RAAF. Stbd side finished as VN-T No.50 Sqn RAF Spitfire PR.XIX - PS915 No.81 Sqn RAF - RAF Kai Tak, Hong Kong 1951 Spitfire Mk.I/Mk.IIa - R6895 KL-B "KIWI III" F/O Deere. No.54 Sqn ARF. RAF Catterick Aug 1940 Conclusion Its great to see Airfix Airfix releasing these kits aa a set, this will make a great gift idea. Review sample courtesy of
  21. 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
  22. Dear All, I have just bought replacement Aires resin wheels for my Airfix Lancaster (the 1980's version) but have never used resin parts before so wanted to check if I need to do anything special to them before painting other than cleaning/degreasing as usual please? As for the wheels themselves they look spot on and superior to those in the kit although I gather those in the new kit are excellent. Also if anyone has any tips on how best to paint the wheels so that they look more realistic it would be appreciated as I normally paint them black and then add some dark-ish grey pastel dust to the main tread area to simulate wear but this still leaves the side walls looking rather unrealistic and far too black and matt in scale. Thank you and stay safe. Kind Regards Colin.
  23. Hello! This is my recent project, an Airfix Avro Lancaster, 1/72. I usually build 1/48 aircraft, but this one would have a 60cm wingspan, too big for my space. Having built a few nice Airfix new tools, I have to say I was a little disappointed with this one. The fuselage halves and bomb bay doors were all warped. Not beyond repair, but it took quite some time to have them fit properly, even though not perfectly. I think that if I had tried to leave the bomb bay open, it would be a challenge. And almost all the clear parts came with some minor scratches. The canopy have you to glue 3 parts to build it, which was quite fidlly, since they are far from being precisely molded. Finally, the plastic is kind of rugged in general, which doesn’t add for the painting finishing, decaling and washing, IMHO. The decals were just fine, no issues at all. Eduard clear parts masking is really recommended! Hope you enjoy Cheers!
  24. I'm starting to build the current/new mould Airfix Lancaster as a very early example without the upper turret coaming, flat black and standard camo etc. etc. with the aim of it being the first Lanc lost on active service, KM+C of 44 Squadron. From pics I have the turrent internals appear to be painted in interior green at this point, subsequently being painted black at some point, presumably to blend in with the overall black appearance of the airframe. However I'm unsure as to the correct colour for the external framings as I've seen for example the front turret in what appears to be camo brown, also in black and others where the lower parts are black and he upper parts in camo colour. As such can anyone shed any light on this please in terms of the typical/correct external frame colours for all the 3 turrets at this early stage of the Lanc's service and also to what degree the camo colour extended around the back section of the front and rear turrets if at all. Regards Colin.
  25. Avro Lancaster B.II ( A08001) 1:72 Airfix The Lancaster is without doubt one of the most famous aircraft ever to fly and became the back bone of Bomber Command alongside the Halifax in the latter half of WWII. Development was born out of failure in the guise of the Avro Manchester to which history has been unkind because of the unreliable Vulture engines. Convinced that the basic Manchester airframe with an unobstructed full width bomb bay was basically sound, Roy Chadwick and his team designed the Type 683 Manchester III which used a larger wing supporting 4 Merlins. From the start, the aircraft proved Chadwick right, requiring only minor modifications for operational service. The cleverly designed bomb bay meant that the Lanc could carry a 14000lb conventional bomb load but with some modifications could even lift a 22000lb bomb which was unheard of at the time. With over 7000 Lancasters serving in WWII, most were indeed powered by the legendary Merlin. With a risk of Merlin shortages, a design was tested using the Bristol Hercules radial engine which led to one of the most visibly unique variants to operate, the B.II. Whilst the Hercules was more powerful, it had a slightly inferior service ceiling meaning that they generally flew lower than the Merlin variants during raids putting them at greater risk. This contributed to a 60% operational loss although they had a slightly faster cruising speed and rate of climb. All together, 300 B.II’s were produced, operating mainly with the RCAF which used it to replace Wellington bombers. B.II’s were eventually replaced by Merlin variants although a few went on to become test beds. The Kit Until Airfix's new tol B.II arrived in 2013 the only way to build a B.II was using a conversion kit, The kit is nicely moulded, and while Ive seen finer panel lines in my time as a reviewer, the panel lines on the external surfaces of this kit dont stand out as being over done. The overall shape of the model looks good and I haven't heard any complaints of significant shape errors since the original versions of the kit were released. Construction starts with the interior, which is very well detailed. The roof of the bomb bay and the spars for the wing must be assembled first as the rest of the model builds up around this core structure. The bomb bay itself is very nicely detailed, although youll need to provide your own ordnance or purchase the Bomber Re-Supply Set. Onto this part are added the spars for the wings. The spars form internal bulkheads at their centre, and extend as far as the main landing gear bays in the inner engine nacelles. The flight deck is comprised of a raised floor, a two-part pilots seat, a folding seat for the flight engineer, a control column and a two-part instrument panel. Forward of the cockpit is the bomb aimers position, for which a nicely moulded bomb sight is included. Aft of the cockpit are the navigators and radio operators stations. Sidewall detail is moulded in place on the inside of the fuselage halves and in my opinion it looks excellent. The fuselage window glazing must be installed at this stage too. Once the fuselage halves have been joined, assembly moves on to the wings. The next few steps in the construction process are either clever or complex depending on your point of view. The two wing spars mentioned above aid with the alignment of the wings and strengthen the structure of the model, but they also form the fore and aft walls of the main landing gear bays. To complete the structures, you need to add the rib and frame details which run parallel to the fuselage. The end result should be a pair of landing gear bays which are superbly detailed as well as nice and strong. The ailerons are moulded in place but the landing flaps are separate assemblies, and very nice they look too. The elevators and rudders are all moulded as separate pieces and so can be posed in a variety of positions if so desired. The engine nacelles are fairly simple in just two halves. The struts which connect the landing gear doors to the undercarriage legs are moulded in place. This means that, should you build the kit with the gear down, you should be able to achieve a good, strong fit at the first time of asking. If you wish to build the kit with the gear up, then you just need to cut them off. I really like this approach and I hope it works as well in practice as the instructions suggest. The landing gear legs themselves are well moulded and nicely detailed and the wheels have flat spots moulded in place The radial engines are built up from two cylinder banks , these are installed onto the nacelles. then the three part cowls go on followed by the props. The exhausts go on the sides. All that remains to do at this stage is to add a few small parts such as the DF loop and elevator actuators, the propellers and the transparent parts. Airfix have suggested that you assemble the turrets last of all, but you could just as easily build them at the outset and set them to one side. The frame lines on the transparent parts are clearly marked. Decals Decals are by Cartograf so will pose no issues. A choice of two schemes is provided on the decal sheet: LL725 – ‘Zombie’ EQ-Z of 408 ‘Goose’ Sqn, RCAF based at Linton-on-Ouse, 1944 DS842- ‘Fanny Ferkin II’ of 514 Sqn, RAF based at Waterbeach, Cambridgeshire 1944 Conclusion Airfix's Lancaster is nicely detailed, superbly engineered and widely available (in the UK at least). The price is pretty reasonable too. The only grumble concerns the lack of ordnance, which has been debated on this very forum. That aside, this is an excellent kit and Airfix should be commended for doing the B.II as well as the B.III. Highly Recommended. 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