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Airfix Dambuster - 1/72 Avro Lancaster B.III


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The decision to build this kit arose at Telford. Caught in a pincer movement between my dad (Tomoshenko senior) whose been bugging me for a while to build a bomber; and Bill (Perdu) who on hearing this further prompted, poked, earbent and guilt-tripped me etc. into getting stuck into the build, I had no choice but to relent to these greater forces than my mortal self. I originally offered dad a choice between a Handley Page 0/400, Mossie, and a stringbag in addition to the Lanc. But of course (as I knew all along) there was only ever going to be one winner. Now I know there is a plethora of Lancasters out there – versions, liveries, theatres of operation and countries of service etc; but for me first and foremost it’s a got to be a Dambuster. This will be the first Lancaster I’ve built on my return to the hobby – built plenty of ‘em in my youth which graced the ceiling of young Tomoshenko’s bedroom back in the 70’s, along with B17s, Messerschmitts, Spitfires, Heinkels…etc…I think you get the picture! But this time I will be taking my time a lttle bit more to do a proper job, as opposed to my impetuous youth when I’d have completed it on a rainy Saturday afternoon, as much as I enjoyed it.

 

Not that this requires any introduction other than the scale and manufacturer. Here is the obligatory box and sprue shots. Cracking atmospheric box art. Twenty-odd pages of instructions, and tasty looking transfers (stencil light, oh goodie).

 

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Sorry that the quality of the sprue shots aint too good, but I think you’ve got the idea. It is certainly very detailed and nicely moulded. The characteristic Airfix new tool so-called canal-depth panel lines appear restrained, but to be honest I couldn’t care less given I’m accustomed to Airfix 70’s offerings…

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The kit has received favourable reviews, not least from Britmodeller. Bound to be the odd little niggle here and there, but hey that’s modelling. So I’m looking forward to the build. As I said earlier it’s nicely detailed so I think I’ll only be adding a few bits and bobs here and there, and the odd scratch enhancement but we’ll see how that goes. Looking forward to a nice build…what could possibly go wrong…Back soon.

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I have also bought this kit.  One of my work mates told me his teacher at Tabulum primary school was in the Dambuster squadron.  His name was Brian S Mattingly DFC, I couldn't find any info on him. He might have been telling porky pies.

I won't be getting out the popcorn as I don't like it but will be watching the build.

 

Stephen 

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33 minutes ago, bbudde said:

Another nice shot:

Having only ever seen the famous overhead damage assessment shots, I never realized what a gothic-looking construction this dam actually was/is (?) when seen from the side. Nice photo! Thanks for the Eierlikörwaffeln recipe - I'll give that a try too!

Tony

 

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6 minutes ago, TheBaron said:

 I never realized what a gothic-looking construction this dam actually was/is (?) when seen from the side.

Yes it looks impressive and massive and you feel small, when you watch it from the bottom. The photo cannot show that exactly. I like it . It's a very good looking dam and looks the same as before the raid. Only the power station, which was hit by Hopgood's bomb is missing now in the centre. If you kook close on photos, you can see where the hole was as the the bricks are much lighter, even after 70 years. They came from a different quarry  nearby and would have been used for the motorway A 44 8 km up north along the lake. All in all a relaxing and beautiful area and well worth a visit in every season.

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Thanks for the interest gents. Please feel free to partake in pizza, popcorn, hard liquor of your choice etc. please take your litter home with you though. Here is the Pearl and Dean intro to get you in the movie mood.

 

 

bbudde, as Tony says they are quite atmospheric shots, and certainly quite Gothic.

 

Not much progress to report. I have been busy familiarising myself with the kit, the oodles of parts and bits and bobs, and trying to work out the cockpit green and black painting sequences – numbers higher than one confuse me…

 

It is very nicely moulded and well engineered. Many parts serve several functions such as the wing spars doubling as the undercarriage bulkheads and bomb bays etc. What I notice is that it’s pretty important to line things up correctly to save hassle later. Oh and read the instructions. I glued the bulkheads and spars to the bomb bay before realising you have to file off a raised groove a per instruction sequence 1. Yep that’s right, I got the very first step wrong. It made it a bit more tricky to hold and file off with the other bits glued on. I also made a deep scratch in it which I’ve glooped up, although I don’t think any of it is seen. Still will need to concentrate more and note to self: “read the flippin’ instructions!”

 

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Aside from that I just been prepping the interior bits ready for paint.

 

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Not sure if it’s worth adding much more detail to the pit at this stage as I don’t think you can see a lot. I’ll add some belts and have a snifter on tinternet to see what’s out there. Thanks for looking.

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Right folks, hope you had a pleasant overture to the New Year. As I said previously, I’ve been having a mooch around tinternet for references. Now as I remarked earlier, the interior is reasonably detailed, and while you can’t see an awful lot, I do feel it could do with a lift here and there, namely the immediate area around the pilot seat which is also the most visible.

 

First up was to add a little detail to the seat and some belts care of take-away tin foil:

 

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I added some framing to the headrest and the rear of the seat (photos to follow). I will be adding little buckles later, but need a break from fiddling around with seats.

 

Next up I thought I’d add some realism to the floor which from reference piccies is covered in rivets and panels. At first I filled in a couple of sink holes near the front and scribed some panels. Now it looked ok to me, but it was one of those things that bugged me because it didn’t quite look right.

 

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So in a fit of pique I thought I’d replace it with a bit of Tomoshenko ersatz aftermarket care of take-away tin foil…I like to do my bit for recycling.

 

I cut out some blanks, and flattened them out.

 

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Then I got to work with my riveter.

 

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Have to be honest it took a few attempts and I was almost ready to throw in the towel, but on the third attempt I got something a little more acceptable.

 

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Here it is glued in place (I’m not bothering with the rear as nothing is seen, and I only bothered flooring the mid-section ‘cos I had offcuts). Now I know it’s not perfect and a little wobbly in places – must admit it looks a little like a quilt – but I’m satisfied with it. After a lick of paint and a wash it won’t loo to bad and a little more like the floor in the original…well sort of.

 

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There are map holders beside the pilot’s seat. Various aftermarket detailing sets do supply these with etch, but I got my trusty take-away tin foil on the go again. Punched out the half circles using my punch and dies, then folded them into shape. The result is a knocked up a Tomoshenko Eduard etch rip-off:

 

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Here they are glued in-situ:

 

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There are a few more things I want to add yet, problem is my eyes now feel like quite a few peoples’ heads and livers do at the moment. However, I am getting a little momentum, albeit slow momentum. Back to tinternet and fiddling with little bits of plastic.

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