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  1. Can anyone help me with this one? On 20th August 1942, Lancaster R5543 of 61 Squadron was shot down over Northern Spain by Ju88C's of the Zerstorer flight of KuFlGr106 (soon to become V/KG40). I would like to know the Lancaster's individual letter, please?
  2. Some pictures of my new tool Airfix Dambuster done some time back. Did a little updating in the cockpit, belts and such. Drilled out the intakes , added dorsal window from clear acrylic rod, added wing tip lights from acrylic sheet. Overall an enjoyable and great fitting kit. The plastics was really soft that made scribing of the dorsal plug panel line for the removed turret challenging. Hope you enjoy the pics. All the Best! Don
  3. Test for GOOGLE photo sharing https://goo.gl/photos/oQnaGRkB2Y5Gzr5cA https://goo.gl/photos/yRGgHHnEwikSKTRM6
  4. On the 12th August 1941, a force of 70 bombers including 9 Manchesters with 6 from 207Sqn based at Waddington and the other three from 97Sqn took off on a deep penetration raid to Berlin. The Manchesters were carrying mixed loads. Some carried the 4000lb Cookie whilst the others carried 5 x 1000lb GP's. One of the aircraft L7380 (EM-W) which was later captured on film by the Germans having crash landed on sand banks in Holland had to turn back over the North sea due to poor performance and tail flutter. It landed successfully back at Waddington after dropping its bombs on the port at Emden. The other 8 continued on. Over Holland, L7306 of 97Sqn was attacked by a night fighter but successfully evaded it by taking cover in cloud. With all gunners on look out for further fighter activity, Mike Lewis flying L7422 (EM-V) was flying with another Manchester in front of him. Suddenly, he noticed tracer striking the Manchester. Immediately, there was a large pink flash, clear evidence that the Cookie had exploded disintegrating the aircraft. The remains were seen failing away in a shower of yellow flame as the fuel tanks exploded landing around Kolham. Mike Lewis learned that the Manchester was L7381 piloted by his good friend Mike Smith who was on his 50th mission. L7381 had been brought down at 01.25am by Oberleutnant Ludwig Becker flying a Do215 having been tracked by his Liechtenstein set. The remains of mike Smith were found in a ditch still strapped in his seat. The only consolation that could be taken is that the crew suffered an instant death. The crew were recovered and laid to rest in the cemetery near Hoofdweg at Kolham, but were subsequently relocated to the Canadian war cemetery at Holten. The build is the new Airfix Lancaster II with the Blackbird Manchester resin conversion. Having been inspired by the book 'Avro Manchester - The Legend Behind the Manchester' by Robert Kirby (where most of the research above was taken from), I wanted to do a tribute to one of the many tragic accounts covered in his book. I decided on L7381 that fitted the bill in that it had the wavy demarcation scheme and of course had the three tails of the early Mk.I. Part way in to the build, I decided to do a diorama that involved the 'fateful' cookie that led to the demise of Smiths crew that night. The engraved plate was picked up for a fine sum of £1.75 off Ebay which you can't grumble with. The ground equipment was taken from the Airfix Bomber Re-supply set. Whilst there are no known photo's of L7381, there are plenty of L7381 to which I used for reference. Robert Kirby introduced himself in the build thread and pointed out a mistake in the build in that I used the narrower 28' tailplanes where as all but the first 20 Manchesters used later 33' unit that was standard on the Lancaster except for the three tail configuration. Take note of this if you are thinking of building one, for me, they are too secure to think about changing, so I'm playing ignorant! I want to get some more ground crew, so will add them at a later date to the diorama, but for now want to clear the bench. I'm not going to go in to detail about the build as it's covered HERE, so I'll get on with the pictures. Thanks again, for all the people who have followed and contributed throughout the build Thanks for looking Neil
  5. Found this book in 'The Works' for £6 - a bargain I thought , not that building a Lancaster is in my current plans, maybe its because they make me feel old, its now 41 years since I got a guided tour of 'CIty of Lincoln' at the 1976 Farnborough Airshow - 2 hrs before the Memorial flight did their display - Health and Safety was not an issue back then, my mum was allowed to sit in the Arrows Red 10 ( the backup plane ) which had an armed ejection seat , the pilot was showing her all the Gnats controls etc , his senior ground crewman was having kittens, those were the days !! Back to the book - interesting stories and some good close ups of the 4 engined workhorse, a nice little addition to my book collection.
  6. Hi All Here's my latest project, and my first WIP in a long time Updates will probably come in batches few and far between but I'll try and keep the thread updated. Plan is to build it with number 4 engine exposed and think i might open the rear door too. I don't usually use much etch and even less scratch building, so looking forward too the challenge. I have big plans for this build, the actual aircraft will be phase 1, phase 2 will be a base with vehicles figures etc. Plan to do the aircraft as Picadilly Princess of 424 Squadron which was based at RAF Skipton on Swale in 1945.
  7. Hello, I've been musing myself with making a vac canopy for my model (since the Pavla Vac doesn't fit the Revell 1/72nd kit). I have noticed that some frames are internal, to which the perspex is just screwed-on. Both wartime and restored example walk-arounds seem to confirm this: But then, I found some more (both wartime and restored example) photos, which depict these (and all other) as external: Some drawings clearly show them as internal: While this one shows all frames of the same depth (i.e. external): Soooo.... What's up with that? I thought it might be an early-war / late-war machine difference, but my wartime external photo shows an early machine (as denoted by the small window on the fuselage), while "Just Jane" is restored to a late-war standard (wide props, bigger blisters and everything). Or maybe it had something to do with the astro-dome size? Any opinion is most welcome Regards, Aleksandar
  8. This is reference for a future project. I'm planning on doing the Tamiya 1/48 Lancaster as an Aeronavalé aircraft. I'm going to do the overall Blue finished aircraft. Would the cockpit have been Black (left over from wartime service?) or would the it have been painted Interior Grey-Green when they were refurbished? How about inside the nose. I know you won't see much of the rest of the interior, and the bomb bay will be closed so I'm not worried about that. I've got the really nice Berna decals, I'm thinking of ordering the Belcher Bits Engine Nacelles Set. Someday, if I can find the Eduard set(s) at a price I'm willing to pay, I want to pick them up. Is there anything else that anyone would suggest for such a build? This is (more or less) how I want to do mine, http://s262.photobucket.com/user/Duggy009/media/Avro-Lancaster-French-1.jpg.html Did the French use the USN Dark Blue or something more akin to Oxford Blue? Some B&W photos seem to show something a bit lighter than the USN Blue.
  9. Back in 2014 I entered the Bomber Command Group Build inspired by a recent trip to the Derwent Reservoir to see the two Lancasters fly over the Dam. I made a start but didn't get very far as the bomb aimers blister was scarred by poor moulding and I put it to one side while I contacted Airfix to get a replacement. They got back to me saying they had no spares at the time and they would send me a replacement as soon as they had them in stock. The model ended up on the back burner and last year I decided to chase it up as I had never heard back from Airfix and realised that it had been 2 years since my original request and after chasing it up and getting a replacement the build was finally back on. My motivation has been fuelled further with a couple of book purchases I've recently made and a visit to East Kirkby braving the pouring rain last friday on my bike to make the trip to take part in one of the winter maintenance tours East Kirkby are offering at the moment as it is a unique opportunity to see a Lancaster stripped down to bare metal and see areas of detail you don't see every day such as fuel tank bays and engine nacelles without fairings. Even the H2S Dish! While I was there I also discovered that the Control Column and Throttle Quadrant from Gibson's Lancaster were recovered before was scrapped and are on display in the museum as part of an exhibit. Deciding which colour to paint the interior was another stumbling block. I wasn't sure which areas of the interior to paint black and which parts would have been interior green. I used a but of artistic license and painted some of the interior green that may have been black so that the detail can be seen on the model when looking through the canopy. I painted the interior with Humbrol Matt Black (33) and Interior Green (78) I lightened the Interior Green with some sky in areas to make the detail stand out a bit more in the dark interior and did the same with black by lightening it with 67 and 87. I painted the seats in Humbrol 30 and went over them with some oil paint. The Flight engineers seat was modified so it could be displayed folded up and the Radio Operators and Navigators seats were CMK ones. I used the kit pilots seat. I used the pre-coloured seat belts that came with this set. I also used an Eduard zoom set for the interior as the pre coloured wireless sets and instrument panels really set it off nicely. Also the full interior set was a lot more expensive and I was unsure how much would be seen. After the outside of the fuselage was painted in black primer so I could make sure the areas around the windows were black I glued the windows in with some two part epoxy and filled the gaps with pva to make sure they were secure. Before closing up the fuselage there were a couple of mods I did. Firstly after test fitting I decided to glue a couple of plasticard strips onto the underside of the mid upper turret fairing so it sat flush when it was fitted and the fuselage halves were closed up. I also decided to replace the escape hatches. so they had a clear window. I thought about painting the window gloss black and masking it off but thought as it would have a join line which maybe difficult to eradicate as it was recessed I decided to cut out the hatches and replace them completely. The way I did this was to first cut a hole in a piece of 10 thou plasticard the size of the window. I then trimmed it down so the hatched matched the kit one and the window was in the centre. Once I had the replacement hatches I cut them out of the lit fuselage making sure the openings were slightly smaller than the hatches. The next step is to paint the hatch, add an acetate window and fix it in position. I did some research into the colour of the signal lights on the underside of the aircraft and after I came to the conclusion they were Red, Green, Amber fore to aft I used a technique I've been meaning to try for a while now for the lenses. I used some of the metallic foil confetti you can get for putting in cards of the relevant colours and cut some discs out the size of the lamps with my trusty punch and die set and fixed these in place to the underside of the lamps with Klear then backed with a piece of black plasticard. They look really effective and I'll have to take a pic of the underside with the lights showing to demonstrate as I seem to have forgotten to do this. Once the fuselage had been closed up I could attach the top wings and all the bulkheads in the undercarriage bays as well as reuniting the wing spar with the bits that broke off early in construction. I then painted the inside of the wings using the same technique of the interior green to give the detail a chance of being seen. Note the fit of the bomb bay fairing is not great. The interior was a tight fit and an think it's prevented the fuselage from fully closing up in places which has affected the fit of the bomb bay and fairings. Lower wing with landing light lenses in place using the same technique as the signal lamps. Here we see the Lancaster with the lower wings and engine nacelles in place and the tail dry fitted. The fit of the tail planes is so tight that it can be fitted without glue! The fit of the lower wings was tricky and I think this was again down to the fit of the fuselage halves closing up. I had to do a fair bit of trimming and clean up to get the lower wings to fit as I have had to do with a lot of parts on this model I thought would just fall into place. The panels above the inboard engines are taped into place because the main undercarriage legs are attached to the wing spar and slot in from above through here. Next step for me is to clean up all the seams and the undercarriage parts. I can then paint the undercarriage before fitting and hopefully they won't get damaged during further handling of the model. the fit of the panels is not great so I can't leave them off till the end. I'm enjoying making this kit so far and can see myself making a couple more of these in the future. Thanks for looking, Mark
  10. Hi all! Just wanted to share these pics of a build that I have recently completed. This was a rather unusual build for myself as it wasn't for me; it was sort of a commission build for a friend of mine who was retiring. She was the Office Manager of the church that my wife and I attend, and where I volunteer in the office one day a week. Last year, during a conversation that we had about my RAF service, she happened to tell me about her uncle that had served in the RAF during the 2nd World War. Sadly she had never met him as he was lost on ops on 27/28 July 1943 during Operation Gomorrah, the bombing of Hamburg. With the information she was able to give me, and with a little more research, a plan started to form as to how I would be able to say thank you to this lady for the 12 years of service she had given the church. So fast forward to the beginning of January this year, I acquire all the bits and bobs I need - including the latest Airfix 1/72 BI(FE)/BIII Lancaster and make a start. My target date - 5th Feb which is her last official date as a member of staff of our church. I took my time (a little too much I think) and it was finished on the Thursday before hand! so here you go. I am aware there maybe a couple of flaws, but then again, who isn't critical of their own builds! So here you are: Well I hope you like the pictures - I dont have this in my possession any more but the lady who it was built for, and her husband adore it, and as a representation of the aircraft that her uncle was aboard when he was lost I think I works very well. In this case, it doesn't need heavy weathering, or for it to look like it has been on dozens of ops. It is a memorial and a thank you. Regards John B
  11. A quick plea for assistance. I have a friend who's uncle was in 106 Squadron during the war. He was a W/Op/Air/Gnr on ED708 - ZN-O of 106 Squadron shot down on Operation Gomorrah. Unfortunately, the aircraft seems to have come down either on ingress to target or egress from target and is believed to be somewhere in the North Sea. The aircraft was lost with all hands. In order to say thank you for all the hard work that my friend has given our church over the years, I would like to build a representation of this aircraft for her. I already know that it is a Lancaster B.III, but an accurate representation would not be to necessary as the lady and her family are not avid aviation enthusiasts so would not pick out any discrepancies between a generic B.III and the specific airframe in question. Getting the main decals is no issue - getting the serial and Squadron details is the issue however. I have done a fair bit of searching for any images of ED708, but have so far not found anything. So I pass it to the BM collective. Does anyone know if ED708 had any nose art? Or where I can get the appropriate sized and coloured "ZN-O". I know Hannants do the correct lettering for the serial number. I wont be building this for several weeks as I will be on sabbatical with SWMBO for the next 8 weeks, but I will be able to check in from time to time. Many thanks in advance for any help given Treker_ed
  12. OK, not afraid to show my ignorance on this one, but the discussion on the 1/48 kit has piqued my curiosity. When the side windows were eliminated on Lancasters, were the previous openings covered with sheet metal inserts or were the openings in the fuselage eliminated entirely on the production line? Reason I wanted to ask was if doing a model of a Lanc that had no side windows, would you still see outlines where the original windows were, or just smooth sheet metal skinning? (As the bank robber said to Dirty Harry in the movie, "I just gots to know!") Mike
  13. Matchbox's 1979 Lancaster, No 9 Squadron the Tallboy option. My shot at this old kit, includes newly scribed panel lines, scrap parts from an old Airfix Lancaster and other little scratch bits like fuselage escape hatches. One of the things I like most about Matchbox kits is that they are an excellent blank canvas that allow me the freedom to depart from the instruction sheet and use my imagination. The kit was nice to build but we could still do with a new Tallboy Lancaster if you are reading this Mr Airfix. /I /
  14. Dear Fellow Modellers Stimulated once more by the wartime film of Lancasters based at RAF Hemswell being prepared for a raid, I decided to try and bring the Airfix Matador Refueller up to scratch. Cue much time sanding down over thick mudguards and returning tread to the tyres. Steering wheel from Hauler and driver, wing mirrors and bridge weight marker from Dan Taylor modelworks. Am pleased to say that the Matador is still a nice kit given a bit of love and care, hope you agree? Hope you are enjoying your bank holiday? I spent part of mine working on the Airfix C-47 which strangely seems to need lots of filler, at least in my case Regards Andrew
  15. Avro Lancaster B.III (Special) the Dambusters 1:72 Airfix Few aircraft have the ability to capture the imagination and affection of the public, but the Lancaster surely ranks as one of them. The basic design of the Lancaster evolved from the less than successful Avro Manchester. Although the design of the aircraft was sound, its performance in service was significantly undermined by its chronically unreliable and underpowered Rolls Royce Vulture engines. Avro's Chief Designer resolved the problem by proposing an improved version with a larger wing and four of the less powerful, but far more reliable, Rolls Royce Merlin engines. Initially designated the Manchester III, the aircraft was renamed the Lancaster and entered service in 1942, the same year that the Manchester was retired from front line service. Once in service, the Lancaster proved to be an excellent aircraft. Its vast bomb bay could accommodate any bomb in the RAF's wartime inventory, right up to the 12,000lb blockbuster. Later in the war the aircraft was adapted to carry a range of special weapons, including the innovative Upkeep mine and the huge 22,000lb Grand Slam bomb, both designed by scientist and engineer Barnes Wallis. The Lancaster's place in history was secured on the night of the 16th/17th May 1943. On this date, a force of 19 Lancasters of the specially formed 617 Squadron attacked a group of four dams in the heart of Germany's Ruhr Valley. The aircraft carried the unique Upkeep mine, popularly referred to as the bouncing bomb. This weapon was the brainchild of Barnes Wallis and was designed specifically for use against these dams. As a result of the raids the Möhne and Edersee dams were breached, causing massive flooding and the loss of electrical power for hundreds of factories in the region. Eight of the participating aircraft failed to return, and of the 133 crew who took part, 53 were lost. It is estimated that around 1,600 individuals were killed on the ground. 34 of the survivors were decorated, with the leader of the raid, Wing Commander Guy Gibson, awarded the Victoria Cross. When Airfix announced their release schedule for 2013 just before Christmas, it was the cause of much celebration and excitement around these parts. One of the many cherries on the cake was a new tool Lancaster, promised in both Hercules-engined B.II and Merlin-engined B.III special versions. First to be released is this, the B.III special version. The kit is presented in a fairly large top-opening box adorned with an atmospheric image of a Lancaster cutting through the moonlight skies of the Ruhr Valley. Six sprues of plastic have been crammed into the box, and together they hold a total of 265 parts. Four sprues are given over to the Lancaster B.III itself, the fifth is for the Upkeep mine, its trolley and the conversion parts for the airframe, while the last sprue contains the transparent parts. The kit is nicely moulded. Whilst I've seen finer panel lines in my time as a reviewer, the panel lines on the external surfaces of this kit don't stand out as being overly trench-like. The overall shape of the model looks good and I couldn't detect any serious shape errors from examining the parts on the sprue. Those hoping for a richly detailed kit will not be disappointed with this model. The interior is very well appointed, providing plenty of interest where needed. Assembly begins with the roof of the bomb bay and the spars for the wing. The rest of the model builds up around this core structure. The bomb bay itself is very nicely detailed, although little of it will be seen unless you choose to finish the model as a standard B.III (and if you choose to do this, you'll need to provide your own decals and ordnance). 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 pilot's seat, a folding seat for the flight engineer, a control column and a two-part instrument panel. Forward of the cockpit is the bomb aimer's position, for which a nicely moulded bomb sight is included. Aft of the cockpit are the navigator's and radio operator's stations. Sidewall detail is moulded in place on the inside of the fuselage halves and in my opinion it looks excellent. An optional ventral gunner's position is provided too. Before you join the fuselage halves together youll need to drill a couple of small holes in pre-marked positions. These are required in order to fit the mechanism for the Upkeep mine later on. The fuselage window glazing must be installed at this stage too. I for one dont fancy masking all of these windows, so I'm hoping that Eduard will release a set of masks for this kit before too long! Once the fuselage halves have been joined, assembly moves on to the wings. I have to doff my cap to Airfix at this point, as they have been very clever indeed. Not only do 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 just 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, but the front faces of the radiator intakes are moulded as separate parts. This means that you wont have troublesome seams to clean up, which is always a plus. 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. At this stage you are required to add the assembly for the Upkeep mine. If you paid attention and remembered to drill the required holes at the start of the build, then this should be straightforward. The mechanism itself is very nicely detailed, as is the large, drum-shaped mine. As mentioned above, there is a very nice loading trolley included. If you want to build the model as the centrepiece of a diorama, this feature will be a real boon. All that remains to do now is 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 and there are some spare turrets included which hint at future options. A choice of two schemes is provided on the decal sheet: Avro Lancaster B.III Special E0825/G, reserve aircraft flown by Flight Lieutenant Joseph Charles McCarthy DFC (Royal Canadian Air Force), No. 617 Squadron, Operation Chastise, Scampton, 16/17th May 1943; and Avro Lancaster B.III Special E0927, flown by Flight Lieutenant Robert Norman George Barlow DFC (Royal Australian Air Force), No. 617 Squadron, Operation Chastise, Scampton, 16/17th May 1943. This aircraft and the crew were lost in action. The decal sheet is nicely printed and includes a small selection of stencils, as well as a decal for the instrument panel and a rather nifty little map for the navigator's table. Conclusion Lancaster fans already have a reasonable choice of relatively modern kits from Hasegawa and Revell. Although neither kit is flawless, both are pretty good. In light of this, some may be surprised that Airfix have chosen to go to the expense of tooling yet another new Lancaster. They shouldn't. Airfix sell kits of Lancasters like Ford sell cars; it's simply what they do and a decent Lancaster is essential to their continued success. Happily, this kit looks to be a real gem. It is nicely detailed, well moulded, cleverly designed and combines detail and buildability in a single, clever package. I can't wait to get stuck in! Review sample courtesy of
  16. Hello Gent's this is my first post on 'Britmodeller' - As this is a british plane I thought it would be appropriate to post it here. It's the 'reconstruction' of my Tamiya 1/48 Avro Lancaster. I originally bought it in 1978-79 and only finished it 80-90 %. At the time I lost interest in scale modelling and the years went by... It was very very inspirering when I saw the insanely detailed version done by Alex Kontiveis, but I do not want to spend two-three years on the build. So I have decided to do 'it' somewhere in between. The build started a year ago, and I will be posting the steps along the way. The build started by taking 'her' apart and stripping 'her' from paint - What a mess!!
  17. After a long time being silent, I thought i'd return and share a few images from a recent visit to the land of flat, Lincolnshire! I went there on a week break and for a slightly special occasion and visited the likes of East Kirkby and Newark(on-trent) air museum. I am a black and white person and always exploring types of editing. I really do hope you enjoy them! Firstly, Newark Air Museum: Avro vulcan XM594 from the left side rear: XM594 from the right side rear: XM594 from the wing on the right side: XF369 Vickers Varsity Bristol Hercules Engine showing its detail: ZA176 A Harrier FRS2 showing her tail (famously went missing): XP226 Fairey Gannet AEW.3 with the bumble bee/wasp marking on her nose cone spinner: XS417 English Electric lightning T.5 showing engine cone intake: XN964 Blackburn Buccaneer S.MK.1 from wing on left side: 61912507006 "71", MiG-27K 'Flogger' from the front: 024003607 “07” MiG-23ML (background) and 61912507006 "71" MiG-27K (foreground): Now East Kirkby: NX611, 'just-Jane's', pilot waves after another successful taxi run (with passengers onboard) NX611 closer image up to her nose showing the airwork of 'Just Jane' riding a bomb: (My Personal Favourite) NX611, Avro Lancaster B MK VII, 'Just Jane' and another relic; UW7644, a 1929 Bentley numbered '3'. the pair look gorgeous together, don't you think?:
  18. Finally finished Popsie, a 1955 MkVII Lancaster in 617 markings. Popsie was flown by Sgt Eric Quinney and I was inspired to build this, with "Edam" mine after chatting with him at Duxford. There have been many build threads of the new tool Airfix, so didn't do one (perhaps for the next build) The biggest headache I had was the mine and the side baffles. The mine itself was made from a block of balsa, carved down to hopefully be the right size/shape. The nav/observer is from an HS-126 early war observer aircraft. The base made from a chopping block, with layers of blues and blacks with clear silicone for the water effect. Hopefully it has worked, I'm happy with my first attempt at displaying like this (and I've just noticed the real wheel has gone awol!)
  19. I haven't posted here in just about forever because of other commitments but I've continued to build and lurk. I completed this earlier this year but just knocked the base together this morning as a technique practice. The kit is the Revell Lanc, not without its faults but looks the part to me. I picked it up in a Wonderland sale for about a tenner and the decals are from Hannants. It's pretty much OOB apart from the thimble radome which is a drawing pin soldered to a bit of microbore. The fuselage is finished in various shades of Alcld and then polished with a bit of rub n buff for depth of shine and tonal variation. The canopy is done with thin strips of Bare Metal Foil because I couldn't be bothered masking it, and the wings are done with Tamiya acrylics with a bit of a go at salt weathering. The fit of the kit is pretty good and the wings are actually detachable. The base is just a bit of MDF with unpainted squares of b&q sandpaper and some thinned enamel and grass scatter. I liked the tone and texture of the sandpaper although next time I'll probably use a lighter grade and different glue.
  20. GAF (Avro) Lincoln Enhancement Set for the Blackbird Models Conversion 1/72 Red Roo Models Following on from the success of the Lancaster, Avro's infamous chief designer Roy Chadwick, developed the Lincoln as a natural evolution with the purpose of being able to fly higher, further and with a greater payload as a result of the longer wing span, greater fuel capacity and more powerful Merlin engines. Despite the prototype being first tested in 1944 shortly after D-Day, the Lincoln was too late to see service in WWII although was intended to join the Tiger Force against Japanese forces. Apart from the extended wings and fuselage, the nose was redesigned significantly incorporating optically flat panels instead of the characteristic Lancaster blister nose ti improve visibility for the bomb aimer. A further modification included a Boulton Paul turret armed with two .50 Browning machine guns. As well as this was the introduction of a mid upper Bristol turret with two 20mm cannon to significantly improve defensive firepower. The Lincolns began to replace the 4 engine heavies in RAF service soon after the war with plans to produce versions in Canada and Australia. With the end of hostilities, production in Canada was ended with only one aircraft produced, but the Department of Aircraft Production in Australia (later known as Government Aircraft Factory) produced 73 Mk.30's. The first of these entered service with No.82 wing at RAAF Amberley in 1949 where they replaced Liberators. In the 1950's, the RAAF needed the Lincoln to perform anti-submarine- duties. To incorporate the necessary equipment, 20 aircraft with modified in to Mk.31's with the most notable difference being a 6.5' nose extension. Whilst this enabled carriage of the anti-submarine equipment, the long nose made it incredibly difficult to land, particularly at night due to poor visibility. 10 of the Mk.31's were later updated to MR Mk.31 to facilitate maritime reconnaissance duties. The RAAF Lincolns took part in bombing missions along side the RAF aircraft in the 1950's operating out of RAF Tengah in Singapore during the Malayan Conflict. The RAAF eventually retired its Lincolns in 1961. The enhancement set This set is designed to enhance the Blackbird Lincoln conversion set for the Airfix Lancaster B.II that was released two years ago. Whilst the Blackbird set isn't the only conversion around (Paragon which is like rocking horse poo and the readily available Flightpath set), it is the only one for the latest Airfix Lancaster kits. I built the Blackbird kit last year (HERE) and as you can see below, it builds in to an impressive replica. Whilst the Blackbird conversion contains most of the key features to produce a pleasing Lincoln, there are still gaps in the parts list necessary to complete an accurate conversion. I addressed several of these details by scratch building, but used the Airfix FN.82 rear turret as the next best thing to the Boulton Paul 'D' type turret that was actually fitted. This is where the Red Roo set comes in with particular focus on the Australian variants, namely the Mk.30 and Mk.31's. Before I get in to the part contents, it's important to pay homage to the instructions contained in this enhancement set. I know from the build above how much research is required to complete the Lincoln conversion accurately and Red Roo have made this element of the build stress free by including an incredibly comprehensive 13 page A4 colour instruction booklet. Diagrams and detailed explanations clearly navigate the builder through the finer details of the Lincoln assembly referring to both the Blackbird conversion and Airfix Lancaster donor kit. Further, on page 11, there is a matrix of all the Mk.31's produced with the variations in turret armament , flare outlet plate, rocket rails and roundel configurations. Whilst this set is focussed on the Australian variants, the instructions would of been most welcome in building my RAF rendition of this forgotten bomber, in particular, the angular cut necessary on the rear fuselage to achieve the correct profile after inserting the fuselage lengthening plug. The parts supplied come in various formats, resin, brass coloured white metal, platicard and steel wire. The contents are: Correct Bristol Type D rear turret - resin base and gun mount with clear resin front and rear sections & white metal .50 brownings Mid upper turret - resin base and early / later clear resin cupolas, white metal 20mm cannon .50 Browning barrels for front turret - white metal Rocket rails that were carried on the Australian variants (paper template included for accurate location under the wings) Gun laying equipment blister Strike camera housing Various aerials carried by RAAF variants (white metal, resin and steel wire) Resin windows for the Mk.31 extended nose Correct tail wheel The resin components are of very good quality. The mid upper turret is located further forwards than on a Lancaster due to the extra weight, so a 15mm diameter hole will need drilling in the fuselage as explained thoroughly in the instructions. It's important to check your references on the aircraft you are building as to whether it used the early 'flatter' cupola or whether it uses the later more rounded version which has the strengthening frame across it further back from the centre line. The white metal components are nicely represented, although given the nature of the material, slightly less well defined in detail compared to the resin. That said, the perforations in the .50's are good as you can see in the photo below. The clear resin parts are nicely moulded and look to be accurate. In the review set, the later mid upper cupola has a few minor bubbles and slightly more distortion in comparison with the early version, but with a dip in Kleer, all parts should look good. Notable in the review pack was two copies of the 20mm cannon Conclusion Clearly, tackling a build that involves cutting up a kit and inserting significant plugs and additional detail is not aimed at inexperienced modellers, so this enhancement set does expect a degree of modelling competence. One could argue that some of the parts contained should of been included in the Blackbird conversion (correct BP rear turret in particular), so it is great to see a solution available. Having built the Blackbird conversion which is a great set in itself, this enhancement set would of made the build much easier, both in terms of the research provided in the instructions and the additional parts that would normally require scratch building (20mm cannon and mid upper base for example). Of course, buying a conversion and then an enhancement set pushes up the cost somewhat, but if, like me, you had wanted to build a detailed Lincoln for many years using a good donor kit, the investment is justifiable. Given the contents of this set, whilst it is primarily marketed as a RAAF enhancement, it is equally valid on an RAF variant too. Review sample courtesy of
  21. Not sure if this has been posted before but if not then I thought it might be of interest, The sad tale of the ex Strathallan collection Lanc, including some interesting detail shots of various bays, pipework etc that might be of use to someones superdetailing. http://www.timefadesaway.co.uk/strathallan/kb976/kb_976_7.html
  22. I picked this up at Telford with the view of adding something of a rarity to the bomber Command Sig display. At £47 it certainly aint cheap, but I'm more than pleased with what you get in the box. It's designed to use the Airfix B.II kit as a donor and having a review kit spare, this is what will be used. I've taken some pictures below of what's in the box. Quality of the moulding is superb and from speaking to Glenn at Blackbird who is planning to follow up with a Manchester conversion and possibly more from the Bomber Command armoury, the future is looking quite promising where some of the gaps that the absence of Paragon designs has created. The only issues I have observed is that you only appear to get the earlier H2S radome which is the same as found on the Lanc and already available in the B.II kit. Many Lincolns were later equipped with a Mk.IV H2S set which was noticeable because of the dome being much larger so it would of been good to get this part included to provide all options. If you want to do an aircraft with the 20mm cannon turret, you will have to scratch build the two cannon as they aren't included either although the clear part is. As I've not yet decided on the aircraft I'm not sure if the lack of Mk.IV H2S will be an issue. So, some pictures of the resin: This part is for the Australian Mk.31 with the longer, uglier nose! Resin clear pieces - much better than vac form parts once dipped in Kleer As usual, I'll be learning about the Lincoln along the way, so looking for guidance and inspiration from the experts out there! I read the Warpaint booklet recently to get more familiar before I start. I quite fancy doing RF476 which fortunately uses the earlier H2S as it had an interesting combat record as demonstrated from its bomb tally on the nose, but I haven't seen any decals for it. If anyone knows of any, please let me know. Thanks
  23. I was speaking to a pub landlord on Friday. He mentioned that his Dad was on Lancasters somewhere near Wigan from about late 1943. Does anyone have any idea what Squadron(s) that might be? He also mentioned that his Dad was made ready to go to India, as part of Tiger force, so that may narrow it down. Thanks for looking. Pete
  24. At Telford SMW 2015 Blackbird Models is to release 1/72nd Avro Lancaster VI & Avro Lancastrian resin conversion sets. Source: https://www.facebook.com/173300159429640/photos/a.173306382762351.40890.173300159429640/935472259879089/?type=3&theater Source: https://www.facebook.com/173300159429640/photos/a.173306382762351.40890.173300159429640/935472126545769/?type=3&theater V.P.
  25. Hi all! This was my first ever build and I wanted to do it so that I could be a bit more involved in this fantastic community who are always so keen to buy our modelling books! I started the build thinking that I would do everything in a very neat, ordered way, however I quickly wanted to start gluing and seeing it take shape, so I became a little sloppy with my orderly ideas! I had several issues with the build (a couple because of my own fault and one or two which I will blame the kit for!) My biggest issue was the engines and them not fitting on the wings neatly despite how much i wiggled them! I would like to get some filler or something to hide the gaps between them and the wings as I am sure you will see! The paint along the sides needs to be tidied up a bit and there are a couple of green fingerprints on the glass at the front as well as my untidy engines. I only used five paints for this (a metallic silver, a muddy brown, a standard looking green (colours on wings for green and brown), a yellow for the tips of the propellers, and a matt black) all Humbrol Enamel Paints. They were all pretty good I thought! Despite getting furious at the pieces for not working properly several times, I really want to do another kit to see if I can do it better and make something that looks a little tidier and nicer than this! Maybe a nice simple fighter plane! Any suggestions are welcome! Cheers all! - Andy
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