Airfix Lancaster B.III 1/72 Old Tool!

[SaminCam]

@dogsbody thanks Chris, I think you're right, maybe the brown is not too bad but the green does seem a bit faded. I have a trusty old mustang paint mule so will try some things out first... 

[chaddy]

On 9/22/2019 at 4:51 PM, SaminCam said:

Things moving along with the old Lanc. I got the cockpit finished off and crew settled into their new home and then fixed the fuselage halves together. I've slightly modified (i.e. hacked off some plastic from) the front and middle gun turrets so they can be added towards the end of the build. It's hard to see with the photos of the black plastic but the fit is really good so hopefully I won't need too much filler. The engine nacelle halves also went together with a minimum of fuss and I was able to get rid of most of the seam lines by just sanding and painting on some surface primer. While sanding these I masked off as much of the raised detail as possible and I'll do something similar when I start tidying up the fuselage. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

While I really like the rivets on this old kit I decided the wings needed to have a bit more going on so I've been scribing my own panel lines. I've not done much of this before so pleased to be learning a new technique - I'm using a Tamiya scribing tool and thick black tape as a guide.  I know there's a big debate to be had about the best way to represent the surface details and the pattern I've gone for comes from a mixture of others models, photos, drawings and a bit of artistic interpretation. I've also tried to stop before going over the top, to my eye it looks busy enough now and will hopefully help make things look more interesting once painted.  

 

 

 

 

 

Finally, with one wing done (hence the two engines) and the other one half way there I couldn't resist a dry fit:

Don't you just love a Lancaster!

 

It appears that yours doesn't seem to a number of sink holes around the MU turret that mine does!

Edited October 1, 2019 by chaddy
Removing stuff superfluous to my reply.

[SaminCam]

Morning all, last night got the fuselage behind the cockpit painted - the green is Tamiya Dark Green 2 xf89, it's not quite right but looks fine under the glazing. I've now started to mask up the canopy (I'm going to leave the nose turret off for now though) and once that is done I'll be able to finish off priming and pre-shading the front of the aircraft. @chaddy sorry to hear about your problems - I think my boxing is pretty old, a bit of googling suggest from the early 80s, so perhaps the moulds were still crisp and new back then? 

 

 

 

 

[Kitchen Modeller]

Looking great Sam - that masking job on the canopy is coming along...  not my favorite job! Let us know what color mixes you end up using - I have a mk1 spit in the queue👍

[SaminCam]

Nearly there... It's slow going without pre cut masks but strangely satisfying and quite addictive in a "just one more bit" kind of way!

 

[Kitchen Modeller]

14 minutes ago, SaminCam said:

satisfying and quite addictive in a "just one more bit" kind of way!

I’ve found you often get a better result doing it this way rather than precut masks which are often not a great fit... this will come out perfect I’m sure👍

[SaminCam]

 

5 minutes ago, Kitchen Modeller said:

I’ve found you often get a better result doing it this way rather than precut masks which are often not a great fit... this will come out perfect I’m sure👍

Yep, definitely agree, little bits of tape conform round the curves better than the pre cuts, i got lots of practice with the F-35!

[Thom216]

Looks like the first indication of impending madness! Loving your progress, no matter the mental cost...

[SafetyDad]

On 30/09/2019 at 23:14, SaminCam said:

@dogsbody thanks Chris, I think you're right, maybe the brown is not too bad but the green does seem a bit faded. I have a trusty old mustang paint mule so will try some things out first... 

I'm not sure. Your brown/green approach might work for a long-service veteran aircraft. I appreciate that colour slides are to be approached with caution, but...

 

If you use the fields, buildings and sky tones in the background as a cross reference, then this shot might not be too far away from the colours used on this Lancaster

 

 

SD

Edited October 3, 2019 by SafetyDad

[SaminCam]

13 minutes ago, SafetyDad said:

I'm not sure. Your brown/green approach might work for a long-service veteran aircraft. I appreciate that colour slides are to be approached with caution, but...

 

If you use the fields, buildings and sky tones in the background as a cross reference, then this shot might not be too far away from the colours used on this Lancaster

 

SD

Thanks SD, this is great - I'm planning on doing some experiments before committing paint to model and will report back!

[SafetyDad]

My pleasure Sam. The roundels are also worth noting for their faded colours...

 

SD

[SaminCam]

Masking done! 

 

[Thom216]

More patience than I have for masking!

[James G]

Great work Sam. You probably already know this but you can leave old decals in direct sunlight for a bit to reduce yellowing. Also giving them a coat of Microscale decal film reduces the chance that they will break up.

[Kitchen Modeller]

On 10/3/2019 at 9:17 PM, SafetyDad said:

If you use the fields, buildings and sky tones in the background as a cross reference, then this shot might not be too far away from the colours used on this Lancaster

This is a great photo - even accounting for colour correction, it really shows how beat up the surfaces got - so much fading... even on the canopy - great stuff. 

 

Nice job on the masking Sam - not far away from throwing some paint on

[Andwil]

The colour of the guns in the nose turret in that photo is interesting too, looks like a  light metallic tan to my eye.

 

AW

[SaminCam]

@James G Thanks James, didn't know this and will definitely give it a go. 

[Mancunian airman]

Nice progress being made  . . . .  👍

[SaminCam]

I've been working on the wings this afternoon - the fit, again, is pretty good though the joins between the engines and wings needed some filling. For these small gaps I'm using a Vallejo filler which you apply with its fine nozzle, it gets into the crack nicely and the excess can be wiped off with a cotton bud, any remaining residue then gets removed with a toothpick. I've also had a go at adding lights to the wingtips, here's how I went about it:

 

First I cut out a hole with a very fine saw:

 

Next I very roughly shaped a piece of clear plastic sprue which was glued into the hole:

 

Once this had dried I went about it with a dremmel-like tool with an abrasive wheel. This half cuts, half melts the plastic away and I was able to carefully dress the sprue back towards the wing (I'm nearly done in this photo):

 

I finished up by hand sanding and then polishing to get the clear part flush to the wing. Was it worth it? We'll see... but happy enough with my efforts:

 

Wings are pretty much ready for their first coat of paint now, then I'll see where more touch ups are required. Thanks for all the help and encouragement! Sam

:

 

 

 

 

[dogsbody]

That looks great!

 

That's the way I did the wing tip lights on my 1/72 Hurricane. It was my first ever attempt at something like that, too. Came out quite well, if I do say so myself.

 

 

 

 

 

Chris

[SaminCam]

@dogsbody they're awesome Chris, much neater than mine! How did you do the light on the inside?

Edited October 6, 2019 by SaminCam
Link

[dogsbody]

After cutting out the moulded-in light with a razor saw, I took an old piece of clear sprue that was larger than the cutout. I filed the end flat and square and also filed one side flat. On the flat end, i drilled a small hole and put a drop the Tamiya Clear Red and Green in the appropriate holes. I next painted the flattened sides and ends with Tamiya Aluminum. When dry, they were superglued into position. Once firmly set, I went at them with the Dremel set a low speed. When the shape was close, I switched to sanding sticks of increasing finer grit. A couple coats of Future were applied and you see the result.

 

I din't take any pictures except of the final result.

 

 

Chris

[Thom216]

8 hours ago, SaminCam said:

I've been working on the wings this afternoon - the fit, again, is pretty good though the joins between the engines and wings needed some filling. For these small gaps I'm using a Vallejo filler which you apply with its fine nozzle, it gets into the crack nicely and the excess can be wiped off with a cotton bud, any remaining residue then gets removed with a toothpick. I've also had a go at adding lights to the wingtips, here's how I went about it:

 

First I cut out a hole with a very fine saw:

 

Next I very roughly shaped a piece of clear plastic sprue which was glued into the hole:

 

Once this had dried I went about it with a dremmel-like tool with an abrasive wheel. This half cuts, half melts the plastic away and I was able to carefully dress the sprue back towards the wing (I'm nearly done in this photo):

 

I finished up by hand sanding and then polishing to get the clear part flush to the wing. Was it worth it? We'll see... but happy enough with my efforts:

 

Wings are pretty much ready for their first coat of paint now, then I'll see where more touch ups are required. Thanks for all the help and encouragement! Sam

:

 

 

 

 

Real good looking lights. When I did mine I used plexiglas. Are you going to do the trailing formation lights as well?

[Bell209]

On 10/6/2019 at 9:44 PM, SaminCam said:

@James G Thanks James, didn't know this and will definitely give it a go. 

Took almost two months before my Tamiya Lancaster decals came good but they did work!

[SaminCam]

Slow progress here I'm afraid as real life is getting in the way... most of the work I've done has focused on the engines and getting them tidied up. The fit here isn't as good as the fuselage so I've used a combination of sand paper and filler to tidy seam lines across the top of the cowling and around the front. Doing this I've discovered a few things: tamiya sponge sandpaper is ace, use the razor saw to start off rescribing (i did a bit on top of the engines near the wing), rosie rivetting needs practice and finally,  the mr surfacer and levelling thinner is like nectar from heaven for priming, I'll never touch the claggy Vallejo stuff I've been using before now again! The job I've done isn't perfect but good enough for me and last night I glued the wings on with a bit of masking tape help in getting the dihedral right. Fingers crossed I can make some more progress this weekend.