Avro Lancastrian "Alitalia 1/72 - another small update

[Sebastiano Tringali]

Here is my next project, an 1/72 scale Avro Lancastrian starting from the Revell Lancaster kit.
The Lancastrian was the civil conversion of the famous Lancaster, stripped of all the offensive and difensive weapon was able to carried about 13 passengers with a new nose and tail cone.
After the WWII the newborn italian airline, Alitalia, had taken four Lancastrian (ex BOAC) to put in service on the South America routes.

Some months ago a friend of mine, give me an old M&E Models conversion for the Lancastrian starting to the Airfix models.
I've started some research about this airplane, but nothing much than some good pictures. I needed of some scale plans.
After much wandering a friend modeller, Filippo, a great lover of aeronautical history, remembered a nice "scale plans" in 1/72 of the Lancastrian on an old issue of Aviation News of the mid 80.
I don't know how much it is accurate, but enough for me.


I'll try also to drawing and printing a correct decal sheet because the existing Magna Model decal is wrong for the Alitalia.

Starting from fuselage, I've cut away the new windows, using a brass template........







and replace any empty space with a small square frame made from 0,25 plastic sheet........





glued it on the outside face of the fuselage using a masking tape as refer..............



and this is the result.



It'all for now.
Any feedback welcomed and thanks for looking!
Sebastiano

Edited March 25, 2015 by Sebastiano Tringali

[Pin]

Good start, interesting subject. Will be watching.

Do you have any references or drawings ?

[CarLos]

Hello Sebastiano,

I will follow closely your build article, as I also want to make the Alitalia Lancastrian. I have the Magna conversion and I will not use the very inaccurate nose, but what's the problem with the decals?

I am interested in one detail. The Alitalia Lancastrian had the passengers seated in two rows facing front, or were they seated sideways?

Keep showing the good work!

Carlos

[tonyot]

This is looking very interesting. Which kit are you using,........it looks like the old Frog Lancaster kit? When you come to the nose, the old M+E nose looks too short and pointed to me. They say that you should cut the fuselage in front of the windscreen but it may be better to cut just behind the nose turret instead? I may of course be totally wrong but just check it out before you start cutting the nose,

Cheers

Tony O

[jimbuna]

Good solid start.

[Kev1n]

fascinating....some seriously good work there

[chris57]

just dug out the av news plans and the nose measures 1 and7/10 ins which should scale up to 122.4 ins.i'll dig a lancastrian out of stock later and see how it measures up. cheers chris

[wallyinoz]

great subject! will watch this

[woody37]

Great start. Quite fancy building one of these, so looking for tips and inspiration

[JBZ]

Very interesting

[Learstang]

With all here, nice start! Being something of a Lanc fan (I really do need to finish my Manchester conversion and start on my Grand Slam version some day), I shall be watching this build with interest.

Regards,

Jason

[Sebastiano Tringali]

First to all, thanks a lot!

Hello Sebastiano,

.........the Alitalia Lancastrian had the passengers seated in two rows facing front, or were they seated sideways?

Carlos

The Alitalia Lancastrian have 13 seats on two rows, 7 on left side and 6 on the rigth.

All the seats are facing front, except the second row which is directed backward and is raised above the floor.

.....................when you come to the nose, the old M+E nose looks too short and pointed to me.

Cheers

Tony O

Yes, I agree the M+E nose looks too short and pointed also to me, if if I compare it with pictures.

I would add plastic sheets in the middle and in the back side to correct the shape and to do it better match the Revell Lancaster

Sebastiano

Edited April 18, 2012 by Sebastiano Tringali

[Radleigh]

Nice build!!

[Sebastiano Tringali]

Yesterday I have completed the drawing of decals with Adobe Illustrator.

For first, I tried to draw it using the example of old advertising signs, or pictures of other airline Alitalia and after having drawn the individual parts I tried to put them over the original photos

and then I created the whole sheet....................

Tomorrow I'll try to print on common paper and try the fit on the true model.

If all is ok, I would like to ask about printing to Fantasy Printshop.

Any suggestions on that?

Sebastiano

Edited April 18, 2012 by Sebastiano Tringali

[CarLos]

Great artwork! Very nice!

Carlos

[keefr22]

I really like your method of doing the windows & the end result looks very neat. But I can't help thinking they look a little big compared to the real aircraft?

Keef

[Martian]

THis looks really interesting!

Martin

[Romeo Alpha Yankee]

Very interesting way you have created the windows. How did you make the brass template?

[airhead]

I really like your method of doing the windows & the end result looks very neat. But I can't help thinking they look a little big compared to the real aircraft?

Keef

I think your(our) eyes are fooled because of the color contrast.

If you look at the black squares on the artwork (which I presume measure up with the model ) they look spot on.

Great project btw!

[Sebastiano Tringali]

In the weekend I've started with the major conversion. The nose and the tail sections.

For first, helping me with a sharp saw, I cut off the Lancaster front turret using the existing pannel line as guide.

I did the same thing on the rear turret...................

Comparing the conversion of M&E with Aeroplane News drawings and photos, it seems more pointed and too short.

To try to correct the error I decided to glue some shaped plastic sheet in the middle section and in the joining section with the fuselage.

Also to ensure a perfect joint with the fuselage of the Airfix Lancaster, I have made ​​a copy of the front section at the point of cut.

This is the result of the intermediate work on the nose section.

In the picture. You can also see in the picture I tried to scratchbuild the bomb bay doors because my box was for the Dumbuster's version of the Lancaster.

Next, I covered the sections gluing on them two thin sheets of plastic.

To correct the nose annd tail section of the M&E set and make it compatible with the section of Revell Lancaster, I added a thin pasticard strips from 0.10 mm along the edge.

In the meantime I have replaced the stracthbuilt bomb bay doors with an original ones coming from another Revell kit, after having filled it with resin and reshaped.

This is the final result, after hours spent filling, sanding, adding putty and sanding again.

It's all for now.

Ciao

Sebastiano

[Sebastiano Tringali]

After a long time I'm restarting my work on the Lancastrian.

For first I have made a first resin copy of the nose and the tail, adding recessed panel lines and some rivets........

for second I have modified the lower shape of the two vertical stabilizer using a 0.5 mm plastic sheet.........

now is time to make the definitive resin copy of the all pieces............

and this is the final result, the fit with the Revell model seems to be good and I think that no relevant filling with putty are necessary........................

next step is to complete the decal's drawing.

bye

Sebastiano

[woody37]

Pleased to see you've made more progress on this, keep up the good progress for us selfish on lookers

[tomprobert]

Fantastic craftmanship and a wonderful thread to watch.

I'm sure if you were to market your resin pieces you'd have a lot of interest - including me!

[Sean1968]

WOW, this is fantastic model making, I'll watch this one closely.

[Mr B]

Outstanding work thus far...on a very interesting subject....

I will be following this

rgds

mr b